While little documentation or writing concerning Jamestown's earliest period has survived—and while most accounts that do were not recorded until several years after his death—some sources have described Ratcliffe as greedy, self-promoting, and autocratic—traits that allegedly exacerbated already tense relations with Indigenous tribes near Jamestown and ultimately caused his death—while others portray him as the colony's "savior" whose death had an adverse effect on its short-term development and longevity. Ratcliffe never had military training, unlike George Percy and Christopher Newport. Despite this fact, Ratcliffe played the largest military leadership role, and the three other men who had naval and/or combat military experience would become his chief detractors.