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Pocahontas
 

Pocahontas (c. 1595 – March 21 1617) was a Native American woman who married an Englishman, John Rolfe, and became a celebrity in London toward the end of her life. She was a daughter of Wahunsunacock (also known as Powhatan), who ruled an area encompassing almost all of the neighbouring tribes in the Tidewater region of Virginia (called Tenakomakah at the time). Her formal names were Matoaka and AmonutePrice, Love and Hate, p. 66.; 'Pocahontas' was a childhood nickname referring to her frolicsome nature (in the Powhatan language it meant "little wanton", according to William StracheyStrachey, Historie, p. 111). When she was baptized, her name was changed to Rebecca.

Pocahontas's life has formed the basis of many legends. Because she never learned to write, everything now known about her was transmitted to later generations by others, so that the thoughts, feelings, and motives of the historical Pocahontas remain largely unknown. Her story became the source of much romantic myth-making in the centuries following her death, including the Disney movie Pocahontas and the recent Terrence Malick film The New World.

Life

Little is known about Pocahontas's early childhood. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan by one of his many wives and was brought up in his household; her mother was sent away after giving birth to her, as was traditional with Powhatan's wives.Price, Love and Hate. p. 154.

Relationship with John Smith

The records of the Jamestown settlers indicate that Pocahontas had a friendship of some kind with Captain John Smith, and may have saved him from death more than once. The exact nature of their relationship is open to debate due to the sparse historical records and the lack of Pocahontas's own voice. The relationship has been romanticized in subsequent fictionalized retellings.

In 1607, when the English colonists arrived in Virginia and began building settlements, Pocahontas was about 10 or 12 years oldSmith, True Relation, p. 93., and her father was the leader of the Powhatan Confederacy. One of the leading colonists, John Smith, was captured by a group of Powhatan hunters and brought to Werowocomoco, one of the chief villages of the Powhatan Empire. According to Smith, he was laid across a stone and was about to be executed, when Pocahontas threw herself across his bodySmith, Generall Historie: "at the minute of my execution, she hazarded risked the beating out of her own brains to save mine; and not only that, but so prevailed with her father, that I was safely conducted to Jamestown".Smith. Letter to Queen Anne.

Smith's version of events is the only source, and since the 1860s, skepticism has increasingly been expressed about its veracity. One reason for such doubt is that despite having published two earlier books about Virginia, Smith's earliest surviving account of his rescue by Pocahontas dates from 1616, nearly 10 years later, in a letter entreating Queen Anne to treat Pocahontas with dignity Smith. Letter to Queen Anne.. The time gap in publishing his story raises the possibility that Smith may have exaggerated or invented the event to enhance Pocahontas's image. However, in a recent book, J.A.O. Lemay points out that Smith's earlier writing was primarily geographical and ethnographic in nature and did not dwell on his personal experiences, hence there was no reason for him to write down the story until this point.Lemay. Did Pocahontas, p. 25. Lemay's other arguments in favour of Smith are summarised in Birchfield, 'Did Pocahontas'.

Some experts have suggested that Smith did experience what he thought to be a rescue, but that he was actually involved in a ritual intended to symbolise his death and rebirth as a member of the tribe Gleach, Powhatan's World, pp. 118-21.; Kupperman, Indians and English, pp. 114, 174.. However, in Love and Hate in Jamestown, David A. Price points out that this is only guesswork, since little is known of Powhatan rituals, and there is no evidence for any similar rituals among other North American tribes (p. 243-4).

Whatever really happened, a friendly relationship with Smith and the Jamestown colony was initiated, and Pocahontas would often come to the settlement and play games with the boys there.Strachey, Historie, p. 65 However, as the colonists expanded further, some of the Native Americans felt that their lands were threatened, and conflicts began to occur again.

In 1608, Pocahontas apparently saved Smith a second time. Smith and some other colonists were invited to Werowocomoco by Chief Powhatan on friendly terms, but Pocahontas came to the hut where the English were staying and warned them that Powhatan was planning to kill them. Thanks to this warning, the English stayed on their guard, and the attack never came.Symonds, Proceedings, pp. 251-2; Smith, Generall Historie, pp. 198-9, 259.

An injury from a gunpowder explosion forced Smith to return to England in 1609. The English told the natives that Smith was dead; Pocahontas believed this for many years until she arrived in England several years later.Smith, Generall Historie, 261.

There is no suggestion in any of the historical records that Smith and Pocahontas were lovers; this romantic version of the story appears only in fictionalized versions of their relationship, in which Pocahontas is made to appear older than she really was. According to Smith, when she met him again in London, Pocahontas called him 'father'.Smith, Generall Historie, p. 261.

Kidnap

According to William Strachey, Pocahontas married a Powhatan warrior called Kocoum at some point before 1612; nothing more is known about this marriage.Strachey, Historie, p. 54.

In March, 1613, Pocahontas was residing at Passapatanzy, a village of the Patowomec (or Potomac) people, who lived on the Potomac River about a hundred miles from Werowocomoco. It is not known why she was there. Two English colonists began trading with the Patawomec and discovered Pocahontas's presence. With the help of the Patawomec chief, Japazeus, they tricked Pocahontas into captivity. Their purpose, as they explained in a letter, was to ransom her for some English prisoners held by Chief Powhatan, along with various weapons and tools that the Powhatans had stolen.Argall, Letter to Nicholas Hawes. p. 754.. Powhatan returned the prisoners, but failed to satisfy the colonists with the amount of weapons and tools he returned, and a long standoff ensued.

During the year-long wait, Pocahontas was kept at Henricus, in modern-day Chesterfield County. Little is known about her life there although colonist Ralph Hamor wrote that she received "extraordinary courteous usage."Hamor, True Discourse, p. 804. An English minister, Alexander Whitaker, taught her about Christianity and helped improve her English. She was baptized and her name changed to Rebecca.

In March, 1614, the standoff built to a violent confrontation between hundreds of English and Powhatan men on the Pamunkey River. At the Powhatan town of Matchcot, the English encountered a group that included some of the senior Powhatan leaders (but not Chief Powhatan himself, who was away). The English permitted Pocahontas to talk to her countrymen. However, according to the deputy governor, Thomas Dale, Pocahontas rebuked her absent father for valuing her "less than old swords, pieces, or axes" and told them that she preferred to live with the English.Dale, Letter to 'D.M.', p. 843-44.

Marriage to John Rolfe

During her stay in Henricus, Pocahontas met John Rolfe, who fell in love with her. Rolfe, whose English-born wife had died, had successfully cultivated a new strain of tobacco in Virginia and spent much of his time there tending to his crop. He was a pious man who agonized over the potential moral repercussions of marrying a heathen. In a long letter to the governor requesting permission to wed her, he expressed both his love for her, and his belief that he would be saving her soul: he claimed he was not motivated by

"the unbridled desire of carnal affection, but for the good of this plantation, for the honor of our country, for the Glory of God, for my own salvation, and for the converting to the true knowledge of God and Jesus Christ an unbelieving creature, namely Pocahontas, to whom my hearty and best thoughts are, and have been a long time so entangled, and enthralled in so intricate a labyrinth that I was even a-wearied to unwind myself thereout." Rolfe. Letter to Thomas Dale. p. 851.
Pocahontas's own feelings about Rolfe and the marriage are unknown.

The marriage took place in April 1614. After marriage, her name was changed to Rebecca Rolfe. For several years, the couple lived together at Rolfe's plantation, Varina Farms, which was located across the James River from the new community of Henricus. They conceived a child, Thomas Rolfe.

Their marriage was unsuccessful in winning the English captives back, but it did create a climate of peace between the Jamestown colonists and Powhatan's tribes for several years; in 1615, Ralph Hamor wrote that ever since the wedding "we have had friendly commerce and trade not only with Powhatan but also with his subjects round about us".Hamor. True Discourse. p. 809.

Journey to England and death

The Virginia Colony's sponsors found it difficult to lure new colonists to Jamestown, and to find investors for such ventures and so used Pocahontas as a marketing ploy to convince people back in Europe that the New World's natives could be tamed, and the colony made safe.Price, Love and Hate. p. 163. In 1616, The Rolfes traveled to England, arriving at the port of Plymouth and then journeying to London by coach in June, 1616. They were accompanied by a group of around eleven other Powhatan natives including Tomocomo, a holy man.Dale. Letter to Sir Ralph Winwood. p. 878.

John Smith was living in London at the time, and in Plymouth, Pocahontas learned that he was still aliveSmith, General History. p. 261.. Smith did not meet Pocahontas at this point, but he wrote a letter to Queen Anne urging that Pocahontas be treated with respect as a royal visitor, not as a freak, because if she was treated badly, her "present love to us and Christianity might turn to ... scorn and fury", and England might lose the chance to "rightly have a Kingdom by her means". Smith. Letter to Queen Anne.

Pocahontas was entertained at various society gatherings. There is no evidence that she was formally presented to King James's court, but on January 5, 1617 she and Tomocomo were brought before the King at the Banqueting House in Whitehall Palace at a performance of Ben Jonson's masque The Vision of Delight. According to Smith, King James was so unprepossessing that neither of the Natives realized who they had met until it was explained to them afterward.Smith, General History. p. 261.

Pocahontas and Rolfe lived in the suburb of Brentford for some time. In early 1617, Smith visited them. According to Smith, when Pocahontas saw him "without any words, she turned about, obscured her face, as not seeming well contented". Later, they spoke more, and she told him that she would be "for ever and ever your countryman".Smith, General History. p. 261.

In March 1617, Rolfe and Pocahontas boarded a ship to return to Virginia. However, the ship had only gone as far as Gravesend on the River Thames when Pocahontas became ill. The nature of the illness is unknown, but since she had been described as sensitive to London's smoky air, pneumonia or tuberculosis are likely.Price, Love and Hate. p. 182. She was taken ashore and died. According to Rolfe, her last words were "All must die. 'Tis enough that the child liveth" Rolfe. Letter to Edwin Sandys. p. 71.. Her funeral took place on March 21, 1617 in the parish of Saint George's, Gravesend. Her memory is recorded in Gravesend with a life-size bronze statue at St George's Church. http://www.gravesham.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=2777 Rolfe returned to Virginia without her.

Descendants

Rebecca and John Rolfe had only one child, Thomas Rolfe, who was born at Varina Farms before his parents left for England. Through this son, she has living descendants. Many First Families of Virginia trace their roots to Pocahontas and Chief Powhatan through her son, Thomas Rolfe, and his descendants. Notable individuals include Edith Wilson, wife of Woodrow Wilson, and George Wythe Randolph.

Some genealogists have claimed that the Bush family (including US presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush) are descended from Pocahontas . Other genealogists say that this is a mistake, based on an assumption that Robert Bolling Jr. (a 10th generation ancestor of George W. Bush) was the son of Robert Bolling and Jane Rolfe (granddaughter of Pocahontas). Since Jane Rolfe Bolling died in 1676, six years before the birth of Robert Bolling Jr., the latter was evidently the son of Anne Stith, whom his father married after Jane Rolfe's death. The Bush family, therefore, is not descended from Pocahontas.

Title and status

Pocahontas is commonly referred to as an 'Indian princess' in contemporary and modern writing about her, however there is debate whether she actually merits the title or style of 'Princess'.

Status among the Powhatan

Pocahontas was the daughter of Wahunsunacock or Wahunsenacawh (spellings vary), chief or leader of the Native American confederation who are now known as the Powhatan. Wahunsunacock referred to himself as 'Powhatan', and thus is commonly known in English as Chief Powhatan, but 'Powhatan' was not a personal name, but a title. As John Smith explained in A Map of Virginia, "Their chiefe ruler is called Powhatan, and taketh his name of the principall place of dwelling called Powhatan. But his proper name is Wahunsonacock." Wahunsunacock was not only the chief of his own people; he also ruled numerous neighbouring peoples in the tidewater region of Virginia (known in his own language as Tenakomakah). The native inhabitants of Tenakomakah thus considered Wahunsunacock to be the supreme ruler of a significant area and to merit recognition as such.

However, although the young Pocahontas was a favorite of her powerful father - his "delight and darling" according to one of the colonists Hamor, True Discourse. p. 802 - it is not certain that her society regarded her to have a high social rank. This is because Powhatan society was structured differently to that of Europe. While women could inherit power in Powhatan society, Pocahontas herself could not have done so, because the inheritance of power was matrilineal. In A Map of Virginia John Smith explains:

"His kingdome descendeth not to his sonnes nor children: but first to his brethren [i.e. his brothers, whereof he hath 3 namely Opitchapan, Opechancanough, and Catataugh; and after their decease to his sisters. First to the eldest sister, then to the rest: and after them to the heires male and female of the eldest sister; but never to the heires of the males."
Because of this, Pocahontas, as daughter of Wahunsunacock, would not have inherited his power under any circumstances. Furthermore, her mother's status was probably lowly. In his Relation of Virginia (1609), Henry Spelman explains that Wahunsunacock had many wives and always sent them away after they had given birth to their first child, so that they resumed their commoner status.Spelman, Relation. 1609. It is not certain whether Pocahontas's status was regarded as equal only to her mother's.

Status among the English

Regardless of the exact nature of Pocahontas's status among the Powhatan, it is clear that many English people regarded her as a princess in the European sense. One example of a contemporary English view is the 1616 engraving of Pocahontas (see above) the inscription to which reads "MATOAKA ALS REBECCA FILIA POTENTISS : PRINC : POWHATANI IMP:VIRGINIÆ". This translates as: "Matoaka, alias Rebecca, daughter of (filia) the most powerful (potentissprince (princ*)" target="_blank" >of Virginia." Thus, at least some contemporary English recognised Wahunsunacock as ruler of an empire, and presumably accorded what they considered as appropriate status to Pocahontas (Matoaka). This is supported by Captain John Smith's 1616 letter of recommendation to Queen Anne (King James' wife) concerning Pocahontas, which refers to "Powhatan their chief King". Smith. [http://members.aol.com/mayflo1620/pocahontas.html Letter to Queen Anne.. Samuel Purchas recalled Pocahontas in London, saying that she impressed those she met because she "carried her selfe as the daughter of a king".Purchas, Hakluytus Posthumus. Vol. 19 p. 118. A more ambivalent English view of Wahunsunacock's status can be seen in the description of him as a "barbarous prince" by Lord Carew on 20th June 1616 (as reported by Charles Dudley Warner in his essay on PocahontasWarner, Captain John Smith, 1881. Repr. in Captain John Smith Project Gutenberg Text, accessed 4 July, 2006).

There is no evidence that Pocahonatas was formally presented to King James and his court, but she was introduced to him at a masque, at which the letter-writer John Chamberlain recorded that she was "well placed" - that is, given a good seat that suited her status Qtd. in Herford and Simpson, eds. Ben Jonson, vol. 10, 568-9.. Furthermore, Purchas recorded that the Bishop of London "entertained her with festival state and pomp beyond what I have seen in his greate hospitalitie afforded to other ladies".Purchas, Hakluytus Posthumus. Vol. 19, p. 118.

Because the Powhatan lands were later forcibly seized by the English without permission or payment, the validity of native governmental systems was later downplayed by the colonizing Europeans, and the use of terms such as 'Emperor' and 'Princess' became rare.

Posthumous mythologizing

After her death, increasingly fanciful and romanticized representations of Pocahontas were produced. The only contemporary portrait of Pocahontas is Simon Van de Passe's copperplate engraving of 1616. In this portrait, her Native American facial structure is clear, despite her European clothing. Later portraits often 'Europeanized' her appearance.

Subsequent images and reworkings of Pocahontas's story presented her as an emblem of the potential of Native American for being assimilated into European society. For example, the United States Capitol prominently displays an 1840 painting by John Chapman, The Baptism of Pocahontas, in the Rotunda. A government pamphlet, entitled The Picture of the Baptism of Pocahontas, explaining the characters in the painting, congratulating the Jamestown settlers for introducing Christianity to the "heathen savages", and thus showing that the settlers did not simply "exterminate the ancient proprietors of the soil, and usurp their possessions".

The Pocahontas story became increasingly romanticized, with her 'rescue' of Smith beginning a love story between the two. Because her marriage to Rolfe did not fit this interpretation, at least one author, John R. Musick, retold the story to "clarify" the relationship between the three . In Musick's account, Rolfe is a back-stabbing liar who, seeing the opportunity to marry "royalty," tells the "Indian princess" Pocahontas that her true love, Smith, is dead. She then reluctantly agrees to marry Rolfe. After the two begin preparations to leave for England, Pocahontas encounters Smith, still alive. Overcome by emotion and recollections, she dies of a broken heart three days later.

In recent years, Pocahontas has been seen less as an image of idealized assimilation, and more as an image of the perceived superiority of traditional Native American values over western ones. The Walt Disney Company's 1995 animated feature Pocahontas presents a highly-romanticized and fictional view of a love affair between Pocahontas and John Smith, but in this version, Pocahontas teaches Smith the value of respect for nature. The sequel, Journey to a New World, loosely depicts her journey to England. In Terrence Malick's film The New World, an attempt at greater historical accuracy, Pocahontas (Q'Orianka Kilcher) and Smith (Colin Farrell) are still depicted as lovers. See Pocahontas (movie) for a list of films about the story.

Namesakes

Several places and landmarks take their name from Pocahontas.

In Henrico County, Virginia, where Pocahontas and John Rolfe lived together at the Varina Farms Plantation, a middle school has been named after each of them. Pocahontas Middle School and John Rolfe Middle School thus reunite the historic couple in the local educational system -- Henrico being one of 5 remaining original shires that date to the early 17th century of the Virginia Colony.

Notes

Citations

Works cited

  • Argall, Samuel. Letter to Nicholas Hawes. June 1613. Repr. in Jamestown Narratives, ed. Edward Wright Haile. Champlain, VA: Roundhouse, 1998. p. 754.
  • Dale, Thomas. Letter to 'D.M.' 1614. Repr. in Jamestown Narratives, ed. Edward Wright Haile. Champlain, VA: Roundhouse, 1998. p. 843-44.
  • Dale, Thomas. Letter to Sir Ralph Winwood. 3 June 1616. Repr. in Jamestown Narratives, ed. Edward Wright Haile. Champlain, VA: Roundhouse, 1998. p. 878.
  • Gleach, Frederic W. Powhatan's World and Colonial Virginia. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.
  • Hamor, Ralph. A True Discourse of the Present Estate of Virginia. 1615. Repr. in Jamestown Narratives, ed. Edward Wright Haile. Champlain, VA: Roundhouse, 1998. p. 804.
  • Herford, C.H. and Percy Simpson, eds. Ben Jonson (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1925-52).
  • Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. Indians and English: Facing Off in Early America. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000. 114, 174.
  • Lemay, J.A. Leo. Did Pocahontas Save Captain John Smith? Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press, 1992, p. 25.
  • Price, David A. Love and Hate in Jamestown. New York: Vintage, 2003.
  • Purchas, Samuel. Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrimes. 1625. Repr. Glasgow: James MacLehose, 1905-7. vol. 19, p. 118.
  • Rolfe, John. Letter to Thomas Dale. 1614. Repr. in Jamestown Narratives, ed. Edward Wright Haile. Champlain, VA: Roundhouse, 1998. p. 851.
  • Rolfe, John. Letter to Edwin Sandys. June 8, 1617. Repr. in The Records of the Virginia Company of London, ed. Susan Myra Kingsbuy. Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1906-1935. Vol. 3, p. 71.
  • Smith, John. A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Noate as hath Hapned in Virginia. 1608. * Repr. in The Complete Works of John Smith (1580-1631). Ed. Philip L. Barbour. Chapel Hill: University Press of Virginia, 1983. Vol. 1, pp.27-97.
  • Smith, John. A Map of Virginia. 1612. * Repr. in The Complete Works of John Smith (1580-1631). Ed. Philip L. Barbour. Chapel Hill: University Press of Virginia, 1983. Vol. 1, pp. 305-63.
  • Smith, John. Letter to Queen Anne. 1616. Repr. as 'John Smith's Letter to Queen Anne regarding Pocahontas'. Caleb Johnson's Mayflower Web Pages. 1997. Accessed 23 April, 2006.
  • Smith, John. The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles. 1624. Repr. in Jamestown Narratives, ed. Edward Wright Haile. Champlain, VA: Roundhouse, 1998. pp. 198-9, 259.
  • Spelman, Henry. A Relation of Virginia. 1609. Repr. in Jamestown Narratives, ed. Edward Wright Haile. Champlain, VA: Roundhouse, 1998. pp. 488-9.
  • Strachey, William. The Historie of Travaile into Virginia Brittania. c1612. Repr. Boston: Elibron Classics, 2001.
  • Symonds, William. The Proceedings of the English Colonie in Virginia. 1612. Repr. in The Complete Works of Captain John Smith. Ed. Philip L. Barbour. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986. Vol. 1, pp. 251-2
  • Warner, Charles Dudley. Captain John Smith, 1881. Repr. in Captain John Smith Project Gutenberg Text, accessed 4 July, 2006

Further reading

  • Barbour, Philip L. Pocahontas and Her World. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1970. ISBN 0709121881
  • Neill, Rev. Edward D. Pocahontas and Her Companions. Albany: Joel Munsell, 1869.
  • Price, David A. Love and Hate in Jamestown. Alfred A. Knopf, 2003 ISBN 0375415416
  • Rountree, Helen C. Pocahontas's People: The Powhatan Indians of Virginia Through Four Centuries. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990. ISBN 0806122803
  • Sandall, Roger. 2001 The Culture Cult: Designer Tribalism and Other Essays ISBN 0813338638
  • Warner Charles Dudley, Captain John Smith, 1881. Repr. in Captain John Smith Project Gutenberg Text, accessed 4 July, 2006
  • Warner Charles Dudley, The Story of Pocahontas, Repr. in The Story of Pocahontas Project Gutenberg Text, accessed 4 July, 2006
  • Woodward, Grace Steele. Pocahontas. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1969. ISBN 0806108355 or ISBN 0806116420

External links

"A True Relation of Occurrences and Accidents in Virginia," by John Smith, 1608; and
"A Map of Virginia, with a Description of its Commodities, People, Government, and Religion," by John Smith, 1612.

1595 births | 1617 deaths | American folklore | Gravesham | Native American women | People from Virginia | Powhatan Confederacy

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Pocahontas".

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