Pocahontas and the Jamestown settlers: 1607

The Four Images of Pocahontas (From the Virginia State Archives)

     Pocahontas was twelve years old when history was changed by the arrival of three English ships to the new world. The Englishmen on the ships came to start a new colony. The new colony was Jamestown. One of the Englishmen who came to the new world was John Smith.

     John Smith canoed up a river one day. He was going to an Indian village to attack them. The Indians captured him and sent a message to the chief of all the little villages, (Powhatan, Pocahontas' father -- Chief of the Algonquin Nations) telling him they were going to bring an Englishmen the next day. Pocahontas was excited because she had never seen a white man before.

     The next day Pocahontas dressed in her nicest clothes. When the Indians came with John Smith, Pocahontas saw him and thought that he was the most handsome man she had ever seen.

     The Indians told Powhatan that John Smith had killed two of their braves with fire sticks. John Smith said that the Indians had killed two of his men first. Powhatan told John Smith to be quiet and said that he would be killed for the Indian braves' lives. The next day the Indians put John Smith's head on a stone. Powhatan was about to kill John Smith when Pocahontas ran to John Smith and put her head on top of his. She yelled, "I claim John Smith!"

          The following is John Smith's own account of this incident, written by him in his "General Historie" published in 1624:

"Having feasted him . . . A long consultation was held, but the conclusion was, two great stones were brought before Powhatan: then as many as could lay hands on him, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head, and being ready with their clubs, to beate out his braines, Pocahontas the Kings dearest daughter, when no intreaty could prevaile, got his head in her armes, and laid her owne upon his to save him from death: whereat the Emperour [Powhatan] was contented he should live to make him hatchets, and her bells, beads, and copper . . ."

     Powhatan could not kill John Smith because he was now Pocahontas'. Powhatan explained that John Smith was owned by Pocahontas and had to stay with Pocahontas in their village. John Smith said he understood and Powhatan let him go. The time that John Smith was in Powhatan's village he and Pocahontas became good friends.

     One day some braves took John Smith to a hut. A day after he was put in the hut Powhatan came with 200 Indians. He was painted in black war paint. He said, "John Smith, now that my daughter has claimed you I have decided to adopt you." After he said this he gave John Smith his equipment and told him to go back to Jamestown.

     When winter came Pocahontas worried about John Smith so she asked her father if she could take food to the Englishmen. Powhatan thought that the tribe had enough food for the winter, and extra, so he decided to let her. Pocahontas took many young girls with baskets of corn on their backs. When they got to Jamestown the huge doors opened and a man stepped out with a gun over his shoulder. All the girls ran leaving the baskets behind.

     Behind the first man came another man, it was John Smith. Pocahontas was so happy to see him. After staring at John Smith for a while she said they had brought enough food to last the winter. John Smith thanked Pocahontas and she ran home.

     After that Pocahontas visited Jamestown often until Powhatan banned her from Jamestown. Pocahontas started to cry as she asked, "Why?" Powhatan said that more Englishmen were moving to the Island and taking over his villages. He also said something very important. He said that they were going to give a lot of food to the Englishmen for a feast and while the Englishmen were eating they would attack them. Pocahontas ran off crying after he finished.

     That night she sneaked over to the John Smith's camp by the river and woke him up (they were camping there because they traded with Powhatan's village). They wanted to leave but they couldn't because of the high tide). Pocahontas was crying as she told him everything her father told her.

     The next day the Indians brought food just like Pocahontas told John Smith. But even before the Indians came John Smith and his men had already set sail because the tide had gone. A couple of weeks after this John Smith was wounded by a gun powder explosion and went back to London. Pocahontas was disappointed.

     One night Powhatan took some braves to Jamestown and captured two Englishmen and took their guns from their tent. When Pocahontas found out she was even more disappointed than she was already. She had to talk to someone, so she went to another Indian village and talked to the chief there (she knew the chief). She talked to the chief about what had been happening and how she felt about it. After Pocahontas left, some Englishmen in canoes came to the chief with a huge copper pot. The Englishmen told the chief that he would trade the pot for Pocahontas. The Englishmen explained that if they had Pocahontas then maybe Powhatan would trade the captured Englishmen for Pocahontas. The chief agreed to the offer. He said he would tell Pocahontas that he was going to take her to the English ship for a tour and leave in his canoe.

     The next day the chief went to Powhatan's village and found Pocahontas. Pocahontas went with the chief in his canoe to the ship. When Pocahontas went into the captain's office, the chief got back in his canoe and left Pocahontas on the ship.

     The English leader sent a message to Powhatan saying that he had to give the Englishmen back their weapons and set them free or he would never see his daughter again. Powhatan sent the Englishmen but not their weapons. So the English kept Pocahontas.

     While Pocahontas was in Jamestown she learned the English language -- she became the first Native American in America to convert to Christianity. She was baptized an Anglican and given the name Rebecca. When Pocahontas first arrived in Jamestown John Rolfe saw her and fell in love instantly. Pocahontas fell in love with him too and they became more in love as they knew more about each other. In 1614 John Rolfe and Pocahontas were married. This brought peace between the English and the Indians. (As far as we can determine, Pocahontas was 19 at this time. NOT a "child-bride").

     In 1615 more happiness came to Pocahontas and John Rolfe. Pocahontas had a son. They named him Thomas. A little while after Thomas was born John Rolfe had to go to London on a business trip. He took Pocahontas and Thomas with him and showed them almost all of London. Pocahontas met the king and queen and after she did, she became homesick. John Rolfe had to stay in London a week longer and then they would go home.

     When they were sailing home they had to stop in a town close to London because Pocahontas was sick and had to see a doctor. The doctor said that Pocahontas had small pox and would surely die. She did died and was buried in the town they stopped in. She was only 22 years old.

     According to Native American lore, her parents knew her as "Amonte" and her secret clan name was "Matoaca." Her European Christian friends called her "Lady Rebecca." Many have revered her as the "mother" of our nation, the female counterpart to George Washington. Her face is on the Official Flag of Henry County, Virginia and the Official County Seal.

     John Rolfe went back to Jamestown and had Thomas live with a family that lived in the forest. When Thomas grew up he moved back to Jamestown and married an English woman. By that time his father had died.

     Thomas later moved to England, where he finished his education. He later returned to his mother's homeland, became a militia officer and commanded a frontier fort in western Henrico on the James River.