Shortly after the Jamestown Colony was founded in Virginia in 1607, Pocahontas (1595–1617), daughter of the local Native American chief, threw herself over John Smith (1580–1631) to save him from execution. This pivotal moment and the romance between these two led to peaceful relations between the English settlers in the fledgling colony and the local peoples. This, at least, is the story Americans tell themselves about Pocahontas and John Smith. It is widely recognized that there is a substantial gulf between the actual events and the details recounted by folklore. In this sense, the episode is not necessarily a myth or legend but the mythologizing of a historical episode that occurred in the recent past. Separating fact from fiction, and recognizing that the two have blurred, is an important step in understanding American historical memory and identity.
For centuries, Americans have told and retold the story of Pocahontas and John Smith in colonial Jamestown, a highly embellished tale of love, courage, and self-sacrifice. Historians doubt many of the details of the story, since there are no documents to provide support or verification. Pocahontas’s act of love and courage seems to have been added in nineteenth-century accounts that borrowed from the “noble savage” theme in Romantic literature. (Library of Congress)
John Smith was a British soldier who arrived with the first wave of settlers at the Jamestown colony in 1607. His foresight and leadership played a substantial role in preventing the colony from collapsing, as earlier efforts had struggled with starvation and disease. According to the often-told version, relations between the settlers and the local Algonquins were very tense until Smith and Pocahontas, the daughter of the chief of the confederation that predominated in this area, developed a romantic attachment. During a particular expedition, Smith was captured and sentenced to be executed. Smith himself later wrote about the episode in the third person: “as many as could laid hands on him, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head, and being ready with their clubs to beat out his brains, Pocahontas, the king’s dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his head in her arms, and laid her own upon his to save his from death: whereat the emperor was contented he should live” (Smith 1624).
Moved by his daughter’s courage, Powhatan (Wahunsenacawh), the chief of the primary tribe of the Algonquin Confederacy, spared Smith’s life and proceeded to open up a productive and symbiotic dialogue with the settlers.
The historical accuracy of this rendering is questionable. It comes from a series of writings John Smith produced long after the arrival at Jamestown and his subsequent explorations of New England in 1614, when he had already achieved fame and success. Furthermore, he did not include any references to Pocahontas in his original writings about the founding and development of the Jamestown Colony. There is therefore a possibility that the entire account was fabricated for dramatic reading effect and publicity.
In reality, relations between the English settlers and the Algonquins were not so violent at first. Rather, there was substantial interaction and trade. While minor incidents and frictions did lead to violence, it was not a day-by-day series of scalping and shootings as is often described (Tebbel and Jennison 2003). The 1995 Disney film portrays the colonists and natives as immediately getting off on the wrong foot and embarking on a fast-paced course to full-scale war. In reality, both sides made overtures. Smith also recounted: “it pleased God in our extremity, to move the Indians to bring us corn … to refresh us when we rather expected they would destroy us” (Smith [1624] 1999, 39). The generosity of the Native Americans in donating food is a far cry from a battlefield engagement. Furthermore, during the “starving time” of the colonists’ first winter in Jamestown (1607–1608), some Englishmen even fled to Native American villages where they knew they would be fed (Zinn 2005, 12–13). The openness on the part of the Algonquins therefore went beyond a temporary hosting to a full-fledged incorporation into their community on some occasions. On the other hand, these men would be executed for insulting English culture if recaptured by their countrymen (Kicza 1994, 281–297).
These Algonquin niceties may not have been wholly selfless. Powhatan recognized the military capacities and increasing manpower of his new English neighbors. Considering his position of power and the political situation was the result of a delicate coalition of multiple tribes, it may very well have been the case that “Powhatan sought from the beginning to keep the colonists dependent on him … while seeking to retain them as possible allies against his enemies in the interior” (Kicza 1994, 390). That is to say, Powhatan understood that the English presence was not a temporary quest for resources, but a permanent, established community. By keeping them dependent on him for foodstuffs and supplies, he might limit their numbers and geographic range. Further, if he swayed them to friendship through his generosity, they might be more likely to come to his aid against hostile groups who sought his destruction. This is a much more complicated political situation then we are led to believe in the general Pocahontas and John Smith tale.
The English made gestures of friendship toward the Algonquins as well. In 1608 they held a crowning ceremony for Powhatan, wherein he was declared king of the territory. Due to differences in cultures and subsequent misunderstandings, the event was not particularly successful. It may have been construed, especially given Powhatan’s status already, that the English were making a gesture of submission, bringing their new king gifts. On the other hand, the English action of recognizing Powhatan as an authority figure in the Jamestown Colony would effectively make him a vassal of sorts to King James I (r. 1603–1625). Powhatan himself understood the true meaning of this gesture and refused to accept the crown (Kicza 1994, 390–391). Nonetheless, some suggest that this event represents an English desire to cooperate, work with, and coexist with the Native Americans.
In 1614, Pocahontas married John Rolfe (1585–1622), another English settler who arrived in Jamestown in 1610. He is credited with establishing the cultivation of tobacco in the region, a vital factor for the economic stability of the colony. The marriage between the two was a much more concrete event than the vague, unprovable romance between Pocahontas and Smith, and likely did much more to solidify relations between the English and the Algonquins, as it was a formal linking of the two groups. Stability was maintained in the area until 1618 when Chief Powhatan died. His brother Opchanacanough (1554–1646), who assumed the mantle of leadership thereafter, was more violent and less tolerant than his brother. In 1622 he initiated an all-out war of resistance against the English colonists, who by then had grown substantially in strength and established themselves inexpugnably in Jamestown. Thereafter, the initial story of hope and cooperation was superseded by one of hatred and violence, where things did not end well for the primary individuals at play and much suffering ensued.
The legend of Pocahontas and John Smith is a romantic one with a happy ending that sends a message of cross-cultural dialogue and successful interactions to productive ends. For these reasons, we have taken the story at face value and ascribed a foundational mythos to it. The Disney film added sensation to these sentiments. The movie did have some benefits, such as addressing the English settlers’ lack of understanding and awareness of environmental factors in the region as well as their ethnocentrism (feelings of cultural superiority). Yet as previously stated, the violence and straightforwardness of the English-Native interactions were not so clear-cut. The settlers in the film were also obsessed with digging for gold. While this may have been something of a factor in initial English explorations, largely resulting from Spanish successes in Central and South America, establishing a settlement and surviving there were the primary concerns. More importantly, overwriting a reality of declining interactions that led to war with a fantasy of improving interactions that led to peace is a common process with egregious consequences.
The history of the United States is not free of its dark chapters, mistakes, and unpalatable actions. Often, though, Americans conveniently omit these events when studying their own history. The reality in Jamestown included starvation, possible cannibalism, betrayal, war, deception, manipulation, and heartbreak. Considering that this colony was the first permanent English settlement in North America, these facts are often ignored when recounting America’s beginning. Rather, the Pilgrims’ landing at Plymouth Rock in what would become Massachusetts in 1620 often serves as the de facto foundational moment (Loewen 1995, 89). The Pilgrims were families, not soldiers, and they adhered to a conservative religious way of life. The Thanksgiving story, also highly mythologized and historically inaccurate, is a more agreeable tale to exemplify Americans as a people.
Over the centuries, the memory of the Jamestown Colony has been recast to mirror that of Plymouth. Both episodes involve initial struggles including famine and difficulties establishing an operational community, which were later made feasible by assistance from local natives and a friendship between the newcomers and original inhabitants. Incorporating the romance between Pocahontas and John Smith into the Jamestown legend therefore solidifies the tale as a straightforward one defined by virtue and good intentions, intentionally overlooking the larger, more complex, and more distasteful aspects.
The Pocahontas and John Smith legend and the simplistic story that it underlines are also accessible to children. The complicated and violent details are difficult to teach to younger people, could turn them off to history, and could threaten the manner in which Americans of younger generations see themselves and their national history. The Disney film, whose primary target audience was children, further exacerbates this dynamic. The film’s presentation of the bulk of the English settlers as violent and intolerant is not a sufficient depiction of the dark history of Jamestown, especially since it is not entirely accurate. While it is acceptable for the film to take artistic license, as it does not claim to be a documentary, it is important to recognize this detail and not utilize the film as an instructional mechanism. Teaching idealized historical events and people is intended to inspire people to emulate them (Loewen 1995, 33). However, as with all myths, it can obscure or overwrite the true history.
Myths and legends are a vital component of every culture. Yet it is important to separate fact from fiction and recognize that the Pocahontas and John Smith legend as it is commonly understood is largely fabricated. Differentiating between what is true and what is not, and knowing why the history of the Jamestown Colony spawned such a legend, is crucial to any proper historical understanding of the American past.
Franklin R. Halprin
See also Founding Myths; Thanksgiving; Women in Folklore
Further Reading
Kicza, John E. 1994. “Dealing with Foreigners: A Comparative Essay Regarding Initial Expectations and Interactions between Native Societies and the English in North America and the Spanish in Mexico.” Colonial Latin American Historical Review 3 (4).
Loewen, James W. 1995. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: Touchstone.
Smith, John. [1624] 1999. “Generall History of Virginia.” Our Nation’s Archive: The History of the United States in Documents, edited by Erik Bruun and Jay Crosby. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal.
Tebbel, John, and Keith Jennison. 2003. The American Indian Wars. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Zinn, Howard. 2005. A People’s History of the United States. New York: HarperCollins.
Pocahontas and John Smith—Primary Document
The Myth of Pocahontas and John Smith (1803)
The story of the romance between John Smith and Pocahontas is entirely fictional, and a key source for originating the myth is John Davis’s Travels in the United States (1803). In this passage, Pocahontas is smitten with John Smith and saves his life, which no documents in early colonial Virginia history can corroborate. The myth of Pocahontas’s love and self-sacrifice appealed to readers in the early nineteenth century—the so-called Romantic period of literature—and aligned with the idea of the “noble savage” increasingly popular in the era.
The meditated attack upon Jamestown being laid aside, Opechancanough led Smith in triumph through the country; exhibiting him with high exultation to the Youghtanunds, and Mattaponies, the Piankatanks, and Nantaughtacunds. They afterwards conducted him through the country of the Nominies; and when, for several weeks, he had raised the wonder of some, and provoked the laughter of others, they brought him to Opechancanough’s chief settlement, on the river Pamunkey.
This place was much larger, and more populous than Orapakes; the wigwams were built with more care, and that appropriated to Opechancanough exhibited a rude magnificence. The curiosity of the women was here again excited; and the Indians, in conducting Smith through the crowd, performed with triumphant antics their military exercise; throwing themselves into a war-dance with every distortion of body; and yelling out the most diabolical screeches and notes.
Here Smith was confined three days in a separate wigwam; during which time the inhabitants came in crowds with frightful howlings, and hellish ceremonies, conjuring him to declare whether he intended them good or ill. After this they brought him a bag of gunpowder, and desired to know what kind of grain it was; for they judged it to be the produce of the earth, and carefully preserved it to plant the next spring.
At length, Captain Smith was conducted to Werowocomoco, where Powhatan, the Emperor lived in savage state and magnificence. When Smith was brought into the presence of Powhatan, he was sitting upon a wooden throne resembling a bedstead, cloathed with a flowing robe of racoon skins, and wearing on his head a coronet of feathers. He was about sixty years of age, somewhat hoary, and of a mien that impressed every beholder with awe. On each side of him sat a young squaw, who practised every endearing softness of her sex, and contended for the caresses of her venerable Sovereign. It was ludicrous to behold the bald-headed letcher relax from his ferocity, and, waxing wanton, pinch the cheek of the damsel who most conciliated him.
When Smith entered the royal Wigwam, the whole Court gave a shout; and the Queen of Appamattox was appointed to carry him water to wash, while one of the concubines left the throne, and brought him a bunch of feathers instead of a towel to dry himself. Hence Smith was received more like a guest than a prisoner; and, after an abundant supper, a skin was spread for him to sleep upon.
During the night a centinel was placed at each corner of the royal Wigwam, who every half hour was heard to shout; shaking his finger between his lips to give more horror to the sound. If there was any one found remiss in making this clamour, the Captain of the watch immediately took a cudgel and beat him over the head and shoulders till he roared with anguish.
The person of Smith was extremely prepossessing; to a figure comely from nature was superadded that external grace which he had acquired in the court and the camp of Great Britain; and several ladies of distinguished rank had heaped upon him unequivocal marks of their tenderness. The influence of the passions is uniform, and their effects nearly the same in every human breast; hence love operates in the same manner throughout the world, and discovers itself by the same symptoms in the breasts of beings separated by an immeasurable ocean. When Smith appeared before Powhatan, the first impression he made decided favourably for him on the minds of the women. This his knowledge of the sex soon discovered; but his attention was principally attracted by the charms of a young girl, whose looks emanated from a heart that was the seat of every tenderness, and who could not conceal those soft emotions of which the female bosom is so susceptible. It is in vain to attempt opposing the inroads of the blind god; the path of love is a path to which there is no end; in which there is no remedy for lovers but to give up their souls.
This young girl was the daughter of the Emperor Powhatan. She was called Pocahontas; and when Smith was engaged by the interrogations of the King, and she thought herself unobserved, never did the moon gaze more steadfastly on the water than she on the prisoner.
The next day a long and profound consultation was held by the King and his Privy Council, when a huge stone was brought before Powhatan, and several men assembled with clubs in their hands. The lamentations of the women admonished Smith of his destiny; who being brought blindfolded to the spot, his head was laid on the block, and the men prepared with their clubs to beat out his brains. The women now became more bitter in their lamentations over the victim; but the savage Monarch was inexorable, and the executioners were lifting their arms to perform the office of death, 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. Fair spirit! thou ministering angel at the throne of grace! If souls disengaged from their earthly bondage can witness from the bosom of eternal light what is passing here below, accept, sweet Seraph, this tribute to thy humanity.
Powhatan was not wanting in paternal feeling; his soul was devoted to his daughter Pocahontas; and so much did his ferocity relent at this display of innocent softness in a girl of fourteen, that he pronounced the prisoner’s pardon, and dismissed the executioners. Indeed, every heart melted into tenderness at the scene. The joy of the successful mediator expressed itself in silence; she hung wildly on the neck of the reprieved victim, weeping with a violence that choked her utterance.
The breast of Smith did not yield to this act of female softness and humanity; it excited an emotion of gratitude, but it kindled no passion in his heart. Formed for action and enterprize, he considered love an imbecility unworthy of a great mind; and although his person could inspire tender sentiments, his mind was not ductile to them. His penetration, however, foresaw the uses to which the passion of Pocahontas for him might be converted; and his solicitude for the success of the Colony, which was much nearer his heart, made him feign a return of that fondness which every day augmented in the bosom of the Princess.
Source: Davis, John. Travels of Four Years and a Half in the United States of America during 1798, 1799, 1800, 1801, and 1802. London: R. Edwards, 1803.