John Smith Pocahontas Facts

One of the things Pocahontas is most known for saving John Smith’s life. It all started when one day, the Pamunkey tribe caught a white man. The man was to be presented to Pocahontas’ father, Chief Powhatan, that night. The village prepared large feasts, and Pocahontas was thrilled to finally get the chance to see one of the mysterious outsiders who had come to their homeland. When the man was finally brought out, many villagers screamed in horror when he glanced at them, although Pocahontas didn’t understand why everyone was afraid of this man to be called “John Smith”. Pocahontas’ father declared that the handsome man with the blue eyes was to be killed! The toughest warrior poised his arms above his head with a club in hand and… Pocahontas

With this policy, the survival rate grew to nearly ninety percent that year. He organized successful trading with the Native American Powhattan. Smith was however captured by him and only spared when Powhattan’s daughter Pocahontas pleaded for his life. This is where the story of Pocahontas comes from. Smith wrote a letter about this encounter to Queen Anne when he heard of her coming to England years later. He wanted to ensure that she would not be treated as someone that could not be trusted. He wanted to show her loyalty to him and to England.

Pocahontas was born in 1595, with the given name of Matoaka and later got the nickname Pocahontas. She has been known as the favorite daughter of the powerful Powhatan Chief but she is also famous in history for contributing greatly toward the survival of the Jamestown colony. When the English colonists settled in Jamestown in 1607, there became tension between the Colonists and the Powhatan Indians. During the 1600s, the leader of the Colonists, Captain John Smith was caught by the Powhatan’s men. It has been said that Pocahontas saved Smith’s life and has had great influence on early relationships between the colonists and Indians. During Pocahontas’s life, she has faced many tragedies but triumphs have also played a role in her time.

Pocahontas was captured by Samuel Argall and during her captivity she became pregnant. The father was a mystery, but she was supposed to be marrying me. We got married on April 5, 1614 and then her baby was born on January 30, 1615. We were blessed with thousands of acres of land from Pocahontas’ father, Chief Powhatan. My wife, our baby, and I traveled to England on the ship, Treasurer, in 1616. Pocahontas was soon addressed by the name, Princess Pocahontas, because she was so widely respected. While in England, we visited Queen Anne and King James I. While in London, Pocahontas met John Smith who she thought was dead. We stayed and toured England for several months, and on our trip back home Pocahontas became very ill and died. I returned back to Virginia while Thomas, our son, stayed in England. I soon married the daughter of a colonist. Her name was Jane Pierce. Soon after we married, we had a daughter and named her Elizabeth. My house was on my tobacco plantation, and it was attacked by stupid Native Indians. I honestly don’t know why they hate me so much. It’s devastating. There, I was left stranded with no help, just lying in the grass. It’s my time to go…

Pocahontas was connected with English colonists through Captain John Smith. He arrived in Virginia on April 1607. John Smith was captured by a group of hunting men led by Powhatan’s relative while exploring

Because of John Smith’s two contradictory accounts and love for attention, I do not believe that Pocahontas saved his life. Smith wrote two books about his time in Virginia. In the first book, True Relation (est. 1608), John writes that he was peacefully accepted into the tribe, and that he was assisted and fed with grace. One interesting thing to note is that Smith does not mention Pocahontas in this first story. Sixteen years later, John Smith published another chronicle of his visit to the Powhatan tribe. This book is called General History (est. 1624), and speaks more critically of the tribe. “Then I was dragged by many hands, and they laid my head on the stones, being ready with their clubs to beat out my brains”, wrote

In Virginia, 1624, some of the first North American had settled and began to build the colony of Jamestown. The voyage to the new world, which was supposedly only supposed to take around three months, ended up taking a staggering five months. As a result of this the Jamestown colonists used all of their reserve and emergency food, and landed in Virginia in late Fall, not in early Spring. The colonists died from lack of food and starvation, and had to result to cannibalism until John Smith was kidnapped by Powhatan, the leader of the local Native American tribe. Powhatan was supposedly going to “execute” John Smith until his twelve-year-old daughter, Pocahontas, saved him. Many historians believe that Powhatan did not abduct Smith to kill him but to show him his immense power. While Powhatan may have had positive intentions, John Smith clearly did not get the memo as he often called the native Americans “Savages” in his writings. Turning the other cheek to this hate, Powhatan gave Jamestown supplies and food to show his desire for an alliance between the Native Americans and the colonists.

John Smith's tales of the Indian princess, Pocahontas, have, over time, encouraged the evolution of a great American myth. According to this myth, which is common knowledge to most Americans, Pocahontas saved Smith from being killed by her father and his warriors and then fell in love with John Smith. Some versions of the myth popular among Americans include the marriage of Smith and Pocahontas. Although no one can be sure of exactly what happened almost four-hundred years ago, most historians agree that the myth is incorrect. Pocahontas did not save John Smith's life from "savages" and never showed any affection for him. The events of her life differ greatly from the myth Americans have created.

With Captain Newport gone, John Smith took matters into his own hands, doing what he believed was best for the colony. In a desperate effort to save the settlers, Smith made a courageous attempt to trade with the local Native Americans for food. On December 10, 1607, Smith and a small group of men sailed up the James River only to be attacked by a Native American tribe when they entered the forest. In the short, bloody battle, two Native American warriors were killed as well as the colonial explorers. Smith was captured and taken as prisoner to chief Powhatan. “…a large stone was brought before Powhatan, and several men assembled with clubs in their hands… [Smith] being brought blindfolded to the spot to the spot, his head was laid on the stone, and the men prepared with their clubs to beat out his brains…when Pocahontas ran with mournful distraction to the stone, and getting the victim’s head into her arms, laid her own upon it to receive the blow.” Smith later writes about the lifesaving miracle that occurred, surely he thought he would meet his death. Chief Powhatan’s younger daughter (about twelve years of age) protected Smith and pleaded that his live be spared. The chief eventually gave in to his daughter’s pleas. A modern belief on the near execution of John Smith suggests that Smith may have misunderstood the events taking place in Powhatan’s longhouse. Historians suggest that Smith may have been subject to a tribal ritual meant to symbolize Smith’s death and

A quote from the website called (¨Pocahontas Leadership and Legacy¨), it is said that, ¨She had preferred to live with the English and kept her new found faith breaking barriers on religious freedoms.¨ This is a legacy of Pocahontas because her name meant ¨playful one¨ or ¨naughty child¨ and she always wanted adventure and exploration. As said in the website called (¨Pocahontas Leadership and Legacy¨), it says, ¨She, in her efforts broke down walls of religious freedoms, and interracial inequality all while changing the demographic of stereotypes early settlers had on native Americans. Which led to enriching our country financially, ethically, and socially directly affecting the prosperity of our county as we know it.¨ This is a legacy of Pocahontas because she wanted people to stop the fights and arguments to have peace. (¨Encyclopedia Virginia/Pocahontas¨) says, ¨¨In fact, she did not become a celebrity until the 1820s, when southerners sought a colonial heroine to compete with the story of the Pilgrims in Massachusetts and so establish Virginia (more accurately) as the earlier of the two English colonies.¨ This is a legacy because it shows that at one point, people didn't know about Pocahontas and that it took awhile to find out about her. These are some of the legacies of

He started scouting around and began drawing maps immediately. He met Pocahontas by almost shooting her by a water fall, and later they fell in love. He was captured later in the movie while venturing out alone at night to meet Pocahontas. John Smith was going to be executed on top of a rock at dawn, in front of an army of colonists who planned to rescue him. In reality, John smith was arrested and chained in irons during the voyage over, and he was released a month after arriving to Jamestown, Virginia. After he was set free, he did a lot of exploring and trading with the Indians. John Smith mapped most of the Jamestown area. He was eventually captured while seeking food along the Chickahominy River. John Smith was brought to Chief Powhatan and was sentenced to be executed. This is when he actually met Matoaka, the real name of Pocahontas, and she rescued him from execution. Matoake was the oldest daughter of Chief Powhatan. John Smith became good friends with Matoake, and eventually Chief Powhatan adopted Smith as his son. (Squidoo, Inc., 2012)

John Smith and Pocahontas did, in fact, meet and they did develop a kindly relationship. It is said that his love for her is what helped her negotiate the release of two Indian prisoners that John Smith had caught and he stated that “not only for feature, countenance, and proportion,” she “much exceeded any of the rest of Powhatan's people.” [4] It

John Smith a widely known, beloved, Disney character in the movie Pocahontas. However, he is also an important and influential person in history. Both of these characters differ greatly from real life, to a movie character. In the Disney movie, John Smith is shown as Caucasian, slender, with blond hair and blue eyes. (“John Smith”).

In the movie, Pocahontas John Smith was always shown as the hero who brought the native together and Pocahontas was just part of the plan, but this is not true. Without Pocahontas role as the Beloved Woman, John Smith may not have been alive on the day of his execution. Partly because of the role of a Beloved Woman “...called on to decide whether any captive-leaders and warriors alike would be executed” (Allen 333). This illustrates the importance of Pocahontas and her role within her tribe and that her decision could not be overridden by anyone including the chief. Also with this turn of events clearly states that the role of women in the tribe was fairly important because they held a greater risk “...involved in a great world change in these

In Camilla Townsend’s book, Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma, Townsend points out that there are many historical inaccuracies and myths that are associated with the story of Pocahontas. Using historical evidence to support the story of Pocahontas, Townsend attempted to create an accurate timeline bringing the past to the present. At the same time, the Disney film Pocahontas attempted to depict Algonquian culture accurately, however, according to history, much of the material presented in the film is full of misconceptions and is historically imprecise. In fact, Disney’s Pocahontas epitomizes John Smith and