Princess Nicketti's famous cousin

When she converted to Christianity, she took on the name of "Rebecca" and later, her name and title grew to the Lady Rebecca Rolfe.

MOST of the world knows Matoaka by her nick-name:

"Pocahontas"...

As told on "Jamestown rediscovered"...

They named her Matoaka, though she is better known as Pocahontas, which means "Little Wanton," playful, frolicsome little girl.

Pocahontas probably saw white men for the first time in May 1607 when Englishmen landed at Jamestown. The one she found most likable was Captain John Smith. The first meeting of Pocahontas and John Smith is a legendary story, romanticized (if not entirely invented) by Smith. He was leading an expedition in December 1607 when he was taken captive by some Indians. Days later, he was brought to the official residence of Powhatan at Werowocomoco, which was 12 miles from Jamestown.

According to Smith, he was first welcomed by the great chief and offered a feast. Then he was grabbed and forced to stretch out on two large, flat stones. Indians stood over him with clubs as though ready to beat him to death if ordered. Suddenly a little Indian girl rushed in and took Smith's "head in her arms and laid her own upon his to save him from death.”

The girl, Pocahontas, then pulled him to his feet. Powhatan said that they were now friends, and he adopted Smith as his son, or a subordinate chief. Actually, this mock "execution and salvation" ceremony was traditional with the Indians, and if Smith's story is true, Pocahontas' actions were probably one part of a ritual. At any rate, Pocahontas and Smith soon became friends.

Relations with the Indians continued to be generally friendly for the next year, and Pocahontas was a frequent visitor to Jamestown. She delivered messages from her father and accompanied Indians bringing food and furs to trade for hatchets and trinkets. She was a lively young girl, and when the young boys of the colony turned cartwheels, "she would follow and wheele some herself, naked as she was all the fort over."

She apparently admired John Smith very much and would also chat with him during her visits. Her lively character and poise made her appearance striking. Several years after their first meeting, Smith described her: "a child of tenne yeares old, which not only for feature, countenance, and proportion much exceedeth any of the rest of his (Powhatan's) people but for wit and spirit (is) the only non-pariel of his countrie.

Unfortunately, relations with the Powhatans worsened. Necessary trading still continued, but hostilities became more open. While before she had been allowed to come and go almost at will, Pocahontas' visits to the fort became much less frequent. In October 1609, John Smith was badly injured by a gunpowder explosion and was forced to return to England. When Pocahontas next came to visit the fort, she was told that her friend Smith was dead.

Pocahontas apparently married an Indian "Pryvate Captayne" named Kocoum in 1610. She lived in Potomac country among Indians, but her relationship with the Englishmen was not over. When an energetic and resourceful member of the Jamestown settlement, Captain Samuel Argall, learned where she was, he devised a plan to kidnap her and hold her for ransom. With the help of Japazaws, lesser chief of the Patowomeck Indians, Argall lured Pocahontas onto his ship.

When told she would not be allowed to leave, she “began to be exceeding pensive and discontented," but she eventually became calmer and even accustomed to her captivity. Argall sent word to Powhatan that he would return his beloved daughter only when the chief had returned to him the English prisoners he held, the arms and tolls that the Indians had stolen, and also some corn. After some time Powhatan sent part of the ransom and asked that they treat his daughter well. Argall returned to Jamestown in April 1613 with Pocahontas.

She eventually moved to a new settlement, Henrico, which was under the leadership of Sir Thomas Dale. It was here that she began her education in the Christian Faith, and that she met a successful tobacco planter named John Rolfe in July 1613. Pocahontas was allowed relative freedom within the settlement, and she began to enjoy her role in the relations between the colony and her people. After almost a year of captivity, Dale brought 150 armed men and Pocahontas into Powhatan’s territory to obtain her entire ransom.

Attacked by the Indians, the Englishmen burned many houses, destroyed villages, and killed several Indian men. Pocahontas was finally sent ashore where she was reunited with two of her brothers, whom she told that she was treated well and that she was in love with the Englishman John Rolfe and wanted to marry him. Powhatan gave his consent to this , and the Englishmen departed, delighted at the prospect of the “peace-making” marriage, although they didn’t receive the full ransom.

John Rolfe was a very religious man who agonized for many weeks over the decision to marry a "strange wife," a heathen Indian. He finally decided to marry Pocahontas after she had been converted to Christianity, "for the good of the plantation, the honor of our country, for the glory of God, for mine own salvation ..." Pocahontas was baptized, christened Rebecca, and later married John Rolfe on April 5, 1614. A general peace and a spirit of goodwill between the English and the Indians resulted from this marriage.

Sir Thomas Dale made an important voyage back to London in the spring of 1616. His purpose was to seek further financial support for the Virginia Company and, to insure spectacular publicity, he brought with him about a dozen Algonquian Indians, including Pocahontas. Her husband and their young son, Thomas, accompanied her.

The arrival of Pocahontas in London was well publicized. She was presented to King James I, the royal family, and the rest of the best of London society. Also in London at this time was Captain John Smith, the old friend she had not seen for eight years and whom she believed was dead. According to Smith at their meeting, she was at first too overcome with emotion to speak. After composing herself, Pocahontas talked of old times.

At one point she addressed him as "father," and when he objected, she defiantly replied: "'Were you not afraid to come into my father's Countrie, and caused feare in him and all of his people and feare you here I should call you father: I tell you I will, and you shall call mee childe, and so I will be for ever and ever your Countrieman."'

This was their last meeting.

After seven months Rolfe decided to return his family to Virginia, In March 1617 they set sail. It was soon apparent, however, that Pocahontas would not survive the voyage home. She was deathly ill from pneumonia or possibly tuberculosis. She was taken ashore, and, as she lay dying, she comforted her husband, saying, "all must die. 'Tis enough that the child liveth." She was buried in a churchyard in Gravesend, England. She was 22 years old.

Pocahontas played a significant role in American history. As a compassionate little girl she saw to it that the colonists received food from the Indians, so that Jamestown would not become another "Lost Colony." She is said to have intervened to save the lives of individual colonists. In 1616 John Smith wrote that Pocahontas was "the instrument to pursurve this colonie from death, famine, and utter confusion." And Pocahontas not only served as a representative of the Virginia Indians, but also as a vital link between the native Americans and the Englishmen. Whatever her contributions, the romantic aspects of her life will no doubt stand out in Virginia history forever.

As told on "Spectrum biographies"...

Her true name was Matoaka, but that name was only used within her tribe. Native Americans believed harm would come to a person if outsiders learned of their tribal name. Pocahontas was one of many daughters of a powerful chief named Powhatan, who ruled more than 25 tribes.

Pocahontas first became acquainted with the English colonists who settled in the Chesapeake Bay area in 1607. Along with her tribe, Pocahontas watched the colonists build a fort and search for food. The next year, Powhatan's brother Opechancanough captured colonist John Smith. Smith was brought to Powhatan, who decided he must die. According to an account written later by Smith, Pocahontas saved Smith's life by throwing herself down and cradling his head before he was clubbed to death.

After promising to supply Powhatan with several guns, Smith was allowed to return to Jamestown. He did not deliver the guns, but sent many other presents instead. Over the next year, Pocahontas and other tribal women visited the fort and brought food to the settlers. However, in 1609, Smith was forced to return to England after being badly burned in a gun powder accident. After his departure, relations deteriorated between the natives and settlers.

Several years later, Pocahontas was taken hostage by the colonists. She was treated kindly during her captivity and lived in the home of a minister. During this time, Pocahontas converted to Christianity and was baptized with the name Rebecca. While being held in Jamestown, Pocahontas met a distinguished colonist named John Rolfe. The two fell in love and planned to marry. The marriage was blessed by Virginia Governor Sir Thomas Dale, as well as Chief Powhatan. Although the chief did not attend the wedding, he sent others in his place and a pearl necklace for his daughter.

In 1615, Rolfe and Pocahontas had their first and only child, Thomas.

The following year, the family was invited to England, where Pocahontas became the center of attention of English society.

Banquets and dances were given in her honor, and her portrait was painted by famous artists. Pocahontas was received with royal honor by the king and queen. While in England, Pocahontas was also reunited with her friend John Smith, whom she had believed dead.

Before returning to Virginia, Pocahontas contracted small pox. She died in England in March, 1617, at the age of 21. Pocahontas was buried in the chapel of the parish church in Gravesend, England.

Rolfe returned to Virginia, where he developed a popular sweet variety of high-grade tobacco. Its export provided a way for the colonists to support themselves. Their son, Thomas, remained in England, where he was educated. He returned to the colonies at the age of 20 and became an important member of the community.

Although her life was short, is remembered for contributing to the maintenance of peace between the colonists and the natives. She remains an important part of American folk history to this day.

As told on "Powhatan Confederacy"...

Six years later, she saved the colony again (Apr. 24?, 1614) by marrying colonist John Rolfe. A squad from Jamestown had kidnapped Pocahontas, intending to trade her for concessions from Powhatan. Powhatan only met enough of their demands to keep negotiations open. During her captivity, leading colonists worked to convert her to Christianity. One of those colonists, John Rolfe, fell in love with her, and she with him. Pocahontas married John Rolfe, accepted Christianity, and was baptized Rebecca. This marriage created several years of peace between the Jamestown colonists and Powhatan's tribes.

Pocahontas' life ended on a high note, with a triumphal tour of England (Starting June 3, 1616) as a visiting princess. This part of her life is covered in Disney's Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World. As she started home, English disease took her life. She was buried in the church at Gravesend, England (Mar. 17, 1617) age 21 or 22. (Her exact birth date is uncertain: roughly 1595.)

Four men played big parts in her life, as well as in the Disney movie: her father, Chief Powhatan, the intrepid adventurer Captain John Smith, her father's Captain Kocoum, and her husband John Rolfe.

Click the links here and pictures on this page, to see more.

It captures the spirit of the woman Pocahontas and her people, and the spirit of the early days of Jamestown. The settings are accurate: both James Fort and Powhatan village are portrayed authentically, according to current historical and archaeological knowledge (except that there was no bluff overlooking James Fort). London, the Virginia wilderness, and the ship Susan Constant were carefully researched. John Ratcliffe was indeed in charge of the colony when John Smith was captured and released by Powhatan.

And last but not least, John Smith wrote that he was saved from execution by Powhatan, when Pocahontas threw herself between Smith's head and her father's stone club.

However, the rest of the movie is pure fiction:

• The physical appearance of Pocahontas and John Smith in the movie are fabricated to please modern tastes. They didn't look anything like that.
  
• Pocahontas and John Smith are depicted as being young adults at the same time. Pocahontas was only a girl of twelve (or younger) when she met the veteran adventurer John Smith and (possibly) rescued him from execution by Powhatan.
  
• It is uncertain whether John Smith was telling the truth when he wrote the story of the rescue. To top that, the movie changed all the details. Smith was not out alone, or at night, or to meet anyone. The execution ceremony was not outdoors, and the colony made no attempt to rescue him.
  
• Ratcliffe was not in charge of the ships on the way over, he was not in charge of the colony at first, and he was never Governor. Ratcliffe was the second President of the colony, elected after President Wingfield was arrested and deposed. Admiral Newport was in charge of the ships, and also took charge of the colony from time to time. Smith favored force, while Ratcliffe favored conciliation.
  
• The friends of Pocahontas and John Smith are fictional, of course, although some of the names (Thomas, Percy) are taken from real life.