Princes Held for Exchange of English Prisoners
Nothing is known of the life of Pocahontas for the two years following 1610. Also, there is no knowledge of her husband Kocoum beyond that time period. But in the spring of 1613, while Pocahontas was visiting somewhere along the Potomac River, she encountered a Captain Samuel Argall, a British sea captain. Having enlisted the help of some of the Patawomeke tribe, Argall captured the Indian princess. Argall held Pocahontas hostage in an attempt to secure the release of some English prisoners and ammunitions that her father, Powhatan, held. Pocahontas was first held prisoner aboard Argall's ship then, as negotiations dragged on for months, she was moved to Jamestown.
John Rolfe and Pocahontas Meet and Wed
Although she was confined to Jamestown as a prisoner, Pocahontas, it is said, was treated like a princess. It was during this confinement that she met the Jamestown missionary and was introduced to Christianity. She was also introduced to John Rolfe who had recently been widowed of his first wife. Although Rolfe described Pocahontas as one of "rude education" and having barbaric manners, they were married in April of 1614, following her baptismal and her taking the Christian name of Rebecca.
Pocahontas and Rolfe Visit England
Two years later Governor Dale took the Rolfe family, including their infant son Thomas, on a tour of England in order to promote Jamestown in the New World. Pocahontas missed meeting the famed Will Shakespeare, due to his death just a few weeks earlier, but she did attend a performance of his The Tempest at the Globe Theatre. Royalty met royalty when she was presented at court to King James I and Queen Anne.
Pocahontas was entertained by the bishop of London and visited by a drunken Ben Johnson. Through out this European whirlwind it is said this princess of the forest conducted herself like the daughter of a king. But it was in the midst of all this royal excitement, and dampness and London smog, that the situation changed for the worst.
Last Meeting of Pocahontas and John Smith
Pocahontas' health suddenly began to change and worsen. She was moved to an estate in the country. There, she once again saw John Smith, whom she had believed to be dead. It was the last time they would ever see each other.
Death of Pocahontas
In 1617, Pocahontas' husband, John Rolfe, received an appointment as secretary of the Virginia Colony. Soon they would return home to America. In March, the Rolfe family boarded the ship that would carry them back to Virginia. Ironically, the captain of this transport was none other than Captain Argall, the man who had once captured Pocahontas and held her prisoner. But soon Pocahontas was beyond any mortal means that could hold her prisoner or treat her either as royalty or as a savage.
While their ship still lay at anchor in the Thames River, Pocahontas became very ill and soon died. Far from her beloved land in the New World, Pocahontas was buried on March 21, 1617. Her grave, on the bank of the Thames that flows still through London, went unmarked and to date has not been discovered.
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Sources:
Barbour, Philip L., Pocahontas and Her World. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1970.
Hoxie, Frederick E., Editor. Encyclopedia of North American Indians: Native American History, Culture, and Life from Paleo-Indians to the Present. "Pocahontas (Matoaka)" by J. Frederick Fausz, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York, 1996.
Mossiker, Frances. Pocahontas: The Life and the Legend. Knopf, New York, 1976.
Wallechinsky, David. Irving Wallace. The People's Almanac. Doubleday & Company, Inc. Garden City, New York, 1975.
