2. POKEY STATS
• Born in 1594?
• Called Matoaka within her tribe (little wanton
plaything)
• Born in village of Werewocomoco, located on
the north shore of the York River in modern-
day VA
• Public name was Pocahontas
3. POWHATAN CONFEDERACY
• Pokey’s father was Powhatan,
chief of a 32 tribe alliance since
1570
• Powhatan Confederacy was a
well-organized, thriving
agricultural and fishing nation
with a population of about 9K
the year Pokey was born
4. CULTURES MEET
• Matoaka was about 12 when
the English arrived in 1607
• The English had of course come
to establish Jamestown colony
• One of the Englishmen was the
legendary John Smith
5. NICE TO MEET YA!
• Smith supposedly took a war party to attack an
Indian village
• In a ferocious fight, Smith was captured by the
Indians
• Matoaka was excited to hear this because she
had never seen a white man before
• Supposedly Pokey dressed the next day in her
finest clothes
• Pokey looked at Smith and told one of her
brothers that he was the most handsome man
she had ever seen
6. TRIAL TIME
• The Indians told Chief Powhatan that Smith
had killed two of their braves with fire sticks
• John stated that the Indians had killed two of
his men 1st
• Powhatan told Smith to be quiet and prepare
for his own execution
7. EXECUTION?
• The next day the
Indians tied Smith to
an execution stone
• John was about to be
terminated when
Pokey supposedly ran
to Smith and put her
head on top of his
• She yelled, “I claim
John Smith!”
8. REALITY?
• This may have been part of a
traditional Indian adoption
ceremony
• It was unlikely that Smith was
ever in danger
• However, it is possible that
without Pocahontas being
there, he might have been put
to death
• The event may simply have
been a figment of Smith’s
imagination
9. SETTLE DOWN!
• Powhatan could not execute Smith because he
was now Pokey’s property
• Powhatan explained that Smith had to stay
with Pocahontas in the village
• Smith’s village time allowed him to become
good friends with Pocahontas
10. ADOPTION
• One day some braves took Smith
to a hut and told him to stay
there
• The next day Powhatan came
with 200+ braves
• The chief was all decked out in
black war paint
• He said, “John Smith, now that
my daughter has claimed you, I
have decided to adopt you!”
• Smith’s equipment was promptly
returned and he was told to
return to Jamestown
11. WINTER COMES
• When the weather became harsh, Pokey worried
about the Englishmen and asked her dad if she
could take some extra food to Jamestown
• Pocahontas and an entourage of young girls
carried baskets of corn
• When they got to the stockade, the huge doors
opened and a man stepped out with a gun at his
shoulder
• All of the maidens ran away in fear except
Pocahontas
12. WE MEET AGAIN
• Behind the first man came another man
• It was Smith
• Pocahontas was thrilled to see him
• After staring at Smith for a while, she said that
they had brought enough food to last the
winter
• Smith thanked her profusely and she ran
home
13. TEEN DRAMA?
• After that Pokey visited Jamestown often until
Powhatan banned her from the village
• Pocahontas started to cry as she asked why
• Powhatan said that more white men were
moving onto Indian land and taking over his
villages
14. POWHATAN’S PLAN
• Supposedly Pocahontas heard her father’s
later meeting with his war council
• He was finalizing details of a plan to invite the
English to a feast and attack them while they
were eating
• Another story says Jamestown was to be
attacked during the night
• Matoaka ran away crying after hearing about
the plot
15. LITTLE SELLOUT
• That night Pokey sneaked over to Smith’s
camp by the river
• Through her tears, she told John everything
that her father was planning
• That was the last time the two ever saw each
other in the New World
16. JOHN TAKES OFF
• Several weeks later Smith was injured while
sleeping
• A powder bag exploded and tore flesh from
his body and thighs
• To quench the fire, he jumped into the river
near what is today Richmond
• He was taken back to England for medical
treatment
17. While the cat’s away…
• After Smith returned to Europe for
medical treatment, there is no
information about the Indian maiden
for several years
• She may have married an Indian called
Kocoum
• During this time she probably had no
contact with the English who were at
war with her father
18. EYE FOR AN EYE
• One night Powhatan took some braves to
Jamestown and captured two men
• When Pokey found out, she was angry with
her father
• She needed to talk to someone
• So she went to a nearby Indian village and
talked with her friend who was the chief there
19. Everyone has a price!
• After she left, some Englishmen came
to the chief with a huge copper pot
• The Englishmen told the chief that
they would trade the pot for
Pocahontas
• The thought was that they could then
trade the Indian princess for men
that the Indians had captured
• The chief agreed to the evil plot and
said that he would convince Pokey to
go on a tour of an English ship
20. BETRAYAL
• The next day the chief went to
Werewocomoco and found
Pocahontas
• She went with the chief in his
canoe back to the ship
• While she was in Captain Samuel
Argall’s quarters, the chief got
back in his canoe and left
Pocahontas
21. RANSOM
• The English leader sent a letter to Powhatan
saying that he had to give the captives back
their weapons and set them free or he would
never see his daughter again
• Powhatan freed the men without their
weapons so the English retained Pokey
22. BRAINWASHED
• Argall took her to Jamestown where she
mastered the English language and became
baptized in the Christian religion
• Her new name was Rebecca
• She supposedly soon met the rich planter John
Rolfe and fell in love
• Rolfe asked Jamestown governor Thomas Dale for
permission to marry Rebecca
• Dale agreed because he thought it would benefit
Jamestown
23. • The Virginia Company recognized
Pocahontas’s propaganda value as an example
of:
– English-Indian harmony,
– of missionary success
– and as proof that savages could be converted to
English ways
24. ON TOUR
• To attract new settlers and
fresh capital, the company in
1616 brought the Rolfe
family, including one-year old
Thomas and 12 more Indians
to England
• The arrival was well-
publicized
• She was presented to James
I, the royal family and the
best of London society
• After being presented at
court, she had her portrait
made
25. REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD
• Also in London at this time was her old friend
Captain John Smith, who she had not seen in 8
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, Pokey talked of old
times
• At one point she addressed him as father and
he objected
26. KILLING THE ROMANTIC MYTH ONCE
AND FOR ALL
• “Were you not afraid to come
into my father’s country, and
caused fear in him and all of
his people and here you are
afraid of me calling you father.
I tell you I will and you shall
call me child and so I shall be
forever and ever your
countryman.”
• This was their last meeting
27. WE ARE FAMILY
• After 7 months, Rolfe decided to take his
family back to Virginia
• In March 1617 they set sail
• It was obvious that Pocahontas would not
survive the journey home
• She was seriously ill with tuberculosis,
pneumonia or smallpox
28. SAYING GOODBYE
• She was taken ashore and as
she lay dying said to Rolfe,
“All must die. Tis enough
that the child liveth.”
• She was buried in a
churchyard in Gravesend,
England
• She was 22 years old?
29. POKEY’S IMPORTANCE
• 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 Roanoke
• She is said to have intervened many times to
protect the lives of the colonists
30. REMEMBER THIS!
• In 1616, Smith wrote that “Pocahontas was
the instrument to preserve this colony from
death, famine and utter confusion.”
• Pocahontas not only served as a
representative of the Virginia Indians but also
as a vital link between the Indians and the
English
31. Be a skeptic!
• Today, thanks to the wonders of two Walt Disney
films, Pocahontas is often romantically linked
with Smith
• That is unlikely!
• The story of Smith’s rescue by the Indian princess
did not appear in any of the books Smith wrote
about his Virginia adventures until 1624
• Since that time, people have questioned whether
Smith was rescued from certain death or if he
was simply making up stories to sell books
32. TALK ABOUT IRONY!
• With the death of
Pocahontas and soon after
Chief Powhatan, the fragile
peace between the colonists
and Indians eroded
• Ironically, the Indians’ major
grievance was the colonists’
insatiable appetite for the
special tobacco mixture
introduced by John Rolfe
