STM Trail Tales

People have been drawn to the Blue Ridge Mountains long before the Appalachian Trail was even created. Centuries ago European explorers and pioneers found their way into the mountains, most often with the help of Indians. Some settled on the mountainsides, clearing forests for homes and farms and changing the landscape. Before that, there is evidence that these mountains were visited by nomadic groups and later by tribes. During the fall seasons a lot of hunters and gatherers came to these mountain forests and streams. Unlike the Europeans, they left without disturbing the forests.

What we know about the early people of Virginia come from archeologists. Archeological evidence suggests that no permanent settlements were ever made in the mountains. Some of these camps date back to the late Ice Age. After the Ice Age nomadic groups became more permanent to the Blue Ridge in the Piedmont area, and in parts of the Shenandoah Valley. Two of the better-known tribes were the Monacans and the Manahoacs. A lot is known about the Powhatans thanks to reports and drawings from the Jamestown colonists and early explorers.

In John Smith’s journal, he describes the Indians. He writes how the women do most of the work in the village, such as making mats, baskets, pots, they pound their corn, make their bread, They made their meals, plant their corn. What he found most interesting is that they even built the homes. The men were the hunters and gatherers for the tribes. The men also made the tools and built canoes.

Coastal Algonquian tribes did not use fertilizer on their fields. Instead after a few years, they moved their fields and their homes to newly cleared areas. After a few decades, a whole village or town would move to a new area. The unused fields could be used by anyone who needed them, but the land still was owned by them. The colonists didn’t understand that, so they took their land for themselves and didn’t give it back.

The relationship between the colonists and the Powhatans became less friendly when colonists wanted to expand their land. They started to attack Indian Villages In one case they killed everyone in a village including the women and children. So after that attack, they started attacking the colonists more often and more severely. Eventually, the colonists captured the chief's daughter. For a year she was tutored by John Rolfe. Pocahontas eventually married him. In 1613 she died in England. The chief of the Powhatans died shortly after in 1618. The power was officially passed to his brother, but it was a second brother who held the real power. In 1622 he led a raid against the English colonists. He expected them to surrender, but instead, they got reinforcements to lead a counter-attack.

The English colony grew to about 8,000 people and the Powhatans population decreased to 5,000. In addition to the deaths from killing, there was a disease that killed a lot of people too. The English started to push the Powhatans off their land to go more inland for the desired cash crop at the time. The chief launched a raid in April of 1644. There were two years of this raid and then the Powhatans could not hold off the English anymore and then the chief was captured. At eighty years old, he refused his loss and did not sign the treaty. Then while still a prisoner, he was shot in the back. From that time on, the coastal tribes started to lose control of their land. The colonists forced them off their land. They still owned small parts of their land, but it wasn’t enough to sustain the normal amount of supplies. The tribes started to perish. Even with tribes merging they couldn’t tend to their needs. Some Indians tried to live in the white communities, while others went to be part of the free black communities. (Continued)

When The English colonists ventured to america they met local indians and took over the indians land.

The english colonists arrived to the chesapeake Bay in 1607 and after having a small skirmish with the local indians they then went on to explore the river.

They met all different kinds of Indians along the way and made some allies with different indian tribes.

By the fall they were starved and needed any food they could get however, before that the Indians offered peace and because of that the colonists were saved.

During the winter John Smith ( A jamestown founder as well as a famous sailor)  was captured by Indians while exploring the upper river of the Chesapeake bay.

John Smith wrote that Powhatan ( The Powhatan tribe leader) was a well fit man and that his people lived very nicely.

In December of 1607 The Indians and the colony met up and gave him food and then tried to get to know him better. Smith wrote how he was saved by the leader's daughter Pocahontas and how she lived.

Once pocahontas saved john smith the chief (powhatan) gave him food and offered him a job.

Powhatan said that moving the colonists to a nearby town would let him rule more of the land and give him more control.

John smith then found out and declined the offer and left the colony where it was.

Smith and Captain Christopher Newport visited Werowocomoco. In 1608

In 1608, Christopher Newport ( a founder of jamestown ) went to a meeting with Indians and had a lavish party. After that Newport, the Virginia company of London's representative started to treat the powhatan equally.

Religion affected all aspects of the Virginian Indian life and culture. It helped to determine the Chief leaders and the governing rules for the Indians to follow. The Virginian Indians believed that the spirits lived alongside them and they were not much different from themselves. They believed that religion explained the past and made predictions about the future. The Virginian Indians showed great respect for the spirits and made offerings to them daily. They also worshipped plants and animals. The Virginian Indians believed that if they respected and worshiped the spirits, they would grant them with good weather, good harvests, peace with neighbors, fertility and successful hunting trips. If they did not respect or worship the spirits, illness, drought, bad harvests, bad weather and war would occur. 

The Virginian Indians tried to keep a balance between themselves and the spirits: the respect that was given was the same amount of respect received. When imbalance occurred, they performed rituals to try to understand why these imbalances were happening. If something became off balance, like they had a bad harvest or a woman lost her child, they consulted with their religious advisors or the Kwiocosuk. The Kwicosuk were at the top of the social status and deserved a lot of respect. They lived in temples away from the village and took care of the spirits. The Kwiocosuk had a large amount of power and if the Indian Chief wanted to make a decision affecting his tribe, he first had to consult with the Kwiocosuk. The kwiocosuk also acted as the village’s doctor. That was the Virginian Indians religion.

The word powhatan relates back to the Algonquian speaking tribe of Virginia. Most houses in this tidewater coastal area were conquered by chief Wanhunacock. These houses and this land formed the Powhatan’s tribe. This area had a huge population of 14,000. There were many towns near this area. This area could be defended very easily which was one of the men’s roles. This role for the men was fighting their enemies, they fought with bows and arrows. One of their strategies to beat their enemy was to know the land and how to maneuver it. The traditional outfit of an male Indian gave them good camouflage in some areas. 

Some of the men’s other responsibilities included fishing, hunting, and other manlike activities. Some ways they caught a lot of fish was using nets to catch many fish at one time, or using a spear for bigger fish. If there was an iced over pond they would also ice fish. They used the coastal area to move to better fishing spots if needed. For hunting they would use traps to catch animals like rabbits. Or used a bow and arrow for bigger animals like deer. They helped out for harvests but women also helped on that. Those were some of the men's roles but they also helped out with much more.

The Powhatan women made hats, baskets, bread, houses, pots, morters, and they planted, harvested and pounded corn from the fields. Different pottery was made and people around the world are seeing these pots and buying them today, by museums. Women would help cook the fish that the men caught daily from the rivers.  John Smith said the men in the tribe were lazy, because the women did most of the farming. Most of the fields were burned by english settlers to get the indians out. 

They wanted them out so they could take over their land. Even if the fields were “burned”, the women would try to save as much agricultural products as they could.The houses they made were made by bent saplings and woven mats to keep certain weather out, like snow and rain. In the winter women would make more woven mats to put on the house to keep it warm, and they would build a fire in each house. The people with higher “respect” got longer houses which the Americans called “longhouses”. The men in the tribe were very grateful for all the women’s work. Without the accomplishments of the women the men would not have been able to have free time on what they wanted to do.

In the early 1600’s, The Powhatan indians lived on waterways. Waterways were used for transportation and retrieving food, they had lots of fish, oysters, clams, and waterfowl. Waterfowl is another word for ducks, geese, and seagulls. Because of this, the Powhatans did not have to move around as much as the other tribes, because they had all they needed right in front of them. 

Over time, the Powhatan Indians would become more agricultural by fishing, hunting, growing corn and other vegetables. Another thing they did was forage plants for foods and medicines. In John Smith’s journal he stated “The men hunt, fish and go to war. The women and children did the rest of the work.” They made bowls, pots, mats, baskets and mortars, which are bowls made to smash ingredients together in order to combine them. They also made bread and planted and picked corn.The English Men perceived the woman doing the farming as a sign of the males laziness, even though the men kept busy with hunting, fishing, and making canoes.In conclusion, they ate fish, waterfowl, clams, oysters, bread, corn, and other vegetables.

The politics of the Tsenacomoco were very complicated; Tsenacomoco was ruled by the mamanatowick or the chief. When the English got to Tsenacomoco, Powhatan  A.K.A wahunsonacock was the chief. Historians assume that Powhatan was most likely born in 1550 in the town of Powhatan. Powhatan inherited the core six tribes of Tsenacomoco; as for the other tribes, he either conquered them or had them pay tribute.

Powhatan was powerful, but he didn’t have all the power. Each chiefdom of Tsmenacoco had its own weroanance, who sits on the council or the cockarouse that advised the Manamotowick. Sometimes the paramount chief would ask the council on a matter, but sometimes he would act alone. Chiefs were often provided with priests, unlike the Manatowick the weroance would be subordinate or lower in rank to their priests.

Unlike many of Powhatan’s successors, he was focused on diplomacy with others. Many of the other successors acted like war leaders. Powhatan has power against anyone he wanted, and he did not hesitate to use them. He was also in charge of the welfare of the people. The people gave him power, when the people felt that Powhatan was leading them well, they give him more tribute (mostly food for sacred rituals and times of need), but when he failed the tribes their trust in him went down, therefore his power declined. Before the English came in 1607 Powhatan had the highest amount of power he could

The life of the Powhatan Indians was a lot different than ours is today. The Powhatan Indians settled across the Chesapeake Bay. They made it so it was easy to see if other tribes or enemies were coming across the Chesapeake. They settled close together along the Chesapeake. Waterways were the easiest way for transportation. They also served as a way to get food. The Powhatans did not have to move around as much as other tribes because they had an abundance of food. They created agricultural communities to grow corn and vegetables for fishing and to forage plants.  In his diary, John Smith wrote about the Powhatans.”The males mainly do the hunting, fishing, and fighting in wars, like any Native American. The women would stay home and take care of the house with their children.” 

According to Smith, the men were a lot lazier than the women, because of the burden of all of the work put upon them. Women would make baskets and mats and cook food like fish and meat and tend to the crops. The Englishmen were really surprised about the Powhatan’s houses because the women made them. The houses mainly were made out of tree products, like bark for cover, and saplings for support. The houses would have long-lasting central fires to keep out bugs, and were really good for the change in seasons. The homes were also good for drying foods and crops. The Powhatans didn’t use fertilizers and growth increasing items. The women would tend to the crops and water them, and when they died, would make another spot or site to put the plants on and care for them there. After a long time, the Powhatans would move locations. The land that the families once owned was usable to non-enemies to the families. The English men assumed that any unsettled land was theirs to keep so they were upset at the Indians for going into their “private property”. This ended up with them fighting over perspectives on land. The Englishmen thought that the land was anyone’s for the taking, and the Powhatan thought that the land was theirs.

Powhatan ruled over an alliance of 28-31 or more tribes that spanned all over Virginia, with its core being the Powhatan Indians and the

Pamunkey(puh MUHN kee),

Arrohateck(Arr RO huh tek),

Appamattuck(AP puh Ma tuk),

Youghtanund(YAH tan nund), and

Mattaponi(Matt ow poh NYE) Indians. It was called Tsenacomoco(seh NAH coh MOH coh). Powhatan became their chief because he inherited the role. Most of the tribes were situated along the James River, but by 1607 it covered the North of the Rappahannock to the South of the James River. To maintain his control, Powhatan frequently moved tribes around and replaced lower chiefs with more sympathetic ones. One of the highest chiefs was his own brother, and he made a habit of marrying the sisters of chiefs so they became his brothers-in-law. The English were informed about how Powhatan's men had destroyed the Chesapeake at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in the past and to retaliate, replaced the Kecoughtan(kee COWN tinn) Indians with other loyalists north of the James. Powhatan would attack some of the tribes for unknown reasons, for example, In 1608, the Piankatank(pee ANK uh tank) Indians were ambushed and attacked by Powhatan. These attacks only became known afterward because of English visits. Due to the violence of Powhatan, some anthropologists have debated that the Powhatan paramount chiefdom is better looked at as if it was an empire, even though he controlled no army.

His wealth came from what his people gave him. At meals, he was offered 80% of the harvest to choose from, and while he did not take all of it, he did take a lot. He showed his wealth in the homes he owned. They were generally larger and more lavish than any others, and they were much fancier. Powhatan owned a house in every territory, which he made royal-like processions to visit.  His bodyguards were the strongest and tallest men from the chiefdom. At night 4 of his bodyguards were stationed around his house and called out to each other at specific times. If they didn’t, they would be punished severely. Powhatan called himself mamanatowick(mah MAH nuh TOH ik), which means powerful spirits and/or shamans, meaning he may have had a spiritual component to his job. John Smith described Powhatan’s house as having animal-like carvings in it, adding to the idea of his job as a priest. The Powhatan chiefdom was one of the strongest and most well-known civilizations of Native Americans. Their legacy lives on today in Virginia.