An American Legend -- Pocahontas, the legend and the untold story

This picture to the right, by the way, is supposed to be the true image of Pocahontas. There is her son, Thomas, by her side. Off to the left here is a picture of Disney's Pocahontas, along with Irene Bedard, who was the voice of Pocahantas in Disney's movie. I've included above an image of what her true love might have looked like. Yes, she was truly in love, but with the man of her choice, which was Kocoum.

Before I go on with my story, I want to remind you that some lucky blogger today will be the recipient of my newest book, SENECA SURRENDER. So do leave a post so I can enter you into this give-away...applicable to the 50 greater united States and to Canada.

In my blog on Tuesday, I tried to give an overview and an idea of how Pocahontas came to be familiar with the colonists, and how they were familiar with her. I left off in that blog with Pocahontas coming of age, and promised to tell you about her marriage to Kocoum, as well as her abduction by a few of the colonist and her subsequent marriage to John Rolfe.

In the Powhatan society, a young girl and boy's coming of age is celebrated, and it was not different for Pocahontas. However, because there was a rumor of an abduction planned for Pocahontas, her ceremony was limited. There is a special dance called the sourtship dance during which male warriors search the dancers for a mate. This is probably where the courtship between Kocoum and Pocahontas began. After a time, they were married. Kocoum was an elite warrior. He was among 50 of the top warrior that guarded the capital of the Powhatan confederacy. He was also the younger brother of Wahunsenaca's (Pocahontas's father) friends, Chief Japazaw. Because the priests (called quiakros) feared that the colonists plotted to kidnap Pocahontas, the couple went to live in Kocoum's home, which was isolated from the colonists and farther north. She was, in fact, being hidden from the English. Kocoum and Pocahontas had a child, little Kocoum, a boy. It was Captain Samuel Argall, an English colonist, who accomplished the kidnapping of Pocahontas.

I have to pause here to tell you a movie I once watched where it rendered that Pocahontas and her father had a falling out and that he had banished her from the tribe, thus she had taken up with the English. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Pocahontas was a princess, dearly loved by her father. She was also married to Kocoum and had a child by him. Never would she have been banished from the tribe. Never. That movie did nothing but further false data about this very brave woman.

But back to Captain Argall. Why did he wish to capture Pocahontas? Why did he take such extreme measures, for he certainly did. Once he had learned of her hiding place, he had gathered together not only men, but weapons and arms to attempt her capture. But why?

Remember that the English colonists were looting the Powhatan villages for their stores of food. They were also raping their women and children and oftentimes stealing their women and children in order to make them servants (unwilling servants) for the English. But there was more at play here than this. The Powhatan had many diverse and rich agricultural fields. There were no trees to cut on their fields, no land to clear. All one had to do was go in and destroy the village and take over the land -- which was considered easier than clearing the land oneself.

This was done, and because it was done, the colonists expected retribution at any time. It could have happened also (and to my way of thinking it probably should have). But enough. Remember that Wahunsenaca considered the English a branch of his tribe. Though the abuses were numerous, he still sought to deal with the problem rather than killing the English outright.

Through trickery and deceit, Captain Argall managed to get Pocahontas onto his ship. She was supposed to be returned. She never was. She was held for ransom (a fact that never reached out own history books).

What the captain demanded from her father was:

a) the return of English weapons that had been taken from Jamestown

b) the return of the English prisoners Washunsenaca held captive and

c) a shipment of corn.

The ransom was paid at once. In fact Argall writes of the transaction in 1613 in his log, "This news much grieved this great king (Wahunsenaca), yet without delay he returned the messenger with this answer, that he desired me to use his daughter well, and bring my ship into his river (Pamunkey), and there he would give memy demands; which being performed, I should deliver him his daugher, and we should be friends."

Although Wahumsenaca quickly carried out the ransom demands, Pocahontas was never released. According to the book, THE TRUE STORY OF POCAHONTAS, by Dr. Linwood "Little Bear" Custalow and Angela L. Daniel "Silver Star," "oral history states that before Argall took sail (back to Jamestown), several of Argall's men returned to Pocahontas's home and killed her husband, Kocoum." It was tradition that he would have come for her and rescued her, something that Argall could not permit.

Little Kocoum survived because upon Pocahontas's capture, he was put into the care of several of the women of the tribe. And indeed, there are still many descendents of kocoum who are alive and well to this day.

With so much deception and outright murder, you might wonder why the Powhatan didn't retaliate. Part of that is Pocahontas's father's fear for her life, the other part is a cultural foundation of appeasing evil. If one could, one always sought a balance between submitting to evil demands and preventing the loss of life.

Even so, the quiakros (priests) of the tribe advised a swift retaliation. But Wahunsenaca would not do it, fearing for his daughter's life.

One of Pocahontas's elder sisters, Mattachanna, and her husband, Uttamattamakin, who was also a priest, were allowed to visit Pocahontas during her capitivity. Oral tradition is very distinct on the fact that Pocahontas confided that she had been raped and that worse, she was pregnant.

Rape was unheard of in Powhatan society, thus this fact has been passed down through the ages.

Shortly after this confession, Pocahontas was quickly converted to Christianity in order to rush her into marriage. At this time, it would have been inconcieveable for a Christian man to marry anyone who was not Christian. It is supposed that Sir Thomas Dale was actually the biological father of Pocahontas's child, since, according to scholars William M.S. Rasmussen and Robert S. Tilton, it was Thomas Dale who was most closely linked to Pocahontas during her kidnapping. Not also that her son's name was not "John," but rather was "Thomas." It would also explain why Rolfe (who was secretary of the colony at the time) did not record the birth of Thomas.

Oral history casts doubt on this marriage being one of love. Pocahontas had just given birth, was rushed into marriage in order to make it appear that the birth had taken place after the marriage, plus she was not free to live her own life.

Did he love her?

In a letter to Dale, Rolfe refers to Pocahontas as a "creature," not a "woman."

Regardless, they were married and Rolfe became the heir to the friendliness of the Powhatan people, which included their knowledge of the tobacco plant and how it was processed.

It must be remembered that the colonists hadn't discovered any gold, and there had to be some way to make the colony prosperous. Rolfe had left England in 1609 with the goal of making a profit by growin and processing tobacco. He arrived in 1610 and for three years, he had been unsuccessful at both growing it and processing it. Remember also that the year 1616 was the "dealine for the initial investments in the Virginia colony." (From the book, The True Story of Pocahontas.)

Time was running out. The colony was failing. And Rolfe's crop was failing.

From the book, The True Story of Pocahontas: "According to...sacred oral history, the Native people of the New World possessed the knowledge of how to cure and process tobacco successfully. The Spanish gained thisknowledge from the Native communities they had subdued." Eventually, because of Rolfe's marriage to Pocahontas, the prists of the tribe gave him their secret. The result was that Rolf's tobacco -- grown on Powhatan land and cultivated by the Powhatan priests -- put the Spanish taste and flavor to shame.

He was a success. Suddenly, refinancing the Virgina Company became a reality and the financial worries were over. However, oral history also points out that the efforts of the Powhatan priests had the opposite effect of what they had hoped. Instead of the English embracing them as brothers, it appeared that their greed was unleashed. Tobacco became the "gold" of the New World. More Powhatan lands were trespassed, killing and enslaving more Powhatan people as they did so.

Captain Samuel Argall captained teh ship taking Rolfe, Pocahontas, their son and members of the Powhatan tribe, to England. The trip had many reasons: finances were needed to refinance Jamestown. Approval from the public was needed. Pocahontas provided a means to "show" the English people that the people of Jamestown and the natives were on friendly terms. Again, Pocahontas's sister, Mattachanna, and her husband accompanied Pocahontas to England, as did several other Powhatan people. It appeared that with so many of her own countrymen in tow that there was some safety. Wise men of the tribe advised Wahunsenaca not to let her go, saying that she would never return. But a rescue was considered too risky.

It was in England that Pocahontas's eyes were opened to the truth. It was here that she met again and learned that john Smith was not dead. Moreover that he had utterly betrayed her father and her people. He had taken a solemn oath to her people to represent them to the English, and that he would bring the English under the power of the Powhatan. She learned that he had never intended to honor his word. Pocahontas let out her rage toward Smith at their meeting. She wasn't angry because of any lost love or any young girl crush on the man. Rather she was enraged that he could so easily betray her father and her people.

It is known that with horror, Pocahontas became aware of the Englishman's true intention toward her people: to take their lives, their lands and everything they held dear. She longed to go home and inform her father of all she had learned. She intended to do exactly that.

They set sail back to England in the spring of 1617 with Samuel Argall again as the captain of the ship. That evening Pocahontas, Rolfe and Argall dined in the captain's chamber.

"Pocahontas quickly became ill. She returned to her quarter by herself, sick to her stomach, and vomited. She told mattachanna that the English must have put something in her food. Mattachanna and Uttamattamakin went to get Rolfe. When they returned, Pocahontas had died." (From the book, The True Story of Pocahontas.) They hadn't even attained open sea yet. They were still in the river. Rolfe immediately asked to be taken to Gravesend, where he buried Pocahontas, and left Thomas there for his English relatives to take. Rolfe never saw him again.

Upon returning to the New World, Mattachanna and her husband, the high priest, Uttamattamakin, reported to Chief Powhatan Wahunsenaca the events in England, including the murder of his daugher. It is from this account that oral history has been passed down from generation to generation.

But who killed her and why?

Again, from the book, The True Story of Pocahontas, "Rolfe and the Virginia Company associates ascertained that Pocahontas knew that Smith had lied to her father and that some English businessmen were behind a scheme to remove her father from his throne and take the land from the Powhatan people. This justified the decision by the English colonists not to take Pocahontas back to her homeland... Certain people believed that Pocahontas would endanger the English settlement, especially because she had new insights into the political strategy of the English colonists to break down the Powhatan structure, so they plotted tomurder her."

Again, from teh book, The True Story of Pocahontas, "...Dale, Rolfe, and Whitaker had close ties to each other. All three had major roles in what happened in Pocahontas's life after she was abducted. Dale eventually took custody of Pocahontas after Argall took her to Jamestown. Whitaker maintained Pocahontas's house arrest and surveillance. All three sought to convert Pocahontas to Christianity. Rolfe married Pocahontas. Dale provided a large tract of land for Rolfe to grow tobacco. A Dale-Rolfe-Whitaker trio comprising agreements and pacts is not out of the realm of possibility, but...sacred oral history does not reveal who or how many persons were behind her murder. We believe it is most likely that more than one person was involved."

So ends my story of the abduction andmurder of a true heroine. A heroine because she tried to unite two different peoples. A heroine because she endured much, all to help her people. She did it with little complaint, though it goes without saying that she yearned for the company of her own people, her own little sone and the husband of her heart, Kocoum.

It's not exactly the Disney fairytale story that we've all been spoon-fed. I guess what's most upsetting to me is how easily the murderers got away with it. Not only got away with it, but it was their story that was put down to paper and became our "history."

Pocahontas was, indeed, a true American heroine. She showed courage in the face of adversity and persistence to help her people, despite all odds.

So what do you think? Will Hollywood ever make a story of these truths, as they have been passed down from generation to generation in the Powhatan tribe? I don't think so. Indeed, in my humble opinion, what happened to her -- the greed, the cover-up -- is too close to what continues to be somewhat of a "business as usual," even in this modern day and age.

On an up note, it's doubtful if there's another country in the world where we could at least write about and discuss this interesting, interesting story. Thank goodness, the right to speak one's mind and air one's ideas -- to write them and to counter or write upon the ideas of others, --continues because of some very wise men in our past.