300 



POWHATAN 



[b. a. e. 



arrangement, placed them between the 

 Delawares and Nanticoke on one side 

 and the Pamptico on the other. 



When first known the Powhatan had 

 nearly 200 villages, more than 160 of 

 which are named by Capt. John Smith 

 on his map. The Powhatan tribes were 

 visited by some of the earliest explorers 

 of the period of the discovery, and in 

 1570 the Spaniards established among 

 them a Jesuit mission, which had but a 

 brief existence. Fifteen years later the 

 southern tribes were brought to the 

 notice of the English settlers at Roanoke 

 id., but little was known of them until 

 the establishment of the Jamestown set 

 tlement in 1607. The Indians were 

 generally friendly until driven to hostil- 

 ity by the exactions of the whites, when 

 petty warfare ensued until peace was 

 brought about through the marriage of 

 Powhatan's daughter to John Rolfe, an 

 Englishman. (See Pocahontas). A few 

 years later the Indians were thinned by 

 pestilence, and in 1618 Powhatan died 

 and left the government to Opechanca- 

 nough. The confederacy seems to have 

 been of recent origin at the period of 

 Powhatan's succession, as it then included 

 but 7 of the so-called tribes besides his 

 own, all the others having been con- 

 quered by himself during his lifetime. 



Opechancanough was the deadly foe of 

 the whites, and at once began secret 

 preparations for a general uprising. On 

 Mar. 22, 1622, a simultaneous attack 

 was made along the whole frontier, in 

 which 347 of the English were killed in 

 a few hours, and every settlement was 

 destroyed excepting those immediately 

 around Jamestown, where the whites had 

 been warned in time. As soon as the 

 English could recover from the first 

 shock, a war of extermination was begun 

 against the Indians. It was ordered 

 that three expeditions should be under- 

 taken yearly against them in order that 

 they might have no chance to plant 

 their corn or build their wigwams, and 

 the commanders were forbidden to make 

 peace upon any terms whatever. A 

 large number of Indians were at one 

 time induced to return to their homes by 

 promises of peace, but all were massacred 

 in their villages and their houses burned. 

 The ruse was attempted a second time, 

 but was unsuccessful. The war went on 

 for 14 years, until both sides were ex- 

 hausted, when peace was made in 1636. 

 The greatest battle was fought in 1625 

 at Pamunkey, where Gov. Wyatt de- 

 feated nearly 1,000 Indians and burned 

 their village, the principal one then ex- 

 isting. 



Peace lasted until 1 641 , when the Indians 

 were aroused by new encroachments of 

 the whites, and Opechancanough, then 

 an aged man, organized another general 



attack, which he led in person. In a 

 single day 500 whites were killed, but 

 after about a year the old chief was taken 

 and shot. By his death the confederacy 

 was broken up, and the tribes made sepa- 

 rate treaties of peace and were put upon 

 reservations, which were constantly re- 

 duced in size by sale or by confiscation 

 upon slight pretense. About 1656 tlie 

 Cherokee from the mountains invaded 

 the lowlands. The Pamunkey chief with 

 100 of his men joined the whites in re- 

 sisting the invasion, but they were ahnost 

 all killed in a desperate battle on Shocco 

 cr., Richmond. In 1669 a census of the 

 Powhatan tribes showed 528 warriors, 

 or about 2,100 souls, still surviving, the 

 Wicocomoco being then the largest tribe, 

 with 70 warriors, while the Pamunkey 

 had become reduced to 50. 



In 1675 some Conestoga, driven by 

 the Iroquois from their country on the 

 Susquehanna, entered Virginia and com- 

 mitted depredations. The Virginian 

 tribes were accused of these acts, and 

 several unauthorized expeditions were led 

 against them by Nathaniel Bacon, a num- 

 ber of Indians being killed and villages 

 destroyed. The Indians at last gathered 

 in a fort near Richmond and made prep- 

 arations for defense. In Aug., 1676, 

 the fort was stormed, and men, women, 

 and children were massacred by the 

 whites. The adjacent stream was after- 

 ward known as Bloody run from this cir- 

 cumstance. The scattered survivorsasked 

 peace, which was granted on condition of 

 an annual tribute from each village. In 

 1722 a treaty was made at Albany by 

 which the Iroquois agreed to cease their 

 attacks upon the Powhatan tribes, who 

 were represented at the conference by 

 four chiefs. Iroquois hostility antedated 

 the settlement of Virginia. With the 

 treaty of Albany the history of the Pow- 

 hatan tribes practically ceased, and the 

 remnants of the confederacy dwindled 

 silently to final extinction. About 1705 

 Beverley had described them as ' ' almost 

 wasted." They then had 12 villages, 8 of 

 which were on the Eastern shore, the 

 only one of consequence being Pamunkey, 

 with about 150 souls. Those on the East- 

 ern shore remained until 1831, when the 

 few surviving individuals, having bei'ome 

 v«o much mixed with negro blood as to be 

 hardly distinguishable, were driven off 

 during the excitement caused by the slave 

 rising under Nat Turner. Some of them 

 had previously joined the Nanticoke. 

 Jefferson's statement, in his Notes on 

 Virginia, regarding the number and con- 

 dition of the Powhatan remnant in 1785, 

 are very misleading. He represents them 

 as reduced to the Pamunkey and Matta- 

 pony, making altogether only about 15 

 men, much mixed M'ith negro blood, and 

 only a few of the older ones preserving 



