Women, Families, and Communities Chapter Review
Chapter 1- Jamestown: Pocahontas, Powhatan, and the Struggles for Virginia

When you here the name Pocahontas they think of the movie but she was real and she was a symbol of peaceful co-existence of American Indians and European settlers in North America. Powhatan was a powerful chief who ruled thirteen thousand Indians. In December 1607 some of the warriors captured three men and that is where you meet John Smith. He was about to be executed but at last minute Pocahontas rush out and saved him. They say that she was only about ten years old when she saved him. Powhatan was the one who sent her to rescue him as a gesture of mercy because women traditionally had the right to determine the fate of captives. Camilla Townsend follows Pocahontas and Powhatan on their negotiation with John Smith and the English Settlers. She tries to capture moments like when the English still had only a loose hold in America. She also reveals the role that the Indian women played. She eventually married John Rolfe who took her to England for their honeymoon in 1617 where she caught a fever and died. Rolfe returned and became a leader in development of tobacco in to a cash crop. He also transformed the lives of both Indian and English men and women for generations to come.
Camilla Townsend wrote about the trading that went on between the Indians and the English and also making promises to each other about weapons. Then later on some of the Indians were captures and Powhatan sent his ten year old daughter Pocahontas to try to secure a release for the Indian prisoners. She worked with Thomas Savage and soon more messengers brought gifts to serve as ransom which cause the English to feel open to negotiation. People wonder why they would send her and the reason why because it was a common tactic; it is a clear signal of desire and trust. Then since on she made many trips in the settlement. Many people found to have liked her and honestly she had fun and she learned many things when she was there .Many historians’ studied Pocahontas and many of them wished they were able to find a letter or even a dairy; they want something in her own words. They want to understand her but all they found were that she was visible only from the comments left by the white men who knew her.
Also she talks about John smith and his book and how he saw Pocahontas as in a sexual way and how John Smith made many enemies. People wondered if she ever knew how Smith looked or thought of her. Then in December 1608 went to Powhatan’s village and asked for help because there harvest was poor and the only way he would help them if they gave him weapons. During this process it was awkward and tense but they had few little alternatives left. After this went down the Chief decided to order an ambush and Smith wrote in his book that Pocahontas was the one who warned them of the plot. To be honest there didn’t really need to be warned because that had a feeling that this may happen so there were getting everything set up to protect them. Powhatan quickly moved his entire village and his corn supply father upriver, the English returned to find the village abandoned and John smith never saw Pocahontas again.