Excerpt from the Intellectual Devotional.

Com; Noah Oppenheim

The story begins when Smith and two English companions are ambushed by
Indians. After illing his two companions! the Indians tae Smith to their chief!
"owhatan. After two months in capti#ity! "owhatan determines to ha#e the
Englishman clubbed to death in a ritual ceremony. According to Smith! the plan
was thwarted only when the chief$s daughter! "ocahontas %then aged && or &'(!
throws herself between him and his attacers causing her father to relent. Smith
published his account of the incident in &)'*. It is the only description of the
e#ent we ha#e and some historians doubt its authenticity.
Another reason for belie#ing the "ocahontas story is that such a ritual of
sponsoring a nearly executed man in order to adopt him into the tribe was a
typical Indian custom. Two examples illustrate the point+ the daughter of ,hief
-cita sa#ed .uan Orti/ in &0'1! and 2illy! the daughter of the Seminole chief
3illis 3ad4! performed a similar feat at some time. 5ut was it 4ust simply a ritual!
or was Smith$s life actually in danger6 Since Smith$s writings clearly indicate that
he belie#ed "ocahontas actually sa#ed his life! it could not ha#e been 4ust a ritual
unless either Smith lied! which we ha#e shown to be improbable! or "ocahontas
ne#er corrected his error! which seems e7ually unliely. 2oreo#er! in the case of
,hief -cita$s daughter! she apparently pleaded for Orti/$ life by arguing that he
could do no harm since he was a ,hristian! an argument that maes no sense
unless she were actually pleading for his life.