While writing Love and Hate in Jamestown, David Price debunked many of the myths Americans believe about Pocahontas and John Smith. Here, we reveal the top three. Plus, scroll to view a timeline of major events in Jamestown’s early history.
3 MYTHS ABOUT POCAHONTAS
MYTH #1 John Smith and Pocahontas were romantically involved.
This notion began in 1609 when colonists who opposed Smith as president of the colony accused him of scheming to inherit Powhatan’s kingdom by marrying his daughter. [In truth, tribal tradition held that neither Pocahontas nor her husband were in the line of succession. Differing radically from the European model, the succession went from Powhatan to his brothers, to his sisters, and then to his sisters’ children.] In fact, when Smith and Pocahontas knew each other in Virginia (1607-1609), Pocahontas was only about eleven years old. Disney is only the most recent source to exaggerate the simple affection that existed between the girl and the man.
John Smith and Pocahontas were, however, personally close. Pocahontas, the daughter of the colonists’ most formidable opponent in Virginia, was curious about the English. She frequently visited the colony, and it is there that she and Smith often conversed. Smith, an experienced soldier of modest background, later wrote of his admiration for her intelligence and spirit.
Pocahontas saved Smith from death at the hands of her people on two occasions. When Smith left Jamestown for England in 1609, the colonists told Pocahontas that he was dead. As a consequence, she did not return there again—until the English kidnapped her three and a half years later.
MYTH #2 John Smith was eager to fight and kill the natives when he came to Virginia.
Smith was not an Indian slayer in the manner of the Spanish conquistadores or of later English settlers. Smith chose to keep the Powhatan Empire at bay through psychology, diplomacy, and intimidation—not outright slaughter. He believed the English could avoid bloodshed by projecting an image of strength, and he successfully carried out this policy even as the colonists were outnumbered by more than 100 to 1. Massacres of local tribes by English colonists began only after Smith left Virginia.
MYTH #3 John Smith was tall, blond, and clean-shaven.
Smith was probably around 5’4”—tall neither by the standards of his day nor of our own. He had dark hair and a bushy beard. Disney artists may have chosen to misrepresent Smith’s height and physique as they did so that contemporary audiences would readily identify him as a romantic leading man. Smith’s skill in the arts of hunting, fighting, and martial leadership would have impressed both Englishmen and Powhatans in his own time, regardless of his physical appearance.
Pocahontas endured similar treatment when Disney artists gave her a curvaceous figure that she would have lacked at the young age when she knew Smith.
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TIMELINE OF MAJOR EVENTS IN JAMESTOWN’S EARLY HISTORY
December 19, 1606: The Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery leave Blackwall, England (near London) for Virginia with approximately 105 colonists. John Smith is among them.
April 26, 1607: The colonists make their first North American landing at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.
May 13, 1607: The colonists arrive at the site that will become Jamestown.
December 30, 1607: Chief Powhatan encounters an Englishman for the first time when Smith is brought to his capital, Werowocomoco, as a prisoner.
September 10, 1608: Smith becomes President of Jamestown.
January 13, 1609: During Smith’s visit to Werowocomoco to trade for food, Pocahontas saves his life by warning him of a plot to ambush and kill him.
Early 1609: The Virginia Company of London has its initial public offering.
March 1613: With Smith back in England, the colonists kidnap Pocahontas and attempt to ransom her to her father. He declines to make ransom.
April 1614: Pocahontas marries colonist John Rolfe.
April—July 1614: Smith explores the coast of present-day Massachusetts and Maine six years before the Pilgrims land there.
March 21, 1617: Pocahontas, known after her marriage as Rebecca Rolfe, dies in Gravesend, England on her journey from London to Virginia.
April 1618: Chief Powhatan dies in Virginia.
August 1619: The first African slaves arrive in Virginia.
March 22, 1622: During a time of supposed peace, the Powhatans carry out a brilliant surprise attack on the English settlers, killing over a quarter of the population.
June 21, 1631: Smith dies in London.
