Born about 1595 or 1596, probably in the vicinity of the later English settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, Matoaka, whose pet name was Pocahontas (translated variously as ╥frolicsome╙ and ╥my favorite daughter╙), was the daughter of Powhatan (as he was known to the English; more properly Wahunsonacock), chief of a confederation of some 30 tribes of the tidewater region. She first appeared in history in December 1607, when she interceded to save the life of Captain John Smith, military leader of the months-old Jamestown settlement, who had been taken prisoner by Native Americans. In later, perhaps fanciful versions of Smith╒s story, she flung herself over him as his captors prepared to club his head on a stone. At her urging Smith was released to return to Jamestown. She subsequently became a frequent visitor in the settlement, sometimes bearing gifts of food to relieve the hard-pressed settlers. Her playful nature made her a favorite, and her friendship proved valuable to the settlers in helping to preserve peace. After Captain Smith╒s return to England in 1609 relations between natives and settlers gradually deteriorated. Pocahontas seems to have abandoned or been abandoned by her English friends for a time. In the spring of 1613, however, Captain Samuel Argall took her prisoner with the idea of holding her hostage for a number of English prisoners held by Indians and of forcing a permanent peace. She was held in Jamestown in the most comfortable manner and treated with great courtesy. She was converted to Christianity and christened Rebecca, and in April 1614, with the approval of both Governor Sir Thomas Dale and Powhatan, she married John Rolfe, a settler who had experimentally introduced tobacco culture to Virginia. In the spring of 1616 they sailed with Governor Dale to England, where she was lionized by society and presented at the court of James I. While preparing to return to America, she fell ill and died in Gravesend, Kent, in March 1617. The tale of Pocahontas was to prove over the centuries an enduring inspiration to playwrights, novelists, and poets.
