THE TRUTH ABOUT POCAHONTAS v. THE ROMANTIC MYTH

POKEY STATS

• Born in 1594?• Called Matoaka within her tribe (little wanton

plaything)• Born in village of Werewocomoco, located on

the north shore of the York River in modern-day VA

• Public name was Pocahontas

POWHATAN CONFEDERACY

• Pokey’s father was Powhatan, chief of a 32 tribe alliance since 1570

• Powhatan Confederacy was a well-organized, thriving agricultural and fishing nation with a population of about 9K the year Pokey was born

CULTURES MEET

• Matoaka was about 12 when the English arrived in 1607

• The English had of course come to establish Jamestown colony

• One of the Englishmen was the legendary John Smith

NICE TO MEET YA!

• Smith supposedly took a war party to attack an Indian village

• In a ferocious fight, Smith was captured by the Indians• Matoaka was excited to hear this because she had never

seen a white man before• Supposedly Pokey dressed the next day in her finest

clothes• Pokey looked at Smith and told one of her brothers that

he was the most handsome man she had ever seen

TRIAL TIME

• The Indians told Chief Powhatan that Smith had killed two of their braves with fire sticks

• John stated that the Indians had killed two of his men 1st

• Powhatan told Smith to be quiet and prepare for his own execution

EXECUTION?

• The next day the Indians tied Smith to an execution stone

• John was about to be terminated when Pokey supposedly ran to Smith and put her head on top of his

• She yelled, “I claim John Smith!”

REALITY?

• This may have been part of a traditional Indian adoption ceremony

• It was unlikely that Smith was ever in danger

• However, it is possible that without Pocahontas being there, he might have been put to death

• The event may simply have been a figment of Smith’s imagination

SETTLE DOWN!

• Powhatan could not execute Smith because he was now Pokey’s property

• Powhatan explained that Smith had to stay with Pocahontas in the village

• Smith’s village time allowed him to become good friends with Pocahontas

ADOPTION• One day some braves took Smith

to a hut and told him to stay there• The next day Powhatan came with

200+ braves• The chief was all decked out in

black war paint• He said, “John Smith, now that my

daughter has claimed you, I have decided to adopt you!”

• Smith’s equipment was promptly returned and he was told to return to Jamestown

WINTER COMES

• When the weather became harsh, Pokey worried about the Englishmen and asked her dad if she could take some extra food to Jamestown

• Pocahontas and an entourage of young girls carried baskets of corn

• When they got to the stockade, the huge doors opened and a man stepped out with a gun at his shoulder

• All of the maidens ran away in fear except Pocahontas

WE MEET AGAIN

• Behind the first man came another man• It was Smith• Pocahontas was thrilled to see him• After staring at Smith for a while, she said that

they had brought enough food to last the winter

• Smith thanked her profusely and she ran home

TEEN DRAMA?

• After that Pokey visited Jamestown often until Powhatan banned her from the village

• Pocahontas started to cry as she asked why• Powhatan said that more white men were

moving onto Indian land and taking over his villages

POWHATAN’S PLAN

• Supposedly Pocahontas heard her father’s later meeting with his war council

• He was finalizing details of a plan to invite the English to a feast and attack them while they were eating

• Another story says Jamestown was to be attacked during the night

• Matoaka ran away crying after hearing about the plot

LITTLE SELLOUT

• That night Pokey sneaked over to Smith’s camp by the river

• Through her tears, she told John everything that her father was planning

• That was the last time the two ever saw each other in the New World

JOHN TAKES OFF

• Several weeks later Smith was injured while sleeping

• A powder bag exploded and tore flesh from his body and thighs

• To quench the fire, he jumped into the river near what is today Richmond

• He was taken back to England for medical treatment

While the cat’s away…

• After Smith returned to Europe for medical treatment, there is no information about the Indian maiden for several years

• She may have married an Indian called Kocoum

• During this time she probably had no contact with the English who were at war with her father

EYE FOR AN EYE

• One night Powhatan took some braves to Jamestown and captured two men

• When Pokey found out, she was angry with her father

• She needed to talk to someone• So she went to a nearby Indian village and

talked with her friend who was the chief there

Everyone has a price!

• After she left, some Englishmen came to the chief with a huge copper pot

• The Englishmen told the chief that they would trade the pot for Pocahontas

• The thought was that they could then trade the Indian princess for men that the Indians had captured

• The chief agreed to the evil plot and said that he would convince Pokey to go on a tour of an English ship

BETRAYAL

• The next day the chief went to Werewocomoco and found Pocahontas

• She went with the chief in his canoe back to the ship

• While she was in Captain Samuel Argall’s quarters, the chief got back in his canoe and left Pocahontas

RANSOM

• The English leader sent a letter to Powhatan saying that he had to give the captives back their weapons and set them free or he would never see his daughter again

• Powhatan freed the men without their weapons so the English retained Pokey

BRAINWASHED

• Argall took her to Jamestown where she mastered the English language and became baptized in the Christian religion

• Her new name was Rebecca• She supposedly soon met the rich planter John Rolfe

and fell in love• Rolfe asked Jamestown governor Thomas Dale for

permission to marry Rebecca• Dale agreed because he thought it would benefit

Jamestown

• The Virginia Company recognized Pocahontas’s propaganda value as an example of:– English-Indian harmony, – of missionary success – and as proof that savages could be converted to

English ways

ON TOUR• To attract new settlers and fresh

capital, the company in 1616 brought the Rolfe family, including one-year old Thomas and 12 more Indians to England

• The arrival was well-publicized• She was presented to James I,

the royal family and the best of London society

• After being presented at court, she had her portrait made

REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD

• Also in London at this time was her old friend Captain John Smith, who she had not seen in 8 years and whom she believed was dead

• According to Smith, at their meeting, she was at first too overcome with emotion to speak

• After composing herself, Pokey talked of old times

• At one point she addressed him as father and he objected

KILLING THE ROMANTIC MYTH ONCE AND FOR ALL

• “Were you not afraid to come into my father’s country, and caused fear in him and all of his people and here you are afraid of me calling you father. I tell you I will and you shall call me child and so I shall be forever and ever your countryman.”

• This was their last meeting

WE ARE FAMILY

• After 7 months, Rolfe decided to take his family back to Virginia

• In March 1617 they set sail• It was obvious that Pocahontas would not

survive the journey home• She was seriously ill with tuberculosis,

pneumonia or smallpox

SAYING GOODBYE

• She was taken ashore and as she lay dying said to Rolfe, “All must die. Tis enough that the child liveth.”

• She was buried in a churchyard in Gravesend, England

• She was 22 years old?

POKEY’S IMPORTANCE

• Pocahontas played a significant role in American History

• As a compassionate little girl, she saw to it that the colonists received food from the Indians, so that Jamestown would not become another Roanoke

• She is said to have intervened many times to protect the lives of the colonists

REMEMBER THIS!

• In 1616, Smith wrote that “Pocahontas was the instrument to preserve this colony from death, famine and utter confusion.”

• Pocahontas not only served as a representative of the Virginia Indians but also as a vital link between the Indians and the English

Be a skeptic!

• Today, thanks to the wonders of two Walt Disney films, Pocahontas is often romantically linked with Smith

• That is unlikely!• The story of Smith’s rescue by the Indian princess did

not appear in any of the books Smith wrote about his Virginia adventures until 1624

• Since that time, people have questioned whether Smith was rescued from certain death or if he was simply making up stories to sell books

TALK ABOUT IRONY!

• With the death of Pocahontas and soon after Chief Powhatan, the fragile peace between the colonists and Indians eroded

• Ironically, the Indians’ major grievance was the colonists’ insatiable appetite for the special tobacco mixture introduced by John Rolfe