POCAHONTAS,THE BEGINNING..Pocahontas, was a member of the Algonquian tribe of Indians, the daughter of a powerful chief by the name of Powhatan. The year of her birth is uncertain, but it is thought to have occurred in 1595, although when the English colonists started building their settlement on their arrival in 1697, the colonist John Smith described her as being just "a child of tenne years old". The only account we have of the events which follow, is the one given later by Captain John Smith. In his statement he tells of his capture by a group of Powhatan's Indian hunters. He was then taken to Werowocomoco, one of the main villages of the Algonquian tribe, where he would have certainly been put to death, if it had not been for the quick action of Pocahontas. It appears that, after he had been welcomed and offered a great feast by Powhatan, the Indians grabbed him and just as they were on the point of clubbing him to death, a little girl rushed in. She then, in Smith's own words, took his "head in her arms and laid her owne upon his to save him from death". On being pulled to his feet by the little girl, the chief said that they were now friends.
ABOVE: POCAHONTAS. Smith did not write about his rescue by the little girl, until about nine years later, when in 1616, in a letter to Queen Anne, the wife of King James I, he related the story, when asking that Pocahontas should be treated with kindness and dignity during her stay in London. Historians have increasingly doubted the truthfullness of the story, and despite having published two books about Virginia earlier, nothing relating to this tale was in them. A similar tale of being captured by Turks in 1602, and then rescued by the timely intervention of a young girl, was written by John Smith in True Travels, and published in 1602. With the death of Pocahontas in 1622 and her father's death the following year, there was no-one left alive who could coroberate his story.
ABOVE: POCAHONTAS SAVES JOHN SMITH'S LIFE. It was an established fact however, that a friendship did develope between Pocahotas and the early English colonists, John Smith especially. She apparently admired him very much indeed and regularly accompanied the Indians in bringing food to the starving settlers. It was also a fact that their bringing so much provision to them undoubtedly saved many of their lives. Inevitably however, as the Jamestown Settlers started to expand further inland, the Powhatan Indians began to feel their lands were being threatened. Tensions heightened, relations with the Indians gradually worsened, and conflicts began again. Pocahontas's visits began to lessen and then stopped. It was about this time in 1609, that Smith was badly injured in a gunpowder explosion which forced him to depart for England, in order to seek medical attention. The settlers had intentionally let it be known, that her friend, Smith was dead. When word of his death reached the Indian Princess, she apparently believed the lie, until she herself travelled to England, many years later, now married to another Englishman, John Rolfe, to learn that Smith was not dead, but was very much alive and well. In 1613, the English Settlers began trading with the Patawomecks, an Indian tribe who lived by the Potomac River. It was whilst they were here, that they discovered that Pocahontas had been living with the tribe, under their care. They devised a plan in which they would kidnap her. When hostilities had re-ignited between the Jamestown Settlement and the Powhatans, the Indians had taken a number of English settlers, together with rifles and tools. Their plan was to kidnap Pocahontas and trade her in exchange for the Englishmen, the rifles and tools.They enlisted the help of the Patawomecks chief, Japazaws, to trick her into captivity. Word was then sent to Powhatan that his beloved daughter would be returned to him unharmed, in exchange for the prisoners, rifles and tools. Powhatan returned the prisoners, but only part of the weapons and tools, with a message to treat his daughter well. She remained a captive of the Settlers for about a year during which time she was taken to Henricus. Here it was that she began learning about the Christian Faith, taking up the Christian name Rebecca when she was baptized. She had already met the man she would marry during this time in Henrica. His name was John Rolfe, a very successfull English tobacco planter, who being a deeply religious man, worried greatly over the possible repercussions he faced by marrying a non Christian. A month before their wedding however, there was to be violence between her people and his. A year of stand off and violent confrontation came to a bloody end, when two small armies of Powhatan Indians and Jamestown Settlers clashed on the Pamunkey River. Several men were killed and the Settlers burned several Indian houses. It was decided to send Pocahontas to talk to her people. She is reputed to have told her father, that her value to him was" less than old swords, pieces or axes" reffering to the weapons and tools he would not exchange for his own daughter. She also spoke of her love for John Rolfe, and that she preferred to stay with the English. Powhatan gave his consent to the marriage. The Jamestown Settlers withdrew, happy with the peace the marriage would bring to the two opposing factions, and the prospect of a resolution of the full ransom. On 5th April 1614 they were married, and although the marriage did not succeed in winning the full ransom back, it did succeed in establishing peace between the Algonquian tribes and the Jamestown Settlers for many years to come. It would now appear to be the right time to attract more settlers and sponsors for the Jamestown Settlement in Virginia Next Page: Pocahontas in England
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