History

My aim on these pages is to present the Pocahontas story as neutrally as possible, but I understand that everyone has their own point of view on what happened back in the decade from 1607-1617. I am unlikely to satisfy everyone.  I'm sure I have my own biases, and to some, they will be apparent. In any case, the story is not an election, and we aren't penalized for not voting. We can keep the various points of view in mind and accept the story as being complicated and unresolved. That said, our understanding of history improves as we continue to unearth facts, consider what we know, and reject information that is clearly false. I welcome comments from people who can help me achieve that goal.

Despite this page title, History, I am not going to compose another version of the Pocahontas story. I will defer to Encyclopedia Virginia for an account that's at least plausible. I will, however, list a few details of her life that are not really in dispute. A list of  things we don't know follows. Some biographies of Pocahontas are listed on the Links page.

Things we know (or think we know):
  • She was the daughter of Wahunsenaca (Powhatan), the paramount chief of the Powhatan Indian tribes in the Chesapeake Bay area of Virginia in the early 1600s.
  • She was known by four names (that we know of); Pocahontas, Amonute, Matoaks, and Rebecca.
  • As a child, she visited the Jamestown settlement on more than one occasion and was known and recognized by some settlers.
  • She was taken hostage by Captain Samuel Argall and held captive at the Jamestown settlement (and Henrico), leading to what was called the "Peace of Pocahontas."
  • She was baptized as a Christian.
  • She married a Christian settler, John Rolfe,
  • She gave birth to a son, Thomas.
  • She traveled with John and Thomas to London, England, where she was used as propaganda by the Virginia Company.
  • She attended a masque in London and met various dignitaries.
  • She sat for a portrait, her likeness now known from the engraving of artist Samuel van de Passe.
  • She died in March of 1617 shortly after embarking on her return journey back to Virginia.
  • She was survived by her son, Thomas, who remained in England until he reached adulthood.
  • She was buried in Gravesend, England in 1617.
Things we don't know (though many have been researched and all manner of claims made,* many plausible, some ridiculous):
  • Her date of birth.
  • Her tribe (i.e., which of the 30+ tribes in the Powhatan confederacy she belonged to).- see slideshow
  • Anything about her mother, including her name and tribe.- see slideshow
  • How often she visited the Jamestown settlement.
  • Whether or not she played a role in a real or misinterpreted rescue of John Smith.
  • The nature of her relationship with John Smith.
  • Her marriage to Kocoum.
  • A child by marriage to Kocoum.
  • Her reasons for being with the Patawomeck tribe at the time of her abduction.
  • Her state of mind while being held captive in Jamestown.
  • The sincerity of her conversion to Christianity.
  • Her affection (or lack thereof) for John Rolfe.
  • Her English language proficiency level.
  • Whether or not she was literate.
  • Her desire or willingness (or lack thereof) to travel to London.
  • Whether or not she wished to remain in London.
  • What she hoped to communicate to Powhatan and others upon her return.
  • Her cause of death.
  • The precise location of her remains (because they are inseparable from others).

Many of the things we don't know in the list above have been thoroughly researched, and highly likely, educated guesses have been made. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, these assumptions are assumed to be true by most people. This is reasonable, and this is how a culture comes to understand its past. However, our understanding of history changes over time, and what is believed at one point in time is found to be untrue later when additional evidence has been revealed or greater understanding has come about. Our cultural biases also affect our understanding.

Many supposed 'facts' about Pocahontas are known to us today because they were revealed by a few contemporary sources, namely John Smith and a handful of others, and there are those who dispute almost everything they wrote. Others say they were proven reliable in most cases. The problem for us, 400 years later, is that we can't be 100% sure, so we must reserve at least a tiny bit of doubt about nearly everything.

The lists above are subject to change as I become more educated (I hope!) about the 'facts.'
List of early chroniclers of Jamestown colonization and our only sources of information about Pocahontas from the 1600s
* Note that we have first-hand mentions of Pocahontas from only John Smith, (Richard Pots, Anas Todkill), William Strachey, Ralph Hamor, John Rolfe and minimally, Samuel Purchas. The thoughts of Whitaker and Argall are known through Hamor's publication. *Note that Hamor published a redacted version of John Rolfe's letter to Thomas Dale. Thanks to Camilla Townsend for pointing this out to me.
John Smith (1580-1631) - John Smith was the first Englishman to mention Pocahontas in writing and is one of only two sources of words from the Algonquian language of the Powhatan Indians. He was one of the original settlers, and was in Jamestown from April 1607 to October 1609, about 2 and a half years. He showed great initiative as a leader and explored the Chesapeake Bay area, making contact with numerous tribes, and mapping the area as he went. Smith wrote much of what we know about events at that time, but his writings present issues that historians have been trying to interpret for centuries. Because he was not a 'gentleman,' his brash manor and lack of respect for his 'betters' put him at odds with many of the colonists. Consequently, his writings often appear to elevate his own actions at the expense of others. In his addition, his writing style, though at times riveting, was untrained, and he was at turns vague, incomprehensible, disorganized, hyperbolic, contradictory, and presumptuous. His writings are invaluable for what they tell us of that time, but we must leave room for doubt on many of the details he revealed. We should also remember that the line between 'history' and 'fiction' as genres was not so clearly drawn in those days. See links to Smith's writings below.

John Smith biography page at Encyclopedia Virginia
Edward Maria Wingfield (1550-1631) - Wingfield, the first president of Jamestown, provided his view of events in "Discourse of Virginia" (1608), in which he defended himself against charges of mismanagement. As regards Pocahontas, this account is important for what it didn't say: there was no mention of the John Smith rescue, even though he wrote (briefly) about Smith's captivity and release. More on that here. There is no mention of Pocahontas in Wingfield.

Edward Maria Wingfield biography page at Encyclopedia Virginia
Gabriel Archer (1574?-1609-10) - Gabriel Archer was one of Jamestown's first settlers, and a recorder and settlement leader during the time of Smith's captivity. He was often at odds with both Edward Maria Wingfield (above) and John Smith. Archer charged Smith with responsibility for the deaths of two men (when Smith was captured by the Powhatans) and he ordered Smith's execution. Smith escaped death, however, with the timely arrival of Captain Newport's supply ship. Archer's most important writing was his account of Bartholomew Gosnold's 1602 voyage to New England (then considered part of Virginia), which is considered a significant first written description of the flora and fauna of New England. Two documents in the London records, though unsigned, are believed to be Archer's accounts of the first month of the Jamestown expedition after its arrival in 1607 (May 21 to June 21). In his reports to the London Company, he recommended the cultivation of tobacco, but also less practically, pineapple, sugar and olives. His final known letters and writings included attacks and accusations against John Smith. Archer died in Jamestown during the Starving Time (winter 1609-1610). Archer's known writings, though useful for a complete understanding of the Jamestown story, do not mention Pocahontas.

Gabriel Archer biography page at Encyclopedia Virginia
(Richard Pots, Anas Todkill) - These two early settlers appear as authors/witnesses in The Proceedings of the English Colonie in Virginia, but their words are difficult to separate from John Smith's who appears to have collaborated with them and/or edited their writing/testimony. Richard Pots was a 1608 first supply gentleman, a council clerk, and described by historian James Horn as one of the compilers of The Proceedings. (along with the non-colonist, English editor William Symonds). Anas Todkill was a soldier and carpenter on the 1607 expedition, and a reliable member of Smith's crew on his expeditions up the Chesapeake.. Chapters 1 & 2, are credited to a Thomas Studly, and Chapters 3 & 4 are credited to Studly and Todkill. (As explained below, Thomas Studley's credit as writer is problematic.) Horn further explains that Smith and Pots were friends and allies in Jamestown, and they likely worked together on The Proceedings before they were submitted for editing to Symonds.  (Horn, James, 2007, Captain John Smith Writings with Other Narratives, The Library of America.)

Thomas Studly, a gentleman on the the original 1607 expedition, is credited with writing Chapters 1 and 2 of The Proceedings, and co-credited with writing Chapters 3 and 4 with Anas Todkill, but since Studly died in Virginia on Aug. 28, 1607, he could not have written most of what was attributed to him. James Horn explains that when Smith wrote an expanded version of The Proceedings in Book III of The General Historie of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles (1624), he added the initials "J. S." alongside Studly's name for the first two chapters. Horn believes Smith may have been using some notes written by Studly before the man's death to write those chapters. It has also been said that Smith took over the duties of Studly after the man's death, and thus had the opportunity to examine the man's papers. (Complete Works, Barbour)

From The Complete Works: (Edited by Philip L. Barbour)
  • "POTS (POTTS), RICHARD (fl. 1608-1612), clerk of the council in Virginia; the compilation of Smith's Proceedings has been ascribed largely to him; he arrived in Jamestown with the 1st supply, Jan. 2, 1608, and probably returned to England in Sept. 1610; neither his identity nor his contribution to Smith has been precisely determined."
  • "TODKILL, ANAS (fl. 1607-1612?), at first servant of Capt. John Martin (q.v.), he was the only colonist to go on both of the Chesapeake Bay expeditions and to be present as well at the earlier visit to Powhatan (q.v.) and the later Pamunkey confrontation; credited as part author of four of the six sections of history in the Proceedings and Generall Historie; see Bradford Smith, Captain John Smith: His Life and Legend (Philadelphia, 1953), and Barbour, Three Worlds."
  • "SYMONDS, REV. WILLIAM (1556-1616?), D.D., divine, schoolteacher, rector, and author; in 1599 he was presented by Robert Bertie (q.v.) to the rectory of Halton Holgate, Lincolnshire; later, preacher at St. Saviour's, Southwark, he undertook to help publish the Proceedings (as well as Smith's Map of Va.), at the suggestion of "Master Croshaw," probably Rev. William of Crashaw (q.v.); see DNB, and Proceedings."

William Simons, a 1608 first supply laborer, should not be confused with the editor, William Symonds, whose name is similar.

The Proceedings can be found in The Complete Works below.​
William Strachey (1572-1621) - Strachey was in Jamestown from May 1610 to Sept. 1611 and was Secretary of the Colony, taking over from Matthew Scrivener, who had died in 1609. Prior to Strachey's arrival, he was in Bermuda with the castaways from the 1609 wreck of the Sea Venture, and he provided his account of the shipwreck and aftermath there. His writings are thought to be the source material for Shakespeare's The Tempest. Along with Smith, Strachey provided lists of words from the language of the Powhatans. After he returned to England, he wrote about his experiences in Virginia, but he borrowed heavily from the already published writings of John Smith. Rountree writes that although he was not prepared to be an ethnographer, "he had a wider and more detailed curiosity about Indian life than any other writer of his time" (p. 4). She writes that "when Strachey copies from Smith in speaking of Indian practice, either he is corroborating Smith's information or he does not know any better than to repeat it" (p. 4).

William Strachey biography page at Encyclopedia Virginia
Henry Spelman (1595-1623) - Spelman is unique among Jamestown chroniclers as he was the only one to actually live among the Powhatan Indians (not counting Smith's month-long captivity). Only two weeks after surviving a tempest and arriving in Jamestown, at the age of 14, he was traded by John Smith to the Powhatans in exchange for land to settle on. According to Rountree, Spelman was with the Powhatans from August 1609 to March 1611, about 1616 to about 1618 (with the Patowomecks), and from about 1619 to his death (with the Patowomecks). He often served as interpreter and messenger between the Powhatans and the settlers. Rountree laments that Spelman was "too young to notice many things and ... his writing style was poor," but she says that his first-hand account was "invaluable" for his unique perspective on Powhatan culture (p. 4). It appears that Spelman did not mention Pocahontas in his writing (or we no longer have any Spelman accounts that mention her). However, his name is mentioned together with Pocahontas in John Smith's second-hand information*, where Smith very briefly relates how Pocahontas saved Spelman (spelled Spilman in The Generall Historiie) during the incident that resulted in Ratcliffe's (aka Sickelmore's) death.
  • "Sickelmore upon the confidence of Powhatan, with about thirtie others as carelesse as himselfe, were all slaine, onely Jeffrey Shortridge escaped, and Pokahontas the Kings daughter saved a boy called Henry Spilman, that lived many yeeres after, by her meanes, amongst the Patawomekes." Horn (2007) p. 410

* Smith could not have witnessed the incident firsthand, as he had been seriously injured in a gunpowder explosion and was at the time convalescing on a boat about to return to England.

William Stith (1707-1755) Rector of Henrico Parish, and one of the governors of William and Mary College., noted this incident in The History of Virginia (1747): "Only one Man of the Company escaped; and Pocahontas saved a Boy, one Henry Spilman, who lived many Years, by her Means, among the Patowomacks" (Stith, Book III).
George Percy (1580-1632) - George Percy was a settler on the first voyage to Jamestown. Although he was a gentleman, he was not named to the first governing council, an omission which likely irritated him, as the lower-born John Smith had made the list. Unfortunate events in Jamestown, however, such as the death of Bartholomew Gosnold and the departure of John Smith, soon created an opening for Percy, and he served as president of the council from 1609-1610. His writings show how overwhelmed he was by the disease, starvation and Indian attacks that took the lives of his fellow settlers. His account of the 'starving time' is often quoted to show how close Jamestown came to being another failed colony. Percy's writings from 1607 to 1612 tell us nothing about Pocahontas, but they provide dates and details about various events in Jamestown's early years. His leadership abilities were poor, and his account of the slaughter of two Paspahegh children and their mother do nothing to enhance his image. His legacy as an early chronicler come from his two writings, "Observations Gathered Out of a Discourse of the Plantation of the Southern Colony in Virginia by the English" (written 1606-1607, published much later) and "A True Relation of the Proceedings and Occurrences of Moment" (1624 or 1625)

George Percy biography page at Encyclopedia Virginia
Ralph Hamor (baptized Feb. 16, 1589; died before Oct. 11, 1626) - Ralph Hamor (sometimes spelled Raphe Hamor) provided much of what we know about Pocahontas in the post-John Smith years of Jamestown until summer 1614. He arrived in Jamestown in 1609 (but possibly 1610), probably arriving on one of the two ships that departed England with the Sea Venture. He succeeded William Strachey as Secretary of the colony, and he recorded the events surrounding Argall's abduction of Pocahontas. He also wrote of her conversion to Christianity and her marriage to John Rolfe. His published writing included the letter* from John Rolfe to Sir Thomas Dale requesting permission to marry Pocahontas (see below). Hamor's writings became sources for John Smith's accounts of the same events. Hamor returned to England in 1614, then went back to Jamestown in 1617. He was living in Virginia during the Powhatan uprising of 1622, and he died in or near Jamestown in 1626.

* Camilla Townsend pointed out to me that the letter from John Rolfe published in Hamor's writings was actually a redacted version. The complete original letter by John Rolfe is available in the Bodleian Library) and on the Internet Archive.. This information is also noted in Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma (2004), p. 199.

Ralph Hamor biography page at Encyclopedia Virginia
Alexander Whitaker (1585-1616) - Whitaker was a Cambridge educated Anglican minister who arrived in Jamestown in 1611. He was responsible for educating Pocahontas in Christianity and is said to have converted her to that faith. He wrote his thoughts on the Indians (taking an especially dim view of (in his thinking) the devil-worshiping 'Quiokosoughs' or priests) but otherwise encouraging immigration for the purpose of converting the natives "Let the word of the Lord sound out that it may be heard in these parts; and let your faith which is toward God spread it selfe abroad and show forth the charitable fruits of it in these barren parts of the world:" We have no mention of Pocahontas in writings by his own pen, as his thoughts published in "Good Newes from Virginia were likely written before he began working with her after her abduction by Argall. However, we do have a letter by Whitaker recorded by Ralph Hamor in A True Discourse of the Present Estate of Virginia that testifies to Pocahontas's conversion to Christianity.

Alexander Whitaker biography page on Wikipedia
John Rolfe (1585-1622) - John Rolfe, a 'third supply' English settler of Jamestown, was the second husband of Pocahontas (after Kocoum), and she was his second wife (the second of three). By the time Rolfe met Pocahontas, he had experienced nearly being sunk in a storm and being shipwrecked on rocks off the coast of Bermuda (the inspiration for Shakespeare's play, The Tempest). His daughter (named Bermuda) died on the island, and his first wife died soon thereafter. His arrival at Jamestown in 1610 on a reconstructed boat made from the scraps of the Sea Venture was fairly miraculous. Rolfe is generally credited with starting the English commercial tobacco industry (with the help of Indian know-how) that ensured the long-term survival of the Jamestown colony. The need for massive amounts of land for tobacco cultivation, the importation of African slaves, and the smoking habits of people today all owe a tip of the hat (or perhaps a less-friendly gesture) to Rolfe's fledgling efforts. Rolfe's inclusion on this list of chroniclers is because of four documents that he is known to have written; 1) his letter to Thomas Dale expressing his desire to marry Pocahontas; 2) a kind of inventory of stock and settler numbers passed on to the Virginia Company during his visit to England (Rolfe was colony recorder); 3) a letter to Sir Edwin Sandys (treasurer of the Virginia Company) expressing his concerns about his image for leaving his son, Thomas, in England, which also mentions the first Africans to be brought to the colony; and 4) his last will and testament, probably written on his deathbed ("beinge sicke in body") in March 1622, just before the Indian uprising.

John Rolfe biography page at Encyclopedia Virginia

Samuel Purchas (1577?-1626) - Purchas, an English cleric, was NOT one of the settlers at Jamestown and had minimal firsthand knowledge of Pocahontas. He is said to have seen her when she was staying in London. He wrote that she "did not only accustom herself to civility but still carried herself as the daughter of a king, and was accordingly respected". His name often appears in bibliographies for his conversations with Tomocomo (Uttamatomakkin) and because he published George Percy's "Observations Gathered Out of a Discourse of the Plantation" in his collection of travel writings, Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas His Pilgrimes (1625).

William Stith (1707-1755) - Not even born until 86 years after the death of Pocahontas, Stith obviously had no firsthand knowledge of her. However, he was one of the earliest local scholars to write about Pocahontas and Jamestown from a historical point of view, so his account has some interest as an archive of the thoughts from Stith's 18th Century time period. Stith was the third president of the College of William and Mary (from 1752-1755). His wife's father was William Randolph, a prominent early Virginia colonist who arrived in Virginia around 50 years after the death of Pocahontas.

On the absence of Powhatan input:
The Powhatan Indians kept no written records in the early 1600s, though they 'remembered' events of importance to them through oral story telling.* Anyone wondering why there are no Indians on the list above must ask themselves, "Why would there be? What was the importance to the Powhatan Indians of Pocahontas in her own lifetime?" As a child, she may have supplied some useful intelligence to her people based on her visits to Jamestown, though the adults that were present with her would likely have been seen as more reliable in that regard. (I should emphasize, though, that we have no evidence that she provided any useful information to her people or how it would have been regarded..) She was just one of many Indians who had contact with the settlers, and she was one of maybe 100 of Wahunsenaca's children. She is often described as the "most beloved" of Wahunsenaca's children, but that designation was also bestowed on another child later, when Pocahontas was set to marry John Rolfe. Pocahontas was not in a matrilineal line to succeed Wahunsenaca, and from a Powhatan view, she is just someone who disappeared from Werowocomoco (Powhatan seat of power) when she left to visit/live with the Patowomecks, and was subsequently abducted by Samuel Argall. During her captivity in Henrico and Jamestown, she is presumed to have had some contact with the Powhatans, and in so doing, may have provided additional information to her people, and then she left Virginia for England, never to be seen again. After her death, and during a time of great turmoil (intermittent battles, expulsion of Powhatans from tribal lands, epidemic disease. loss of Powhatan sovereignty) her significance to the Powhatans, if any, would have been lost. Considering how little is known about Wahunsenaca and Opechancanough, people of real and continued importance to the Powhatans, why would they have bothered to remember any details about Pocahontas beyond the shared knowledge that she existed and was the "most beloved" of Powhatan's children? Much later, however, when settlers and Indians alike found benefits in claiming to be the descendants of Pocahontas, supposed "details" about her life and loves began to surface, and the myth of Pocahontas established itself in American consciousness. On these pages, I am trying to separate the myths from what we know.

* I'd like to emphasize that I don't dismiss the importance of oral tradition for understanding Indigenous cultures. I"m just saying that we have no reason to believe that Pocahontas was heroic or legendary enough from a Powhatan point of view to be worth mythologizing in the 1600s. Her status changed, however, for Indians and non-Indians alike in the centuries that followed.
Note that anthropologist Margaret Williamson Huber has a different view than myself on the reliability of certain "oral histories." See her abstract and PDF version of "Pocahontas and Rebecca: Two Tales of a Captive" (2013).
From Pocahontas: The Evolution of an American Narrative  (1994), by Robert S. Tilton
  • "{Most] material in the sometimes lengthy biographies of Pocahontas is, at best, based on studies of Powhatan Indian culture, of the founding of the British colonies in the New World, or of the Stuart period in England. At worst it is pure conjecture." p. 8

Tilton points out that the Pocahontas biographers (and people like me) can write volumes on Pocahontas, but the facts we really know for sure do not exceed the few bullet points I've listed at the top of this page.
John Smith maps at National Park Service, Capt. John Smith Chesapeake
​(C) Kevin Miller 2018

​Last update Sept. 9, 2021 / Banner photo by Hadley-Ives