Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography
Contribution by Helen C. Rountree (ed-
ited for length)
Summary
Pocahontas was the daughter of Pow-
hatan, paramount chief of an alliance of
Virginia Indians in Tidewater Virginia.
An iconic figure in American history,
Pocahontas is largely known for saving
the life of the Jamestown colonist John
Smith and then romancing him—al-
though both events are unlikely to be
true. In 1613 she was captured by the En-
glish and confined at Jamestown, where
she converted to Christianity and mar-
ried the colonist John Rolfe. In the cen-
turies since her death in England in 1617, Pocahontas’s life has slipped into myth,
serving to represent Virginia’s early claim to be the foundation-place of America.
Detail
Pocahontas was one of dozens of children born to Powhatan, the paramount chief
of Tsenacomoco, a political alliance of Algonquian-speaking Indians in Tidewater
Virginia. Her mother’s name and tribal origin were never recorded. Pocahontas’s
first opportunity to see an Englishman came late in December 1607, when John
Smith was brought to Powhatan’s capital at Werowocomoco. Smith had initially
been a captive, but after being vetted by the high priests, he arrived as an honored
guest. In The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles
(1624), he famously wrote that he was threatened with death only to be rescued by
Pocahontas, a story that subsequently became legend. However, in a more reliable
account—a letter written a few months after his visit—Smith said only that he was
feasted and then interviewed by Powhatan.
In the spring of 1608, Pocahontas traveled to Jamestown as part of a delegation
charged with negotiating the release of several Indian captives. From the autumn of
1608 onward, relations between the Jamestown colony and Powhatan became more
strained, culminating in the First Anglo-Powhatan War. In April 1613, Captain
Samuel Argall heard that Pocahontas was visiting Passapatanzy, a satellite
town of the Patawomecks, one of his trading partners. Argall pressured the
subchief, Iopassus (Japazaws), to assist him in taking her prisoner, promis-
ing an alliance against Powhatan. After conferring with his superior, Iopas-
CRITERIA
Suggestions for a historical figure to
represent Virginia in the U.S. Capitol,
where each state is entitled to two
statues, must conform to criteria es-
tablished by the office of the Archi-
tect of the U.S. Capitol. That criteria
requires that the person honored—
• be deceased,
•be illustrious for historic renown
or for distinguished civic or mili-
tary service, and
• represent only one individual.
While the criteria also requires that the
person must have been a U.S. citizen,
it does make exceptions for an indige-
nous person who resided in the pres-
ent-day U.S., such as Pocahontas, one
name already submitted to the com-
mission.
To those criteria, the commission has
added additional values and attri-
butes. The historical person must be—
•associated with significant events
that changed the course of history
•or associated with significant ide-
als, writings or concepts
•or renowned for exemplary valor,
patriotism, and bravery.
The person also must be one whose
primary historical significance ties her
or him directly to Virginia — or who
spent the majority of his or her life re-
siding in the commonwealth. And the
historical figure should represent cur-
rent prevailing values, according the
commission’s criteria.
THE COMMISSION
FOR HISTORICAL
STATUES
IN THE UNITED
STATES CAPITOL
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian
CANDIDATE UNDER CONSIDERATION
POCAHONTAS
(d. 1617)
Powhatan Confederation, Werowocomoco, Gloucester County
Contribution to Virginia: Daughter of Powhatan. Iconic figure in American history.
Mythic personification of the foundation narrative of Virginia.
