Linwood (Little Bear) Custalow - True Story of Pocahontas: The Other Side of History

This is a book whose message is long overdue, both for the general public and the academic community After years of reading one side of the story, I strongly felt there was this story saved somewhere and yet to be told.

Arthur Einhorn, ethnohistorian

What results from reading this fine book is a totally different understanding of Pocahontass life. The authors have eminent qualifications to present in print the other side of the story. Their book deserves to be studied carefully and to hold a place on your bookshelf alongside the others by Helen C. Rountree, Frances Mossiker, and Camilla Townsend. The True Story of Pocahontas is a must-read for anyone interested in the full story of the epic of Jamestown and its participants.

Robert Shultis, The Virginia Gazette

This side of history, the knowledge of Pochahontas from her own people, is a profound story long overdue. This book affords important insights into ecological harmony and living with love for one another in peace.

Jeffrey Hopkins, professor emeritus of Tibetan studies,
University of Virginia

The True Story of Pocahontas stands out as one of the greatest true stories of family love, dedication, and tragedy.

Indian Country Today

The book provides an incredible look inside the Mattaponi Indians and the Powhatan Nation and also provides insights into contact with Spanish explorers long before the English arrived in Virginia.

Bill Archer, Bluefield Daily Telegraph

Their history has been held secret since the arrival of the colonists. Until now, the words shared in this book were known by only a cherished few.

Kerry Day, Fifty Plus

and

Angela L. Daniel Silver Star

The True Story of Pocahontas

The Other Side of History

From the Sacred History of the Mattaponi Reservation People

Text 2007 Mattaponi Eagle Trust, Dr. Linwood Little Bear Custalow, and Angela L. Daniel Silver Star

Maps and photographs 2007 Mattaponi Eagle Trust, Dr. Linwood Little Bear Custalow, and Angela L. Daniel Silver Star, unless otherwise noted

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Custalow, Linwood.

The true story of Pocahontas : the other side of history / Linwood

Little Bear Custalow and Angela L. Daniel.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN-13: 978-1-55591-632-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1-55591-632-5

1. Pocahontas, d. 1617. 2. Powhatan women--Biography. 3. Powhatan

Indians--Social life and customs. I. Daniel, Angela L. II. Title.

E99.P85P62 2007

975.501092--dc22

2006033719

Printed in the United States of America

0 9 8 7 6 5

The authors gratefully acknowledge the following people for granting permission to reprint their photographs: the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond; the Borough Council of Kings Lynn and West Norfolk; Mattaponi Chief Carl Lone Eagle Custalow; Deborah White Dove Custalow Porreco; Shirley Little Dove Custalow McGowan; Kathryn Cannada and sons; Justin Kyle Whitman; Edith White Feather Custalow Kuhns; and Rachel Talking Moon McGowan. A special thank-you to Bill Faust II for the use of his photograph of the Custalow family and Louise Krafft for her photograph of Rachel Talking Moon McGowan.

Cover and interior design: Jack Lenzo

Cover image: Index Open/Fogstock LLC

Fulcrum Publishing

4690 Table Mountain Drive, Suite 100

Golden, Colorado 80403

800-992-2908 303-277-1623

www.fulcrumbooks.com

And to

Donald Bright Path Kuhns

July 12, 1955, to November 28, 1999

Warrior, teacher, Powhatan artisan, and the first grandson of the late Daniel Webster Little Eagle Custalow

My grandfather told me to spread the word about our ancestry.
There is a pride in teaching our heritage.

Donald Bright Path Kuhns

As a young child, Donald was always playing in the woods. He was given the name Wahtahhoch, which means bright path.

I could always find my way home.

Donald Bright Path Kuhns

Bright Path did so much to make sure
our people were not forgotten.

Only from truthful history can true history be learned.
Only by true history can we learn from our mistakes.
Only by learning from our mistakes can we create a
better life for all mankind. We can only learn from the
real history; many dont see the real history!

Dr. Linwood Little Bear Custalow

Prayer to the Great Spirit Ahone

Ahone,

Ahone,

Ahone,

Ahone,

Aho!

Oh, Good and Great Spirit,*

you who are all knowledgeable,
all wise, and all understanding,

grant me your wisdom, knowledge,
and understanding to present the full
Mattaponi tribal history in conjunction
with written history and research in truth
that it may not cast blame or be offensive,
but in a way that it may be enlightening
to all who read this book.

May the true history of the past acknowledge

mistakes, aggressions, deceits, prejudices, wrongful intents, greed, and injustices.

May we present our history in love, withholding nothing,

that we may see the past as a helpful tool to make the changes that we need in order

to walk together in harmony and in love and justice.

Let us borrow each others moccasins so that we may see each others point of view.

Let us walk in the present and not in the past

that we may make this day and all of our future days a better place for your creation.

May you see us as pleasing from your great moccasins.

Aho!

Dr. Linwood Little Bear Custalow,

eldest son of the late Chief Daniel Webster Little Eagle Custalow

Statue, Indian PrincessPocahontas in Gloucester, Virginia, erected in 1994. It is considered to be the only authentic depiction of Pocahontas as a youth. Extensive research was conducted for authenticity by Powhatan descendant Deborah White Dove Custalow Porreco and the statues sculptor, Adolf Sehring. Photograph by Angela L. Daniel Silver Star

Tsenacomoca 16071613

Our land was called Tsenacamoca in the Powhatan language. The English called it Virginia Britannia or Virginia. The map shows the approximate location of some of the prominent Powhatan villages and English-colonist settlements from 1607 to 1613.

Present-Day Virginia

The Powhatan chiefdom once held an alliance of thirty-two-plus tribes. Today, there are only eight state-recognized tribes in Virginia, five of which were part of the Powhatan chiefdom during the late seventeenth century: Pamunkey, Mattaponi, Nansemond (Nansamund), Rappahannock, and Chickahominy. The current-day Eastern Chickahominy tribe spilt off from the Chickahominy and Pamunkey tribes. The Upper Mattaponi tribe is a newly formed tribe, organized in the 1980s. None of the Virginia tribes have been granted federal recognition, and some have not yet received state recognition, such as the Powhatan Patawomeck (Potowomac) tribe. Only the Pamunkey and the Mattaponi tribes have been able to retain reservation land; they have also maintained an unbroken peace treaty with the Commonwealth of Virginia since 1646. This map shows the approximate location of eight remaining eastern Virginia tribes that were related to the Powhatan chiefdom.*