By 1609, drought, starvation and disease had ravaged the colonists and they became increasingly dependent on the Powhatan to survive. But relations between the colonists and the Indians remained strained. She occasionally brought the hungry settlers food and helped successfully negotiate the release of Powhatan prisoners in 1608. Pocahontas became known by the colonists as an important Powhatan emissary. ( Continue reading from Smithsonian Magazine) It’s even disputed whether or not Pocahontas, age 11 or 12, even rescued the mercantile soldier and explorer at all, as Smith might have misinterpreted what was actually a ritual ceremony or even just lifted the tale from a popular Scottish ballad.
But in actuality, Pocahontas’ life was much different than how Smith or mainstream culture tells it. This narrative of Pocahontas turning her back on her own people and allying with the English, thereby finding common ground between the two cultures, has endured for centuries. Years later-after no one was able to dispute the facts-John Smith wrote about how she, the beautiful daughter of a powerful native leader, rescued him, an English adventurer, from being executed by her father. Pocahontas was the favorite daughter of Powhatan, the formidable ruler of the more than 30 Algonquian-speaking tribes in and around the area that the early English settlers would claim as Jamestown, Virginia. Pocahontas was her nickname, which depending on who you ask means “playful one" or “ill-behaved child.” Born about 1596, her real name was Amonute, and she also had the more private name Matoaka. The so-called Indian Princess proved popular with the English gentry, and she was presented at the court of King James I.Pocahontas might be a household name, but the true story of her short but powerful life has been buried in myths that have persisted since the 17th century.To start with, Pocahontas wasn’t even her actual name. Their marriage brought a peace between the English colonists and the Powhatans, and in 1615 Pocahontas gave birth to their first child, Thomas. On April 5, 1614, Pocahontas and John Rolfe married with the blessing of Chief Powhatan and the governor of Virginia. Powhatan eventually agreed to the terms for her release, but by then she had fallen in love with John Rolfe, who was about 10 years her senior. She converted to Christianity and was baptized Lady Rebecca. Gates treated her as a guest rather than a prisoner and encouraged her to learn English customs. Brought to Jamestown, she was put under the custody of Sir Thomas Gates, the marshal of Virginia. In the spring of 1613, English Captain Samuel Argall took Pocahontas hostage, hoping to use her to negotiate a permanent peace with her father. READ MORE: What Was Life Like in Jamestown? Her real name was Matoaka, and Pocahontas was a pet name that has been translated variously as “playful one” and “my favorite daughter.”
Smith’s companions were killed, but he was spared and released, (according to a 1624 account by Smith) because of the dramatic intercession of Pocahontas, Chief Powhatan’s 13-year-old daughter. At the time, the Powhatan confederacy consisted of around 30 Tidewater-area tribes led by Chief Wahunsonacock, known as Chief Powhatan to the English. While exploring the Chickahominy River in December 1607, Smith and two colonists were captured by Powhatan warriors. The settlers fared badly because of famine, disease and Native American attacks, but were aided by 27-year-old English adventurer John Smith, who directed survival efforts and mapped the area. In May 1607, about 100 English colonists settled along the James River in Virginia to found Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America. The marriage ensured peace between the Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan tribe for several years. Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Indian confederacy, marries English tobacco planter John Rolfe in Jamestown, Virginia.
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