The Story of the Real Pocahontas Disney Didn’t Tell You

When she hit adulthood at the frighteningly young age of 14, Pocahontas began to turn her eyes toward marriage. During her courting days, she was known to rock a fashionable and alluring one-strapped deerskin dress, which was a real hit with the fellas. She also began to cover her skin in traditional tattoos, making her look like quite the badass. Eventually, Pocahontas would journey to Europe, where she adapted to local fashion with aplomb and sported some pretty bitchin’ hats.

If John Smith and Pocahontas did have any sort of romantic relationship, it is certain that they never joined each other in wedded bliss. Pocahontas did get married on two occasions in her life, including once at the age of 14 or so to a Native American warrior known as Kocoum. Little is known about Kocoum, but he appears to have been some sort of military leader and is referred to by some sources as a “captain.” Others suggest that Kocoum was one of Pocahontas’s father’s bodyguards. The fact that she did not marry a man of high political standing mean that she probably married Kocoum for love, but the marriage apparently did not last.

Pocahontas did actually gain worldwide fame and historical notoriety because of a romantic relationship with an Englishman, but it was not John Smith. Rather, Pocahontas met a wealthy widower named John Rolfe during her time in captivity, and the two soon married. Rolfe was coming over to Virginia to farm tobacco, but he lost his wife and child on the journey across the ocean. The two were eventually married on April 5, 1614, and their son, Thomas, was born about a year later. The family lived on Rolfe’s tobacco farm for a number of years, and their steady marriage was yet another reason for sustained peace between the colonists and her father’s people. This was the first recorded interracial marriage in North American history.

After a few years of marriage, John Rolfe and Pocahontas, then known as Rebecca Rolfe, sailed back to England in 1616. The arrival of a Native American “princess” was much hyped, and she was described as the “daughter of the most powerful prince of the Powhatan Empire of Virginia.” She was treated as a curiosity by most, but she was relatively well-treated during a whirlwind tour of England. While there, Pocahontas was the guest of honor at some grand balls, attended plays, and even met the king and queen. She also reportedly ran into John Smith, but didn’t speak to him, giving further evidence that his story is bologna.

Pocahontas Died On Her Way Back To North America

After her whirlwind tour of England in 1616, Rebecca Rolfe was set to return to her home continent in 1617. Sadly, she would not make it back to Virginia, and in fact would not even make it to the ocean. While sailing down the Thames River, Pocahontas fell ill with an unknown sickness, which has been speculated to be pneumonia or dysentery. She and her family were taken ashore at the town of Gravesend, where Pocahontas would die at the age of 21. John Rolfe returned to Virginia alone, having left his also-ailing son back in England, and shortly after his arrival, his father-in-law, Powhatan, also died. The peace that Pocahontas had helped forge then slowly began to unravel.

Her Son, Thomas Rolfe, Became One Of The Wealthiest Men In The New World

Unlike his mother, Thomas Rolfe survived his sickness, and eventually returned to North America, although not for some time. His father, John Rolfe, died in 1622, but Thomas did not return to Virginia until 1635. Although the Powhatan Empire did not consider Thomas for the leadership role vacated by his grandfather, they did grant the son of Pocahontas thousands of acres of land along the James River. Thomas would use this inheritance to become the wealthiest tobacco farmer in the New World, and he also had a daughter, Jane, who ensured that Pocahontas’s bloodline would live on for generations to come.