Pocahontas John Smith

The story of Pocahontas and John Smith is a story that has been told time and time again. Disney even made a movie about their story, teaching the importance of taking care of the earth. The real story is a firsthand account from John Smith. He says that in 1607, he was captured by an Indian tribe, at some point he meets Pocahontas and she feels sympathy for him and begs her father not to execute him, thus saving his life. There has always been questions bought up about this though, many question whether Smith was telling the truth about this encounter or not. Many believe that Smith’s story was true and that these events really did happen. They base this on it being common in Indian culture for women in tribes to taken in someone that was originally intended to be executed. They think that Pocahontas would have been able to take in John Smith without much hesitation from the tribe
because her father was the leader of the tribe. One reason people do not believe this story is because John Smith did not write about this expirence in his manuscript. They counter this with that he most likely did write about this, but his editor took it out because an experience like this would discourage settlement in the new world. They also said that at this point in his life, he was an adventurous man that had many crazy encounter that well out ranked this. Supports of John Smith also bring up that he wrote to the queen, in 1616, to tell her about his encounter with Pocahontas because Pocahontas was also in England, at this time. There are many points to show that Pocahontas did save John Smith from execution but there are still many that are apposed. Critics say that Pocahontas did not save John Smiths life, they say that John Smith contradicts himself too much for this story to be true. It is pointed out often that Smith did not bring up this event until long after it happened. Once he did finally bring up the encounter with Pocahontas it was the complete opposite of what he had previously said. Originally, in his manuscript, he mentioned the Indians being calm, friendly, and welcoming. In his manuscript, from 1624, is where Smith first mentions Pocahontas and her tribe. He portrays the Indians as violent and cruel, completely contradicting his original work. Critics also point out that no one else at this time wrote about Smith going missing and returning. It is argued that if such events really happened, others would have been interested in the situation and wrote about it. People on the opposing side say that Smith cannot be trusted because he has lied in other manuscripts and has no reason to not lie about this situation. After viewing points and thoroughly reading this article, I think Pocahontas really did save John Smith from execution.
He was not proven to lie in his manuscripts until after 1830, long after both previous manuscripts had been published. Also he wrote a letter to the queen in 1816 explain what happened, this is when the story of John Smith and Pocahontas started to circulate. Pocahontas was in London with the queen with this story was spreading if she did not agree with it she could have put a stop to the rumors then. The last thing that I found to be very convincing was the theory about why Pocahontas was not mentioned in Smiths original manuscript. The settlements were still very new at this point and many settlers were still coming over from England. If Smith really had published that the Indians were savages, cruel, and incredibly violent the settlers would not have come over in such large numbers anymore because they would have been afraid of the natives. While the opposing side had a very convincing argument, I think Pocahontas did convinve her father to let John Smith
go.