STM Trail Tales

A lot is known about the Powhatan tribes because of reports and drawings of colonists at the Jamestown settlement that was established in 1607. The name Powhatan refers to the Algonquian-speaking tribes of the Virginia tidewater. There were hundreds of settled towns and villages near the Chesapeake Bay that were all under one ruler named chief Wahunsunacock. The fall season drew a lot of people to hunt for food. Europeans came and left no sign of being there unlike them. When it got warm they came up with more permanent spots in the blue ridge and Shenandoah valley. The better-known tribes were the Monacans and the Manahoacs. John Leder discovered them on his way to  the blue ridge. 

John Smith discovered a big group of Manahoacs early on in 1608 along the Rappahannock river the Manahoacs. He found out they were enemies with the Powhatans but friends with the moncancs. The piedmont probably did what they could to prevent the Powhatans from getting west into the mountains. The men fish and  hunt and do exercises and the women make mats baskets and pots and they also build houses. The houses were tunnel-like or longhouses.  The woven mats provided ventilation. The Powhatan tribes didn’t use fertilizer on their fields because after a few years the family would move to a different place nearby. Over a few decades the whole town would be relocated. The relationship between the Powhatans and the English became less friendly when the settlers started moving and expanding their colony. Settlers began attacking the Indian villages and burning their homes and fields, not only would they destroy the town but they would kill the Indians. This broke the basic rule of warfare for the Powhatans and their attacks on the English settlers became more severe. 

After a decade of warfare the English colonies population grew to about 8,000 but the Powhatan population had fallen to 5,000. In addition to the killing there were diseases and displacements of tribes. Opechancanough started another fight in April 1644. His warriors killed lots of the english settlers but  there were more english settlers and they were able to fight back quickly. After a few years of fights the Powhatans couldn’t stop the English anymore. Opechancanough was captured and taken away to Jamestown. At Jamestown he was being held as a prisoner and was shot in the back by an English guard. His death made the Powhatan chiefdom come to an end. 

After his death the Powhatans had a hard time, they lost their land and their ways of life. The government allowed many of the Indian tribes to keep certain areas of land but none of the areas were big enough for them to do things like hunting and gathering. The Indians were unable to keep their independence and so many of them were forced to work for the english as slaves. Settlers continued to come onto Indian land leaving them with no room and forcing them off the land. Some have left and joined other free communities. The language of the powhatans is unknown. Even though the tribes might not be the same the Powhatans have still kept their identities and ties with the other tribes.

In the early 1600s, European explorers found their way into the mountains so they were able to discover new land they have never seen before, and they also were able to discover that there were other people there and they called them Indians. We don’t know a lot about Indians but we do know what the Indians look like from drawings that the settlers did in 1607 and by John Smith's descriptions of them. In the fall hunters/gatherers were always out so they could get food and goods for the winter. Indians were also big into agriculture so they grew a lot of things and sometimes taught the settlers how to grow crops. The women of the town did the farm work and sometimes built houses, the houses were also very good at keeping it not too hot and not too cold, and they were good for storing food.  They also did not use fertilizer so they had to move farmland and every decade the village had to relocate. The settlers and the Indian’s hatred for each other grew when the settlers kept taking land, and they kept having warfare between each other. The Powhatan’s way of life was interrupted so they kept losing land and language between each other. Someone in the tribe named Pocahontas was also taken and taught English, she married an English man and also died shortly after making the Powhatans very angry.

As the hatred between English men and Natives grew Opechancanough had wanted to do something about it. Opechancanough was the chief of the paramount tribe and the second brother of the old Powhatan leader. He led a major raid on the English men on the march of 1622. He wanted the English men to run away and flee but they did not do that, they actually called for reinforcements and made a counter-attack on them. After a long time of warfare, the English men had grown to about 8,000 but the Indians had lost 5,000 people. Another attack was launched in April of 1644. In that battle, the Indians were in more control and won the battle. After many more battles, the Indians were not able to hold off the settlers so they were defeated.

Powhatans and other Virginian indigenous tribes have been attracted to Virginia’s natural beauty for a while. Most of what we know about these native people comes from archaeological discoveries in areas around Jamestown, the largest and most significant tribe during this era was the Powhatan tribe.

When English settlers first had contact with the Native Americans in Virginia, the tribes in the area had a population of about 14,000. The first towns of the English settlers were built near the Chesapeake Bay, and they were usually made in a way that prevented intruders, and made it easy to spot incoming people.

In Native American villages, there was a lot of hunting and gathering, the men did most of the hunting, they usually hunted for the whole day and brought home enough food for the whole family. The women and children did the farming, they farmed/gathered berries, roots, nuts, and they occasionally fished. Men did the chores of making weapons and tools with stone and wood, and the women and children made the houses and the clothing. The Native Americans usually got around by canoe, which was made by hollowing a tree out using fire.

The Powhatans didn’t treat their fields, so after they were done using them they moved their village to another location.  The Native Americans believed that all land was shared, but the English settlers had a different system and they just “claimed” this land. If a Native American were to come on these grounds again, then they would be considered “trespassing”. This created tension between the settlers and the Native Americans because it was no longer safe to go to their former land, and they still used the land for hunting and gathering  This led to the settlers attacking the Native American villages, the first village they destroyed was the town of Paspahegh, and they sadly killed every Native American living there.  The tension got worse and worse until the capture of Pocahontas (the daughter of Chief Powhatan) while being held hostage she was tutored and she learned English, she ended up marrying her tutor who was named John Rolfe. This led to a peace agreement between the Native Americans and the colonists that lasted for quite a while, but the peaceful period ended when Pocahontas died in England. 

Chief Powhatan then died soon after that, and Opitchapam became the new chief, but a man named Opechancanough had the most authority on attacks.  Opechancanough led a  massive raid on an English settlement in 1622, this raid was a very important event and the tensions between the two kept getting worse. They kept fighting for years and in 1644 after decades of killing each other, Opechancanough led another raid on a settlement, but his odds were awful, the settlers had 8,000 people and the Powhatan had a population of only 5,000. The population of both sides was decreasing due to disease,  during the raid, Opechancanough was captured and forced to go to Jamestown, where he was executed.  

After his death, the Powhatan tribe kept declining and it eventually ceased to exist. From then on, the other coastal tribes started to slowly lose control of their land, traditions, and ways of life. The government let many tribes keep certain pieces of their land, but none of the reservations were large enough to be able to keep the same lifestyle.

Pocahontas who might be known as Rebecca, Matoaka, or Amonute was mostly referred to as Pocahontas and in English translating into mischievous one. She was born around 1596 near today’s Jamestown Virginia. She helped create peace between Indian tribes and the English settlers, she did this by befriending them.  She was the daughter of Powhatan the Chief of the Powhatan empire which consisted of about 28 tribes. Pocahantas was around 10 or 11 when she first met the settlers who settled in the Chesapeake bay area. Colonial leader John Smith has said that in the December of that year Pochantas saved his life because her father had taken him as a  prisoner. Pocahontas saved his life by placing herself over him in what was thought to be his execution. 

After this, Pocanantas visited the settlement, sometimes bringing gifts or food. She continued to save colonist’s lives in a trading party by warning them of an ambush. Once Smith left for England in 1609 the relationship between Powhatans and settlers went downhill. Pocahontas was informed of Smith’s death and stopped visiting the settlements for about 4 years. In 1613 She was taken prisoner by Samuel Argall, who tried using her to get weapons, and Colonists back who had been taken as prisoners.  Chief Powhatan released a couple of prisoners but once he refused to negotiate further she was taken to another English settlement called Henricus. There she was converted to Christianity and was baptized with her Christian name Rebecca. Once Pocahantas accepted the marriage proposal from John Rolfe both Chief Powhatan and Sir Thomas Dale Agreed to the marriage. They were married in April 1614. After the marriage, there was peace between the English and the native Americans for as long as Chief Powotan Lived. In the spring of 1616 Pocahantas, Her husband, their one-year-old son, and a group of other Native Americans sailed to England. While they were preparing for their visit back to Virginia Pocahantas Became Ill with something believed to be lung disease. She died in a town called Gravesend around the age of 21. She was buried there on March 21, 1617. Once her son was older and had moved to Virginia, he became a successful tobacco farmer. Pocahantas has been an image in American Literature and Art as The Indian Princess.

The Powhatan women built permanent homes made of bent saplings covered with woven mats or bark slabs. If the family was of higher status or of a larger families, the houses were constructed in a long tunnel-like fashion to which the English gave the name longhouses. The English thought that these houses were flimsy but they were very strong compared to the colonists' houses. They were well-suited for the summer heat by having the central fire alight with embers to keep the insects away.  In the winter the houses got more mats to keep it warm and dry. The central fire in the houses is important because it keeps all of the men, women, and children warm and safe.  This fire also kept the house dry while outside it was snowy or rainy.  These longhouses were also good for storing food and protected people from predators such as bears, snakes, and deer.

Pocahontas, also called Matoaka, Amonute, or her christian name, Rebecca, was a Powhatan Indian woman who became friends with english settlers.  The relationship served as a way of communication and peace between the english settlers and the Powhatan Indians. Pocahontas was the favorite daughter of chief Powhatan of the Powhatan tribe. Along the way she met John Smith, an english settler. According to Smith’s diary, Pocahontas had allegedly saved his life by setting him free, and saving him from getting killed by a club when he was captured by her father, Powhatan. After she allegedly saved him, John Smith and Pocahontas became great friends. 

Pocahontas would visit Smith and the other settlers, often bringing gifts from her tribe. Smith soon left the english settlement and went back to England in 1609 where he later passed away. Due to Smith's departure from the english settlement, the relationship between the Powhatan Indians and the english settlers worsened and decayed. Pocahontas didn’t visit the settlement for four years after Smith withdrew himself from Jamestown. Later, she was captured and taken to Henricus where she married John Rolfe, an english settler.They settled in Henricus where their baby boy, Thomas was born. Soon after her son's birth, she passed away of lung cancer at the age of 21.

The war started from 1609-1614. The Indians of Tsenacomoco had met with Europeans in the past. In 1570, Don Luís de Velasco, an Indian who had left home on a Spanish ship, transferred his race to Catholicism, and changed his name, returned to the Chesapeake with a party of Jesuit people,Several months later, he led Indians on a raid that killed all the Spaniards except for a young boy. When the Englishmen built a fort in may 1607,they chose their site based on how best to defend themselves from the Spanish, not the Indians. 

Powhatan wanted to learn about the colonists so he sent an attack to see how much fire power they had, and to see if they would have a chance in battle.In December 1607, a communal hunting party led by Powhatan's younger brother Opechancanough took John Smith, eventually sending him to Werowocomoco, on the York River. At the York river according to the rumors,Pocahontas saved his life. But many people that study him now believe that Smith instead may have been an adoption ritual when Powhatan attempted to convince the colonists into his chiefdom. Offering Smith the title of werowance, or chief, of the village of Cappahosic,near Werowocomoco, Powhatan hoped to place the Englishman where he could closely watch him. Smith did not want to be chief, declaring his allegiance to King James I, but later that year he attempted, more or less, to adopt Powhatan. 

In September 1608, Smith and Captain Christopher Newport awkwardly crowned the mamanatowick in order to make him subject to the English king. Powhatan accepted their gifts but soon after cut off trade with the English.. John Smith told 2 groups of soldiers to go live off the land they tried to go and talk to an indian tribe but their messengers disappeared and they attacked the town and took their copper and glass beads. In november a boy told them that powhatan invited them to the new capital at oparox and the group that went was led by john ratcliffe but instead of a bunch of stuff to trade it was an ambush and john ratcliffe was skinned alive by women with mussel shells. Again powhatan was cutting off trade and access to the surrounding woods because that's where the colonists got their food. The colonists had to eat mice, rats, dogs, cats , musk turtles and sometimes each other. 

The Indians' desire to take prisoners acted as a restraint. At present-day West Point, where the York and Mattaponi rivers meet, the Englishmen disembarked and faced down several hundred Indians. When, after two days, neither side was willing to fire first, the colonists returned to Jamestown. Pocahontas got married to a man named John Rolfe and the english and the Indians both agreed that the marriage could bring peace.  This is when the war ended. Eight years later the 2nd anglo-powhatan war started. Thank you.