The Powhatan People
The Powhatan Paramount Chiefdom was made up of about 30 tribes, related by two factors: their location and the fact that they were part of the Algonquian language family. The largest and principal tribe of the Powhatan Chiefdom was the Pamunkey, of which Powhatan (Wahunsenacawh), and later Opechancanough, were its chiefs. In 1607 it was estimated to contain about 1,000 men, women, and children.
In his introduction to The Pamunkey Indians of Virginia, W.J. McGee wrote:
The leading tribe of the Powhatan confederacy was that from which the Pamunkey river in eastern Virginia takes its name. Strongest in numbers, this tribe has also proved strongest in vitality…The language of Powhatan and his contemporaries is lost among their descendants; the broad realm of early days is reduced to a few paltry acres; the very existence of the tribe is hardly known throughout the state and the country; yet in some degree the old pride of blood and savage aristocracy persistand it is undoubtedly to these characteristics that the present existence of the Pamunkey tribe is to be ascribed.1 John Garland Pollard, The Pamunkey Indians of Virginia: Their Traditional Culture (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989), p. 4
The Algonquian-speaking Tidewater Indians of Virginia lived on and around the rivers that ran into the Chesapeake Bay and on the Bay itself. They lived in harmony with the plants and animals of this land, using only what they needed for their subsistence. The land was abundant with deer, wild turkey, raccoon, opossum, and other small mammals, turtles, ducks, geese, fish, and shellfish. Plant foods of many kinds were in abundance, nuts and berries, little barley, corn, beans, squash, roots, and wild potato vine, among others.
Originally a matrilineal society, Powhatan women held a high status. The women produced much of the food and fuel while the men were responsible for the hunting and fishing. Women especially planted, harvested, and kept the store of corn which was a form of wealth. It was also a polygynous society and the more wives a man had the higher his status. Their shelters (yi-hakans) were saplings set in the ground and covered with bark or reed mats.
The apparently idyllic existence was not altogether without conflict. From time to time the Algonquian groups would squabble among themselves, and there appeared to be a traditional enmity between the Algonquians and the Siouan-speaking tribes to the west of them. The conflicts however were usually conducted on a small scale and there is no evidence of any pre-contact large-scale wars among the Indian groups.
It is estimated that when the colonists settled at Jamestown in 1607 the Powhatan tribes totaled between 15 and 20 thousand, possibly more. Whatever the number, the Jamestown colony had always been far outnumbered by the Indians and were very much dependent upon them for food, surviving mostly by trade. Yet, despite the great numbers of the Indians, three years later, when the original Jamestown colony had almost died out, about 300 more settlers arrived bound with the determination that the Indians would bow to English rule. These English colonists set upon a series of attacks on the Indians, destroying their cornfields, burning and ransacking their homes, and killing women and children.
Pocahontas (Matoaka)
Pocahontas (Matoaka) was a child of 11 or 12 when John Smith first landed in the new world in 1607. The infamous legend told by Smith of Pocahontas rescuing him from death at the hand of her father has been debated through the centuries. There is one theory that if it did happen at all it was possibly part of an initiation or adoption ceremony that Smith did not understand. Smith recounted similar incidents happening to him at least two other times in his travels. Contrary to fictional films such as Disney’s “Pocahontas” and Malick’s “The New World,” there is no indication in any of Smith’s writings that he had any romantic feelings toward Pocahontas, but rather looked upon her as a favorite child of Powhatan who could help him and his comrades survive; and Pocahontas looked on him with a child’s curiosity and friendship. Smith left for England in 1609 never to return to Virginia again. 2 Helen Rountree, The Powhatan Indians of Virginia: Their Traditional Culture (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989)
Pocahontas was taken hostage in 1613 by Samuel Argall and held at the fort. In April 1614 she married John Rolfe. There has been debate whether this was a marriage of love or political alliance. In 1615 she had one son, Thomas, and in 1616 the family traveled to England. They prepared to return to Virginia in 1617 but Pocahontas took ill on the ship and died at Gravesend where she was buried.
Young Thomas was left in England to be reared by an uncle and John returned to Virginia to raise tobacco. He was killed in the Good Friday Massacre of 1622.