Pocahontas

Pocahontas (pōkəhŏn`təs), c.1595–1617, Native North American woman, daughter of Chief Powhatan. Pocahontas, meaning "playful one" (her real name was said to be Matoaka), used to visit the English in Virginia at Jamestown. According to the famous story, she saved the life of the captured Capt. John Smith just as he was about to have his head smashed at the direction of Powhatan. In 1613, Pocahontas was captured by Capt. Samuel Argall, taken to Jamestown, and held as a hostage for English prisoners then in the hands of her father. At Jamestown she was converted to Christianity and baptized as Rebecca. John Rolfe, a settler, gained the permission of Powhatan and the governor, Sir Thomas Dale, and married her in Apr., 1614. The union brought peace with the Native Americans for eight years. With her husband and several other Native Americans, Pocahontas went to England in 1616. There she was received as a princess and presented to the king and queen. She started back to America in 1617 but was taken ill and died at Gravesend, where she was buried. Pocahontas bore one son, Thomas Rolfe, who was educated in England, went (1640) to Virginia, and gained considerable wealth.

Bibliography

See P. L. Barbour, Pocahontas and Her World (1969); G. S. Woodward, Pocahontas (1969).

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Pocahontas

Pocahontas, detail of a portrait by an unknown artist, 1616.

(credit: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)

(born c. 1596, near present-day Jamestown, Va. [U.S.]—died March 1617, Gravesend, Kent, Eng.) Powhatan Indian woman. Daughter of the powerful chief Powhatan, Pocahontas helped maintain peace between English colonists and Native Americans by befriending the settlers at Jamestown, Va. By the account of colonial leader John Smith, Pocahontas intervened to save his life after he had been taken prisoner by her father's men. She subsequently converted to Christianity and wedded the colonist John Rolfe, which furthered efforts toward peace. She traveled to England, where she was received at court, but soon afterward she died, probably of lung disease.

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Pocahontas

natural beauty embodied in an Indian maiden. [Am. Hist.: EB, VIII: 57]

See : Beauty, Rustic