Pocahontas marries John Rolfe

Pocahontas has been enshrined in history as the wife of John Rolfe, but more importantly she almost singlehandedly kept the Jamestown settlement alive. First, when Captain John Smith was captured by her Powhattan tribe, who intended to execute him, Pocahontas interceded on his behalf: if not for her, the settlers and Indians might well have gone to war. During the harsh northeastern winter, Pocahontas brought food to the settlers to keep them from starving. She became more and more interested in the settlers, until she decided to settle in and become one of them.

On this day, April 5, in 1614, Pocahontas married John Rolfe, one of the settlers. Christened as Lady Rebecca Rolfe, she gave birth to a son, Thomas, soon after, bringing in the “Peace of Pocahontas,” six years of peace between the Jamestown colonists and Powhatan’s tribes.

Theirs might have been just a local story, if not for Pocahontas and Rolfe deciding to make a tour of England. Two years after her marriage, she met with British royalty King James and Queen Anne, and had an official portrait of her made.