From Contact to Present: Indigenous Chesapeake

Pamunkey Chief George Major Cook photographed by Frank G. Speck

Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

The people of Tsenacomoco referred to the Europeans as tassantass, or strangers.

Almost as soon as the tassantass settled in the Chesapeake Bay, indigenous people were displaced. They soon faced laws that limited their rights and sought to erase their culture. But despite these hardships, indigenous people are still here today, working as tribal nations, preserving their cultures for future generations.

1500

In the 1500s, many different American Indian tribes with distinct languages and cultures lived in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. These societies were not static or primitive – tribes formed political alliances and lively trade networks facilitated cultural exchange.

Meanwhile, European countries began in earnest their centuries-long project of expanding their influence around the globe. As Portugal pursued control in East Asia, Africa, and Brazil, Spain established its first permanent colonial settlements in the Caribbean. By the end of the century, countries like England and France were also claiming territory in the New World. For Indigenous peoples, European arrival had a devastating effect, bringing diseases and the disruption of life as they knew it.

1530: The Spanish explore the coastline of the Chesapeake Bay.

1561: The Spanish seize a Virginia Indian boy named Paquiquineo. They bring him to Spain and Hispaniola. He returns to his homeland years later with a group of Jesuit missionaries, quickly abandons them to return to his people, and the Jesuits are killed.   
1550: The people we now know as the Susquehannocks move from a location further north into the Lower Susquehanna River Valley. The “Shenk’s Ferry” people, who already occupied that area, are either forcefully or peacefully absorbed into the Susquehannock tribe. 

1585: Sir Walter Raleigh attempts to establish an English settlement on the coast of what is now North Carolina. The colony famously disappears.  

Late 1500s: Wahunsunacock, who would become known to the English as Powhatan, inherited a position as chief of the Powhatan people. From an initial network of six tribes – the Powhatan, Pamunkey, Appamattuck, Mattaponi, Youghtanund, and Arrohateck – he gradually brought as many as 32 tribes under his influence.  

Early 1600

The early 1600s saw the establishment of the first permanent English colony in the Americas – a town called Jamestown which was built on the James River. The settlement’s survival rested in the hands of the region’s paramount chief, a man named Powhatan. His initial tolerance of the English soon turned to contempt, and in an effort to protect his people, Powhatan went to war with Jamestown. 

May 1607: The Virginia Colony of London, supported by a group of English investors, establishes a colony. A group of 105 men and boys build the Jamestown settlement on an island within the territory of the Paspahegh tribe, who are members of paramount chief Powhatan’s tributary network. Powhatan does not order any action yet from the tribes under his influence, allowing skirmishes and trades to occur between Jamestown and nearby tribes. 

December 1607: A group led by Powhatan's brother, Opechancanough, captures a member of Jamestown's governing council, Captain John Smith. They take him to Werowocomoco, where Powhatan resides. At Werowocomoco, Powhatan symbolically adopts Smith, making him a leader under his authority. Though Smith misunderstands the implications of the ceremony, a relationship is established between the two men that allows friendly trade to occur between them. But soon, the unwillingness of Smith to give guns or cannons to Powhatan weakens his trust in the colonists. 

Summer 1608: John Smith embarks on two exploratory voyages up and down the coastline of the Chesapeake Bay. His goals are to find precious metals and a passage to the Pacific Ocean. He also "claims" the land for King James. He meets with many tribes, trading with some and fighting off the attacks of others. Taking measurements and collecting information along the way, he later produces a map of the Chesapeake Bay and its indigenous communities based on these voyages. 

September 1608: Captain John Smith becomes president of the new English colony at Jamestown. Christopher Newport returns to the settlement with a second supply and a mission to coronate Powhatan with a crown from King James. Smith and Newport invite Powhatan to Jamestown, which he takes as an insult, insisting that his subjects must come to him at Werowocomoco. They travel to Werowocomoco and present the crown to Powhatan, asking him to kneel to receive it. This gravely offends Powhatan, and he refuses to bow to King James. 

Winter 1609: By 1609, Powhatan’s policy of trade and friendliness towards the colonists is over. He moves from Werowocomoco to Orapax, a town further inland, and tasks his people with forcing the English out by whatever means necessary. By ordering tribes to cease giving food to the colonists, many of the English colonists die of starvation that winter. Hostilities run high, and a period of increased violence occured between 1609-1614. 

1614: After years of conflict, a brief peace is reached thanks to the marriage between Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas and the colonist John Rolfe. 

1616: Pocahontas, Rolfe, their son, and a party of Virginia Indians travel to London. An effort to raise money for the Jamestown colony, Pocahontas does not survive the trip, dying of an unknown illness shortly into the return voyage. Powhatan himself passes away sometime in the years following, passing leadership to his brother Opitchapam. 

1622: Opechancanough, brother of Opitchapam and Powhatan, leads a coordinated and decisive attack against the ever-expanding English colony. He and his men kill between a quarter and a third of the colony’s citizens. This launches the two groups into another period of intensified fighting. 

1631: William Claiborne, a wealthy landowner and politician in the Virginia colony, sails to Kent Island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay to establish a trading post. From here, he trades furs and other goods with groups like the Susquehannocks. This incentivizes the Susquehannocks to continue expanding south into territory controlled by groups like the Piscataway.  

1634: Led by Leonard Calvert and chartered by England’s Lord Baltimore, the “Providence of Maryland,” or Maryland colony, reaches the Chesapeake Bay in 1634. Calvert asks the tayac, or paramount chief, of the Piscataway where to build his settlement. Facing pressures from all directions, the tayac responds noncommittally, saying that Calvert could stay or go somewhere else at his will. Calvert eventually purchases land from the Yaocomico people and founds St. Mary’s City on the peninsula formed by the Potomac and Patuxent Rivers. 

1644: Despite Opechancanough’s efforts, the English population in Virginia continues to grow and push native peoples out of their ancestral territory. In 1644 he launches another attack, killing even more people than in 1622. This sparks yet another period of intensified conflict. 

1646: Opechancanough is captured and killed while imprisoned at Jamestown. At the time of his death, he is thought to have been nearly 100 years old. Opechancanough’s successor as paramount chief, Necotowance signs a peace treaty with Virginia’s General Assembly. The treaty grants Necotowance’s people the land north of the York River but outlaws them from entering the land between the James and York rivers on pain of death. Any Indian children, however, who wish to live with the English are welcome. Necotowance’s successors are also supposed to be appointed or approved “from time to time” by the Governors. Finally, Necotowance is required to bring twenty beaver pelts to the King Governor every year. 

Late 1600

In the late 1600s, the Virginia Colony continued to grow, as well as the Maryland and Pennsylvania colonies. Shifting the balance of power in an already complex political landscape, indigenous communities are forced to adapt to the English presence. Warfare occurs along colonial borders where indigenous communities come into contact with wealthy English planters, and in the end, many tribes sign treaties to protect what remains of their people and lands.  

1666: In the years since the Maryland colony was established, trade occurs between the English and Indians, but relations are tense. For example, acts prohibit the purchase of land directly from the Indians and prohibit the sale of guns to Indians. In 1666, the colony signs a treaty with the Susquehannock. It also makes a treaty with twelve Algonquian nations, including the Piscataway. The treaty gives the governor power to choose new tayacs (paramount chiefs) and establishes reservation lands where the tribes are confined to. Any tribes that do not agree to the treaty provisions or who do not submit to English authority become enemies of the colony. Many Indians decide to leave Maryland rather than submit to colonial control. 

1675: The Susquehannocks, whose major towns are on the lower Susquehanna River, grow increasingly powerful by building trade relationships with Europeans from the mid-Atlantic to the northeast. In the 1670s, Maryland’s governor, Charles Calvert, invites them to move closer to the Potomac River, attempting to maintain his influence over this powerful group. They agree and build Susquehannock Fort at the mouth of Piscataway Creek. Meanwhile, the Doegs and other peoples are pushed up the Potomac River by planters from the Virginia colony. In 1675, when the Doegs attack the planters in retaliation, Susquehannock Fort is caught in the crossfire. A six-week siege of the fort ensues. The Maryland colony does not come to their defense, and a war breaks out between the Susquehannocks and the surrounding colonies. 

1676-77: As the war with the Susquehannocks continues, planters living on the Virginia frontier begin to call for harsher action against the Indians, allied or not. This and other complaints spark a group of colonists led by a young man named Nathanial Bacon to rebel against Virginia’s governor, William Berkley. Bacon’s forces succeed in burning down the capital at Jamestown, but the rebellion does not last long after Bacon’s death from dysentery. 

1677: Bacon’s rebellion now over, tensions remain high between colonial planters and American Indians. Chief Cockacoeske of the Pamunkey signs a treaty known as the Articles of Peace, ensuring that her people have legal protections. Speaking on behalf of several tribes that were once part of the Powhatan tributary network, she pledges loyalty to King James II in exchange for lands, hunting rights, and freedom from the wrath of nearby planters, slavery, and taxation. Meanwhile, warfare and disease take a toll on the Susquehannock people. A population of 900 remains in a town located in what is now Wrightsville, Pennsylvania. In 1677, they sign a treaty with the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy), and much of their population moves north and is absorbed by other tribes. 

1680: Due to their loyalty to the Maryland colony during the recent wars, Governor Charles Calvert grants land to the Piscataway people. They move from their capital town of Moyaone to Zekiah Swamp, where they stay for about 15 years. 

1700

By the 1700s, the population of the Powhatan-descendent tribes falls to only 1,000 people from its pre-contact population of 12,000. European epidemic diseases, in addition to war and displacement, are a major culprit. Reservation lands, including those of the Rappahannock, Chickahominy, and Nansemond are also lost. Assimilating to English culture in order to survive, the languages of many Native peoples go silent. 

1723: The College of William and Mary constructs the Brafferton building to house an “Indian School.” The purpose of the school is to educate young Indian men in Christianity in the hopes that they would spread the gospel among their tribes. 

1754-63: The French and Indian War is fought between the British and French for territorial control of North America. Different tribes support either side of the conflict. The war solidifies British control of the Chesapeake and the rest of the east coast. 

1775-83: The Revolutionary War is hugely consequential for American Indians. Native people fight on both sides of the war. However, when the Treaty of Paris ends the conflict, the United States is ceded all lands east of the Mississippi and south of Canada. This designation ignores indigenous lands and their efforts to support independence. 

1800

Native lands continued to be taken in the 1800s, with only two reservations remaining in Virginia. While the Civil War and the abolition of slavery by mid-century marked an important turning point for race in the United States, the 1800s also saw the violent seizure of indigenous lands in the West. In the Chesapeake Bay watershed, American Indians adapted to American society but never lost their traditional way of life. Many Indians continued to make a living as fishermen, trappers, farmers, and craftspeople. Selling goods like pottery allowed Native people to survive while keeping their traditions alive for the next generation. 

War of 1812: The War of 1812 Was a Turning Point for Native Americans. The conflict was their last, best chance for outside military help to protect their homelands from westward expansion. Just decades after independence, the U.S. clashed with Great Britain in the War of 1812, impacting Native Americans the most. As westward expansion encroached on their lands, many Indigenous peoples, led by Tecumseh, allied with the British for protection.

Tensions had risen over trade restrictions and the impressment of American sailors. Britain sought to hinder U.S. expansion toward Canada and the west, supporting tribes as a buffer against American aggression. President James Madison declared war on June 18, 1812, presenting Native Americans with a vital chance for military assistance in their fight for sovereignty. The results in the War didn't change much when it came to the U.S. and Britian, but the British were no longer an ally to the Indigenous People of America, thus opening the gates for westward expansion, impacting the nations forever.

1836: Colonists continued to encroach upon Native territory and civil rights. In 1836, a group of lawmakers in favor of driving all American Indians and freed African Americans from the state ask the Virginia General Assembly to disband the Pamunkey Reservation. The Pamunkey win their case, however, apart from the Mattaponi, they are the only group to maintain their reservation lands through to the present day. 

1861-65: Some American Indians, including members of tribes like the Pamunkey, serve the Union Army in the Civil War. 

1878: Virginia’s Hampton University, a historically black university, begins accepting American Indian students. 

1900

The 1900s began with the passage of a eugenics law in Virginia that erased Indigenous people from the historical record. But by the end of the century, the 1900s would be remembered as a century of revitalization and resistance. Civil rights and anti-colonial movements swept the globe, and tribal governments gained recognition from the United States. 

1920: Virginia tribes receive national attention for efforts to revitalize their culture and reorganize in search of legal recognition. For example, leaders from Powhatan-descendent tribes, including Chief George Major Cook, Paul Miles, and George Nelson, create the Second Powhatan Confederation. An anthropologist named Frank G. Speck, sponsored by the artifact collector George Gustav Heye, spends time in Virginia Indian communities, creating photographic documentation that is now housed at the National Museum of the American Indian. 

1924: In 1924, Virginia passed the Act to Preserve Racial Integrity, a law championed by eugenicist Walter Plecker. Applauded by the Third Reich, the law prohibits interracial marriage. It also categorizes all non-whites, regardless of their race, as “colored.” This effectively erases American Indians from official records. 

1930: In this census year, Powhatan communities fight for proper representation. Among others, Rappahannock Chief Otho Nelson petitions to have his people counted on the census as Indian. They achieve some success, but Plecker makes sure there is an asterisk next to any person marked Indian to indicate there may be an error.  

1960-70: Civil rights movements take off in the United States, and American Indians join forces with leaders like Martin Luther King and organizations like the NAACP. The American Indian Movement addresses discrimination, poverty, police brutality, autonomy, and other issues affecting indigenous communities. 

1967: The Racial Integrity Act is deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia.

1989: Eight tribes gain recognition from the Commonwealth of Virginia. They are the Mattaponi, Pamunkey, Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Rappahannock, Upper Mattaponi, Nansemond, and Monacan.

2000

In the 2000s, tribes throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed gained recognition from state governments. In addition, seven Virginia tribes were federally recognized. 

2010: Three additional tribes – the Cheroenhaka Nottoway, the Nottoway of Virginia, and the Patawomeck – receive state recognition in Virginia. 

2012: Two tribes -- the Piscataway Conoy Tribe and the Piscataway Indian Nation -- are recognized by the State of Maryland. 

2015: The Pamunkey Tribe receives federal recognition. 

2016: Virginia’s Secretary of the Commonwealth creates a Virginia Indian advisory board. The advisory board provides counsel to the state regarding non-recognized tribes seeking recognition.

2017: The Accohannock Indian Tribe becomes the third tribe to be state-recognized in Maryland. 

2018: Six additional tribes receive federal recognition, including the Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Rappahannock, Nansemond, Upper Mattaponi, and Monacan. Delaware recognizes the Nanticoke Indian Tribe. 

Sources

Kyle, Robert. “Lost Tribes of the Eastern Shore.” Washington Post, September 1, 1991.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1991/09/01/lost-tribes-of-the-eastern-shore/fcbe2ead-f7bd-45b8-a105-3d65ae4115ad/.

Rountree, Helen C., Wayne E. Clark, and Kent Mountford. John Smith's Chesapeake Voyages: 1607-1609. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2007.

Spivey , Ashley. “Knowing the River, Working the Land, and Digging for Clay: Pamunkey Indian Subsistence Practices and the Market Economy 1800-1900.” Dissertation, Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects, 2017.

Tayac, Gabrielle. “Eugenics and Erasure in Virginia.” National Museum of the American Indian, 2009.

Tayac, Gabrielle, and Edwin Schupman. We Have A Story To Tell: Native Peoples of the Chesapeake Region. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of the American Indian, 2006.

Wolfe, Brendan. “Indians in Virginia.” Encyclopedia Virginia. Accessed November 18, 2021. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/indians-in-virginia/.