Pocahontas: Her Life and Legend - Historic Jamestowne Part of Colonial National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) Pocahontas: Her Life and Legend Pocahontas: Her Life and Legend Pocahontas: Her Life and Legend Detail of the map showing the various towns in the Powhatan Chiefdom. Jamestown and Werowocomoco (Powhatan's capital) are underlined in red. John Smith's Map of 1612 Not much is known about this memorable woman. What we do know was written by others, as none of her thoughts or feelings were ever recorded. Specifically, her story has been told through written historical accounts and, most recently, through the sacred oral history of the Mattaponi. Most notably, Pocahontas has left an indelible impression that has endured for more than 400 years. And yet, many people who know her name do not know much about her. The Written History Pocahontas was born about 1596 and named "Amonute," though she also had a more private name of Matoaka.

She was called "Pocahontas" as a nickname, which meant "playful one," because of her frolicsome and curious nature. She was the daughter of Wahunsenaca (Chief Powhatan), the mamanatowick (paramount chief) of the Powhatan Chiefdom. At its height, the Powhatan Chiefdom had a population of about 25,000 and included more than 30 Algonquian speaking tribes - each with its own werowance (chief). The Powhatan Indians called their homeland "Tsenacomoco." As the daughter of the paramount chief Powhatan, custom dictated that Pocahontas would have accompanied her mother, who would have gone to live in another village, after her birth (Powhatan still cared for them). However, nothing is written by the English about Pocahontas' mother. Some historians have theorized that she died during childbirth, so it is possible that Pocahontas did not leave like most of her half-siblings. Either way, Pocahontas would have eventually returned to live with her father Powhatan and her half-siblings once she was weaned.

Her mother, if still living, would then have been free to remarry. How a young Pocahontas might have looked. Unknown British Museum As a young girl, Pocahontas would have worn little to no clothing and had her hair shaven except for a small section in the back that was grown out long and usually braided. The shaven parts were probably bristly most of the time as the Powhatan Indians used mussel shells for shaving. In winter, she could have worn a deerskin mantle (not everyone could afford one). As she grew, she would have been taught women's work; even though the favorite daughter of the paramount chief Powhatan afforded her a more privileged lifestyle and more protection, she still needed to know how to be an adult woman. Women's work was separate from men's work, but both were equally taxing and equally important as both benefited all Powhatan society. As Pocahontas would learn, besides bearing and rearing children, women were responsible for building the houses (called yehakins by the Powhatan), which they may have owned.

Women did all the farming, (planting and harvesting), the cooking (preparing and serving), collected water needed to cook and drink, gathered firewood for the fires (which women kept going all the time), made mats for houses (inside and out), made baskets, pots, cordage, wooden spoons, platters and mortars. Women were also barbers for the men and would process any meat the men brought home as well as tanning hides to make clothing. Another important thing Pocahontas had to learn to be an adult woman was how to collect edible plants. As a result, she would need to identify the various kinds of useful plants and have the ability to recognize them in all seasons. All of the skills it took to be an adult woman Pocahontas would have learned by the time she was about thirteen, which was the average age Powhatan women reached puberty. Captain John Smith. Unknown Artist When the English arrived and settled Jamestown in May 1607, Pocahontas was about eleven years old.

Pocahontas and her father would not meet any Englishmen until the winter of 1607, when Captain John Smith (who is perhaps as famous as Pocahontas) was captured by Powhatan's brother Opechancanough. Once captured, Smith was displayed at several Powhatan Indian towns before being brought to the capital of the Powhatan Chiefdom, Werowocomoco, to Chief Powhatan. What happened next is what has kept the names of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith inextricably linked: the famous rescue of John Smith by Pocahontas. As Smith tells it, he was brought in front of Chief Powhatan, two large stones were placed on the ground, Smith's head was forced upon them, and a warrior raised a club to smash in his brains. Before this could happen, Pocahontas rushed in and placed her head upon his, which stopped the execution. Whether this event actually happened or not has been debated for centuries. One theory posits that what took place was an elaborate adoption ceremony; its adherents believe that Smith's life was never in danger (though, he most likely would not have known that).

Afterwards, Powhatan told Smith he was part of the tribe. In return for "two great guns and a grindstone," Powhatan would give Smith Capahowasick (on the York River), and "forever esteem him as his son Nantaquoud." Smith was then allowed to leave Werowocomoco. Once Smith returned to Jamestown, Chief Powhatan sent gifts of food to the starving English. These envoys were usually accompanied by Pocahontas, as she was a sign of peace to the English. On her visits to the fort, Pocahontas was seen cart-wheeling with the young English boys, living up to her nickname of "playful one." The English knew Pocahontas was the favorite daughter of the great Powhatan, and was consequently seen as a very important person. On one occasion, she was sent to negotiate for the release of Powhatan prisoners. According to John Smith, it was for and to Pocahontas alone that he finally released them. As time passed, however, relations between the Powhatan Indians and the English began to deteriorate, but Pocahontas's relationship with the newcomers was not over.

The English trading with the Powhatan Indians for food. NPS Image By the winter of 1608-1609, the English visited various Powhatan tribes to trade beads and other trinkets for more corn, only to find a severe drought had drastically reduced the tribes' harvests. In addition, Powhatan's official policy for his chiefdom was to cease trading with the English. The settlers were demanding more food than his people had to spare, so the English were threatening the tribes and burning towns to get it. Chief Powhatan sent a message to John Smith, telling him if he brought to Werowocomoco swords, guns, hens, copper, beads, and a grindstone, he would have Smith's ship loaded with corn. Smith and his men visited Powhatan to make the exchange, and ended up stranding their barge. Negotiations did not go well. Powhatan excused himself, then he and his family, including Pocahontas, departed into the woods, unbeknownst to Smith and his men. According to Smith, that night Pocahontas returned to warn him that her father intended to kill him.

Smith had already suspected something was wrong, but was still grateful that Pocahontas was willing to risk her life to save his yet again. Afterwards, she disappeared into the woods, never to see Smith in Virginia again. As relations between the two peoples deteriorated, Chief Powhatan, wearied of the constant English demand for food, moved his capital from Werowocomoco (on the York River) in 1609 to Orapaks (on the Chickahominy River), further inland. Pocahontas was not allowed to visit Jamestown anymore. In the fall of 1609 Smith left Virginia because of a severe gunpowder wound. Pocahontas and Powhatan were told that Smith died on the way back to England. Pocahontas stopped visiting the English, but that was not the end of her involvement with them. John Smith recorded that she saved the life of Henry Spelman, one of several English boys who had been sent to live with the Powhatan Indians to learn their language and lifeways (Powhatan Indian boys had been sent to live with the English to learn about English ways and language as well).

By 1610, Spelman did not feel as welcome among the Powhatan Indians and ran away with two other boys, Thomas Savage and Samuel (a Dutchman; last name unknown). Savage changed his mind, returned to Powhatan, and told him about the runaways. According to Spelman, Powhatan was angry about losing his translators and sent men to retrieve the boys. Samuel was killed during the pursuit, but Spelman escaped to live among the Patawomeck tribe (an outlying member of the Powhatan Chiefdom). His account says he made his way alone to the Patawomeck, but Smith, who spoke with Pocahontas years later, said she had helped Spelman get to safety. How an adult Pocahontas may have looked. Unknown British Museum The years 1609-1610 would be important ones for Pocahontas. Pocahontas, who was about fourteen, had reached adulthood and marriageable age. She began to dress like a Powhatan woman, wearing a deerskin apron and a leather mantle in winter, since she was of high status.

She might also wear one-shouldered fringed deerskin dresses when encountering visitors. Pocahontas started decorating her skin with tattoos. When she traveled in the woods, she would have worn leggings and a breechclout to protect against scratches, as they could become easily infected. She would have also grown her hair out and worn it in a variety of ways: loose, braided into one plait with bangs, or, once married, cut short the same length all around. In 1610, Pocahontas married Kocoum, whom Englishman William Strachey described as a "private captain." Kocoum was not a chief or a councilor, though mention of his being a "private captain" implies he had command over some men. The fact that he was not a chief, and thus not high in status, suggests that Pocahontas may have married for love. Kocoum may have been a member of the Patawomeck tribe. He also might have been a member of her father Powhatan's bodyguards. Pocahontas remained close to her father and continued to be his favorite daughter after her marriage, as the English accounts imply.

Although Pocahontas was the favorite daughter of the paramount chief, she still had the freedom to choose whom she married, as did other women in Powhatan society. For the next several years, Pocahontas was not mentioned in the English accounts. In 1613, that changed when Captain Samuel Argall discovered she was living with the Patawomeck. Argall knew relations between the English and the Powhatan Indians were still poor. Capturing Pocahontas could give him the leverage he needed to change that. Argall met with Iopassus, chief of the town of Passapatanzy and brother to the Patawomeck tribe's chief, to help him kidnap Pocahontas. At first, the chief declined, knowing Powhatan would punish the Patawomeck people. Ultimately, the Patawomeck decided to cooperate with Argall; they could tell Powhatan they acted under coercion. The trap was set. Pocahontas accompanied Iopassus and his wife to see Captain Argall's English ship.

Iopassus' wife then pretended to want to go aboard, a request her husband would grant only if Pocahontas would accompany her. Pocahontas refused at first, sensing something was not right, but finally agreed when Iopassus' wife resorted to tears. After eating, Pocahontas was taken to the gunner's room to spend the night. In the morning, when the three visitors were ready to disembark, Argall refused to allow Pocahontas to leave the ship. Iopassus and his wife seemed surprised; Argall declared Pocahontas was being held as ransom for the return of stolen weapons and English prisoners held by her father. Iopassus and his wife left, with a small copper kettle and some other trinkets as a reward for their part in making Pocahontas an English prisoner. After her capture, Pocahontas was brought to Jamestown. Eventually, she was probably taken to Henrico, a small English settlement near present-day Richmond. Powhatan, informed of his daughter's capture and ransom cost, agreed to many of the English demands immediately, to open negotiations.

In the meantime, Pocahontas was put under the charge of Reverend Alexander Whitaker, who lived at Henrico. She learned the English language, religion and customs. While not all was strange to Pocahontas, it was vastly different than the Powhatan world. During her religious instruction, Pocahontas met widower John Rolfe, who would become famous for introducing the cash crop tobacco to the settlers in Virginia. By all English accounts, the two fell in love and wanted to marry. (Perhaps, once Pocahontas was kidnapped, Kocoum, her first husband, realized divorce was inevitable (there was a form of divorce in Powhatan society). Once Powhatan was sent word that Pocahontas and Rolfe wanted to marry, his people would have considered Pocahontas and Kocoum divorced.) Powhatan consented to the proposed marriage and sent an uncle of Pocahontas' to represent him and her people at the wedding. In 1614, Pocahontas converted to Christianity and was baptized "Rebecca." In April 1614, she and John Rolfe married.

The marriage led to the "Peace of Pocahontas;" a lull in the inevitable conflicts between the English and Powhatan Indians. The Rolfes soon had a son named Thomas. The Virginia Company of London, who had funded the settling of Jamestown, decided to make use of the favorite daughter of the great Powhatan to their advantage. They thought, as a Christian convert married to an Englishman, Pocahontas could encourage interest in Virginia and the company. Only image of Pocahontas done from life. Unknown British Museum The Rolfe family traveled to England in 1616, their expenses paid by the Virginia Company of London. Pocahontas, known as "Lady Rebecca Rolfe," was also accompanied by about a dozen Powhatan men and women. Once in England, the party toured the country. Pocahontas attended a masque where she sat near King James I and Queen Anne. Eventually, the Rolfe family moved to rural Brentford, where Pocahontas would again encounter Captain John Smith.

Smith had not forgotten about Pocahontas and had even written a letter to Queen Anne describing all she had done to help the English in Jamestown's early years. Pocahontas had been in England for months, though, before Smith visited her. He wrote that she was so overcome with emotion that she could not speak and turned away from him. Upon gaining her composure, Pocahontas reprimanded Smith for the manner in which he had treated her father and her people. She reminded him how Powhatan had welcomed him as a son, how Smith had called him "father." Pocahontas, a stranger in England, felt she should call Smith "father." When Smith refused to allow her to do so, she became angrier and reminded him how he had not been afraid to threaten every one of her people - except her. She said the settlers had reported Smith had died after his accident, but that Powhatan had suspected otherwise as "your countrymen will lie much." In March 1617, the Rolfe family was ready to return to Virginia. After traveling down the Thames River, Pocahontas, seriously ill, had to be taken ashore.

In the town of Gravesend, Pocahontas died of an unspecified illness. Many historians believe she suffered from an upper respiratory ailment, such as pneumonia, while others think she could have died from some form of dysentery. Pocahontas, about twenty-one, was buried at St. George's Church on March 21, 1617. John Rolfe returned to Virginia, but left the young ailing Thomas with relatives in England. Within a year, Powhatan died. The "Peace of Pocahontas" began to slowly unravel. Life for her people would never be the same. Angela L. Daniel "Silver Star" The Oral History The recently published (2007) The True Story of Pocahontas: The Other Side of History by Dr. Linwood "Little Bear" Custalow and Angela L. Daniel "Silver Star," based on the sacred oral history of the Mattaponi tribe, offers some further, and sometimes very different, insights into the real Pocahontas.

Pocahontas was the last child of Wahunsenaca (Chief Powhatan) and his first wife Pocahontas, his wife of choice and of love. Pocahontas' mother died during childbirth. Their daughter was given the name Matoaka which meant "flower between two streams." The name probably came from the fact that the Mattaponi village was located between the Mattaponi and Pamunkey Rivers and that her mother was Mattaponi and her father Pamunkey. Wahunsenaca was devastated by the loss of his wife, but found joy in his daughter. He often called her Pocahontas, which meant "laughing and joyous one," since she reminded him of his beloved wife. There was no question that she was his favorite and that the two had a special bond. Even so, Wahunsenaca thought it best to send her to be raised in the Mattaponi village rather than at his capital of Werowocomoco. She was raised by her aunts and cousins, who took care of her as if she were their own. Once Pocahontas was weaned, she returned to live with her father at Werowocomoco.

Wahunsenaca had other children with Pocahontas' mother as well as with his alliance wives, but Pocahontas held a special place in her father's heart. Pocahontas held a special love and respect for her father as well. All of the actions of Pocahontas or her father were motivated by their deep love for each other, their deep and strong bond. The love and bond between them never wavered. Most of her older siblings were grown, as Wahunsenaca fathered Pocahontas later in his life. Many of her brothers and sisters held prominent positions within Powhatan society. Her family was very protective of her and saw to it that she was well looked after. As a child, Pocahontas' life was very different than as an adult. The distinction between childhood and adulthood was visible through physical appearance as well as through behavior. Pocahontas would not have cut her hair or worn clothing until she came of age (in winter she wore a covering to protect against the cold). There were also certain ceremonies she was not allowed to participate in or even witness.

Even as a child, the cultural standards of Powhatan society applied to her, and in fact, as the daughter of the paramount chief, more responsibility and discipline were expected of her. Pocahontas also received more supervision and training; as Wahunsenaca's favorite daughter she probably had even more security, as well. When the English arrived, the Powhatan people welcomed them. They desired to become friends and trade with the settlers. Each tribe within the Powhatan Chiefdom had quiakros (priests), who were spiritual leaders, political advisors, medical doctors, historians and enforcers of Powhatan behavioral norms. The quiakros advised containing the English and making them allies to the Powhatan people. Wahunsenaca agreed with the quiakros. During the winter of 1607 the friendship was solidified. Captain John Smith statue at Historic Jamestowne. Sarah J Stebbins The most famous event of Pocahontas' life, her rescue of Captain John Smith, did not happen the way he wrote it. Smith was exploring when he encountered a Powhatan hunting party. A fight ensued, and Smith was captured by Opechancanough.

Opechancanough, a younger brother of Wahunsenaca, took Smith from village to village to demonstrate to the Powhatan people that Smith, in particular, and the English, in general, were as human as they were. The "rescue" was a ceremony, initiating Smith as another chief. It was a way to welcome Smith, and, by extension, all the English, into the Powhatan nation. It was an important ceremony, so the quiakros would have played an integral role. Wahunsenaca truly liked Smith. He even offered a healthier location for the English, Capahowasick (east of Werowocomoco). Smith's life was never in danger. As for Pocahontas, she would not have been present, as children were not allowed at religious rituals. Afterwards, Pocahontas would have considered Smith a leader and defender of the Powhatan people, as an allied chief of the English tribe. She would have expected Smith to be loyal to her people, since he had pledged friendship to Wahunsenaca. In Powhatan society, one's word was one's bond. That bond was sacred.

The English had been welcomed by the Powhatan people. To cement this new alliance, Wahunsenaca sent food to Jamestown during the winter of 1607-08. Doing so was the Powhatan way, as leaders acted for the good of the whole tribe. It was during these visits to the fort with food that Pocahontas became known to the English, as a symbol of peace. 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. John Smith trying to get more food for the settlers. NPS Image 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. In January 1609, Captain John Smith paid an uninvited visit to Werowocomoco. 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 1607, 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.

Pocahontas NPS Image 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 1613, 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 1614, 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. In April 1614, Pocahontas and John Rolfe were married at Jamestown. 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 1616, 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 1617, 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. Mattachanna ran to get Rolfe for help. When they returned, Pocahontas was dead. She was taken to Gravesend and buried in its church. Young Thomas was left behind to be raised by relatives in England, while the rest of the party sailed back to Virginia.

Wahunsenaca was told by Mattachanna, Uttamattamakin and the disguised quiakros that his daughter had been murdered. Poison was suspected as she had been in good health up until her dinner on the ship. Wahunsenaca sank into despair at the loss of his beloved daughter, the daughter he had sworn to his wife he would protect. Eventually, he was relieved as paramount chief and, by April 1618, he was dead. The peace began to unravel and life in Tsenacomoco would never be the same for the Powhatan people. Pocahontas statue at Historic Jamestowne. Sarah J Stebbins Conclusion What little we know about Pocahontas covers only about half of her short life and yet has inspired a myriad of books, poems, paintings, plays, sculptures, and films. It has captured the imagination of people of all ages and backgrounds, scholars and non-scholars alike. The truth of Pocahontas' life is shrouded in interpretation of both the oral and written accounts, which can contradict one another. One thing can be stated with certainty: her story has fascinated people for more than four centuries and it still inspires people today.

It will undoubtedly continue to do so. She also still lives on through her own people, who are still here today, and through the descendents of her two sons. Author's note: There are various spellings for the names of people, places and tribes. In this paper I have endeavored to use one spelling throughout, unless otherwise noted. Bibliography Custalow, Dr. Linwood "Little Bear" and Angela L. Daniel "Silver Star." The True Story of Pocahontas: The Other Side of History. Golden: Fulcrum Publishing, 2007. Haile, Edward Wright (editor) Jamestown Narratives: Eyewitness Accounts of the Virginia Colony: The First Decade: 1607-1617. Chaplain: Roundhouse, 1998. Mossiker, Frances. Pocahontas: The Life and The Legend. New York: Da Capo Press, 1976. Rountree, Helen C. and E. Randolph Turner III. Before and After Jamestown: Virginia's Powhatans and Their Predecessors. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1989.

Rountree, Helen C. Pocahontas, Powhatan, Opechancanough: Three Indian Lives Changed by Jamestown. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005. Rountree, Helen C. The Powhatan Indians of Virginia: Their Traditional Culture. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989. Towsned, Camilla. Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma: The American Portrait Series. New York: Hill And Wang, 2004. Sarah J Stebbins NPS Seasonal, August 2010 5 Pocahontas Was Kidnapped Before the Wedding 1 She Obviously Married the Wrong Man It’s so nice to be needed even after you’re dead. That’s what I was thinking during the rehearsal dinner for Pocahontas and John Rolfe at the Williamsburg Lodge, off Route 60 in Virginia. Actors play Pocahontas and John Rolfe at their wedding re-enactment in Jamestown, Virginia, on April 5, 2014.

Photo courtesy Preservation Virginia (Historic Jamestowne) In 1614, Rolfe, a tobacco farmer and recent widower, needed Pocahontas, the object of his obsession, for, well, sex. Chief Powhatan needed Pocahontas, his daughter, to wed this English colonist to secure Powhatan’s sovereignty over his chiefdom. Years after Pocahontas’ death, former Jamestown leader Capt. John Smith needed the Indian princess’s legend to secure his own fame. During the Colonial era and beyond, Virginian and British families used their genealogical connection to her to claim highborn heritage, and after the Civil War, the local Indian community used her to protect itself from deeply racist Jim Crow laws. Historic Jamestowne needs her today to promote tourism. And as I learned from the current chief of Pocahontas’ tribe, the Pamunkey still need her to protect fishing rights and help secure federal recognition. Pocahontas had shellfish embroidered on her wedding jacket, which was modeled on a garment from the era in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.

According to a volunteer embroiderer at my table, it took 70 volunteers (including former Virginia first lady Roxane Gilmore) 55 days to stitch 130 pretty black creatures, including rabbits, deer, and crabs. Advertisement Her jacket worked a lot better than John Rolfe’s red suit, which, while historically accurate, looked disco-ish even topped by an oversized black hat. Get Slate in your inbox. The event would have resembled any generic upscale hotel wedding rehearsal dinner if it weren’t for the three Native American men on a dais wearing tanned buckskin and draped in raccoon mantles, their skin covered by red and blue body paint. The next day’s wedding re-enactment was to be held at the base of the original mud-walled chapel where Pocahontas wed John Rolfe on April 5, 1614—400 years later to the date. The site of the settlement’s chapel was found just in 2010 at Historic Jamestowne . Its perimeter exactly matched dimensions described by William Strachey, secretary of the first English colony in the New World. The discovery was acclaimed as one of Archaeology magazine’s top 10 finds of the year.

(To clear up a common misconception for those who live outside Virginia—four out of five college graduates I polled in an East Village Starbucks got this wrong—Capt. John Smith, leader of the Jamestown settlement, who claimed Pocahontas saved him by begging her father to release him moments before certain death, was never married to Pocahontas. He left Jamestown after being injured by a gunpowder explosion, never to return. Farmer John Rolfe departed England in 1609 on the third supply fleet headed to the struggling English colony. After a short stint as a castaway in Bermuda, he arrived in Jamestown in 1610 and married Pocahontas four years later.) Advertisement I wasn’t out of place in a room full of Pocahontas enthusiasts. I was the girl who dressed up for Halloween in a fringe dress and braids telling everyone I was an Indian princess. My favorite picture book was Pocahontas: A Little Indian Girl of Jamestown , which described Capt.

John Smith as a handsome “Paleface” hero “straight and tall” with hair “the color of gold leaves in the autumn, his eyes like the sky.” Smith told Pocahontas stories and gave her prized gifts, such as a hand mirror. She in turn walked through the forest to warn the captain that her tribe would kill him while he slept. I took out every children’s book about Pocahontas I could find in the library and questioned my mother, who as a girl had also dreamed of being Pocahontas. I was sure Smith loved his little friend back, but she was born too late. She obviously married the wrong man, and did so only because she was told the right one was dead. When she lived in England as the new Lady Rolfe, she saw Smith once, and what a tragedy that must have been! If only he had waited for her to grow up to marry him. In 2005 I couldn’t wait to see Terrence Malick’s visually sumptuous (if a bit plotless) two-and-a-half-hour film about Pocahontas and the Jamestown colonists. I could convince absolutely no one to go with me.

When I read about the wedding re-enactment, I’d been especially intrigued that a member of Pocahontas’ Pamunkey tribe had been chosen to portray her. Had the local Native Americans really signed off on this event? I decided I had to attend. Once again no one wanted to accompany me to a Pocahontas event, not even my 11-year-old daughter, who said she was slightly embarrassed for me. I made the triumphal announcement to my family that I was going alone. “Bring me back a T-shirt,” my daughter said without looking up from Instagram. 2 Virginia’s “Administrative Genocide” Advertisement It was easy enough to get to the wedding, a straight eight-hour train ride from New York’s Penn Station to Williamsburg, Virginia. There was a free shuttle bus from the 18th-century Colonial Williamsburg to 17th-century Jamestown, 15 minutes away. But how was I going to get an indigenous perspective unfiltered by pomp and press releases? It was simpler than I thought. Wandering around the grounds of Colonial Williamsburg, the first person I spoke with was Jeff Brown, an archaeologist digging by a slope near a cobblestone street.

“You have to call my brother Kevin, I swear, he’s the current chief of the Pamunkey tribe.” “I am the chief,” Kevin Brown said firmly over the phone, and added that he would have plenty to say on the wedding matter. With the clomping of horses in the background, I made arrangements to meet him the next day in the upstairs bookstore café at the College of William & Mary. “Look for a man with a beaded pendant on his neck.” Then he gently advised me, “You really don’t have to keep saying ‘Native American’ in Virginia. We use the word ‘Indian’ here. Or we just name the tribe.” The oldest Virginia families claim descent from Pocahontas. Advertisement I didn’t want to be uninformed going to an unexpected meeting with a tribal chief, so I quickly read up on the unusual status of Indian tribes in Virginia. In 1924 an astonishing law was passed called the Racial Integrity Act that restricted who could marry based on race. Anyone with a hint of black ancestry was considered black and prohibited from marrying a white person.

But according to a subsection of the law known as the Pocahontas Exception, since the oldest Virginia families claimed descent from Pocahontas, a person with one-sixteenth Indian blood was considered white. The law protected Native Americans somewhat from Jim Crow laws. But the long-term unintended effect of classifying people with Native American ancestry as white is what Laura Feller, a curator for the National Park Service and the foremost expert on this ugly asterisk of history, has termed “administrative genocide.” It has left “a modern-day legacy where today’s Virginia tribes struggle to achieve federal recognition because they cannot prove their heritage through historic documentation.” Chief Kevin Brown was indeed sporting a colorful pendant the next day over his light blue oxford shirt and vest; his head was shaved bald except for a short black ponytail. “The marriage has never been a big story to our community,” he said. “A lot of little girls lived then who wed white men. Many other chiefs ruled beneath Powhatan, who used his children as a way to secure allegiances. He had as many as 50 daughters, and Pocahontas was not of as high a station as some of the other girls were.

He had a child of his living at almost every tribal community, and viewed Jamestown as another opportunity to secure influence. Influence was currency back then.” Pocahontas saves the life of Capt. John Smith in this 1870 chromolithograph. Image courtesy Library of Congress Brown made intimidatingly direct eye contact. “I’ve anguished over this weekend, but the Pocahontas connection helps our fight for federal recognition,” he said. The tribe is already recognized by the state of Virginia, and it is on track to be the first federally recognized Virginian tribe sometime in 2014. With that designation comes enormous economic potential. Advertisement The Pamunkey are one of the many related tribes classified as Algonquian. In 1607, when the English arrived, about 20,000 local Algonquian-speaking Indians called Powhatan (after their leader, Pocahontas’ father) lived near the Virginia coast. Of these Indians, about 1,000 of them were Pamunkey. About 160 European settlers lived in the village of Jamestown.

Today there are 205 Pamunkey, and 50 people live on the 1,200-acre reservation in King William, about 40 miles away from Historic Jamestown on the banks of the Pamunkey River. It was set aside by treaty in 1646 and given to the tribe in 1658. On the reservation is a burial mound thought to hold Powhatan’s remains. “We did talk to trees,” Brown said of the Disney film Pocahontas , “but the rest of the story is BS. Disney came to our reservation for research. I don’t think anyone got any money. We didn’t. Honestly, I’m going tonight for the meal, and I’m a little pissed the big rehearsal dinner’s not an open bar.” “I’ve anguished over this weekend, but the Pocahontas connection helps our fight for federal recognition.” Pamunkey Chief Kevin Brown He worried his reply was too frank, but I reassured him I wanted the truth, and then he smiled warmly. “I’m trying. I really am.

If I can use these things as a platform to get out that my tribe’s fishing rights are under attack, I’ll go along with it. The Pamunkey and the Mattaponi have always had exemption to fish shad and catfish, and now the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries wants to curb our rights.” He explained that they signed a treaty for these rights in 1677, and tribal fishermen always carry cards that identify them as Pamunkey. “They say the shad is overfished and there’s mercury danger, but these are our rights by treaty.” The Pamunkey, he said, have run a shad hatchery since 1918. Along with the Mattaponi tribe, the Pamunkey have worked to increase fertilization by 60 percent by taking the female fish and squeezing their roe into pails and then catching a male fish and adding his sperm. Advertisement “So if people look at our participation this weekend like ‘What a bunch of sellouts!’ they are not seeing the big picture. If you want justice to work, you have to be at the table. Four or five years ago, we got more involved with the events produced through Colonial Williamsburg.

Before that no one particularly recognized or appreciated our existence, but they are starting to. That’s why I said yes.” 3 “Miss Pocahontas Is Getting Married Tomorrow” Pocahontas was born about 1595 in Werowocomoco, 15 miles upriver from Jamestown. She was about 11 when she met 27-year-old Smith. Smith’s account is the primary historical record of her childhood, but it is so strewn with inconsistencies that, as historian Camilla Townsend hypothesizes, most of his thrilling account of a girl begging her father to save a white man was a spin on Indian maiden sexual fantasies popular at the time. Captain John Smith trading with Virginia Indians. Painting by Sidney E. King/National Park Service But no Jamestown experts have disputed that the most famous marriage in American history took place. The first church-sanctioned interracial marriage in English-speaking North America was huge news on both sides of the Atlantic. And it ushered in a seven-year period of peace and unity between the colonists and Indians before renewed war.

Apparently I was the first of 120 guests for the rehearsal dinner; when the doorman opened the entrance for me, he asked if I was going to the Edwards/Carlisle wedding. I explained why I was there. “Oh dear, I forgot Miss Pocahontas is getting married tomorrow. The Rolfe party is in the Colony Room, down the hall to your left.” Few regular visitors to Colonial Williamsburg had bought a ticket, at $95 a seat. Over cocktails I met loyal staff, wealthy board members of Colonial Williamsburg, and local “Pocahontas descendants” who identified as white and Protestant. For 400 years, American bluebloods in the thousands have claimed direct descent from Pocahontas via her son, Thomas Rolfe, and his daughter Jane. There were the Byrds, a family of famous explorers and governors, New York City’s handsome former Mayor John Lindsay, Woodrow Wilson’s wife Edith, mathematician and astronomer Percival Lowell (who thought he found canals on Mars), and Nancy Reagan, who favors astrology over astronomy. In England there are scores of additional fancy folks proudly touting Pocahontas lineage through Thomas’ other daughter, Anne.

Actors at the Pocahontas wedding re-enactment in Jamestown. Photo courtesy Preservation Virginia (Historic Jamestowne) Three Jamestown colonist re-enactors entered the room accompanied by the three Indians in buckskins and body paint. Then swarthy John Rolfe arrived with his comely bride-to-be, her hair bunned and tucked into a bonnet. A man acting the part of the colony’s Anglican minister Richard Bucke led us in a severe 17th-century form of grace, and everyone in the room bowed their heads. Oy. Was I the only secular Jew there? Did no one care that “Bucke” was an actor? After another culture-shocked glance around the room, I bowed my head, too. Between each dish served, the historic interpreters on the dais gave a few lines of scripted dialogue. One maid was a composite of the English women who tended to Pocahontas after she became Lady Rolfe.

The menu, starting with cornmeal-crusted oyster chowder, was purported to be what could have been served in 1614, but there was no bottle-nosed dolphin served, nor shark, whale, turtle, snake, heron, eagle, crow, skunk, dog, horse, or cat. Was Chief Brown suffering? I squinted over to his table, and it was hard to tell. Toward the end of my sweet potato tart dessert, I strolled over to say hi, and he introduced me to his good friend, Robert “Two Eagles” Green, a former insurance executive and chief emeritus of Virginia’s Patawomeck tribe, who portrayed Pocahontas’ father, Powhatan, in an episode of PBS’s Nova . It’s been a strange time for archaeologists at Jamestown. Brown then presented me to Buck Woodard, a ponytailed anthropologist with a charismatic George Clooney smile.

When I’d spoken with Brown at the bookstore, he said that he decided to come to the weekend’s festivities in part because Woodard “asked me to participate, and I trust him and listen to him.” “The two tables of Indians here are my guests,” Woodard said. “Of course they didn’t pay to come. I’m honored that they did come.” Woodard is an adjunct professor at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of World Studies and director of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s and Historic Jamestowne’s American Indian Initiative. “The dinner was a tough sell,” Woodard confessed. A clamorous crush of well-wishers started seeking to have their pictures taken with the famous couple. Woodard and I agreed to talk more at the wedding the next morning. 4 Cannibalism at Jamestown Before entering the old coastal fort, I signed the wedding guest book. After making sure I didn’t see any of the Indians I had been talking to at the rehearsal dinner, I asked another tourist to take a photo of me touching Pocahontas’ hand for good luck. As a child I’d seen pictures of this 1922 life-size statue by the fort’s entrance, sculpted by William Ordway Partridge.

As an adult I could see how it might offend: This beauty with a feather in her hair has European features as in a Degas ballerina sculpture, and she wears clothing from a Western tribe. The iconic statue is copper-green, with both hands rubbed to a shine from so many people superstitiously touching them. The governor of Virginia presented a replica in 1958 at St. George’s Church in Gravesend, England, where Pocahontas died in March 1617, after being left off a ship with what was probably tuberculosis. She had just finished a year abroad with her husband, including a formal presentation to the royal court as the baptized Lady Rebecca Rolfe. She is buried under the chancel in Gravesend, where the important locals were placed after death, and her remains have never been disturbed or studied. I bought a southerly sweet tea inside the small standalone cafeteria and added a $1.25 slice of white-frosted “Pocahontas wedding cake” to stay festive. In a blue short-sleeved work shirt, archaeologist David Givens talked to passersby from the cellar of the fort, where he was busy unearthing a brick bread oven.

Watching archaeologists work on site is part of the Jamestown attraction. A clutch of wedding guests crammed near me to take photos of Givens. Burial of the Dead. More than 80 percent of Jamestown's 500 colonists perished during the harsh winter of 1609–1610. Painting by Sidney E. King/Image courtesy National Park Service It’s been a strange time for archaeologists at Jamestown. Just over a year ago, Smithsonian scientists announced that they had discovered the partial skull and severed shinbone of “Jane,” a 14-year-old girl, near the Jamestown chapel. The bones bore the marks of an inexperienced butcher. These mangled human parts were direct evidence of cannibalism during the harsh winter of 1609–1610, referred to as the Starving Time. The announcement brought on a media storm and rare mentions of dismemberment on TripAdvisor. Givens told the tourists, all the while sifting soil, about the discovery of half-eaten Jane. Another thing archaeologists there have shown is that what masters eat, servants eat.

“Archaeologists and scientists see a lot of lead poisoning; both masters and servants were eating off the same pewter plates.” After answering a few more enthusiastic cannibalism questions from the dozen or so visitors standing above him and passing time before the ceremony, Givens tried to describe his other work, dropping words like mitochondrial and isotopic signatures. After a polite silence, it was back to more cannibalism questions. “The softer expression for cannibalism is processing to be eaten,” he said resignedly. 5 Pocahontas Was Kidnapped Before the Wedding Buck Woodard waved me over to continue our truncated rehearsal dinner conversation. He cast the Indians in the weekend’s events. He’s done a lot of film work, mainly as an adviser along with Chief Robert “Two Eagles” Green, and he had the know-how to do the makeup for the Indian characters. Actors at the Pocahontas wedding re-enactment in Jamestown. Photo courtesy Preservation Virginia (Historic Jamestowne) Woodard worked with Native American actress Irene Bedard, who was the voice of Pocahontas in the Disney Pocahontas film and its sequel, Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World .

He worked with Q'orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas in the grown-up movie The New World . Was he a fixer on set? “Emmanuel Lubezki, who was nominated for an Oscar as cinematographer for New World”—he won for Gravity —“called me an animateur, and I like that better than fixer. It’s French for the person who makes things comes alive, makes things happen.” I complimented him on his lapel pin (“Iroquois League”) and his snazzy purple jacket. “Not purple, wampum-colored.” I was so nervous that I would get the Indian perspective wrong that I double-checked if he was being humorous. “Sort of, but wampum and belts were used in diplomatic ceremonies. But think how much of the humor of the Indians participating in the original ceremony may have been lost. I imagine the newcomers transcribed seriously. Indians can be ironic too, ya know. If only we had a linguist working on the subtleties.” “Isn’t there?” “Nope, nobody’s meaningfully working on Virginian Algonquian since Blair Rudes died.” I was embarrassed that I had no idea who he was talking about.

“An astonishing linguist who worked on The New World. I’m proud that in this ceremony, which is for the dominant culture, there is substantive and meaningful use of Pamunkey words, which Rudes helped bring back from the dead.” Some of the words we know for sure originated from the Powhatan language are raccoon, opossum, pecan, moccasin, hickory, persimmon, terrapin, tomahawk, and wow! “As in powwow,” he explained when I questioned the last one. So how many authentic words would be used in the ceremony a few minutes away? Woodard knew: “Twelve. Mostly during a native blessing in which John Rolfe and his bride’s hands will be linked and wrapped with beads by Pocahontas’ uncle Opichisco. But sometimes 12 is not 12. Algonquian phrases are polysynthetic and build like German, so one big, long word can be descriptive of people and place; one Pamunkey word would be many more in English.” “I see my real job as an ombudsman of the local Indian voice,” Woodard said.

“And as far as this weekend goes, Pocahontas is the most famous person in the story, and if we need her to get a level playing field in a dominant culture, then so be it. Just look over at those benches. Twenty Pamunkey Indians are in the fort of Jamestowne, and you tell me, when’s the last time that happened? In the 17th century? I’m not trying to sugarcoat the compromises being made this weekend, but their very presence here is a big deal in post-Colonial American history.” We stopped talking after two musicians appeared onstage to serenade the audience by viola da gamba and recorder. A VIP area was roped off along the 24-by-64-foot footprint of the old chapel, a few dozen of us seated inside it, the not-so-fortunate standing outside of it, four deep. In the front left rows, the honored Pamunkey guests fanned themselves with their programs while reporters and photographers from Indian Country Today and the Washington Post snapped photos of a smiling former governor of Virginia.

As the British flag flapped above us, the fanciful procession down the center aisle began, first gallant guards from the fort carrying rifles, then two priests, and then Capt. Samuel Argall , a man of influence at Jamestown. Now the Indian party arrived, the same Native American actors from the rehearsal dinner. At first sight of the bride, the smartphones came out. Wendy Taylor, with her rich brown hair glimmering in the sun and a smashing Disney hourglass figure, was undeniably the embodiment of all little-girl and grown-man fantasies of Pocahontas. The Pocahontas fangirls around me gasped and grabbed their parents’ hands to steady themselves at her arrival. I was secretly ashamed that I shared their excitement. Yet Pocahontas had but one line: “I will.” “Argall was a jerk. I’m glad that’s coming across.” A wedding spectator Couldn’t the writing staff have added to this? Maybe they were purists. What we know about the ceremony comes from an account by Ralph Hamor, the Jamestown secretary who succeeded William Strachey, and there was no account by Pocahontas.

It is wishful thinking that she would have said more. One thing the children’s books and most Pocahontas myths fail to mention, a fact that sucks some of the romance out of the occasion, is that Pocahontas was kidnapped before the wedding. In April 1613, Capt. Argall captured Pocahontas in the town of Passapatanzy, where she had been calling on relatives. She was held prisoner at the town of Henricus for a year, had Christianity lessons, and was baptized Rebecca. (Whether or not she used the name, she almost certainly ceased being known as Pocahontas, which was a nickname. Her childhood given name was either Amonute or Matoaka; she let it be known around the time of her wedding that she preferred to be called Matoaka.) It is clear from diaries and records that Rolfe was infatuated with Pocahontas, but zero evidence exists that she shared an emotional connection. It is possible that she agreed to marry the widower as one of the terms of her release. Capt. Argall, wearing a wireless microphone, laughed arrogantly to his comrade in a stagy aside.

“She was traded for a small copper pot!” The Abduction of Pocahontas, 1612. Image courtesy Meg Eastman/Virginia Historical Society A history enthusiast behind me behind me said to his son: “Argall was a jerk. I’m glad that’s coming across.” After the ceremony, the newlyweds were escorted to the much-needed shade of a craft services holding tent. A dignified lady seated next to me asked if I’d enjoyed the 20-minute ceremony. She turned out to be Anne Geddy Cross of Hanover, Virginia, president of the Board of Trustees of Preservation Virginia. Cross oversees the site as well as five core historic properties. I assumed she got to meet Queen Elizabeth II in 2007 when she visited for another historical marker, the quadricentennial of the first settlers’ arrival. “I did indeed! Royalty loves to visit Virginia.” But she claimed to be more over the moon that Indian royalty was here this time. “ That’s truly something!” I remembered that souvenir for my daughter when I saw the T-shirt options fluttering in the hot breeze in an outdoor popup shop alongside the James River.

One showed Rolfe kneeling by Pocahontas, asking for her hand, with a cringe-worthy scratched heart in a tree that read “Pocahontas + J. Rolfe, 4*5*14.” * Here I ran into Bill Bolling and his son Sean Bolling, also buying T-shirts. Mrs. Bolling (I never caught her first name) emerged from the tent, saying she’d brought along a chart prepared by an ancestor, Blair Bolling, in 1810 that explained that her husband and son were “red Bollings,” who have the most assured heritage from Pocahontas; others identified by genealogists as “blue Bollings” and “white Bollings” have iffy links. “Got that correctly?” she asked hopefully. According to Bill Bolling, his family also has a tradition of naming daughters Pocahontas, and Bill recently found the grave of an ancestor named Pocahontas Bolling. He was thrilled to be at the wedding: “I’m pretty humbled. This is the same site it all happened on.

I’m taking it all in.” Despite misgivings, I bought the shirt with the kneeling Rolfe. I was almost ready to leave when I realized in horror I had not gotten Pocahontas’ perspective from Pocahontas. Wendy Taylor and David Catanese. Photo courtesy Chuck Durfor Buck Woodard agreed to introduce me to 25-year-old Wendy Taylor (Chief Brown’s cousin), but only after she had had a decent break. As I waited in the tent, my eyes roved to John Rolfe (actor David Catanese) in his red suit and 17th-century hat sneaking a Tastykake powdered sugar donut from the craft services table. I reached for my iPhone to document this, and he gave me a thumbs-up, then the bride was ready to say hello. Woodard stood nearby, perhaps to make sure I was asking respectful questions. “I saw the movie Pocahontas I can’t even count how many times. I was always pretending to be her. I love being her,” said Taylor. Woodard looked like he was disappointed that Taylor’s excitement in being cast stemmed from watching a vamped-up maiden in Disney cartoons.

But then he put in, “Now that she has a 4-year-old and a 9-month-old, she’s watching it again.” I was startled and excited to find out that the silver-haired man next to me listening to our conversation was the most famous man at the fort, the archeologist who insisted more than 20 years ago that the fort had not washed away, that its traces could still be found along the James River. Oh my! I had just read his book on the train. Could I interview him, too? William Kelso happily started in with the story he has told countless times. “I began by myself, 20 acres started by shovel, I then noticed a dark streak in the soil. Man, I was beside myself! Right away I found an object, and we have since found 1.7 million other objects.” None of this would be happening if not for his vision—not the archaeological research, not the World of Pocahontas Unearthed exhibit that opened June 6 at the Jamestown site, not the wedding re-enactment. “I’ll fall in my last hole here, probably.” William Kelso “It is something, isn’t it, for it’s on the genuine site?

It’s a lovely day, but meeting the Queen, that was my best moment,” he said. In 2007, Kelso was made Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. “I was told the Queen wanted a reflective moment, so I racked my brains for something good to say to her. When I met her, I spent 20 minutes with her guiding her around in her blue coat and blue hat. There was a lot to catch up on since her 1957 visit to the fort. She loved all of it, and I whispered, ‘Your majesty, this is where the British Empire began, this was not just the first American colony, this was the first colony in the British Empire.’ ” He chortled. “She loved that bit of information, she gave the best smile and incorporated that tidbit into her speech. Bush was there, too, you know, but making the Queen smile. That was wild.” Kelso pointed to where he lives year-round, a building on site, in a caretaker’s house provided by Preservation Virginia. “That’s why I can be here so often. I’m waiting on what the future still holds. Hopefully my career highlight is still ahead.

Did anyone tell you work started a few days ago on the western end of the island, 20 unexplored acres? It took us 20 years to dig one acre. So think about that, one acre, 95 percent of the site is uncovered. There is years of work ahead. I’ll fall in my last hole here, probably. I’m too excited to stop.” On the Amtrak ride home, I worried that I would, like so many before me, convince myself that I deeply understood a complicated history after a glimpsing visit. My reported journey to Jamestown will be hopelessly outdated in 50 years, like all of the accounts I have read, starting with the ones by the settlers at Jamestown who had a late-medieval perspective and offered the world a Christians vs. savages account. Their “good Indian woman who saved the life of a white man” tale is spectacularly loved even today. In other accounts, Pocahontas has been portrayed as a brat at Jamestown; she has been called powerless, and even matter-of-factly a prick-tease.

The divide in interpreting her story is not just between cultures; in academic circles, there are still factions with brittle pride warring over whether Pocahontas really saved John Smith from death, whether he made the story up, or whether the narrative was about a ritual drama John Smith simply didn't understand. Some experts argue about the appropriation of Pocahontas as an American Indian woman that the larger public has reduced to a “Pocahottie” Halloween outfit. None of these tropes is centered within a firm Algonquian indigenous worldview, perhaps an almost impossible task 400 years later. Divergent takes on historical events will not always be reconciled. But even if I went to Jamestown and all my daughter got was a lousy T-shirt, I have gotten so much more out of the pilgrimage. Top Comment Really enjoyed this article, as an anthropologist who has done recent research on tourism and the depiction of an imaginary historical past. Thank you! More...

-Philanthropos Pocahontas | Powhatan princess | Britannica.com Powhatan princess Alternative Titles: Amonute, Lady Rebecca, Matoaka Pocahontas Tecumseh Pocahontas, also called Matoaka and Amonute, Christian name Rebecca (born c. 1596 ce, near present-day Jamestown, Virginia , U.S.—died March 1617, Gravesend , Kent , England ), Powhatan Indian woman who fostered peace between English colonists and Native Americans by befriending the settlers at the Jamestown Colony in Virginia and eventually marrying one of them. Pocahontas—daughter of Chief Powhatan, who presided over the Powhatan empire—painting … MPI/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Among her several native names, the one best known to the English was Pocahontas (translated at the time as “little wanton” or “mischievous one”). She was a daughter of Powhatan (as he was known to the English; he was also called Wahunsenacah), chief of the Powhatan empire, which consisted of some 28 tribes of the Tidewater region.

Pocahontas was a young girl of age 10 or 11 when she first became acquainted with the colonists who settled in the Chesapeake Bay area in 1607. By the account of colonial leader John Smith , she interceded to save Smith’s life in December of that year, after he had been taken prisoner by her father’s men. Smith wrote that, when he was brought before Powhatan, Pocahontas halted Smith’s execution by placing herself over him as he was about to have his head clubbed on a stone. Powhatan released Smith to return to Jamestown. Some writers have theorized that Smith may have misunderstood what he saw and that what he believed to be an execution was instead a benign ceremony of some kind; others have alleged that he invented the rescue outright. What is known is that Pocahontas became a frequent visitor to the settlement and a friend of Smith. Her playful nature made her a favourite, and her interest in the English proved valuable to them. She sometimes brought gifts of food from her father to relieve the hard-pressed settlers.

She also saved the lives of Smith and other colonists in a trading party in January 1609 by warning them of an ambush. After Smith’s return to England in late 1609, relations between the settlers and Powhatan deteriorated. The English informed Pocahontas that Smith had died. She did not return to the colony for the next four years. In the spring of 1613, however, Sir Samuel Argall took her prisoner, hoping to use her to secure the return of some English prisoners and stolen English weapons and tools. Argall did so by conspiring with Japazeus , the chief of the Patawomeck tribe, who lived along the Potomac River and whom Pocahontas was visiting. Japazeus and his wife lured Pocahontas onto Argall’s ship, where Argall kept her until he could bring her to Jamestown. Although her father released seven English prisoners, an impasse resulted when he did not return the weapons and tools and refused to negotiate further. Britannica Stories EU Considers Rules For Robots Pocahontas was taken from Jamestown to a secondary English settlement known as Henricus.

Treated with courtesy during her captivity, Pocahontas was converted to Christianity and was baptized Rebecca. She accepted a proposal of marriage from John Rolfe , a distinguished settler; both the Virginia governor, Sir Thomas Dale , and Chief Powhatan agreed to the marriage, which took place in April 1614. Following the marriage, peace prevailed between the English and the Indians as long as Powhatan lived. According to the account of one colonist, Pocahontas had previously been married to a Powhatan man named Kocoum. In the spring of 1616, Pocahontas, her husband, their one-year-old son Thomas, and a group of other Native Americans, men and women, sailed with Governor Dale to England. There she was entertained at royal festivities. The Virginia Company apparently saw her visit as a device to publicize the colony and to win support from King James I and investors. While preparing to return to America, Pocahontas fell ill, probably with lung disease. Her illness took a turn for the worse and interrupted her return voyage before her ship left the River Thames .

She died in the town of Gravesend at about age 21 and was buried there on March 21, 1617. Afterward her husband immediately returned to Virginia; her son remained in England until 1635, when he went to Virginia and became a successful tobacco planter. Human Geography Quiz Pocahontas has been an enduring image in American literature and art, the prototypical “Indian princess,” whose narrative has been relentlessly refashioned to suit the polemical, poetic, or marketing needs of its interpreters. From the early 19th century, the emphasis of her story shifted from Smith’s description of his rescue to Pocahontas’s relationship with Rolfe, a mixed marriage that provided a practical and metaphoric model for the beneficial possibilities of the blending of indigenous and colonial cultures . By the time of John Gadsby Chapman’s painting of The Baptism of Pocahontas for the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in 1836–40, the benefits of the coupling of Rolfe and Pocahontas had become more contingent , predicated on her assimilationist acceptance of Christianity.

Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies In the journey from Simon van de Passe’s 1616 engraving from life to her depiction in Chapman’s painting, Pocahontas’s features and skin tone were dramatically altered to more closely resemble European and European-American concepts of human beauty. Over the years, Smith’s mythic description of his rescue was increasingly accepted as history, and imaginative presentations of Pocahontas’s story were often molded into romances that sometimes focused as much on her relationship with Smith—as in the Walt Disney Company ’s animated feature Pocahontas (1995)—as on her relationship with Rolfe. In the run-up to the American Civil War , according to cultural historian Robert P. Tilton, abolitionists claimed Pocahontas as a symbol of the possibility of racial harmony, while Southerners pointed to her and Rolfe as progenitors of Southern aristocracy who offered an alternative national foundation myth to the Northern version centred on the Pilgrims. Pocahontas even found her way into rock music .

Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young ’s paean “Pocahontas,” from his album Rust Never Sleeps (1979), casts her as the object of male romantic desire situated in pristine, unspoiled America.

Question: Pocahontas is buried alongside which river?
Answer: Thames