After her capture, Pocahontas was brought to Jamestown. Eventually, she was probably taken to Henrico, a small English settlement near present-day Richmond. Powhatan, informed of his daughter's capture and ransom cost, agreed to many of the English demands immediately, to open negotiations.
In the meantime, Pocahontas was put under the charge of Reverend Alexander Whitaker, who lived at Henrico. She learned the English language, religion and customs. While not all was strange to Pocahontas, it was vastly different than the Powhatan world.
During her religious instruction, Pocahontas met widower John Rolfe, who would become famous for introducing the cash crop tobacco to the settlers in Virginia. By all English accounts, the two fell in love and wanted to marry. Perhaps, once Pocahontas was kidnapped, Kocoum, her first husband, realized divorce was inevitable there was a form of divorce in Powhatan society. Once Powhatan was sent word that Pocahontas and Rolfe wanted to marry, his people would have considered Pocahontas and Kocoum divorced.
Powhatan consented to the proposed marriage and sent an uncle of Pocahontas' to represent him and her people at the wedding. In , Pocahontas converted to Christianity and was baptized "Rebecca.
The marriage led to the "Peace of Pocahontas;" a lull in the inevitable conflicts between the English and Powhatan Indians.
The Rolfes soon had a son named Thomas. The Virginia Company of London, who had funded the settling of Jamestown, decided to make use of the favorite daughter of the great Powhatan to their advantage.
They thought, as a Christian convert married to an Englishman, Pocahontas could encourage interest in Virginia and the company. Pocahontas, known as "Lady Rebecca Rolfe," was also accompanied by about a dozen Powhatan men and women.
Once in England, the party toured the country. Smith had not forgotten about Pocahontas and had even written a letter to Queen Anne describing all she had done to help the English in Jamestown's early years.
Pocahontas had been in England for months, though, before Smith visited her. He wrote that she was so overcome with emotion that she could not speak and turned away from him. Upon gaining her composure, Pocahontas reprimanded Smith for the manner in which he had treated her father and her people.
She reminded him how Powhatan had welcomed him as a son, how Smith had called him "father. She said the settlers had reported Smith had died after his accident, but that Powhatan had suspected otherwise as "your countrymen will lie much.
After traveling down the Thames River, Pocahontas, seriously ill, had to be taken ashore. In the town of Gravesend, Pocahontas died of an unspecified illness. Many historians believe she suffered from an upper respiratory ailment, such as pneumonia, while others think she could have died from some form of dysentery. Pocahontas, about twenty-one, was buried at St. George's Church on March 21, John Rolfe returned to Virginia, but left the young ailing Thomas with relatives in England.
Within a year, Powhatan died. The "Peace of Pocahontas" began to slowly unravel. Life for her people would never be the same. Daniel "Silver Star," based on the sacred oral history of the Mattaponi tribe, offers some further, and sometimes very different, insights into the real Pocahontas.
Pocahontas was the last child of Wahunsenaca Chief Powhatan and his first wife Pocahontas, his wife of choice and of love. Pocahontas' mother died during childbirth. Their daughter was given the name Matoaka which meant "flower between two streams. Wahunsenaca was devastated by the loss of his wife, but found joy in his daughter. He often called her Pocahontas, which meant "laughing and joyous one," since she reminded him of his beloved wife.
There was no question that she was his favorite and that the two had a special bond. Even so, Wahunsenaca thought it best to send her to be raised in the Mattaponi village rather than at his capital of Werowocomoco. She was raised by her aunts and cousins, who took care of her as if she were their own. Once Pocahontas was weaned, she returned to live with her father at Werowocomoco. Wahunsenaca had other children with Pocahontas' mother as well as with his alliance wives, but Pocahontas held a special place in her father's heart.
Pocahontas held a special love and respect for her father as well. All of the actions of Pocahontas or her father were motivated by their deep love for each other, their deep and strong bond. The love and bond between them never wavered.
Most of her older siblings were grown, as Wahunsenaca fathered Pocahontas later in his life. Many of her brothers and sisters held prominent positions within Powhatan society. Her family was very protective of her and saw to it that she was well looked after.
As a child, Pocahontas' life was very different than as an adult. The distinction between childhood and adulthood was visible through physical appearance as well as through behavior. Pocahontas would not have cut her hair or worn clothing until she came of age in winter she wore a covering to protect against the cold. There were also certain ceremonies she was not allowed to participate in or even witness.
Even as a child, the cultural standards of Powhatan society applied to her, and in fact, as the daughter of the paramount chief, more responsibility and discipline were expected of her.
Pocahontas also received more supervision and training; as Wahunsenaca's favorite daughter she probably had even more security, as well. The most famous event of Pocahontas' life, her rescue of Captain John Smith, did not happen the way he wrote it. Smith was exploring when he encountered a Powhatan hunting party.
A fight ensued, and Smith was captured by Opechancanough. Opechancanough, a younger brother of Wahunsenaca, took Smith from village to village to demonstrate to the Powhatan people that Smith, in particular, and the English, in general, were as human as they were.
The "rescue" was a ceremony, initiating Smith as another chief. It was a way to welcome Smith, and, by extension, all the English, into the Powhatan nation.
It was an important ceremony, so the quiakros would have played an integral role. Wahunsenaca truly liked Smith. He even offered a healthier location for the English, Capahowasick east of Werowocomoco. Smith's life was never in danger. As for Pocahontas, she would not have been present, as children were not allowed at religious rituals. Afterwards, Pocahontas would have considered Smith a leader and defender of the Powhatan people, as an allied chief of the English tribe.
She would have expected Smith to be loyal to her people, since he had pledged friendship to Wahunsenaca. In Powhatan society, one's word was one's bond. That bond was sacred. The English had been welcomed by the Powhatan people. To cement this new alliance, Wahunsenaca sent food to Jamestown during the winter of Doing so was the Powhatan way, as leaders acted for the good of the whole tribe. It was during these visits to the fort with food that Pocahontas became known to the English, as a symbol of peace.
Since she was still a child, she would not have been allowed to travel alone or without adequate protection and permission from her father. The tight security that surrounded Pocahontas at Jamestown, though often disguised, may have been how the English realized she was Wahunsenaca's favorite. Over time, relations between the Powhatan Indians and the English began to deteriorate. The settlers were aggressively demanding food that, due to summer droughts, could not be provided.
Wahunsenaca reprimanded Smith for English conduct, in general, and for Smith's own, in particular. He also expressed his desire for peace with the English. Wahunsenaca followed the Powhatan philosophy of gaining more through peaceful and respectful means than through war and force. According to Smith, during this visit Pocahontas again saved his life by running through the woods that night to warn him her father intended to kill him.
However, as in , Smith's life was not in danger. Pocahontas was still a child, and a very well protected and supervised one; it is unlikely she would have been able to provide such a warning. It would have gone against Powhatan cultural standards for children. If Wahunsenaca truly intended to kill Smith, Pocahontas could not have gotten past Smith's guards, let alone prevented his death.
As relations continued to worsen between the two peoples, Pocahontas stopped visiting, but the English did not forget her. Pocahontas had her coming of age ceremony, which symbolized that she was eligible for courtship and marriage.
This ceremony took place annually and boys and girls aged twelve to fourteen took part. Pocahontas' coming of age ceremony called a huskanasquaw for girls took place once she began to show signs of womanhood.
Since her mother was dead, her older sister Mattachanna oversaw the huskanasquaw , during which Wahunsenaca's daughter officially changed her name to Pocahontas. The ceremony itself was performed discreetly and more secretly than usual because the quiakros had heard rumors the English planned to kidnap Pocahontas. After the ceremony a powwow was held in celebration and thanksgiving. During the powwow, a courtship dance allowed single male warriors to search for a mate.
It was most likely during this dance that Pocahontas met Kocoum. After a courtship period, the two married. Wahunsenaca was happy with Pocahontas' choice, as Kocoum was not only the brother of a close friend of his, Chief Japazaw also called Iopassus of the Potowomac Patawomeck tribe, but was also one of his finest warriors.
He knew Pocahontas would be well protected. Rumors of the English wanting to kidnap Pocahontas resurfaced, so she and Kocoum moved to his home village. While there, Pocahontas gave birth to a son. Then, in , the long suspected English plan to kidnap Pocahontas was carried out. They had stronger technology, more powerful technology in terms of not only weapons, but shipping and book printing and compass making.
All the things that made it possible for Europe to come to the New World and conquer, and the lack of which made it impossible for Native Americans to move toward the Old World and conquer.
So Indians were facing extraordinarily daunting circumstances. Yet in the face of that, Pocahontas and so many others that we read about and study now showed extreme courage and cleverness, sometimes even brilliance in the strategizing that they used. So I think what will be the most important lesson is that she was braver, stronger and more interesting than the fictional Pocahontas.
During your extensive research what were some details that helped you get to know Pocahontas better? The documents that really jumped out at me were the notes that survived from John Smith. He was kidnapped by the Native Americans a few months after he got here. Eventually after questioning him, they released him. But while he was a prisoner among the Native Americans, we know he spent some time with Powhatan's daughter Pocahontas and that they were teaching each other some basic aspects of their languages.
And we know this because in his surviving notes are written sentences like "Tell Pocahontas to bring me three baskets. In one case English, in another case an Algonquian language. Literally in the fall of , sitting along some river somewhere, they said these actual sentences. She would repeat them in Algonquian, and he would write that down. That detail brought them both to life for me. Four hundred years after her death, her story is being told more accurately. What's changed? So that had to happen first.
So let's say by the mid to late '90s that had happened. Then more years had to go by. My Pocahontas book, for example, came out in Another historian wrote a serious segment about her that said much the same as I did just with less detail in Since the shift in mainstream scholarship is so recent, do you think going forward there's more to learn from her story? I think there's more to learn about her in the sense that it would help modern politics if more people understood what native peoples really went through both at the time of conquest and in the years after.
But when John Smith steps on to the scene, the King realizes that Ratcliffe has lied to him about everything: from Smith's death to there being gold in Virginia. The King now understands, but he confesses the Armada is about to sail.
Pocahontas, Uttamatomakkin, Smith, and Rolfe set out to stop the Armada. After the good guys knock most sailors overboard and cause the ships to crash together, Smith and Ratcliffe face off in a final swordfight. Smith wins and orders Ratcliffe to sheath his sword. Ratcliffe complies, but just as he does, he pulls a pistol on Smith and is about to shoot him dead when Rolfe and Pocahontas manage to trap Ratcliffe on a mast.
Smith then grabs his sword and cuts the rope, therefore throwing Ratcliffe overboard. He is met on shore by King James, who angrily has him arrested by his guards and dragged away, ignoring the governor's pleas. The next day, Smith is being decorated with praises and women, while Pocahontas tells Rolfe who became lord advisor to the royal court she plans to return home.
Rolfe and Pocahontas are hinting at admitting their mutually strong romantic feelings for each other when Smith interrupts, telling Pocahontas he's been given a ship of his own and that he wants to travel the world with her by his side. Rolfe, thinking that Pocahontas loves Smith, leaves dismayed. Pocahontas declines, explaining that she wants to return to her family.
Smith tells her that whatever path she chooses, he hopes that she will find happiness, and they part after he kisses her hand one last time, but when Pocahontas turns to find Rolfe, he is gone. Pocahontas leaves England the next day, saying goodbye to Mrs. Jenkins, who says Rolfe is nowhere to be found. Pocahontas is saddened that she cannot say goodbye to Rolfe and see him one last time. Uttamatomakkin is staying in England with Mrs. Jenkins instead of going home with Pocahontas.
As the ship leaves port, Rolfe reveals he is on board, and Pocahontas runs to his arms, happy to see him. Pocahontas reminds him about his duty to the King, but Rolfe says, "I have a duty to honor what is in my heart, Pocahontas," indicating that he resigned as adviser in order to stay and be with her. They share a romantic, passionate kiss as the ship sails into the sunset. The film was met with negative reviews from critics. Pocahontas did travel to England in , although at the time of her journey she had already been baptized and taken the Christian name Rebecca.
Furthermore, she was already married to John Rolfe at the time, as well as the mother of his son, Thomas. She traveled to England accompanied by Rolfe, her son, Uttamatomakin, and a retinue of Native American women. While in the film she appears to have stayed in England for about a week or two, she actually remained in England until her death in March John Rolfe was certainly in love with her, as expressed in letters he wrote, but it is unknown whether Pocahontas loved him in return, or if she simply saw their marriage as a political alliance.
The return voyage was halted before the ship made it to open sea as Pocahontas was too ill for them to continue; she died soon after and was buried at Gravesend, Kent on the Thames. Her son, Thomas, was also very sick but managed to survive and remained in London while his father continued on to Virginia.
Rolfe died before he saw his son again. In real life, Ratcliffe died in , seven years before Pocahontas came to England. She did encounter John Smith during her stay, but was angry with him for betraying the kin relationship that her father had established with him.
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