Virginia was deep in the worst drought in years, and food was scarce. At the beginning of , Smith led a party to visit Powhatan, and things seemed to be going well. Powhatan moved his capital farther west to a location much harder for the English to reach, and Pocahontas quit visiting the fort.
Thomas Savage moved with the Powhatans, and was soon joined by another boy, year-old Henry Spelman. Henry absconded to join a friendlier chief on the Potomac and Pocahontas intervened to save his life when her father sent men to bring him back.
Powhatan decided it was time for Pocahontas to enter adult life, so she married a man named Kocoum. And he sent Thomas back to Jamestown, severing his last ties with the colony. Little was heard from Orapax for a while. Then, toward the end of , Capt. Samuel Argall was, as usual, looking for food. He forced the Patawomekes, the people who had sheltered Henry Spelman after he left Orapax, to trick her into going on to his ship and sailed away with her, so year-old Pocahontas returned to Jamestown as a prisoner.
A young puritan minister named Alexander Whitaker instructed her about Christianity, and a man named John Rolfe began to fall in love with her. The ship had only gone as far as Gravesend when Pocahontas fell ill. She was taken ashore, where she died, possibly of pneumonia or tuberculosis. Her funeral took place on March 21, , in the parish of St. The site of her grave was probably beneath the chancel of St.
Members of a number of prominent Virginia families trace their roots to Pocahontas and Chief Powhatan through her son, Thomas Rolfe.
Very few records of the life of Pocahontas remain. The only contemporary portrait is Simon van de Passe's engraving of , which emphasizes her Indian features. Later portraits often portray her as more European in appearance.
The myths that arose around Pocahontas' story in the 19th century portrayed her as an emblem of the potential of Native Americans to be assimilated into European society. The imagined relationship between John Smith and Pocahontas romanticizes the theme of assimilation and dramatizes the meeting of two cultures.
Many films about Pocahontas have been made, beginning with a silent film in and continuing into the 21st century. She is one of the best-known Native Americans in history, and one of only a few to appear regularly in historical textbooks.
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Crispus Attucks was an African American man killed during the Boston Massacre and believed to be the first casualty of the American Revolution. Since she was still a child, she would not have been allowed to travel alone or without adequate protection and permission from her father. The tight security that surrounded Pocahontas at Jamestown, though often disguised, may have been how the English realized she was Wahunsenaca's favorite.
Over time, relations between the Powhatan Indians and the English began to deteriorate. The settlers were aggressively demanding food that, due to summer droughts, could not be provided.
Wahunsenaca reprimanded Smith for English conduct, in general, and for Smith's own, in particular. He also expressed his desire for peace with the English. Wahunsenaca followed the Powhatan philosophy of gaining more through peaceful and respectful means than through war and force.
According to Smith, during this visit Pocahontas again saved his life by running through the woods that night to warn him her father intended to kill him. However, as in , Smith's life was not in danger. Pocahontas was still a child, and a very well protected and supervised one; it is unlikely she would have been able to provide such a warning. It would have gone against Powhatan cultural standards for children.
If Wahunsenaca truly intended to kill Smith, Pocahontas could not have gotten past Smith's guards, let alone prevented his death. As relations continued to worsen between the two peoples, Pocahontas stopped visiting, but the English did not forget her.
Pocahontas had her coming of age ceremony, which symbolized that she was eligible for courtship and marriage. This ceremony took place annually and boys and girls aged twelve to fourteen took part.
Pocahontas' coming of age ceremony called a huskanasquaw for girls took place once she began to show signs of womanhood. Since her mother was dead, her older sister Mattachanna oversaw the huskanasquaw , during which Wahunsenaca's daughter officially changed her name to Pocahontas. The ceremony itself was performed discreetly and more secretly than usual because the quiakros had heard rumors the English planned to kidnap Pocahontas. After the ceremony a powwow was held in celebration and thanksgiving.
During the powwow, a courtship dance allowed single male warriors to search for a mate. It was most likely during this dance that Pocahontas met Kocoum. After a courtship period, the two married. Wahunsenaca was happy with Pocahontas' choice, as Kocoum was not only the brother of a close friend of his, Chief Japazaw also called Iopassus of the Potowomac Patawomeck tribe, but was also one of his finest warriors. He knew Pocahontas would be well protected.
Rumors of the English wanting to kidnap Pocahontas resurfaced, so she and Kocoum moved to his home village. While there, Pocahontas gave birth to a son. Then, in , the long suspected English plan to kidnap Pocahontas was carried out.
Captain Samuel Argall demanded the help of Chief Japazaw. A council was held with the quiakros , while word was sent to Wahunsenaca. Japazaw did not want to give Pocahontas to Argall; she was his sister-in-law.
However, not agreeing would have meant certain attack by a relentless Argall, an attack for which Japazaw's people could offer no real defense. Japazaw finally chose the lesser of two evils and agreed to Argall's plan, for the good of the tribe.
To gain the Captain's sympathy and possible aid, Japazaw said he feared retaliation from Wahunsenaca. Argall promised his protection and assured the chief that no harm would come to Pocahontas. Before agreeing, Japazaw made a further bargain with Argall: the captain was to release Pocahontas soon after she was brought aboard ship.
Argall agreed. Japazaw's wife was sent to get Pocahontas. Once Pocahontas was aboard, Argall broke his word and would not release her. Argall handed a copper kettle to Japazaw and his wife for their "help" and as a way to implicate them in the betrayal. Before Captain Argall sailed off with his captive, he had her husband Kocoum killed - luckily their son was with another woman from the tribe.
Argall then transported Pocahontas to Jamestown; her father immediately returned the English prisoners and weapons to Jamestown to pay her ransom. Pocahontas was not released and instead was put under the care of Sir Thomas Gates, who supervised the ransom and negotiations.
It had been four years since Pocahontas had seen the English; she was now about fifteen or sixteen years old. A devastating blow had been dealt to Wahunsenaca and he fell into a deep depression.
The quiakros advised retaliation. But, Wahunsenaca refused. Ingrained cultural guidelines stressed peaceful solutions; besides he did not wish to risk Pocahontas being harmed. He felt compelled to choose the path that best ensured his daughter's safety. While in captivity, Pocahontas too became deeply depressed, but submitted to the will of her captors.
Being taken into captivity was not foreign, as it took place between tribes, as well. Pocahontas would have known how to handle such a situation, to be cooperative. So she was cooperative, for the good of her people, and as a means of survival. She was taught English ways, especially the settlers' religious beliefs, by Reverend Alexander Whitaker at Henrico.
Her captors insisted her father did not love her and told her so continuously. Overwhelmed, Pocahontas suffered a nervous breakdown, and the English asked that a sister of hers be sent to care for her. Her sister Mattachanna, who was accompanied by her husband, was sent. Pocahontas confided to Mattachanna that she had been raped and that she thought she was pregnant. Hiding her pregnancy was the main reason Pocahontas was moved to Henrico after only about three months at Jamestown.
Pocahontas eventually gave birth to a son named Thomas. His birthdate is not recorded, but the oral history states that she gave birth before she married John Rolfe. In the spring of , the English continued to prove to Pocahontas that her father did not love her. They staged an exchange of Pocahontas for her ransom payment actually the second such payment. During the exchange, a fight broke out and negotiations were terminated by both sides.
Pocahontas was told this "refusal" to pay her ransom proved her father loved English weapons more than he loved her. Shortly after the staged ransom exchange, Pocahontas converted to Christianity and was renamed Rebecca. Whether she truly converted is open to question, but she had little choice. She was a captive who wanted to represent her people in the best light and to protect them.
She probably married John Rolfe willingly, since she already had a half-white child who could help create a bond between the two peoples. Her father consented to the marriage, but only because she was being held captive and he feared what might happen if he said no.
John Rolfe married Pocahontas to gain the help of the quiakros with his tobacco crops, as they were in charge of tobacco. With the marriage, important kinship ties formed and the quiakros agreed to help Rolfe. In , the Rolfes and several Powhatan representatives, including Mattachanna and her husband Uttamattamakin, were sent to England. Several of these representatives were actually quiakros in disguise.
By March , the family was ready to return to Virginia after a successful tour arranged to gain English interest in Jamestown. While on the ship Pocahontas and her husband dined with Captain Argall. Shortly after, Pocahontas became very ill and began convulsing. Later, after marrying Rolfe at James Fort, she gave birth to a son they named Thomas. They traveled to England to promote the colony to investors, and she was celebrated throughout London.
However, as the family began their journey back to Virginia, she became sick and passed away in Gravesend, England. Her time spent at James Fort with the early colonist is immortalized at Historic Jamestowne with a larger-than-life bronze statue, and you can see the remains of the church where she and Rolfe were married.
At Jamestown Settlement , visitors can explore the re-created Powhatan Village, where interpreters demonstrate grinding corn, gardening or playing a game of corncob darts as Pocahontas likely did.
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