Pocahontas did in fact make the crucial contribution to VirginiaвЂ™s success, but in a way that completely surprised everyone. Her baptismal name was Rebecca, and she became Rebecca Rolfe when she married John. Sir Thomas Dale with exactly the same wording, stressing that her conversion was voluntary. Sometime in the spring of 1614 Pocahontas вЂњrenounced publicly her country Idolatry, openly confessed her Christian faith, was, as she desired, baptized.вЂќ Colonist Ralph Hamor announced this in his 1615 book, A True Discourse of the Present State of Virginia this publication included a letter from Gov.

JamestownвЂ™s leaders soon discarded the plan of using her in a prisoner exchange and instead now saw her as their key to success.ДЄ young puritan minister named Alexander Whitaker instructed her about Christianity, and a man named John Rolfe began to fall in love with her. He forced the Patawomekes, the people who had sheltered Henry Spelman after he left Orapax, to trick her into going on to his ship and sailed away with her, so 14-year-old Pocahontas returned to Jamestown as a prisoner. As he entered the Potomac, he heard rumors that Pocahontas was visiting there and he made up his mind вЂњto possess myself of her by any stratagem that I could use.вЂќ His plan was to exchange her for English men held by Powhatan. Samuel Argall was, as usual, looking for food. Little was heard from Orapax for a while. And he sent Thomas back to Jamestown, severing his last ties with the colony. Powhatan decided it was time for Pocahontas to enter adult life, so she married a man named Kocoum. Henry absconded to join a friendlier chief on the Potomac and Pocahontas intervened to save his life when her father sent men to bring him back. Everything changed while they were at Orapax, PowhatanвЂ™s new capital. Thomas Savage moved with the Powhatans, and was soon joined by another boy, 14-year-old Henry Spelman. Powhatan moved his capital farther west to a location much harder for the English to reach, and Pocahontas quit visiting the fort. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter Smith tried to reward her with вЂњsuch things as she delighted in,вЂќ but with вЂњtears running down her cheeks,вЂќ she said if she were seen with English presents, вЂњshe were but dead.вЂќ We canвЂ™t know if she was again acting on her fatherвЂ™s instructions or if she did indeed risk her life to warn them. But in the middle of the night, as the English slept, Pocahontas, PowhatanвЂ™s вЂњdearest jewel and daughter, in that dark night came through the irksome woodsвЂќ to warn Smith of a plot to kill them. At the beginning of 1609, Smith led a party to visit Powhatan, and things seemed to be going well. Virginia was deep in the worst drought in 770 years, and food was scarce. Pocahontas was there to help Thomas adjust to his new life.Д«ut soon the EnglishmenвЂ™s constant demands for food became too much. Such exchanges were common in relationships in the region the boys could learn the other sideвЂ™s language and customs and serve as go-betweens in the future. During this early period, when Powhatan was getting tools and weapons from the colony in exchange for badly needed food, colonial leaders presented Powhatan with a newly-arrived boy, 13-year-old Thomas Savage, and Powhatan gave a young man named Namontack in return. Her real name, Matoaka, had been concealed for fear the English could do her harm if they knew it. The English learned, many years later, that Pocahontas was only a nickname. She never just wandered in - she always came with a group of PowhatanвЂ™s envoys, and her presence signaled that they came in peace. The interesting thing is that Powhatan had chosen Pocahontas, a girl of 10, to do this.ДЄfter this episode, she began visiting Jamestown. Afterward, Powhatan called Smith his son. In his 1624 Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles, Smith wrote that she risked her own life to save his, but modern scholars think she was probably playing a scripted role in some kind of adoption ceremony.

Suddenly Pocahontas intervened and put her head on his. He was brought before the Great Powhatan, where he encountered men with clubs ready, he thought, to beat out his brains. Smith first met Pocahontas when he was captured a few weeks after the first colonistsвЂ™ arrival in the area.

Captain John Smith said her вЂњwit, and spiritвЂќ made her stand out. She was the daughter of the Great Powhatan, who ruled over numerous client tribes in the Chesapeake, the region the Powhatans called Tsenacomaca, and he selected her for a special role because of her intelligence and personality. Pocahontas was an extremely talented and lively 10-year-old girl when Jamestown was founded in 1607. We all think we know Pocahontas, but her real story is very different from the popular image.

Pictures of pocahontas