This encounter resulted in the famous story written by Smith of being saved from execution by Pocahontas, Chief Powhatan's daughter.
Although Smith alleged years later that Pocahontas saved his life during a four-day ceremony in the process of his being made a Powhatan werowance, his life was never in danger. His life did not need saving.
This illustration from the late nineteenth century shows Pocahontas, the young daughter of Powhatan, the chief of the Algonquian Indians of the Chesapeake, pleading for the life of John Smith, a leader of the Jamestown colony.
Historian Interpretation A: Paul Lewis (Modified)
While all this was going on, John Smith published a new version of True Relation, adding footnotes that say that Pocahontas threw herself on Smith to save him. Smith even takes credit for introducing Pocahontas to the English language and the Bible.
An early advocate of tough love, John Smith is remembered for his strict leadership and for saving the settlement from starvation.
In 1612, John Rolfe, one of many shipwrecked on Bermuda, helped turn the settlement into a profitable venture. He introduced a new strain of tobacco from seeds he brought from elsewhere. Tobacco became the long awaited cash crop for the Virginia Company, who wanted to make money off their investment in Jamestown.
Virginians know that Captain John Smith was vital to the survival of Jamestown in its early years.
When negotiations collapsed, the chief supposedly planned an ambush and Smith's execution. But Pocahontas warned Smith of her father's plans and saved his life again. Soon after, Smith was injured and returned to England; however, Pocahontas and her father were told he died.
Smith and Pocahontas were never in love, at least romantically, and never had the slightest intention of marrying. Their "mad affair" might be a great story, but it never happened. Smith was indeed captured by the Indians in the winter of 1607 and taken to Chief Powhatan's capital at Werowocomoco.
Pocahontas married John Rolfe, not John Smith.
When Jamestown's founders arrived, Pocahontas was only 10 or 11 years old. She ended up marrying John Rolfe, who started growing tobacco in 1613 and introduced the first successful crop of the New World expedition.
The first time Pocahontas met John Smith was in December 1607, when she was about 11 years old. Smith had been captured and brought before her father in his town at Werowocomoco on the northern side of the York River.
The marriage of Pocahontas and John Rolfe in 1614 changed the demographics of Virginia residents. Their only child, Thomas Rolfe, was the first descendent in a line that now spans over seven generations. Thomas was the culmination of years of contact between the Powhatan Indians and the English.
Captain John Smith (1580-1631) was an English adventurer, soldier, explorer, and author. He is famous for his role in the exploration of the New World and is responsible for the settlement and survival of Jamestown, England's first permanent colony in America.
Yes. Our Breakthrough fact check confirms that John Smith was under water for approximately 15 minutes before rescuers, including Tommy Shine, found him on the rocky bottom of the lake and pulled him to the surface.
In reality, Pocahontas too young for romance when she met Smith, and she didn't prevent his death. The pair did have a relationship, but it was possibly more like brother and sister and political in nature, according to historian David Silverman of George Washington University.
In an account attributed to Titanic fireman Harry Senior, Smith jumped off the ship with “an infant clutched tenderly in his arms,” swam to a nearby lifeboat, handed off the child and swam back toward the Titanic, saying, “I will follow the ship.”
This event is the key historical link to both bloodlines of Pocahontas. At the time of her capture she would have already borne her daughter Ka-Okee with Kocoum, and her capture started the chain of events that led to the birth of her son Thomas Rolfe.
At the time of their marriage, Rolfe was 29, and Pocahontas was 18. While traveling in England to promote the colony's success, Pocahontas became ill and died at the age of 22. Leaving his son Thomas in England, Rolfe returned to Jamestown.
Powhatan eventually agreed to the terms for her release, but by then she had reportedly fallen in love with John Rolfe, who was about 10 years her senior.
She probably married John Rolfe willingly, since she already had a half-white child who could help create a bond between the two peoples. Her father consented to the marriage, but only because she was being held captive and he feared what might happen if he said no.
The medallion symbol in Pocahontas symbolized the connection that the Powhatan people shared with their tribe and the earth. Pocahontas' father gave her the necklace, which belonged to her mother, then told her that one day, her people would look to her as she is the daughter of the chief.
He forced the Patawomekes, the people who had sheltered Henry Spelman after he left Orapax, to trick her into going on to his ship and sailed away with her, so 14-year-old Pocahontas returned to Jamestown as a prisoner.
As Jamestown grew into a robust “New Towne” to the east, written references to the original fort disappeared. In 1676 a rebellion in the colony led by Nathaniel Bacon sacked and burned much of the capital town.
Captain John Smith was an adventurer, soldier, explorer and author. Through the telling of his early life, we can trace the developments of a man who became a dominate force in the eventual success of Jamestown and the establishment of its legacy as the first permanent English settlement in North America.
The winter of 1609-1610 in Jamestown is referred to as the "starving time." Disease, violence, drought, a meager harvest followed by a harsh winter, and poor drinking water left the majority of colonists dead that winter.