Princess Pocahontas and John Rolfe Uncovered

Acrylic on 3-D shaped stretched canvas and wood and styrofoam

36" x 12" x 3"

91 cm x 30 cm x 8 cm

The Story Behind Princess Pocahontas and John Rolfe Uncovered

Last year, 2007, was the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in America. I missed the celebration but went in March 2008. Being a Rolfe, I knew the basic fact that John Rolfe had married Princess Pocahontas on April 5, 1614 in the church at Jamestown after she had been baptized a Christian and given the Christian name of Rebecca.

During this visit, I learned that Princess Pocahontas was no more than 12 years old during the time that Captain John Smith was in Virginia in 1608 and early 1608, and that the often told story of his "rescue" by her was totally false. And there was no romance.

I also learned that the settlers captured Princess Pocahontas in 1613, held her hostage, and had the minister teach her about Christianity and try to convert her to Christianity with the assistance of a gentleman named John Rolfe. After months of closeness, Princess Pocahontas and John Rolfe fell in love. Rolfe asked Governor Thomas Dale for permission to marry the Indian Princess, who was considered a "savage" until she converted to Christianity. Permission was granted. Then John Rolfe went to Chief or Emperor Powhatan who ruled over 30+ tribes which each had their own Chief, and asked for his permission to marry his daughter. Powhatan gave permission.

On April 5, 1614, Princess Pocahontas, now called Rebecca by the colonists, married John Rolfe. Rolfe was 27, and Rebecca 18. This was the first interracial official church marriage in America. Their marriage secured a time of peace, called the Pocahontas Peace, between the colonists and the Indians that lasted until 1622.

Later, laws in Virginia and most of the southern colonies and then states prohibited whites marrying outside their race. Virginia enacted a special exception to the prohibited intermarriage for the descendants of John Rolfe and Princess Pocahontas. Those laws were finally struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1960's.

John Rolfe had been trying for several years to cultivate tobacco that was native to the Caribbean because it was milder than the native Virginia tobacco that the Indians used for ceremonial purposes. He hadn't been able to make a commercially successful crop. All that changed with the help of Princess Pocahontas and her relatives and retainers. They taught Rolfe how to grow and cure tobacco the Indian way, and he applied their methods to his Caribbean tobacco successfully. John Rolfe's successful tobacco crop was the economic success of the colony and assured its long-term survival.

So on two accounts John Rolfe's marriage to Princess Pocahontas was responsible for the success of the English colony in Virginia, peace with the natives and a sound economic basis for the colony.

John Rolfe and Princess Pocahontas and her entourage of natives went to London England in 1616 with their son Thomas Rolfe. They were received by the King James I and Queen Anne of England. It is reported that King James I was miffed that Rolfe had married royalty without his permission even though he had the Governor's permission. Apparently it was a treasonable offense. The King was concerned that if Emperor Powhatan died, and apparently the King had recognized him as Emperor or King of Virginia, Rolfe, a gentleman but still a commoner, might possibly become the new king.

As John Rolfe and Princess Pocahontas sailed down the Thames to go home to Virginia in the spring of 1617, Princess Pocahontas died.