Day 8: Pocahontas
Spoiler ALERT: this post references key plot points from Disney's Pocahontas
Pocahontas is a famous Native American figure, popular in folklore and made a Disney heroine in 1995. However, not a lot of people know the true story of Pocahontas and it can be hard to separate myth from truth. The most famous story about Pocahontas is that she saved John Smith's life. This story was dramatized and fictionalised for the Disney film, they fabricated a romance with John Smith. Pocahontas would have been 12 years old when she saved John Smith's life. This does not mean she couldn't have done it, however, John Smith didn't tell this story until after Pocahontas became famous and there is no evidence or documentation whatsoever that it actually happened. It was probably made up by Smith, probably to capitalize and probably cash-in on her celebrity. The Disney film has a quite sad ending as Disney films go with John and Pocahontas being separated as John needs to return to England to have a gunshot wound treated and Pocahontas feeling she is still needed in her country.
Matoaka, known as Amonute, was estimated to have been born sometime in 1596. Matoaka is said to mean 'bright stream between hills', Amonute means 'little brave warrior'. John Smith said she was ten when he met in in 1608 but later said that she was twelve or thirteen at the time. Pocahontas was said to be a childhood nickname that means 'little wanton'. People have sometimes interpreted it as 'little mischief' or 'playful one'. Colonist William Strachey said that Pocahontas used to come to Jamestown and play with the young boys. He also said, which is not unusual considering her heritage, she would be naked. It is believed that her tribe may have called her Pocahontas and kept her real name a secret from the settlers due to superstition. In many cultures, names have a lot of power.
Pocahontas and John Smith probably did meet sometime in 1608. In 1607, John Smith was captured by her tribe and met her father, Powhatan. Smith claims that he and Pocahontas met sometime later, at least to start with. Pocahontas did regularly visit Jamestown as I said and "every once in four or five days, Pocahontas with her attendants brought him (Smith) so much provision that saved many of their lives that else for all this had starved with hunger". The Jamestown colonists seemed to have had a good relationship with the Native Americans to begin with, like many colonists, of course this changed.
In 1609, John Smith sustained an injury and he was sent back to England, Pocahontas was told he had died. In 1613, relationships between the colonists and neighbouring tribes having broken down, Pocahontas was captured and held to ransom. The release of colonists held by Chief Powhatan and the return of stolen tools and weapons were the price. Powhatan did release the prisoners but the colonists were not satisfied with the amount of tools and weapons returned. A standoff began. It was suggested by someone that Pocahontas was raped after her capture but this is highly unlikely. Any harm coming to Pocahontas would have angered the Native Americans, especially as she was being held to ransom. The Natives still greatly outnumbered the colonists at this time and it's unlikely the colonists would risk the retaliation that could come. It is reported she was treated quite well which was in the interests of the colonists who wished for a truce.
During her captivity Pocahontas improved her English and was taught about Christianity. She was eventually forced to convert and was baptised with the Christian name Rebecca. It is said that it was after her baptism she revealed her real name to the colonists. When the stand off between Natives and Colonists became violent Pocahontas spoke to her father and rebuked him for valuing her less than "old swords, pieces or axes" and said she wished to stay with the colonists "who loved her".
In April 1614, Pocahontas married John Rolfe. Rolfe was a widower who established a plantation growing tobacco. He requested permission to marry Pocahontas (even though she had been baptized, she could still be seen as a heathen and he was a pious man) claiming to love her. Their son, Thomas, was born January 1617 and they lived together on a farm for two years. Their marriage created a climate of peace between the Jamestown colonists and Powhatan's tribes; it endured for eight years as the "Peace of Pocahontas". In 1615, Ralph Hamor wrote, "Since the wedding we have had friendly commerce and trade not only with Powhatan but also with his subjects round about us." The marriage was controversial in the British court at the time because "a commoner" had "the audacity" to marry a "princess".
One goal of the Virginia Company of London was to convert Native Americans to Christianity, and the company saw an opportunity to promote further investment with the conversion of Pocahontas and her marriage to Rolfe. They decided to bring Pocahontas to England as a symbol of the tamed New World "savage" and the Rolfes arrived at the port of Plymouth on June 12, 1616. They journeyed to London by coach, accompanied by 11 other Powhatans including a holy man named Tomocomo. John Smith was living in London at the time while Pocahontas was in Plymouth, and she learned that he was still alive. Smith did not meet Pocahontas, but he wrote to the Queen, urging that Pocahontas be treated with respect as a royal visitor. He suggested that, if she were treated badly, her "present love to us and Christianity might turn to… scorn and fury", and England might lose the chance to "rightly have a Kingdom by her means". Pocahontas was not a princess in Powhatan culture, but the Virginia Company presented her as one to the English public because she was the daughter of an important chief. When he met her again in London, Smith referred to her deferentially as a "King's daughter".
Pocahontas was apparently treated well in London and was entertained at many public functions. At a masque, her seats were described as "well placed" and she was treated like a noblewoman. Not all the English were so impressed, however. Helen C. Rountree claims that there is no contemporaneous evidence to suggest that Pocahontas was regarded in England "as anything like royalty", despite the writings of John Smith. Rather, she was considered to be something of a curiosity, according to Roundtree, who suggests that she was called merely "the Virginian woman" by most Englishmen. Pocahontas and Rolfe lived in the suburb of Brentford, Middlesex for some time, as well as at Rolfe's family home at Heacham, Norfolk. In early 1617, Smith met the couple at a social gathering and wrote that, when Pocahontas saw him, "without any words, she turned about, obscured her face, as not seeming well contented", and was left alone for two or three hours. Later, they spoke more; Smith's record of what she said to him is fragmentary and enigmatic. She reminded him of the "courtesies she had done", saying, "you did promise Powhatan what was yours would be his, and he the like to you". She then discomfited him by calling him "father", explaining that Smith had called Powhatan "father" when he was a stranger in Virginia, "and by the same reason so must I do you". Smith did not accept this form of address because, he wrote, Pocahontas outranked him as "a King's daughter". Pocahontas then said, "with a well-set countenance". "Were you not afraid to come into my father's country and caused fear in him and all his people (but me) and fear you here I should call you "father"? I tell you then I will, and you shall call me child, and so I will be for ever and ever your countryman". Finally, Pocahontas told Smith that she and her tribe had thought him dead, but her father had told Tomocomo to seek him "because your countrymen will lie much".
In March 1617, Rolfe and Pocahontas boarded a ship to return to Virginia, but they sailed only as far as Gravesend on the river Thames when Pocahontas became gravely ill. She was taken ashore and died at the approximate age of 21. It is not known what caused her death, many believed she was poisoned., perhaps because someone disliked or did not believe in the so-called "civilised savage" or disapproved of her interracial marriage. Perhaps because of what she was and nothing else. There are other theories such as tuberculosis or smallpox, but as no-one she had been in contact with fell ill and she was said to be in perfect health previously, it is likely she was poisoned. According to Rolfe, she died saying, "all must die, but tis enough that her child liveth". Pocahontas's funeral took place on March 21, 1617.
A young Native American woman kidnapped, forced into Christianity, married off, shown as almost a sideshow in England and being poisoned before being able to return home. Her life has become sensationalized, fictionalised and portrayed many times. But unlike the happy Pocahontas of the Disney film and the (straight to VHS) sequel, the real Pocahontas lived a tragic life.
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