# Representative American Plays/Pocahontas

Written by George Washington Parke Custis (the adopted grandson of George Washington and the father-in-law of Robert E. Lee), this play chronicles the conflict between the natives and the English in the early colony of Virginia once a second batch of Englishmen arrive on its shores. It also dramatizes the relationship between Pocahontas and both John Smith and John Rolfe.
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POCAHONTAS OR THE SETTLERS OF VIRGINIA BY George Washington Parke Custis
POCAHONTAS
Pocahontas or the Settlers of Virginia represents the plays on Indian themes and also the drama written in the South. The first Indian play to be written by an American was the tragedy of Ponteach or The Savages of America, by Major Robert Rogers (1766). This was not acted. There were many Indian dramas in the first half of the nineteenth century—the earliest by an American to be performed being Barker's Indian Princess, (1808). It began the series of the Pocahontas plays, the theme being used by Custis in 1830 in the play now reprinted, by the Englishman, Robert Dale Owen, in his Pocahontas, acted February 8, 1838, at the Park Theatre, New York, in which Charlotte Cushman played "Rolfe," and by Mrs. Charlotte Barnes Conner in her Forest Princess, played in Philadelphia, February 16, 1848. Finally the motive ran to satire in John Brougham's burlesque of Pocahontas or the Gentle Savage, produced at Wallack's Theatre, New York, on December 24, 1855. Custis's drama is especially significant in a comparative study of the Pocahontas plays. Its author is deserving of recognition, if for nothing else, for his self-restraint in not endowing Pocahontas with the ability to speak blank verse. But his dramatic instinct showed itself most definitely in his handling of the theme. The trouble with the Pocahontas plays in general is that the most dramatic incident, the saving of Smith's life, comes too early in the play. The other playwrights in their endeavor to follow history have sacrificed dramatic effectiveness. Custis, with cheerful courage, took liberties with actual facts in order to put the striking event in the last Act.
Perhaps the most significant of the Indian plays in general was Metamora or the Last of the Wampanoags, written for Edwin Forrest by John A. Stone, and produced at the Park Theatre, New York, December 15, 1829. Forrest played in this for many years. So far as the editor is aware, Metamora exists only in the manuscript of the name part in the Forrest Home, at Holmesburg, Pennsylvania. The language of the fragment is bombastic, but the play was effective and was widely imitated. Besides the Pocahontas series, the most important Indian play that has survived seems to have been Dr. Bird's Oralloossa (1832), laid in Peru. Very few of the forty Indian plays of which record has been made, have come down to us. They were popular between 1830 and 1850, but they were usually artificial and their picture of the Indian was not a true one.
George Washington Parke Custis was born at Mount Airy, Maryland, April ​30, 1781. He was the son of John Parke Custis, the stepson of Washington, whose early death, of camp fever incurred in the Yorktown campaign, brought his two younger children under the direct charge of President and Mrs. Washington at Mount Vernon. Here young Custis grew up and here he lived till Mrs. Washington's death, when he built his house at Arlington, opposite Washington City. He was appointed a cornet of horse in the army of the United States in 1799 but did not see active service at that time, although he afterwards became a volunteer during the War of 1812. After his marriage to Mary Lee Fitzhugh in 1804 he lived on his large estate and devoted himself to the care of it. He was a writer of prose and verse and a speaker of ability, but with the instincts of the Southern landed proprietor he published comparatively little. After the visit of Lafayette to this country in 1824, he wrote his entertaining Conversations with Lafayette, and in 1826 he began in the United States Gazette his recollections of the private life of Washington which were continued in The National Intelligencer and which were published by his daughter in 1861. He died October 10, 1857.
His first play, The Indian Prophecy, was performed in Philadelphia at the Chestnut Street Theatre, July 4, 1827. According to the title page of the printed play, it was performed also in Baltimore and Washington. The same authority describes it as "A National Drama in two Acts founded upon a most interesting and romantic occurrence in the life of General Washington." In 1770, while on a surveying expedition to the Kanawha region in Virginia, Washington was visited by an Indian chief who told him that he had been the leader of the Indians at Braddock's defeat and that although their best marksmen had levelled their pieces at Washington they had been prevented from killing him by a higher power. The chief went on to prophesy that Washington would never die in battle but would live to be the chief and founder of a mighty empire. This incident, which is given in Custis's Recollections, became the climax of the play which is otherwise but a series of conversations between Woodford, a captain of rangers, Maiona, his wife, and their Indian protegée, Manetta, daughter of the chief Menawa, who delivers the prophecy. The play was published in Georgetown in 1828 as "By the author of the Recollections."
Pocahontas or the Settlers of Virginia, was played first at the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, January 16, 1830, and was performed for twelve nights, among them Washington's Birthday. Elaborate preparations were made for the production of the play, the theatre being closed from January 11th to January 16th. Durang states that it was received with great applause. On December 28, 1830, John Barnes produced it for his benefit at the Park Theatre, New York, playing "Hugo." It is probable, therefore, that The Forest Princess, written afterward by his daughter, Charlotte Barnes Conner, was inspired by ​Custis's play, since she undoubtedly witnessed the performance, in which her mother took the part of "Pocahontas." The play was published in Philadelphia in 1830. That it was played again seems certain, for the Clothier Collection includes a prompt copy belonging to John Sefton, the manager of Niblo's Theatre, in New York, and of the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, under E. A. Marshall. In this copy the parts of "Hugo," "Mowbray," "Namoutac" and "Mantea" are omitted and the play is much cut.
On May 16, 1830, Custis's play of The Railroad, a national drama, was performed at the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia. Durang, in his account, tells us that a locomotive steam carriage was introduced in the last act, which whistled as it went out! It moved off the stage to the music of the "Carrolton March," composed for the occasion by Mr. Clifton of Baltimore.
At the request of the manager of the Baltimore Theatre, Custis wrote a play called North Point or Baltimore Defended, in celebration of the battle of North Point, on whose anniversary, September 12, 1833, it was produced. It was completed according to the author in nine hours and was "a two-act piece with two songs and a finale." His Eighth of January was played January 8, 1834, at the Park Theatre, New York. He seems also to have written an Indian play, The Pawnee Chief, but accurate information concerning this is wanting. An account of Custis is given in Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington, by his Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, with a Memoir of the Author by his Daughter [Mary Custis Lee], Philadelphia, 1861. The original source of Pocahontas was Captain John Smith's Generall Historie of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles (1624), as Smith's earlier True Relation (1608) does not mention the salvation of Smith by Pocahontas. For accounts of the productions of the plays, see Charles Durang, History of the Philadelphia Stage, Series 2, Chapters 52 and 53, and Joseph N. Ireland, Records of the New York Stage, Vol. I, p. 644.
POCAHONTAS; OR, THE SETTLERS OF VIRGINIA, A NATIONAL DRAMA, IN THREE ACTS. Performed at the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, twelve nights, with great success. —— WRITTEN BY GEORGE WASHINGTON CUSTIS, ESQ. Of Arlington House, Author of the Rail Road, Pawnee Chief, &c. &c. —— PHILADELPHIA EDITION. ALEXANDER, PR. ::::::: 1830
PREFACE
The national story upon which the play of POCAHONTAS is founded, was a tempting one for a dramatist, and more could not have been made of it than has been done in the present instance. Mr. WASHINGTON CUSTIS, in this production, has fully proved his capability as an author. The plot keeps up a lively interest; its gradual development, judging from the effect the piece produces on representation, is at once natural, and decidedly dramatic; and, no doubt, when supported by good actors, it will always be received with the same success that characterized its representation at the Walnut Street Theatre. This drama was peculiarly fortunate in being produced by that celebrated melodramatic director, the late Mr. S. Chapman. Had the piece been his own he could not have displayed a greater desire to render it effective; and his personation of Captain Smith will long be the theme of unqualified praise. The part of Matacoran was excellently played by Mr. CLARKE; Mr. BALL, a very young actor, showed considerable promise in Master Rolfe, and Messrs. PORTER and GREENE, in their respective parts of Powhatan and Hugo, were very successful; the heroine, Pocahontas, found an able representative in Mrs. GREENE. Indeed, few pieces have been more successful than this drama, and Mr. WASHINGTON CUSTIS has done the stage considerable service, by showing the resources for dramatic materials in the annals of American history; and we anticipate with pleasure his future productions, whether historical or otherwise.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
ENGLISH
INDIANS
POCAHONTAS
ACT FIRST.
(Enter Barclay.)
(Enter Barclay.)
Scene 2. The interior of the hut of Barclay.—Mantea mending a net.
(Enter Pocahontas and Omaya, with baskets of shells.)
(Enter Barclay and Namoutac.)
Scene 3. A wood.
(Enter Rolfe.)
(Enter Pocahontas and Omaya.)
(Enter Percy and West.)
ACT SECOND.
Scene 1. The palace of Powhatan at Weorocomoco. Powhatan seated on a throne which is covered with bear skins. Powhatan wearing a coronet of feathers, and a robe of skins, a spear in his hand; on his right the Princess, on his left, Omaya, with fans of feathers, double rows of guards with spears, bows and arrows.
(Enter Matacoran.)
Scene 2. Interior of Barclay's hut.
(Enter Mantea and Rolfe.)
(Enter Pocahontas and Omaya.)
(Enter an Indian, with fruit.)
(Enter Barclay.)
Scene 4. A wood. The great Oak in the centre—a hollow in its side.
(Enter Rolfe.)
(Enter Pocahontas and Omaya.)
Scene 5. Wood. Distant view of Weorocomoco.
(Enter Matacoran and Selictaz.)
(Enter Indian.)
(Enter Pocahontas.)
(Enter Powhatan and Matacoran.)
(Pocahontas comes from the tomb.)
ACT THIRD.
(Enter Matacoran and Selictaz.)
(Enter Smith, Percy, Rolfe, West, and Soldiers.)
(Enter Matacoran.)
Scene 4. Interior of Barclay's hut.
(Enter Barclay—meeting Mantea.)
(Enter Mowbray.)
Scene 5. The palace of Powhatan. Guards, etc.
(Enter Powhatan, meeting Pocahontas and Omaya.)
(Enter Selictaz, in great haste.)
(Enter Matacoran, guarded.)
(Enter Barclay, Mantea and Namoutac.)
CURTAIN FALLS.