The Tale of Pocahontas
http://www.lynleigh.com/pocahontas/history/
http://phimanh.net/News/Hoat-hinh/2007/03/3B9AE11A/pocahontas1.jpg
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In December 1607, barely six months after arriving
at Jamestown with the 1st English colonists,
Captain John Smith was captured by warriors of
Powhatan, the supreme chief of about fourteen
thousand Algonquian people who inhabited the
coastal plain of present-day Virginia.
http://www.poacherguide.co.uk/photos/famouspeople/Captain-John-Smith.jpg
http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2005_The_New_World/2005_the_new_world_503.jpg
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According to Smith, Powhatan “feasted him after
their best barbarous manner… two great stones
were brought before Powhatan: than as many
[Indians] as could layd hands on [Smith], dragged
him to [the stones], and thereon laid his head, and
being ready with their clubs, to beate out his
braines.”
http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/200/269/smith_2.htm
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At that moment, Pocahontas, Powhatan’s eleven-year-old
daughter, rushed forward and “got [Smith’s] head in her
armes, and laid her owne upon his to save him from
death.” Pocahontas, Smith wrote, “hazarded the beating
out of her owne braines to save mine, and … so prevailed
with her father, that I was safely conducted [back] to
James towne.”
http://www.williamsburgprivatetours.com/Pocahontas%20smith.htm
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This romantic story of an Indian maiden rescuing a
white soldier and saving Jamestown, and
ultimately English colonization of North America,
has been celebrated in the writing of American
history since 1624, when Smith published his
Generall Historie of Virginia.
http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/pio/4MillVol/3-millionth_vol.htm
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Historians believe that this episode happened more
or less as Smith described it. But Smith did not
understand why Pocahontas acted as she did. Many
have claimed that her love for Smith caused her to
rebel against her father’s authority. Pocahontas left
no document that explains her motives; most
likely, she could not write.
http://www.williamsburgprivatetours.com/Pocahontas%20smith.htm
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Everything known about her comes from the pen
of Smith or other Englishmen. When their
writings are considered in the context of what is
known about the Algonquian society Pocahontas
was born into, her actions appear in an entirely
different light.
Motion Picture:
The New World
http://www.chiemgau-online.de/kino/images/200613_166415_1_012.jpg
Most likely, when Pocahontas intervened to save
Smith, she was a participant in an Algonquian
ceremony. What Smith interpreted as Pocahontas’s
saving him from certain death was instead a
ceremonial reenactment of Powhatan’s willingness
to incorporate Smith into Powhatan’ empire.
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http://www.animated-news.com/archives/poca4.jpg
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The ceremony displayed Powhatan’s power of life
or death and his willingness to give protection to
those who acknowledged his supremacy, in this
case, the new visitors in Jamestown.
http://www.nativeamericans.com/aa_pocahonta_english_3_m%5b1%5d.jpg
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Pocahontas was probably acting out Smith’s new
status as an adopted member of Powhatan’s
extended family. Rather than a rebellious, lovestruck girl, Pocahontas was almost certainly a
dutiful daughter playing the part assigned for her
by her father and her culture.
http://www.williamsburgprivatetours.com/Pocahontas%20smith.htm
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Pocahontas frequently visited the English settlement
and often brought gifts of food from her father.
Powhatan routinely attached his sons and daughters
to subordinate tribes as an expression of his
protection and his dominance.
ttp://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/colonial/pioneer/chap1_1.html
It appears that Pocahontas’s attachment to the
English colonists grew out Powhatan’s attempt to
treat the tribe of white strangers at Jamestown as he
did other tribes in his empire, an attempt that failed.
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http://home.surewest.net/mlamarr/Jamestown/nativeattacks.html
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In 1613, after relations between Powhatan and
the English colonists had deteriorated into
bloody conflict, the colonists captured
Pocahontas and held her hostage at
Jamestown.
http://www.williamsburgprivatetours.com/Pocahontas%20smith.htm
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Within a year, she converted to Christianity and
married one of the colonists, a widower named
John Rolfe. After giving birth to a son named
Thomas, Pocahontas, her husband, and the new
baby sailed for England in the spring of 1616.
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/colonial/pioneer/graphics/chap1_d.gif
There, publicists of the Virginia colony dressed
her as a proper Englishwomen and even
arranged for here to go to a ball attended by
the king and queen.
http://www.williamsburgprivatetours.com/Pocahontas%20smith.htm
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Pocahontas died in England in 1617. Her son,
Thomas, returned to Virginia, and by the time
of the American Revolution, his descendants
numbered in the hundreds. The New America,
Thomas encountered was no longer dominated
by Native Americans.
Portrait of Pocahontas &
her son Thomas.
http://www.williamsburgprivatetours.com/Pocahontas%20smith.htm
Old Flames ?
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According to Captain Smith’s writing, he once
again visited Pocahontas when he learned of
her arrival in England.
The Legend Continues…….
http://www.zipworld.com.au/~lnbdds/home/images9/smithcaptjohn.jpg
My daughter Austin visiting
Disney World in 2002.