The legend of Pocahontas

Few Native Americans have captured our imagination like Pocahontas, the daughter of Wahunsenaca (Powhatan in English), the chief of several Algonquin tribes in the Virginia Tidewater. Famously, she saved the life of Captain John Smith, an English explorer who was captured by Wahunsenaca’s men while in Jamestown, Virginia, and was to be clubbed to death when Pocahontas suddenly threw herself across his body, pleading that he be spared because she loved him, causing her father to relent.

There are, alas, several problems with this story, beginning with the fact that it comes from Smith, who was a notorious braggart and exaggerator, and although he published several accounts of his adventures in Jamestown, he didn’t mention the story of Pocahontas’ brave intervention until 17 years later, in 1624, when Pocahontas, her father and the other alleged witnesses were dead and couldn’t contradict him. Interestingly as well, in another of his published works he wrote of being rescued by another young girl five years prior to the Pocahontas rescue, after being captured by Turks while in Hungary. Two remarkably similar rescues, five years apart, caused some skepticism.

Further, historians familiar with Algonquin tribal customs say they never would have used clubs to kill Smith; they would have tortured him and burned him to death. Finally, in 1607, when this alleged incident took place, Pocahontas was either 10 or 11 years old, meaning it is highly unlikely she would have been allowed to attend Smith’s execution, even more unlikely she would have had a romantic relationship with him – he was 28 – and most unlikely that, at her insistence, her father would have called off the execution.

And if anyone was threatening Smith in Jamestown in the early 1600s it was his fellow English explorers, who had arrested him for mutiny during their voyage to Jamestown and sentenced him to hang for other crimes.

Smith and Pocahontas may have become friends, and the English and Algonquin tribes subsequently coexisted peacefully for two years, but in 1609 war broke out, and Pocahontas was later captured and held hostage by the English. Ironically, her life was spared by her English captors after she converted to Christianity and married an English tobacco planter, John Rolfe, in 1614. She accompanied him to England, where she was feted as “a civilized savage” and even met the king and queen.

She and Rolfe were set to return to Virginia when she died this week (March 21) in 1617, supposedly of tuberculosis, but legend has it – and much of her story is legend – that she was poisoned.

In 1907, 300 years after her famous “rescue” of Smith, Pocahontas became the first Native American honored on a U.S. stamp. Bruce G. Kauffmann Email author Bruce G. Kauffmann at bruce@history lessons.net.

DEAR ABBY: I’m a disabled middle-aged woman, married for 15 years. From the beginning, there was never much passion between my husband and me, but we’re friends. I’m now becoming less able to go out and do things, and I will eventually be wheelchair-bound. I want to leave him so he can find someone who is able to do things with him.

I actually did it at one point. I moved into a cheap mobile home, but he sold the house and followed me. He’s a loving husband, but he is messy. I exhaust myself picking up after him, and two months after moving into another house, the entire garage and basement cannot be walked through.

I really think what I want is to live alone in a simple, clean apartment. He – and others – tell me I need him and I’m nuts to live alone on Social Security when I could stay in this nice house. I’m just so tired all the time, and cleaning up after him is torture physically. Should I stay or should I go? – EXHAUSTED IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

DEAR EXHAUSTED: Although you didn’t say it directly, your messy husband may be a hoarder. If that’s the case, whether you stay or live elsewhere may depend upon his getting help for it – not to mention getting the garage and basement cleared out.

Obviously, your husband loves you or he wouldn’t have followed you when you moved into the mobile home. Do not divorce him because you feel guilty about not being well. He may need you as much as you need him. If picking up after him is too tiring, then it may be time to get someone in periodically to clean.

** DEAR ABBY: My husband passed away last year after a six-year struggle with Alzheimer’s. It was a long and heartbreaking time for me. I have two sons, but they don’t live close. I see them and their families only a few times a year. I have pretty much been alone since my husband’s diagnosis. I have friends – all couples – but going out with them isn’t comfortable. It’s a very lonely life.

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We have so much in common – we like the same foods, same kind of music and other things. I have always taken care of myself, and no one can believe my age. I’m not looking for marriage, but it would be nice to have someone to have dinner with, and good conversation. I love to play golf, and so does he. Am I being foolish? – LONG TIME LONELY

DEAR LONG TIME LONELY: No. Unless you have a “sell by” date stamped on your forehead, you should not preoccupy yourself with the difference in your ages. You say you aren’t looking for marriage, so why not have an enjoyable time and see if a relationship evolves? You will have a happier life once you stop worrying about what other people may – or may not – think. It’s called living your life.

** Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www. Dearabby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069. Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips.