l6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 82 



of the mounds disappeared and their existence was forgotten. How- 

 ever the mound which stood on the bank of the Rivanna was to Hve 

 in history, and the careful manner in which it was examined by 

 Jefferson will ever be of interest. 



About the year 1654 many Indians came from a distance and " sett 

 downe near the falls of James river, to the number of six or seaven 

 hundred." ' It appears they came to seek a new home, in no manner 

 antagonistic to the colonists and desiring peace. However, after they 

 had been there some months the English endeavored to expel them and 

 this resulted in one of the greatest and most disastrous battles ever 

 fought by early settlers and Indians. Totopotomi and his Pamunkey 

 warriors had become allies of the English, but he and the majority 

 of his followers fell when the entire force was routed and defeated. 

 The identity of the Indians who had thus come to the region of the 

 falls to seek a peaceful home, and who proved themselves such 

 worthy warriors, has never been determined. The name Rechahecrian 

 or Rickohockan has been applied to them, believed by some to have 

 been the Cherokee, although it was Mooney's later belief that they 

 were Erie who had come southward. However, a statement by 

 Lederer makes it appear they were the people of two Monacan groups, 

 the Massinacack and Monahassanugh. who may have come from 

 farther up the James to settle a new home more protected from the 

 war parties of the Iroquois. 



As has already been explained the Mahocks and Nahyssans of 

 Lederer were probably the Massinacack and Monahassanugh of 

 Smith and other early writers. Thus when Lederer mentioned the 

 great encounter and said : " a great Indian king called Tottopottoma 

 was heretofore slain in battle, fighting for the Christians against the 

 Mahocks and Nahyssans " ' he did not doubt the identity of the people 

 against whom the English and the Pamunkey allies fought. Lederer. 

 on his map, gave the name Rickohockans to a tribe then living far to 

 the westward beyond the mountains. The name or term has never 

 been clearly understood or translated, and with slight variation of 

 spelling has been used to designate several tribes in widely separated 

 parts of the country. But the word may have been a term applied 

 under certain conditions and not the definite name of any tribe or 

 group of tribes. If this belief is correct it could have been applied 

 to Siouan as well as to Iroquoian or other tribes. 



The Rickohockans, so-called, were to Lederer a vague group, 

 evidently known to him only during his travels away from the English 



^ Hening, I, p. 402. 

 ^ Op. cit.. p. 10. 



