Did Pocahontas willingly convert to Christianity?
"The bringing together of the English planter and the Indian princess was hailed as a turning point in the settlement's fortunes. If this daughter of the Powhatan people could be converted to Christian understanding and joined in civil partnership, then so could the country that gave birth to her. Virginia, as the English saw it, had survived the onslaughts of the Spanish empire and Catholic Church with her maidenhood intact. She had now surrendered it to the English nation and the Protestant cause." - Savage Kingdom (2007), Benjamin Woolley (p. 321)

As the Woolley quote above suggests, there was a lot riding on the conversion of Pocahontas to Christianity from the English point of view, and in the 400 years since the event, her conversion has been mostly accepted by historians and Pocahontas story writers. The circumstantial evidence does seem to support the notion that she converted, though we’ll never know what she truly believed in her heart. Pocahontas left no words on the subject, and none of the original chroniclers quoted her. Some contemporaries, of course, claimed that she willingly converted, which is probably better than no evidence at all. But we must also consider the possibility of a gap between what the English wanted to believe and what the actual truth was for a captive doing her best to survive. Anthropological studies of other Indians in similar circumstances provide some insight on the question. What we can reasonably do today is view the opinions of experts combined with the few references of the original chroniclers and use our common sense to arrive at our own tentative conclusions. These conclusions, however, will always be conjecture, and should never be confused with historical fact. We will never have a definitive answer to the question of whether she willingly and sincerely converted to Christianity.
Picture
The Baptism of Pocahontas (1840) - John Gadsby Chapman painting in the capitol rotunda
What we know ....

John Rolfe stated as one of his reasons for wanting to marry Pocahontas that he hoped to convert her to Christianity. ("Letter of John Rolfe" (1614) to Sir Thomas Dale):
  • "Let therefore this my well advised protestation, which here I make betweene God and my own conscience, be a sufficient witnesse, at the dreadfull day of judgement (when the secret of all mens harts shall be opened) to condemne me herein, if my chiefest intent and purpose be not, to strive with all my power of body and minde, in the undertaking of so mightie a matter, no way led (so farre forth as mans weakenesse may permit) with the unbridled desire of carnall affection: but for the good of this plantation, for the honour of our countrie, for the glory of God, for my owne salvation, and for the converting to the true knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, an unbeleeving creature, namely Pokahuntas."
  • "... besides the many passions and sufferings which I have daily, hourely, yea and in my sleepe indured, even awaking mee to astonishment, taxing mee with remisnesse, and carlesnesse, refusing and neglecting to performe the duetie of a good Christian, pulling me by the eare, and crying: why dost not thou indevour to make her a Christian?"
  • "I hope so to be guided by his heavenly graice, that in the end by my faithfull paines, and christianlike labour, I shall attaine to that blessed promise, Pronounced by that holy Prophet Daniell unto the righteous that bring many unto the knowledge of God. Namely, that they shall shine like the starres forever and ever. A sweeter comfort cannot be to a true Christian, nor a greater incouragement for him to labour all the daies of his life, in the performance thereof, nor a greater gaine of consolation, to be desired at the hower of death, and in the day of judgement."
  • "I humbly submit my selfe, for his glory, your honour, our Countreys good, the benefit of this Plantation, and for the converting of one unregenerate, to regeneration; which I beseech God to graunt, for his deere Sonne Christ Jesus his sake."
  • "But shal it please God thus to dispose of me (which I earnestly desire to fulfill my ends before sette down) I will heartely accept of it as a godly taxe appointed me, and I will never cease, (God assisting me) untill I have accomplished, and brought to perfection so holy a worke, in which I will daily pray God to blesse me, to mine, and her eternall happines."

My comments:
John Rolfe wanted to marry Pocahontas, and  being on shaky ground in addressing Sir Thomas Dale on the matter (because consorting with the "pagan" Indians was frowned upon), he chose to frame his motivation in terms of a marriage for the good of the colony and to save an Indian soul from godlessness. Author David Price appears skeptical of Rolfe's sincerity here. "Dale must have smirked at Rolfe's claim that he wanted to marry Pocahontas for the sake of her religious conversion." (Love & Hate, p. 156). We'll never know Rolfe's level of sincerity, but in any case, his letter to Thomas Dale tells us nothing about whether or not his subsequent efforts to convert Pocahontas were successful, though it has been suggested they were.

Despite Price's suggestion that Sir Thomas Dale may have been skeptical of Rolfe's motivations, we know that Dale himself stated (in "A True Relation of the state of Virginia Lefte by Sir Thomas Dale Knight in May Last 1616" that it was his goal to bring the Indians to knowledge of God.
  • "But should we well consider, examine and search into ourselves, what we were, and now are, there can be no heart, (if not hardened as the nether mill stone,) but would even break itself to pieces, and distribute to manie poore soules some parte thereof, to purge them from their lees of synne, and to sette them in the right pathes of holines and righteousnes, to serve the King of Heaven; by which meanes and God's holy assistance, no doubt they will soone be brought to abandon their old superstitious and idolatries, wherein they have been nursed and trained from their infancies, and our greatest adversaries shall not taunt us with this reproach, "Whom of you have you wonne to christianitie?"

My comment:
If Dale did indeed doubt Rolfe's motivations (as Price suggested; see above), then what can we say of his own? Either we give them both the benefit of the doubt or we take both declarations with a grain of salt.

We know that because the Virginia Company needed to raise funds for the colony, they stated as one of their purposes to convert the Indians to Protestant Christianity.

Alexander Whitaker, as recorded by Ralph Hamor, in A true discourse of the present estate of Virginia, June 18, 1614
  • "To my verie deere and louing Cosen M. G. Minister of the B. F. in London.

    Sir the Colony here is much better. Sir Thomas Dale our religious and valiant Geuernour, hath now brought that to passe, which neuer before could be effected. For by warre upon our enemies, and kinde usage of our friends, he hath brought them to seeke for peace of us, which is made, and they dare not breake. But that which is best, one Pocahuntas or Matoa the daughter of Powhatan, is married to an honest and discreete English Gentleman Maister Rolfe, and that after she had openly renounced her countrey idolatry, confessed the faith of Jesus Christ, and was baptised, which thing Sir Thomas Dale had laboured along time to ground in her."

My comment:
This letter by Alexander Whitaker, recorded by Ralph Hamor, is the main evidence we have of Pocahontas's conversion. It shows that through her actions and recitations, she satisfied her religious instructor and captor of her conversion. We cannot, of course, know what she believed in her heart of hearts.
John Smith, in his letter to Queen Anne, described Pocahontas as the first Christian to come from the native population. The letter to Queen Anne has some issues, which will be discussed elsewhere,, but Smith's words likely reflect the general thinking at the time that Pocahontas had successfully been won as a convert to Christianity.
  • " ... and at last rejecting her barbarous condition, was maried to an English Gentleman, with whom at this present she is in England; the first Christian ever of that Nation, the first Virginian ever spake English, or had a childe in mariage by an Englishman, a matter surely, if my meaning bee truly considered and well understood, worthy a Princes understanding." link.

My comment:
We should note that Smith's belief in Pocahontas's conversion to Christianity necessarily had to come from the reports of others (namely Hamor), as at the time of this letter (1616), he had not seen or spoken with Pocahontas since before he left Jamestown in 1609, some 5 years or so before her capture and religious education. And while it's likely that Smith believed she had converted, we should also note that the purpose of the letter to Queen Anne - to persuade her to give a warm welcome to Pocahontas - suggests that Smith wrote details he thought the queen might want to hear.

Also after reading letters (in Hamor) by Dale, Whitaker and Rolfe, Smith concluded as follows (in The General Historie):
  • "I have read the substance of this relation, in a Letter written by Sir Thomas Dale, another by Master Whitaker, and a third by Master John Rolfe;  hoe carefull they were to instruct her in Christianity , and how capable and desirous shee was thereof, after she had beene some time thus tutored, shee never had desire to goe to her father, nor could well endure the society of her owne nation: the true affection she constantly bare her husband was much, and the strange appartitions and violent passions he endured for her love, as he deeply protested, was wonderful, and she openly renounced her countries idolatry, confessed the faith of Christ, and was baptized . . ."

After meeting Pocahontas in England, Smith wrote in The General Historie:
  • "The small time I staid in London, divers Courtiers and others, my acquaintances, hath gone with mee to see her, that generally concluded, they did thinke God had a great hand in her conversion, and they have seene many English Ladies worse favoured, proportioned, and behavioured; ,,,"
Samuel Purchas, an English cleric, was a contemporary of Pocahontas and is said to have mingled in her presence in London. Purchas viewed Pocahontas as a successful convert to Christianity:
  • "Master Rolfe lent me a discourse which I have in my Pilgrimage delivered. And his wife did not only accustom herself to civility, but still carried herself as the daughter of a king, and was accordingly respected, not only by the Company which allowed provision for herself and her son, but of divers particular persons of honor, in their hopeful zeal by her to advance Christianity. I was present when my honorable and revered patron, the Lord Bishop of London, Doctor King, entertained her with festival state and pomp beyond what I had seen in his great hospitality offered to other ladies. At her return towards Virginia she came at Gravesend to her end and grave, having given great demonstration of her Christian sincerity, as the first fruits of Virginia conversion, leaving here a goodly memory, and the hopes of her resurrection, her soul aspiring to see and enjoy permanently in heaven what here she had joyed to hear and believe of her blessed Saviour." (passage taken from Charles Dudley Warner The Story of Pocahontas, p. 21, referencing Purchas His Pilgrimes.) link

My comment:
Purchas speaks of the Virginia Company's desire that Pocahontas become Christian. He also says she demonstrated "Christian sincerity" at the time of her death. Purchas was not present at her death, so his thoughts on this are either from second hand information or based on his own assumptions. Purchas's comments in no way prove the sincerity of her conversion, but they hint at the possibility of her sincere conversion.
As usual, Paula Gunn Allen, in Pocahontas: Medicine Woman Spy Entrepreneur Diplomat (2003), has a surprising take on the topic of Pocahontas's conversion. In the chapter 'Manito Aki,' she imagines that Pocahontas would have accepted Christianity wholeheartedly::
  • "We are reminded how Pocahontas was initiated into the order of the Christian lodge. While it was never seen that way by her instructors, it was the most likely interpretation Pocahontas would have put on her instructions. .... There was no way she, a granddaughter-devotee of Sky Woman and a vast and implicate-ordered tradition, was going to take a bit here and a bit there. When she went, she went all the way, eagerly, arduously, without reservation. There was, for her, no other way. Engaged in the intricate plot of world-changing affairs, she was far more than an agent for the Powhatans, she was the mother of a new race, as yet unborn." p. 175
In the same way that Paula Gunn Allen has taken the available information on Pocahontas and brought her own sensibility to the party, others have done the same with varying results. I include them here not because they add to our factual knowledge of Pocahontas, but to illustrate some of the directions our supposition can go. Historians and anthropologists are doing this too, of course, but hopefully with the most solid background information available to them. Anyway, here is what Howard A. Snyder (a pastor) and Dr. Linwood Custalow (a Mattaponi 'historian') have to say on this topic.

From Jesus and Pocahontas: Gospel, Mission, and National Myth (2015) by Howard A. Snyder
  • "Despite all we do know, we are left wondering how fully Pocahontas understood the Christian faith or really comprehended the Scriptures. We can wonder how deep her conversion went, and especially whether she could distinguish between biblical faith in Jesus Christ and British cultural Christianity." p. 106
  • "Nor do we know what was really going on in Pocahontas's mind or heart." p. 106
  • And yet, given her prior contacts with the English over several years, Pocahontas's conversion was probably more thorough that that of other Indians. She seems to have been sincere, both in her Christian profession and in her love for John Rolfe, whatever her level of understanding. Certainly her understanding, and likely her personal faith, would have deepened during her brief years as Mrs. Rebecca Rolfe. p. 106

    From this distance, it is easy to suppose that Pocahontas's Christian instruction was superficial. Yes the evidence points to much more thorough instruction than most committed Western Christians today receive! How many Christians today get up to a year of regular, almost daily, personal instruction in the Christian faith? Pocahontas received careful catechetical instruction under devoutly Christian, moderately Puritan auspices. p. 107

    Certainly cultural elements were mixed in. Pocahontas must have seen the stark contradiction between the Christian ethics taught by Whitaker and the English lives Pocahontas saw lived around her--with the notable exceptions of her husband and her catechist.(36) Whitaker himself would have been at pains, it seems from what we know of him, to point out the discrepancy between the way of Jesus and the ways of the British colonists.(37) p. 107

    In sum, Pocahontas's conversion seems to have been sincere and in its own way genuine. She likely had a real encounter with Jesus." p. 107

My comments on Snyder:
I like that Snyder brings these issues up and tries to examine all sides of them, pointing out worrisome areas. The problem is that he leaps to conclusions that cannot be supported by evidence. With the language and cultural gap, how much of the fine points of Christianity could Pocahontas really have understood, even with the daily (some might say relentless) "catechetical instruction"? And on what historical grounds can her Christian "sincerity" be judged, or her love for John Rolfe? And how can we be assured that her faith "deepened"? Snyder may be right about Pocahontas's "real encounter with Jesus," but we'll never know for sure.

Similarly speculative, but reaching different conclusions, are the thoughts of Dr. Linwood Custalow. In The True Story of Pocahontas; the Other Side of History (2007), Custalow and co-author, Angela Daniel, wrote:
  • "Pocahontas submitted to the English settlers purely as a means of survival until she could be free.  But the English colonists wanted even more from Pocahontas. They wanted to convert her to Christianity." (p.56)
  • "Supported by Sir Thomas Dale, Reverend Alexander Whitaker and John Rolfe worked tirelessly to convert Pocahontas to Christianity and to teach her English ways.(4) Pocahontas was continually drilled in the tenets of the Christian faith. Rolfe, an English colonist experimenting with tobacco, volunteered to instruct Pocahontas in the Christian faith. He spent hours with her alone." (p. 57)
  • "The English colonists were trying to brainwash Pocahontas." (p. 57)
  • "Pocahontas's conversion to Christianity raises many questions. Was accepting Christianity a way to survive? Was it a means of trying to appease the English? Did the English brainwash Pocahontas to the point of breaking? Or did Pocahontas accept the new faith as an attempt to look good for her people and in hopes that in return the English would be more lenient to her people? .... she had a feel for ... rising above the situation in order to help her people survive." (p. 58)
  • "It is hard to say whether Pocahontas truly converted to Christianity or not. Pocahontas may have embraced certain aspects of Christianity, as much of the Christian faith parallels Powhatan spirituality. Comparing the behavior of the Powhatan people to that of the English colonists, it appears that the Powhatan people lived the principles of Christianity more than those who professed faith in it. They offered food to the English colonists. They offered the English colonists a place to live within their society. They taught the English colonists how to farm, fish, and hunt, and how to grow tobacco. The Powhatan people constantly gave to the English colonists. The English colonists constantly took, and they slandered the Powhatan to justify their actions." (p. 59)
  • "The primary reason the English colonists wanted to convert Pocahontas to Christianity was so they could marry Pocahontas to ... John Rolfe .... From the English perspective, a person was not considered human unless he or she was a Christian; consequently, Pocahontas would have to convert to Christianity and be baptized before she could marry an Englishman. There was no possibility that a marriage between a Powhatan and an Englishman would be considered acceptable by English terms without the Powhatan's conversion to Christianity." (p. 61)
  • ... the Powhatan were .... concerned with Pocahontas's well-being and safety. Among other things, what is known from Mattaponi oral history is that Pocahontas was deeply depressed. (p. 61)
  • Following Pocahontas's abduction, she sank into a depression. She was not depressed so much from being taken captive. Pocahontas had been trained from the time she was a little girl as to how to deal with such an experience. Being stolen and taken captive was a potential danger for any female Powhatan. But Pocahontas was depressed from being separated from her family, much like her father, who had slipped into depression due to Pocahontas's abduction. The trauma caused by being separated from her husband, son, father, and the rest of her family was enough to bring on Pocahontas's depression. While in captivity at Jamestown, she became fearful and withdrawn. Her condition escalated into what could best be described as having a nervous breakdown." (p. 61)

My comments on Custalow:
Although I cannot promote Custalow's book as anything close to actual "sacred Mattaponi oral history", I do find some reasonable speculation in these paragraphs. As a captive kept isolated from her people, and with continual forced instruction in Christianity, how can we consider Pocahontas's conversion sincere and voluntary? The comparison of Powhatan behavior to real Christian principles is also interesting. I don't, however, believe the English had a "plan" to marry her off to John Rolfe, and while it's certainly possible that Pocahontas was depressed during her captivity, I reject the idea that Mattaponi oral history provides any evidence to that effect. For more about Custalow and this book, check my "Meeting in the Middle" page.
The most likely explanation ...

While it is frequently said that Pocahontas converted to Christianity, the thinking among many anthropologists and ethnologists today is that she, like other Indians that came after her, likely incorporated elements of Christian teaching into her already existing Powhatan religious beliefs. In other words, calling it a 'conversion' would be a kind of marketing spin for what could more truthfully be called a 'synthesis and accommodation' to the beliefs of the people that now controlled her fate.

Camilla Townsend, In Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma (2004), wrote:
  • "Pocahontas left no secret diaries, but numerous  other converted Indians throughout the hemisphere wrote or spoke of their experiences, and many pastors who came to know them better than Whitaker ever did analyzed the situation thoroughly. These other texts tell us that Indians who converted in the first months of contact were virtually always incorporating the Christian God into their previously existing pantheon. Even the story of a god's spirit impregnating an unsuspecting woman was an old one in many of their cultures. Pocahontas almost certainly was agreeing to set aside her village's okee in favor of Jesus Christ; she would have had to do something similar if she had been carried off by Iroquoian Indians or any other enemy. But nothing she said that day is proof that she was in fact renouncing all that she had previously known and loved, or that her own personality had been obliterated." p. 125, 126

My comment:
This idea that Pocahontas probably combined elements of Christianity with the religion she grew up with seems the most reasonable explanation to me. I also surmise (with no evidence whatsoever) that the Jamestown colonists probably didn't inquire too strongly about the depth of her conversion. If she performed the rites satisfactorily and recited her lines with minimal error, they were probably satisfied that she had accepted Christianity.
Added July 30, 2020

Assistant Bishop Carol Gallagher, Cherokee Nation, Pocahontas Symposium, Session 2, 2018
  • "She was probably a pawn in many people’s games. Let’s just put it that way. Whether it was the church or whether it was the government .. her father  … whatever. Everything I’ve read is convoluted at best  because it’s not coming from her. And we don’t know except that we can say that she did her absolute best in the circumstances, which must have been incredibly bizarre and awkward." (video, 20:10 mark)
Interesting!

It may not be obvious to some readers of the Pocahontas story (as it wasn't to me without Camilla Townsend's help), but there is more than one version of the John Rolfe letter to Sir Thomas Dale. There's the version that appeared in Ralph Hamor's publication, which he appears to have edited, and there's the presumed original letter of John Rolfe, with his signature, that is housed in the Bodleian Library and made available online here. The two versions are mostly the same, with many changes in spelling and some minor (?) differences in word choice, but there is one section in the original which is completely omitted from the Ralph Hamor version. Remember, Hamor's version was the one seen by the English public back in the day, so we must assume he had significant reason to delete the section, which amounted to about 127 words. The "real" John Rolfe unredacted version reads (with omitted section in blue):
  • "A sweeter comfort cannott be to a true Christian nor a greater encouragement for him to labour all the dayes of his lyfe in the pformance thereof, nor a greater gayne of Consolacon to be desired at the hower of death, and at the daye of Iudgement. Agayne for the lawfullnes of marriage. I hope I doe not farre erre from the meaninge of the holy Apostle, That the vnbeleivinge husband is sanctified by the beleivings wyefe, and the vnbeleivinge wiefe by the beleivinge husband &c. vppon wch place Mr Calvin in his Institucons lib. 4. cap. 16° Sect 6° sayeth, Even as the Children of the Iewes were called a holy seede, becawse beinge made heires of the same Covenant wch the Lorde made wth Abraham, they were different from the Children of the vngodly ffor the same reason even yett also the Children of Christians are accompted holye, yea although they be the yssue but of one parent faithfull, and (as the Prophett wytnesseth) they differ frome the vncleane seede of Idolatry. And thus wth my readinge and conference wth honest and religious psones have I receaved noe small incouragement, besides serena mea conscientia, pure from the fylth of impuritye quce est instar muri ahenei."

The Ralph Hamor version of the John Rolfe letter, read by most people, reads thus:
  • "A sweeter comfort cannot be to a true Christian, nor a greater incouragement for him to labour all the daies of his life, in the performance thereof, nor a greater gaine of consolation, to be desired at the hower of death, and in the day of judgement. Againe by my reading, and conference with honest and religious persons, have I received no small encouragement, besides serena mea conscientia, the cleerenesse of my conscience, clean from the filth of impurity, quae est instar muri ahenei, which is unto me, as a brasen wall."

What John Rolfe appears to be saying in the omitted section is that even if he marries a heathen, at least his children will be believers, so perhaps God will forgive him for marrying Pocahontas. This shows that at the time Rolfe asked to marry Pocahontas, her Christian beliefs were not yet 100% solidified, if they ever became so. Camilla Townsend speculates that Hamor felt this line of thinking was best kept under wraps, lest people find Rolfe over eager to accept an unbeliever as his bride. (Notes, Townsend, p. 199 of Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma.)

Those who would like to compare the two versions for themselves can find them on this page of my website. Also:
Thanks to Camilla Townsend for pointing all of this out to me.
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Updated April 22, 2021