Existing comment:
Rescue Myth?
Probably Not:
* The Powhatans would have burned and skinned him; not clubbed him.
* Powhatan priests had found Smith to be acceptable.
* The Indians did not welcome and prepare a feast for a captive whose death was imminent.
* Smith did not mention the rescue in many of his writings.
Maybe:
* Smith's reliability as a reporter in Europe, Asia, and America has been validated wherever it can be checked.
* Smith reputedly mentioned the rescue in a letter written to Anne of Denmark.
* In 1623, Smith testified that Pocahontas rescued him to a commission conducting an investigation of the Virginia Company.
* It is possible that both John Smith and Pocahontas believed that he was about to be beaten to death, but the Powhatan Indians were simply testing his courage and did not intend to do him serious harm. |