The History of the Americans

The History of the Americans


Jamestown and the Powhatans Part 10: True Love

April 14, 2022


This episode is about the kidnapping and ransom of Pocahontas in 1613, the romancing of her by John Rolfe, her conversion to Christianity, and their marriage in 1614, which settled the First Anglo-Powhatan War.  We look at the two protagonists, their different personalities, their motives, and the extent of their emotional attachment. My primary source for this episode is a very interesting book written only in 2004 by Camilla Townsend, “Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma.”  Professor Townsend reads all the various accounts of Pocahontas’ life critically, in the sense of thoughtfully, trying to imagine what she must have felt under the circumstances described by the various European men who encountered her and wrote down what they believed happened.


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Reference for this episode


Camilla Townsend, Pocahontas And The Powhatan Dilemma


Mawage


John Philip Sousa, “Powhatan’s Daughter March”