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Pocahontas Timeline

(c. 1596 – March 1617)

Pocahontas (c. 1596–1617) was a daughter of Powhatan, the paramount chief of the Powhatan Confederacy in the Tidewater region of Virginia. She is famous for her association with the Jamestown colony and the legendary (and debated) story of saving Captain John Smith's life. She was later captured by the English, converted to Christianity, took the name Rebecca, married colonist John Rolfe, and traveled to England, where she died at about age 21. Her life symbolizes the complex and often tragic encounters between Native Americans and English colonists. Less

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Life and Captivity

Estimated birth of Pocahontas

1596

Pocahontas's birth year is unknown, but some historians estimate it to have been around 1596. She was a Native American woman belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia.

Image source: Pocahontas

Estimated birth of Pocahontas

John Smith arrives in Virginia with settlers

Apr 1607

Pocahontas is most famously linked to colonist John Smith, who arrived in Virginia with 100 other settlers in April 1607, beginning the association that would define her place in colonial history.

Image source: John Smith (explorer)

John Smith arrives in Virginia with settlers

Smith captured by Opechancanough's hunting party

Dec 1607

A hunting party led by Powhatan's close relative Opechancanough captured Smith in December 1607 while he was exploring on the Chickahominy River and brought him to Powhatan's capital at Werowocomoco.

Smith meets Pocahontas as a child

1608

In A True Relation of Virginia (1608), John Smith described meeting Pocahontas in the spring of 1608 when she was 'a child of ten years old'. In his 1616 letter he would describe her instead as 'a child of twelve or thirteen years of age' at the same meeting.

Feast and long talk between Smith and Powhatan

1608

In his 1608 account, Smith describes a great feast followed by a long talk with Powhatan following his capture.

First Anglo-Powhatan War begins

Aug 1609

Pocahontas' capture occurred in the context of the First Anglo-Powhatan War, a conflict between the Jamestown settlers and the Natives which began late in the summer of 1609.

Image source: Anglo-Powhatan Wars

First Anglo-Powhatan War begins

Smith injured by gunpowder explosion and returns to England

Oct 1609

In late 1609, an injury from a gunpowder explosion forced Smith to return to England for medical care, and the colonists told the Powhatans that he was dead.

Killing of Kocoum after Pocahontas's capture

1613

Mattaponi tradition holds that Pocahontas' first husband was Kocoum, brother of the Patawomeck weroance Japazaws, and that Kocoum was killed by the colonists after his wife's capture in 1613. His existence has been widely debated; the only English mention is William Strachey's statement written about 1616.

Image source: Pocahontas

Killing of Kocoum after Pocahontas's capture

Pocahontas captured and held for ransom

Mar 1613

In March 1613, Argall learned that Pocahontas was visiting the Patawomeck village of Passapatanzy under the protection of Iopassus. Pocahontas was captured and held for ransom by English colonists during hostilities in 1613.

Stand-off escalates on the Pamunkey River

Mar 1614

In March 1614, the stand-off escalated to a violent confrontation between hundreds of colonists and Powhatan men on the Pamunkey River, and the colonists encountered senior Native leaders at Powhatan's capital of Matchcot.

Marriage and Family

Pocahontas marries John Rolfe

Apr 5, 1614

She married the tobacco planter John Rolfe in April 1614 at about age 17 or 18. The couple were married on April 5, 1614, by chaplain Richard Buck, probably at Jamestown. The marriage was controversial because a 'commoner' had married a 'princess'.

Birth of son Thomas Rolfe

Jan 1615

Pocahontas bore their son, Thomas Rolfe, in January 1615.

Image source: Thomas Rolfe

Birth of son Thomas Rolfe

Hamor notes friendly trade after the wedding

1615

In 1615, Ralph Hamor wrote, 'Since the wedding we have had friendly commerce and trade not only with Powhatan but also with his subjects round about us.'

Strachey mentions Pocahontas's marriage to Kocoum

1616

The only mention of a 'Kocoum' in any English document is a brief statement written about 1616 by William Strachey that Pocahontas had been living married to a 'private captaine called Kocoum' for two years. Since she married Rolfe in 1614, some suggest Strachey mistakenly referred to Rolfe himself.

Birth of granddaughter Jane Rolfe

Oct 10, 1650

Thomas and his wife, Jane Poythress, had a daughter, Jane Rolfe, who was born in Varina, in present-day Henrico County, Virginia, on October 10, 1650.

Birth of great-grandson John Bolling

1676

Jane Rolfe's son, John Bolling, was born in 1676, continuing Pocahontas's notable lineage among First Families of Virginia.

Image source: John Bolling

Birth of great-grandson John Bolling

Legacy and Cultural Depictions

Engraving of Pocahontas by Simon van de Passe

1616

The inscription on a 1616 engraving of Pocahontas reads 'MATOAKA ALS REBECCA FILIA POTENTISS : PRINC : POWHATANI IMP:VIRGINIÆ', meaning 'Matoaka, alias Rebecca, daughter of the most powerful prince of the Powhatan Empire of Virginia'.

Smith expands capture story in Generall Historie

1624

Smith expanded his dramatic rescue narrative in his 1624 Generall Historie, published seven years after the death of Pocahontas: 'at the minute of my execution, she hazarded the beating out of her own brains to save mine.'

Image source: The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles

Smith expands capture story in Generall Historie

Davis claims romantic involvement with Smith

1803

The first claim of romantic involvement between Pocahontas and John Smith appeared in John Davis' Travels in the United States of America (1803).

Waldron publishes Pocahontas, American Princess

1841

In 1841, William Watson Waldron of Trinity College, Dublin, published Pocahontas, American Princess: and Other Poems, calling her 'the beloved and only surviving daughter of the king'. Also in 1841, Lydia Sigourney's long poem Pocahontas was the title work of her poetry collection.

Grundy's Pocahontas comic opera opens in London

Dec 26, 1884

Sydney Grundy's Pocahontas, a comic opera with music by Edward Solomon, opened at the Empire Theatre in London on December 26, 1884, and ran for just 24 performances with Lillian Russell in the title role.

Image source: Sydney Grundy

Grundy's Pocahontas comic opera opens in London

Partridge's Jamestown sculpture created

1907

In 1907, the American sculptor William Ordway Partridge created the Jamestown sculpture of Pocahontas, which would later be replicated for her commemorative statue at Gravesend.

Image source: William Ordway Partridge

Partridge's Jamestown sculpture created

Pocahontas honored on five-cent stamp

1907

In 1907, Pocahontas was the first Native American honored on a U.S. postage stamp. The Jamestown Exposition was held from April 26 to December 1, 1907, celebrating the 300th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement, and the five-cent stamp portrayed Pocahontas, modeled from Simon van de Passe's 1616 engraving.

Disney releases animated feature Pocahontas

1995

Pocahontas (1995), a Walt Disney Company animated feature and one of the Disney Princess films, is the most well known adaptation of the Pocahontas story.

Image source: Pocahontas (1995 film)

Disney releases animated feature Pocahontas

Named to inaugural class of Virginia Women in History

2000

Pocahontas was a member of the inaugural class of Virginia Women in History in 2000.

Image source: Library of Virginia

Named to inaugural class of Virginia Women in History

Pamunkey tribe gains federal recognition

Jul 2015

In July 2015, the Pamunkey Native tribe became the first federally recognized tribe in the state of Virginia; they are descendants of the Powhatan Confederacy, of which Pocahontas was a member.

Image source: Pamunkey

Pamunkey tribe gains federal recognition

Journey to England

Smith writes letter to Queen Anne of Denmark

1616

In 1616, Smith wrote a letter to Queen Anne of Denmark, the wife of King James, in anticipation of Pocahontas' visit to England, describing how she had saved him at the minute of his execution.

Rolfes arrive at Plymouth, England

Jun 12, 1616

The company decided to bring Pocahontas to England as a symbol of the tamed New World 'savage' and the success of the Virginia colony, hoping to stimulate investment in Jamestown, and the Rolfes arrived at the port of Plymouth on June 12, 1616.

Pocahontas presented at court before King James

Jan 5, 1617

On January 5, 1617, she and Tomocomo were brought before King James at the old Banqueting House in the Palace of Whitehall at a performance of Ben Jonson's masque The Vision of Delight.

Smith meets Rolfes at social gathering

Feb 1617

In early 1617, Smith met the couple at a social gathering and wrote that, when Pocahontas saw him, 'without any words, she turned about, obscured her face, as not seeming well contented,' and was left alone for two or three hours.

Death and Burial

Pocahontas falls gravely ill at Gravesend

Mar 1617

In March 1617, Rolfe and Pocahontas boarded a ship to return to Virginia, but they had sailed only as far as Gravesend on the River Thames when Pocahontas became gravely ill. She died there of unknown causes, aged 20 or 21.

Funeral of Pocahontas at St George's Church

Mar 21, 1617

Pocahontas's funeral took place on March 21, 1617, in the parish of St George's Church, Gravesend, England.

St George's Church destroyed by fire

1727

Her grave is thought to be underneath St George's Church chancel, though that church was destroyed in a fire in 1727 and its exact site is unknown.

Image source: St George's Church, Gravesend

St George's Church destroyed by fire

Bronze statue erected at Gravesend churchyard

1958

Since 1958, Pocahontas has been commemorated by a life-sized bronze statue in St George's churchyard, Gravesend, a replica of the 1907 Jamestown sculpture by William Ordway Partridge.

Key Facts

  1. Pocahontas was born around 1596 as the daughter of Wahunsenacawh (Chief Powhatan), leader of the Powhatan Confederacy of about 30 Algonquian-speaking tribes.
  2. According to John Smith's account, Pocahontas intervened to save him from execution by her father's people in 1607, though historians debate whether this event actually occurred as described.
  3. In 1613, Pocahontas was captured by the English and held at Jamestown, where she converted to Christianity and was baptized with the name Rebecca.
  4. In 1614, she married English tobacco planter John Rolfe, and their marriage helped establish a period of peace between the Powhatan and the Jamestown colonists known as the 'Peace of Pocahontas.'
  5. In 1616, Pocahontas traveled to England with her husband and son Thomas, where she was presented to the royal court, but she fell ill and died in March 1617 at Gravesend, England, at about age 21.

Source

This Pocahontas timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.

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