Page 54 - All About History - Issue 53-17

2. Leasing land
Despite a temporary peace being declared, the
hostilities soon resume and the English expand
their territory along the east shore and the
James. In 1633, the area between the York and
the James was claimed, and then they expanded
north of the York. By 1642 the tribal chief was
leasing them land on the Piankatank for corn.

Chesapeake
When the English tried to settle in America they quickly realised they couldn’t
Bay
do so without the help of the native Powhatans. The natives also wished for
a harmonious partnership. However, greed and pride turned what might have
been a happy union into a brutal and bloody battle for power and land.

1. Destroying peace
In revenge for a massacre of
English settlers in 1622, the
Europeans make assaults on 6
Powhatan settlements for the 4
next 10 years. A peace agreement
is drawn up, but the colonists 1
poison the native’s wine and
launch a surprise attack on the 5
Chickahominy, the Powhatan 2 3
proper, the Appomattoc,
Nansemond and Weyanoke.
7

3. Town and island
New governor Thomas Dale takes an island
from the Arrohattocs. Later that year they take
an Appomattoc town at the mouth of the river
and dub it ‘New Bermudas.’ Aging and losing
control, Wahunsenacawh is unable to respond.

4. Taking the capital 5. Sneaky expansion 6. Slaughter continues 7. The colonists win
George Percy, commander of the English, While there is a ceasefire The colony build more frontier forts, and in 1645, A peace treaty in October 1646 formally
attacks the Paspahegh capital, burning from the Powhatan due to Chief Opechancanough is captured and killed makes the tribes tributaries to the king of
their houses and killing up to 75 people, Pocahontas’ capture, the English and all males over 11 deported. The Powhatan England, and a racial divide is set up with
including the queen and her children. settlers further expand their Confederacy dissolves into its separate tribes, formal rules. The extent of the Virginia
The remainder abandon their town, and territory south of the river which face brutal attack from the English. By colony which belongs to the English is
the Warraskoyaks, fearing for their own James, establishing bases in City March next year a fort in the location of the also laid out, giving the colonists vast
lives, abandon their village as well. Point, now Hopewell, Virginia. modern city of Petersburg is built. swaths of un-colonised land.

prisoners. However, he refused the minister to improve her English, and she also the two were married, with the permission of
to return the weapons and tools, converted to Christianity, taking the Christian Wahunsenacawh, who sent her uncle to the
and negotiations ended. Beloved name Rebecca. Considering later events it seemed wedding to represent himself and his people.
daughter she may have been, but this occurred genuinely, rather than through any This wedding, whether intentional or not, had a
Wahunsenacawh was fighting a fear or intimidation. huge impact on the relations between the natives
war, and family allegiances were During her capture at the settlement, and the English. The union fostered a lull known
second to advantage and victory. Pocahontas met John Rolfe, a plantation owner as the ‘Peace of Pocahontas’ between the two
In the year-long wait between who had previously lost his wife and child before warring tribes, with friendly trade flourishing.
negotiations, Pocahontas was kept in he arrived in Virginia. Rolfe quickly developed Pocahontas, the little girl bearing corn and
Henricus. Her time there is not well romantic feelings for Pocahontas, which by all warnings, had always been a symbol of peace for
documented, though some claim she accounts appear to be heartfelt. However, he the colonists, but now she had truly helped to
was raped and mistreated. However agonised over the morals of marrying her, a native end the fighting between the two nations. This
this doesn’t really align with the English girl, but in his letter to the governor requesting peace between the Jamestown residents and
interests in keeping her safe at this time. the marriage, he claimed that his heart belonged the Powhatan lasted eight years, and this was
Pocahontas was a very important captive to her. It would have been easier for Rolfe to cemented with the birth of a child – Thomas Rolfe,
for the English, who feared native retaliation. marry an English woman, but he seemed entirely an interracial child who seemed to symbolise a
During her time there she received lessons from enamoured with Pocahontas. On 5 April 1614, new harmony between the two peoples.
5 54