4  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    96 
ACTS  RELATING  TO  THE  INDIANS  PASSED  BY  THE  GENERAL 
ASSEMBLY  DURING  THE  SECOND  HALF  OF  THE 
SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 
Great  changes  necessarily  occurred  among  the  native  tribes  of 
Virginia  after  the  English  entered  the  wilderness  and  occupied  much 
of  their  land.  Unrest  developed,  and  it  is  evident  that  soon  after  the 
middle  of  the  century  the  native  tribes  whose  villages  stood  on  the 
banks  of  the  Rappahannock,  beyond  the  English  plantations,  were 
regarded  with  grave  apprehension. 
In  November  1654,  among  "  Orders  of  Assembly  ",  as  transcribed 
by  Hening,"  is  one  "  Concerning  the  March  against  the  Rappa' 
Indians."  This  reads  in  part  (p.  389)  :  "  Whereas  divers  complaints 
have  bin  made  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  counties  of  Lancaster, 
Northumberland  and  Westmoreland  concerning  divers  injuries  and 
insolencyes  offered  and  done  by  the  Rappahannock  Indians,  unto 
them."  The  order  then  states  the  number  of  men  to  be  furnished  by 
each  county,  "  with  armes,  amunition  and  provisions,  with  boates  and 
other  necessaries  for  their  voyage  to  the  said  Rappahannock  townes." 
But  it  is  not  known  to  which  villages  this  referred. 
Late  in  the  spring  of  1656  occurred  the  sanguinary  encounter 
between  colonists  and  Indians,  the  latter  thought  to  have  been  a 
Siouan  tribe  from  farther  up  the  Rappahannock,  who  had  moved  to 
the  vicinity  of  the  falls  of  the  James.  It  was  a  period  of  much  con- 
cern to  the  frontier  settlements  of  Virginia  where  the  native  tribes 
were  being  harassed  by  their  enemies  from  far  northward. 
Many  laws  affecting  the  Indians  were  enacted  and  enforced  in 
Virginia  during  the  succeeding  years.  Some  made  specific  reference 
to  the  people  of  the  Rappahannock  valley,  others  were  more  general 
and  applied  to  all  tribes  alike.  Trade  was  frequently  the  subject  of 
the  acts,  and  these  now  shed  light  on  the  economic  problems  with 
which  the  colonists  were  then  confronted.  Brief  quotations  from 
Hening  should  prove  of  interest: 
Act  CXXXVIII  of  the  "  Grand  Assembly  Held  at  James  City 
March  the  23d  1661-2  "  was  a  digest  of  earlier  laws  relating  to  the 
Indians  some  of  which  reveal  facts  of  historical  importance." 
First  concerning  food : 
And  be  it  ftirther  enacted  that  for  the  better  releife  of  the  poore  Indians 
whome  the  seating  of  the  E'ngHsh  hath  forced  from  their  wonted  conveniencies 
''  Hening,  WilHam  Waller,  The  Statutes  at  Large ;  being  a  collection  of  all 
the  Laws  of  Virginia,  from  the  first  session  of  the  Legislature,  in  the  year 
1619,  vol.  I,  New  York,  1823. 
■*  Hening,  op.  cit.,  vol.  2,  p.  140. 
