Final answer:
The quote describes the Starving Time at Jamestown, a period of extreme scarcity and hardship for the English settlers during the winter of 1609-1610, marked by famine, disease, and conflict with the Powhatan Indians.
Step-by-step explanation:
The event being described is the Starving Time at Jamestown during the winter of 1609-1610. This period was marked by extreme food shortages, disease, and mortality among the English colonists. The quote details the dire circumstances and desperate measures the settlers resorted to, including eating vermin, leather, and at the most extreme, exhuming corpses for sustenance. Attacks from the Powhatan Indians compounded their struggles, as the colonists were often cut off and slain while foraging for food.