THOMAS) Maryland's policy toward the Indians 573 



of Piituxeut river. It is also probable that it was assumed that the 

 purchase from the Yoamacoes embraced all the territory west of 

 Patuxent river aud north of the Potomac as far westward as no other 

 claim intervened. There is nothing- on record, so far as the writer has 

 been able to find, showing any imi'chase of land from the Indians, or 

 any treaty with them in regard to any lauds west of Monucavy river. 



That such was the construction in reference to the latter purchase 

 seems to be iiulicated by the following fact: 



By lfi.-)l the white population in that part of Maryland comprehend- 

 ing St Maiy's county and part of Charles county, had increased to 

 such a degree as to expel most <)f the aborigines thereof from their 

 lands. These Indians weie driven out aud forced to find homes in the 

 more interior portions of the province. They consisted of the follow- 

 ing tribes: The iMattapaniaus, the Wicomocons, Patuxeuts, Lanias- 

 consous, Highawixous, and the (Jhapticons, jjrobably divisions or 

 bauds of the Piscataway or Conoy. Lord Baltimore, being informed 

 of their distress and their willingness to form a settlement by them- 

 selves under his ])rotection and government, directed his lieutenant- 

 governor to cause a grant to be made to them under his great seal 

 "of a certain tract of laud in the head of Wicomoco river, called 

 Chaptico ■' (in Charles county), containing about 8,000 or 10,000 acres. 

 He further ordered that the land so granted should be erected into a 

 manor, to be called the Calverton Manor, and that a thousand acres 

 thereof should be set ajjart as the demesnes tliereof, to be reserved for 

 his own use, as was usual in his grants of other manors. He also 

 appointed Ilobert Clark to be the steward of said manor — 

 "... aud ill his name to keep court baron and court leet, as occasion should 

 require, in and for the said manor; and on his behalf to grant, by copy or copies of 

 court roll, eopyhold estates, for one, two, or three lives, of any part of the said 

 manor, except the demesnes thereof, to any Indian or Indians that should desire the 

 same, aud as he the said steward, with the approbation of the governor, should 

 think fit; provided, that no one copyhold exceed fifty acres, unless it be to the 

 ■Werowance or chief head of every of the said six nations respectively; and not to 

 any of them above two hiiudred acres a piece; aud that ujion every copy so to be 

 gr.anted there be reserved a rent of one shilling sterling, or the value thereof, to be 

 paid yearly to Lord Baltimore and his heirs lor every fifty acres of land resiiec- 

 tively to bo granted as aforesaid, and so proportionally for a lesser or a greater 

 quantity of land." ' 



As the acts of the assembly contain all the subsequent history of 

 the state relating to Indian lauds of auy importance in this conuec- 

 tiou, and within the scope of this work, the substance of these acts is 

 given here as found in Bacon and Kilt}''s (unpaged) Collections. 



The first of these, after those already given, following the date, is the 

 act of May 8, 1G09 — "An act for the continuation of peace with and pro- 

 tectiou of our neighbors and coufederates, Indiaus on Choptank river." 



This act, because of the fidelity of the Choptank Indians in deliver- 

 ing up certain murderers, etc, settles upon them and their heirs for- 



' Jiozmau, ibid., p. 422. 



