D2.His.8.9-12: Whose Voices Survive? Pocahontas, Powhatan and the Limits of the Jamestown Record

Overview

Lesson Procedure

75-80 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20-25 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice20 minutes
5. Closure10 minutes

1. Warm-Up10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Suppose the only record of a disagreement between two neighbors is a diary kept by one of them. Write three sentences: What could a reader learn from the diary? What could the reader never learn from it? What other evidence would help?"

   Take a few answers and write two headings on the board: what the record can show and what the record cannot show. Tell students that historians face this problem whenever the surviving sources come mostly from one side, and that today's case is one of the most famous in American history. Introduce the word perspective (the point of view of a person or group at the time) and the term limit statement: a sentence that says what an interpretation can claim, and what it cannot, from the sources that survive.

2. Direct Instruction20-25 minutes

   Part 1: A voice audit. Present the four questions below. Every source in this lesson gets the same four questions. Then give the limit-statement frame: "Because the surviving sources ___, an interpretation of ___ can say ___ but cannot say ___."

   A four-part voice audit for any set of sources (an SVHS teaching tool)

   Question	What to ask
   1. Maker	Who made the source, and to what group did the maker belong? Was the maker there, and when did he or she record it?
   2. Voices inside	Whose words, thoughts or feelings does the source report? Are they in the person's own words, or retold by the maker?
   3. Gaps and changes	What does the source leave out? How does it differ from other versions by the same maker or by others?
   4. Other kinds of evidence	What other kinds of sources exist (oral history, archaeology, records kept by the other side), and what are their own limits?

   Part 2: The present-day account. Read Source 1, from the National Park Service page on Pocahontas at Historic Jamestowne. Note for students: a "paramount chief" ruled over the chiefs of many towns; Werowocomoco was Powhatan's capital. Work the first example aloud.

   1Not much is known about this memorable woman. What we do know was written by others, as none of her thoughts or feelings were ever recorded. Specifically, her story has been told through written historical accounts and, most recently, through the sacred oral history of the Mattaponi. Most notably, Pocahontas has left an indelible impression that has endured for more than 400 years. And yet, many people who know her name do not know much about her.

   [...]

   2When the English arrived and settled Jamestown in May 1607, Pocahontas was about eleven years old. Pocahontas and her father would not meet any Englishmen until the winter of 1607, when Captain John Smith (who is perhaps as famous as Pocahontas) was captured by Powhatan's brother Opechancanough. Once captured, Smith was displayed at several Powhatan Indian towns before being brought to the capital of the Powhatan Chiefdom, Werowocomoco, to Chief Powhatan.

   3What happened next is what has kept the names of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith inextricably linked: the famous rescue of John Smith by Pocahontas. As Smith tells it, he was brought in front of Chief Powhatan, two large stones were placed on the ground, Smith's head was forced upon them, and a warrior raised a club to smash in his brains. Before this could happen, Pocahontas rushed in and placed her head upon his, which stopped the execution. Whether this event actually happened or not has been debated for centuries. One theory posits that what took place was an elaborate adoption ceremony; its adherents believe that Smith's life was never in danger (though, he most likely would not have known that). Afterwards, Powhatan told Smith he was part of the tribe. In return for "two great guns and a grindstone," Powhatan would give Smith Capahowasick (on the York River), and "forever esteem him as his son Nantaquoud." Smith was then allowed to leave Werowocomoco.

   Part 3: Smith in 1608. Read Source 2, from A True Relation, Smith's account printed in London in 1608. The spelling is that of 1608: "uppon" is "upon," "Mattes" are mats, "libertie" is liberty. Work the second example aloud.

   Arriving at Weramocomoco, their Emperour proudly lying uppon a Bedstead a foote high, upon tenne or twelve Mattes, richly hung with manie Chaynes of great Pearles about his necke, and covered with a great Covering of Rahaughcums. [...] hee kindly welcomed me with good wordes, and great Platters of sundrie Victuals, assuring mee his friendship, and my libertie within foure days. Hee much delighted in Opechan Conoughs relation of what I had described to him, and oft examined me upon the same. Hee asked mee the cause of our comming. I tolde him being in fight with the Spaniards our enemie, beeing overpowred, neare put to retreat, and by extreame weather put to this shore: where landing at Chesipiack, the people shot us, but at Kequoughtan they kindly used us: we by signes demaunded fresh water, they described us up the River was all fresh water: at Paspahegh also they kindly used us: our Pinnasse being leake, we were inforced to stay to mend her, till Captaine Newport my father came to conduct us away.

   • A limit statement (Source 1, paragraph 1)

     Question: What does the National Park Service say about where our knowledge of Pocahontas comes from?

     Result: The page says, "What we do know was written by others, as none of her thoughts or feelings were ever recorded" (Source 1, paragraph 1). Limit statement: because no source records Pocahontas in her own words, an interpretation can describe what others said she did, but any claim about what she thought or felt is an inference from other people's accounts.

   • Voices inside: observation or inference? (Source 2)

     Question: In "their Emperour proudly lying uppon a Bedstead," which words record what Smith saw, and which record his reading of Powhatan?

     Result: The bedstead "a foote high," the "tenne or twelve Mattes" and the "Chaynes of great Pearles" are things Smith could see. "Proudly" is his judgment of Powhatan's manner (Source 2). The source gives us Powhatan's appearance through an English visitor's eyes; it does not give us how Powhatan saw himself or the visit.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Read Sources 3 and 4, both from Smith's Generall Historie of 1624. Source 3 tells the capture again, in the third person; Source 4 contains part of a letter Smith wrote to Queen Anne of England in 1616, when Pocahontas, by then married to the colonist John Rolfe, was in London. Model the third and fourth examples, then have pairs run the voice audit on both sources and compare them with Source 2.

   At last they brought him to Meronocomo, where was Powhatan their Emperor. Here more then two hundred of those grim Courtiers stood wondering at him, as he had beene a monster; till Powhatan and his trayne had put themselves in their greatest braveries. Before a fire upon a seat like a bedsted, he sat covered with a great robe, made of Rarowcun skinnes, and all the tayles hanging by. On either hand did sit a young wench of 16 or 18 yeares, and along on each side the house, two rowes of men, and behind them as many women, with all their heads and shoulders painted red; many of their heads bedecked with the white downe of Birds; but every one with something: and a great chayne of white beads about their necks. At his entrance before the King, all the people gave a great shout. The Queene of Appamatuck was appointed to bring him water to wash his hands, and another brought him a bunch of feathers, in stead of a Towell to dry them; having feasted him after their best barbarous manner they could, a long consultation was held, but the conclusion was, two great stones were brought before Powhatan: then as many as could layd hands on him, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head, and being ready with their clubs, to beate out his braines, Pocahontas the Kings dearest daughter, when no intreaty could prevaile, got his head in her armes, and laid her owne upon his to save him from death: whereat the Emperour was contented he should live to make him hatchets, and her bells, beads, and copper; for they thought him as well of all occupations as themselves. For the King himselfe will make his owne robes, shooes, bowes, arrowes, pots; plant, hunt, or doe any thing so well as the rest.

   1[...] before she arrived at London, Captaine Smith to deserve her former courtesies, made her qualities knowne to the Queenes most excellent Majestie and her Court, and writ a little booke to this effect to the Queene: An abstract whereof followeth.

   [...]

   2That some ten yeeres agoe being in Virginia, and taken prisoner by the power of Powhatan their chiefe King, I received from this great [...] exceeding great courtesie, especially from his sonne Nantaquans, the most manliest, comeliest, boldest spirit, I ever saw in a [...], and his sister Pocahontas, the Kings most deare and wel-beloved daughter, being but a childe of twelve or thirteene yeeres of age, whose compassionate pitifull heart, of my desperate estate, gave me much cause to respect her: I being the first Christian this proud King and his grim attendants ever saw: and thus inthralled in their barbarous power, I cannot say I felt the least occasion of want that was in the power of those my mortall foes to prevent, notwithstanding al their threats. After some six weeks fatting amongst those [...] Courtiers, at the minute of my execution, she hazarded the beating out of her owne braines to save mine, and not onely that, but so prevailed with her father, that I was safely conducted to James towne, where I found about eight and thirtie miserable poore and sicke creatures, to keepe possession of all those large territories of Virginia, such was the weaknesse of this poore Commonwealth, as had the [...] not fed us, we directly had starved.

   3And this reliefe, most gracious Queene, was commonly brought us by this Lady Pocahontas, notwithstanding all these passages when inconstant Fortune turned our peace to warre, this tender Virgin would still not spare to dare to visit us, and by her our jarres have beene oft appeased, and our wants still supplyed; were it the policie of her father thus to imploy her, or the ordinance of God thus to make her his instrument, or her extraordinarie affection to our Nation, I know not: [...]

   • Voices inside: a crowd's thoughts (Source 3)

     Question: How does Source 3 claim to know what the people at Powhatan's court were thinking?

     Result: It says that "more then two hundred of those grim Courtiers stood wondering at him, as he had beene a monster" (Source 3). The writer reports the crowd's thoughts, but no member of the crowd speaks. The words "grim" and "monster" are English readings of faces; the people of Werowocomoco are present in the source but their perspective is not.

   • Maker and purpose (Source 4, paragraph 1)

     Question: Why did Smith write the letter, according to the book that printed it?

     Result: The book says that "Captaine Smith to deserve her former courtesies, made her qualities knowne to the Queenes most excellent Majestie and her Court" (Source 4, paragraph 1). The letter was written to win royal favor for Pocahontas in London. A source written to praise someone for a powerful reader records what the maker wanted that reader to know.

   Pair task (5 minutes): make a two-column list of what Source 2 (1608) and Source 3 (1624) each include about the meeting with Powhatan. Look for: what appears in only one version, and who is speaking in each. Remind pairs that both sources have the same maker, so agreement between them is not independent confirmation.

4. Independent Practice20 minutes

   Students work alone with Sources 5, 6 and 7. Sources 5 and 6 are two historians, writing 26 years apart, who disagree about Smith's story. Source 7 is the National Park Service's summary of an oral history of the Mattaponi, an account passed down by word of mouth and published in a book in 2007. Two notes for students: in Source 5, paragraph 1, "this guarded allusion" means the letter to Queen Anne, which Warner quotes in the paragraph before; in Source 7, "quiakros" are priests, as the National Park Service page explains elsewhere. Each student runs the voice audit on all three and writes one limit statement that uses at least two of them. Questions 13-18 of the quiz use these sources.

   1This guarded allusion to the rescue stood for all known account of it, except a brief reference to it in his “New England's Trials” of 1622, until the appearance of Smith's “General Historie” in London, 1624. In the first edition of “New England's Trials,” 1620, there is no reference to it. In the enlarged edition of 1622, Smith gives a new version to his capture, as resulting from “the folly of them that fled,” and says: “God made Pocahontas, the King's daughter the means to deliver me.”

   2The “General Historie” was compiled--as was the custom in making up such books at the time from a great variety of sources. Such parts of it as are not written by Smith--and these constitute a considerable portion of the history--bear marks here and there of his touch. It begins with his description of Virginia, which appeared in the Oxford tract of 1612; following this are the several narratives by his comrades, which formed the appendix of that tract. The one that concerns us here is that already quoted, signed Thomas Studley. It is reproduced here as “written by Thomas Studley, the first Cape Merchant in Virginia, Robert Fenton, Edward Harrington, and I. S.” [John Smith]. It is, however, considerably extended, and into it is interjected a detailed account of the captivity and the story of the stones, the clubs, and the saved brains.

   3It is worthy of special note that the “True Relation” is not incorporated in the “General Historie.” This is the more remarkable because it was an original statement, written when the occurrences it describes were fresh, and is much more in detail regarding many things that happened during the period it covered than the narratives that Smith uses in the “General Historie.” It was his habit to use over and over again his own publications. Was this discarded because it contradicted the Pocahontas story--because that story could not be fitted into it as it could be into the Studley relation?

   [...]

   4We have before had occasion to remark that Smith's memory had the peculiarity of growing stronger and more minute in details the further he was removed in point of time from any event he describes. [...]

   [...] In December, 1607, he was captured by the Indians and was saved from death by Pocahontas. He returned to Jamestown only to run into a new danger. He was arrested by the council and condemned to death and escaped hanging by the timely return of Captain Christopher Newport, who interfered and saved his life. [...] The absence of any reference in the True Relation to his rescue by Pocahontas has led some to doubt the truth of his assertions; but it appears that Smith omitted any particular mention of several other prominent incidents since his departure from London, affecting him personally. He has nothing to say of his arrest in the West Indies for mutiny, or the sentence of death imposed at Jamestown after his return from captivity. The timely arrival of Newport was in fact even more surprising than the kindly intervention of Pocahontas. Nor does he say in the True Relation anything of the fine of £200 imposed at Jamestown upon Wingfield for Smith’s arrest in the West Indies. It is not to be forgotten that the editor of the True Relation expressly states that the published account does not include the entire manuscript as it came from Smith. Smith was often inaccurate in his estimates as to time and place and often very prejudiced in his judgments of others, but that is far from saying that he could mistake plain objects of sense or deliberately concoct a story having no foundation. The narrative below, in its essential features, is strongly supported by other contemporaneous documents, though for the reasons stated not much weight is to be attached to his opinions of the motives of Wingfield and the rest.

   1The recently published (2007) The True Story of Pocahontas: The Other Side of History by Dr. Linwood "Little Bear" Custalow and Angela L. Daniel "Silver Star," based on the sacred oral history of the Mattaponi tribe, offers some further, and sometimes very different, insights into the real Pocahontas.

   [...]

   2The most famous event of Pocahontas' life, her rescue of Captain John Smith, did not happen the way he wrote it. Smith was exploring when he encountered a Powhatan hunting party. A fight ensued, and Smith was captured by Opechancanough. Opechancanough, a younger brother of Wahunsenaca, took Smith from village to village to demonstrate to the Powhatan people that Smith, in particular, and the English, in general, were as human as they were. The "rescue" was a ceremony, initiating Smith as another chief. It was a way to welcome Smith, and, by extension, all the English, into the Powhatan nation. It was an important ceremony, so the quiakros would have played an integral role.

   3Wahunsenaca truly liked Smith. He even offered a healthier location for the English, Capahowasick (east of Werowocomoco). Smith's life was never in danger. As for Pocahontas, she would not have been present, as children were not allowed at religious rituals. Afterwards, Pocahontas would have considered Smith a leader and defender of the Powhatan people, as an allied chief of the English tribe. She would have expected Smith to be loyal to her people, since he had pledged friendship to Wahunsenaca. In Powhatan society, one's word was one's bond. That bond was sacred.

5. Closure10 minutes

   Read Source 8, two short sample interpretations written for this page. Ask: which one claims more than the sources can support? Which sentence in the other one is a limit statement? Students use these interpretations in Question 19 and in the homework.

   Interpretation A (an SVHS-written sample student paragraph)

   The sources prove that Pocahontas saved John Smith because she loved the English. Smith was there, and he wrote the story down in more than one book, so it must be true. The Mattaponi account is only a legend, so historians can ignore it.

   Interpretation B (an SVHS-written sample student paragraph)

   We cannot be sure what happened at Werowocomoco in the winter of 1607. Every early account of the rescue on this page comes from Smith's own writings, and none of the sources here was written by a Powhatan person at the time. The Mattaponi oral history, as the National Park Service summarizes it, explains the scene as a ceremony and gives a Mattaponi point of view, though it reached print four centuries later. A careful interpretation says what each source can show and leaves Pocahontas's own motives as an open question.

   Exit ticket: "Name one question about Werowocomoco in the winter of 1607 that the sources on this page cannot answer. Which missing perspective is the reason?"

   Teacher note on the sources' language: Five instances of a derogatory term for Native people that appear in the originals are cut and marked [...]: one in Source 2 and four in Source 4. Three other words are kept exactly because they show the English writers' perspective, which is the subject of the lesson. "Barbarous" (Sources 3 and 4) means uncivilized; it is Smith's judgment of Powhatan customs and power, not a description the lesson accepts. "Grim" (Sources 3 and 4) means stern or fierce-looking; it is his reading of faces he could not interpret. "Wench" (Source 3), used for the two young women beside Powhatan, often meant simply a girl or young woman in Smith's time, but it could also be disparaging and is demeaning today; point this out before students read Source 3. Discuss the Powhatan people and Pocahontas as real people and a living nation's ancestors, not as figures of legend, and use the names the sources give (the National Park Service uses Wahunsenaca for Chief Powhatan in the oral-history section). Do not act out the capture or the ceremony; the lesson works with the documents only.

   Teacher note on the full National Park Service page: preview the whole page before assigning or linking it. Its oral-history section, beyond the excerpts printed here, describes sexual violence during Pocahontas's captivity. Sources 1 and 7 do not include that material.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which statement best expresses the idea of D2.His.8.9-12?

   AHistorians today should rely only on sources made by people who were present at an event BOld sources are less trustworthy than new interpretations, which can correct them CWhat we can claim depends on whose views the sources recorded DSources with a point of view should be left out

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 1, paragraph 3, the National Park Service begins its description of the scene with the words "As Smith tells it." What do these words tell a reader?

   AThe page's account of the stones and the club comes from Smith's own telling BThe National Park Service has found a second eyewitness who agrees with Smith CSmith's account has now been proved true by archaeology at Werowocomoco DThe page is quoting the Mattaponi oral history about the near-execution

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Source 1, paragraph 3, describes a theory that the scene was "an elaborate adoption ceremony" and adds that Smith "most likely would not have known that." Why does this addition matter for the record?

   AIt proves that Smith invented the whole story of his capture at Werowocomoco BIt shows that the Powhatan people wrote their own account of the ceremony CIt means that the ceremony took place after Smith returned to Jamestown DIt suggests the only witness who wrote it down may have misread what he saw

4. Question 4 of 20 · Short Answer

   Source 1, paragraph 3, says the rescue has "been debated for centuries." Using Sources 1 and 4, explain why the written sources alone cannot settle the debate.

   Show model answer

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 2 (1608), what does Smith say Powhatan offered him at their first meeting?

   AA seat on his council and some pearls BHis friendship and Smith's liberty within four days CA guide to lead Smith back to the Spaniards he said he was fighting DA promise that Pocahontas would bring food to Jamestown every week

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 2, "Hee asked mee the cause of our comming. I tolde him being in fight with the Spaniards our enemie." What does this exchange show about the record of the conversation?

   AThat Powhatan spoke English well enough to question Smith without help BThat Powhatan's own account of the meeting agrees with Smith's account CThat both the question and the answer reach us only through Smith's account DThat the conversation was written down by a Powhatan scribe at the time

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Smith writes that Powhatan "much delighted in Opechan Conoughs relation of what I had described to him" (Source 2). What does this sentence show?

   APowhatan first heard of Smith through his brother's report, which no source records BSmith had read a written report that Opechancanough sent to Powhatan before the meeting COpechancanough refused to tell Powhatan anything about the English DSmith and Opechancanough had never spoken before the meeting

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which part of the scene appears in Source 3 (1624) but not in Source 2 (1608)?

   APowhatan sitting before his people covered in a robe of skins BPowhatan receiving Smith while seated on a raised bed or seat CA meal of many dishes served to Smith before they talked DTwo stones, the clubs, and Pocahontas laying her head on his

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Source 3 tells Smith's story in the third person ("they brought him"). According to Warner (Source 5, paragraph 2), what explains this?

   ASmith wrote nothing at all in the 1624 book, which others published under his name BThe 1624 book was compiled from many sources, including narratives by others CThe printer changed every "I" to "he" without telling Smith DWarner says Pocahontas herself wrote that part of the book

10. Question 10 of 20 · Short Answer

    Compare Source 2 (1608) and Source 3 (1624). Name two differences between them, and explain what each difference means for a historian writing about the scene today.

    Show model answer

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In Source 4, paragraph 3, Smith lists three possible reasons why Pocahontas brought food to Jamestown and ends, "I know not." What does this show?

    AThat Smith had asked Pocahontas and she refused to answer him BThat the colony did not need the food she brought CThat even the English witness closest to her could not report her reasons DThat her father had ordered her never to visit the English settlement at Jamestown

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Smith's letter calls Pocahontas "but a childe of twelve or thirteene yeeres of age" when he was captured (Source 4, paragraph 2), while the National Park Service says she "was about eleven years old" in May 1607 (Source 1, paragraph 2). What is the best conclusion?

    AEven basic facts about her rest on estimates from a few sources BThe National Park Service must have copied the figure from Smith's letter CSmith's letter proves that she was born in the year 1590 DThe two sources describe two different people named Pocahontas

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Warner asks of the 1608 account, "Was this discarded because it contradicted the Pocahontas story" (Source 5, paragraph 3)? What kind of reasoning is Warner using?

    AHe quotes a Powhatan witness who said the rescue never happened BHe relies on a letter in which Smith admits the story was invented CHe uses the oral history of the Mattaponi to test Smith's account DHe draws an inference from what Smith left out of his later book

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Warner says Smith's memory grew "stronger and more minute in details the further he was removed in point of time from any event he describes" (Source 5, paragraph 4). Which sources on this page would a student use to test this claim?

    ASources 1 and 7, because they come from the National Park Service BSources 2, 3 and 4, comparing Smith's accounts from different dates CSource 6 alone, because Tyler edited A True Relation DSource 8, because it was written for this page

15. Question 15 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    How does Tyler (Source 6) answer those who doubt the rescue because the 1608 account does not mention it?

    ASmith left out other events too, and the 1608 printing was not his whole manuscript BA Powhatan witness confirmed the rescue in a letter written to Tyler CThe rescue appears on the first page of the 1608 account, which the doubters had missed DSmith was never inaccurate about anything, so all his accounts must be true

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Warner (1881) and Tyler (1907) read the same few sources and reached opposite conclusions about the rescue. Explain how the limits of the record make this possible, with one quotation from each historian.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    According to the oral history as Source 7 presents it, Pocahontas "would not have been present" at the ceremony. What does this account add to the record?

    AProof that Smith invented his entire 1608 account, from his capture to his release BA new written account by a Powhatan witness dated 1608 CAn explanation rooted in Powhatan custom that the English accounts lack DSmith's own later admission that Pocahontas was not there

18. Question 18 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Source 7 says the book it summarizes is "based on the sacred oral history of the Mattaponi tribe." What should a historian keep in mind when using it?

    AIt can be ignored, because only written sources count as historical evidence BIt must be accepted without question, because it is a Native source CIt is an eyewitness account written down in 1607 by a Mattaponi priest DIt carries one community's memory over generations and must be weighed

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Evaluate Interpretation A in Source 8. Identify two claims it makes that the sources on this page cannot support, and rewrite one of them as a limit statement.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write a limit statement answering the question "Was Smith's life ever in danger at Werowocomoco?" Use at least two sources that disagree.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to D2.His.8.9-12: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.