POWHATAN, pow-ha-tan', Indian sachem: b. about 1550; d. 161& This was the name of his tribe; his own was Wahunsonacook. Origi nally he was at the head of eight tribes, but being a man of great natural abilities he raised himself from the rank of a chieftain to the command of 30 tribes, numbering about 8,000. (See POWHATAN INDIANS). His dominions in cluded the country between the James and Pa tuxent, and extended into the interior as far as the falls of the chief rivers. One of his abodes was a village of a few wigwams near the present site of Richmond. A large guard of warriors usually attended him, and his dwelling was watched at night by sentinels. After the ex tension of his power northward, he dwelt mainly at Werowocomoco. on York River, in the present county of Gloucester, a few miles from Jamestown. He was disposed to look with dislike upon the coming of the whites. Capt.
John Smith, in 1607, was held for some time by Powhatan as a prisoner, and according to the tradition, when Smith had been condemned to death, the sachem yielded to the entreaties of his daughter Pocahontas (q.v.) and spared his
life. Two years later Powhatan was crowned ((Emperor of the Indies') by Smith and Capt. Christopher Newport, during a visit which they paid him in quest of supplies. Smith afterward made an unsuccessful attempt to capture Pow hatan in order to obtain a supply of corn, and in revenge for this Powhatan prepared to exter minate the English, but was foiled by the watch fulness of Pocahontas. The quarrels between Powhatan and the English did not cease until the marriage of his daughter to John Rolfe (q.v.), after which he was their firm friend. Smith's description of Powhatan represents him as a ((tall, well-proportioned man, with a sour look, his head somewhat gray, his beard so thin that it seemed none at all, his age near sixty, of a very able and hardy body to endure any labor.) Powhatan died in 1618 and was suc ceeded by his brother Opitchapam, who was soon supplanted by a younger brother, Ope chancano (q.v.) already a very noted warrior.