Powhatan

 

An Indian chief (1550–1618), father of Pocahontas; he headed a confederation of tribes in tidewater Virginia in the late 16th and early 17th century.

 

II

 

Powhatan, a wooden side-wheel gunboat transferred by the War Department to the Navy 21 April 1861, was renamed King Philip (q.v.) 4 November 1861.