Menatonan

Quick Facts

Significance:

Chowanoke werowance and rival to Wingina

Place of Birth:

Chowanoc (present-day Bertie County, NC)

Date of Birth:

early 1500s

Menatonan was a werowance (chief) of the Chowanoke people near the Chowan River in the late 1580s and came into conflict with English colonists. He was implicated by Wingina, a longtime adversary, as plotting against the English at Roanoke Island, but was able to convince the English that Wingina was their true enemy, protecting his people from the wrath of Ralph Lane. 

Menatonan was born sometime in the 1500s, and by the 1580s, he had become the leading werowance over the Chowanoke people, a tribe of Carolina Algonquian people. From the banks of the Chowan River, Menatonan ruled from a town the English called Chowanoc, which may have had as many as 2,800 people and 700 warriors. By 1585, Menatonan was said by the English to be one of the oldest Algonquian leaders they encountered in the area. 

The Chowanoke people traditionally came into frequent conflicts with people to both their east, west, and north. To the east, Menatonan had a rivalry with Wingina and the coastal Carolina Algonquian people of the Roanoke, Secotan, and Croatoan tribes. To the west, Menatonan would face competition from the Iroquois Tuscarora people in the interior of present-day North Carolina. To the north, he would encounter the Powatan people on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, likely both trading and warring with them. 

But in 1586, a new people abruptly entered Menatonan's life, the English. In 1585, the English had set up a colony on Roanoke Island among Wingina's people. In March, Wingina told the English leader Ralph Lane that Menatonan was gathering forces to strike at the English, and the English needed to attack them first to prevent disaster for their colony. Ralph Lane gathered up soldiers and moved up the Albemarle Sound to confront Menatonan. Having never met the English, Menatonan was caught off-guard by the English invasion and was taken prisoner by Ralph Lane for two days. During the two-day imprisonment, Menatonan negotiated with Ralph Lane and told him he and the Chowanoke people were no threat to the English. Instead, he attempted to convince Lane that Wingina posed the real threat to the English colony.

Menatonan also told the English of the other powerful tribes in the area and indicated that if they traveled up the Roanoke River, they would find a large open sea. The English took this to mean the Pacific Ocean and sought it as a northwest passage. 

Lane decided to release Menatonan after two days, but he still did not fully trust him and took his son, Skiko, hostage to hold power over the Chowanoke people. Lane's people kept Skiko hostage at Roanoke Island, while Lane followed Menatonan's information and traveled up the Roanoke River. 50 miles up the river, the English were attacked by another group of Native people, and returned to Chowanoc. Lane cemented an alliance with Menatonan when the Englishman returned. Skiko, however, was still being held hostage at Roanoke Island. While there, Skiko continued to try to convince the English that Wingina was the true threat to the English. Lane, following advice from Menatonan and Skiko, attacked Wingina and his people at Dasemunkepeuc and then left for England shortly after the attack.

Menatonan is not mentioned in English sources from that point on, and whether he encountered the Lost Colony is not known. The area Menatonan and the Chowanoke people live has become just one of the locations of interest for the search of the English colony. But his role in this story is concretely in the story of the military colony and his relationship with Wingina and Ralph Lane. Menatonan played a crucial role in convincing the English to attack Wingina and their former allies near Roanoke Island. Whether Menatonan was playing up the danger of his rival Wingina or was truthful in his assessment of the threats against the English is unknown, but his impact on this story leaves ripples through the story.