STM Trail Tales: Recent Episodes
St. Michael's Episcopal School
Take yourself on content-based, self-guided audio tours through the St. Michael's Blue Trail! Each season of Trail Tales is student written, created, and produced focusing on topics that the students are studying in class at St. Michael's. Episodes within each season dive deeper into specific aspects of their topic and correspond with with numbered stops on our Blue Trail, starting at the Lower School and ending at the school's gated entrance.
The many federal services made for American Indians and Alaska natives are necessary for the tribes to become federally recognized. Unfortunately, the current process is very inefficient and it may take up to 30 years for a tribe to be recognized. The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) has supported the idea of a more efficient and easier process and has established the Federal Recognition Task Force. The Federal Recognition Task Force is for the tribes best interest and it recommends changes in policy, procedures, and plans, for tribes both federally recognized and not. Tribes that aren’t recognized have to go through the stressful and strenuous process of submitting applications for federal acknowledgement that meet Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Criteria. The criteria is harsh and extensive, ensuring that the tribes can govern themselves. This process was established before 1900. Many tribes may find it costly and hard to find the historical data necessary to submit for recognition. Instead of doing this, they could also be recognized through the less strenuous process of Congressional registration. The difference between being federally recognized and being congressionally recognized is federally is everywhere and congressionally is in the state. The benefits of being federally recognized are it gives the tribes legal status and requires the federal government to provide certain benefits. They have a government to government relationship with the US. Even though the NCAI’s policies limit the membership of tribes to federal and state recognized tribes, they still support the tribes by making the process of being recognized more simple and stress-free.
Have you ever been to the Blue Ridge mountains? Did you see the different places and houses? Well, did you know, there were houses and camps built and lived in years before the English settlement. When they first arrived, European explorers trekked through the mountains often with the assistance of an Indian guide. In the fall season, hunters would gather in large numbers to harvest food and, unlike the later Europeans, they would leave the forest looking rather undisturbed. Archaeologists found the Native Americans would make temporary camps in places like the Blue Ridge Mountains during the periods of time around 9500 - 8000 BC. The Monacans and the Manahoacs were among the better known tribes who settled in these places. A German explorer named John Lederer came across these people on his exploration to the Blue Ridge in 1669. Established in 1607, colonists who had camped at Jamestown Settlement drew pictures and because of these drawings more is known about the Powhatan today. The drawings also provided information so more is known about the Powhatan tribes now. These reports include misinformation and bias subjects however they help to understand a little more about what life might have been for the Indian before English settlement. The “Powhatan” name is the Algonquian-speaking tribe that lived in the coastal plain or Virginia tidewater. Most of these tribes came together and were ruled under one chief, Wahunsunacock. This formed the Powhatan empire in 1607. There were many towns and villages that had been built near the Chesapeake at this time. These settlements had a view of the water and people who would travel on it. John Smith documented his encounters with Indians in his diary. He writes about his discoveries such as how the Indian women do most of the work farming and doing housework. The English saw this as the male Indians were lazy and made their wives do everything whilst raising their children. However the men would hunt, fish, make traps, stone tools and canoes. Women also were the housebuilders of the family. These homes were built from bent sapling covered with woven bark slabs if the family was higher in status. These were called “Long houses”. When settlers moved into the expanded colony, the relationship between the Powhatans and the English worsened. Settlers would burn houses and fields and in one instance, destroyed the town of Paspahegh killing every Indian. After this, the Powhatans attacks became more severe. Until the colonists captured a favored daughter of the chief Powhatan, Pocahontas, in April 1613, the battles between the settlers and Indians continued to worsen. Pocahontas was taken to Jamestown and was a hostage for about a year studying and learning english and later marrying her tutor, John Rolfe. As a result of the marriage, the colonists and Powhatans secured an agreement between them. After Pocohonatas’ death in England and John Rolfe’s return in May 1617, the peace ended. Hostiles resumed when disease, poor harvest and a growing demand for tobacco land hit These battles continued on and off for a decade and by then the English colony had grown to about 8,000. Unfortunately, the Powhatan population had receded to 5,000. As the English pushed the Powhatan inland in search of more land for cash crops, there was disease and displacement of tribes. After this, the Powhatans and other coastal tribes gradually lost control over their lands and their traditions. The government at the time allowed most tribes to keep specific areas of land. However none of these areas were large enough for traditional hunting and gathering of the Indians. Because of this many Indians lost their independence and became English guides or slaves. (Continued)
Chances are that sometime this fall every PATC member will hear the mountains beckon. A good number of you will actually get up and answer the call, heading to the Blue Ridge to hike familiar trails, explore new sights and soak in the l beauty of the season. This is nothing new. People have been drawn to these ancient mountains long before the National Park, the Skyline Drive, or the Appalachian Trail were created. Centuries ago European pioneers found their way to the mountains, Often with the help of Indian guides or trails. Some settled the sides of the mountains, clearing forests for homes and farms and dramatically changing the landscape. Reaching back further in time there is evidence that these mountains were visited regularly by nomadic groups and later by tribes more settled into village and farming communities. The fall season drew large numbers of hunters and gatherers to these mountain forests and streams to harvest nuts, roots, and berries, to select wood and stone for tool-making, and to hunt the deer, turkey, elk, and bear fattened by abundant food supplies. Unlike the Europeans that came later, these people left little trace of their presence and left the great expanses of forests relatively undisturbed. What little we do know about these first people of Virginia comes from archeologists, written accounts of European explorers, and stories passed down through generations of Virginia Indians. Archeological evidence suggests that no permanent settlements were ever made in the mountains. Only temporary encampments have been found, but some of these dates back as far as the late Ice Age period 9500 - 8000 BC As the climate warmed and nomadic groups became more settled, more permanent sites were established to the east of the Blue Ridge in Piedmont and in parts of the Shenandoah Valley to the west. Among the better-known tribes in Piedmont were the Monacans and the Manahoacs. These were the people that German explorer John Lederer encountered on his trip to the Blue Ridge in 1669. Lederer is credited with being the first white man to climb the Blue Ridge with the help of native guides. Most likely the guides came from one or both of these Piedmont groups. Captain John Smith had encountered a large group of Manahoacs earlier in 1608 at the falls of the Rappahannock River and he learned from a Powhatan informant about the existence of five Monacan settlements along the James River. The Manahoacs, he found, were friends of the Monacans and enemies of the Powhatans, the name commonly given to the coastal tribes in the Jamestown area. These Piedmont tribes probably did what they could to prevent the Powhatans from venturing west into the mountains, especially during the crucial autumn harvest. Much more is known about the Powhatan tribes thanks to the reports and drawings of colonists at Jamestown Settlement established in 1607 as well as earlier explorers to the area. These early years of contact provide the least-disturbed picture of what life might have been like for these native people before the English occupation. Of course, these reports contain considerable misinformation and bias but they are central to any study of these people and their lifeways. The name "Powhatan" refers to the Algonquian-speaking tribes of the Virginia tidewater or coastal plain. By 1607 many of the villages in this area were brought under one rule by the powerful "werowance" or chief, Wahunsunacock, to form the Powhatan empire. This paramount chief came from the town of Powhatan, near the falls of the James River and he used his hometown name to refer to himself and his chiefdom. At the time of English contact, the native Tidewater population numbered around 14,000. There were hundreds of settled towns and satellite villages built near the Chesapeake Bay or in the inlets and rivers which flow into it. (Continued)
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.
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.
The Native Americans moved with the land. They made their settlements along with the land and they never stayed put for too long. The most well known of these tribes were the Monacans and the Manahoacs. John Smith Encountered the Manahoacs at the Rappahannock River. He learned that the Manahoacs were friends of the Monacans and enemies with the Powhatans. The Native Americans would use the land for hunting, gathering fishing, and many other resources or food and water. They would never fertilize the land. Native Americans believed that unused land with food and materials was for all people to share. But the English believed that if the land was unclaimed then they could claim it. When the Native Americans moved to a new home they slowly. Those fields from the old home could be used again later by someone else who needed them. There were hundreds of villages and towns near the Chesapeake Bay and the rivers and streams that flow into it. These towns and villages were settled here because they let the Native tribes see the other tribes on the river. Waterways were the main areas of transport and food sources. As years went on The English started to settle near these Native Americans Lands. The English would keep taking and taking the land from the Native Americans to grow their cash crop. After a while settlers started to attack Native Americans Villages. They would burn them down or kill everyone who lived there. These attacks worsened until Chief Powhatan died and the second in line was his brother so he was left in charge. His brother attacked the English, but the English fought back with reinforcements and more people. After about a decade of these attacks, the English population rose but the Powhatan population decreased. The English gave the Natives many diseases that killed them and they took a lot more of their land so that they could use it to farm cash crops. The Powhatan’s and English men fought for 2 years until the Powhtans could no longer hold the English off. He was a very proud man who refused to sign the truce that ended the war and never admitted defeat. One day he was killed by one of his guards and died. After his death, the Powhatan tribe came to an end. After that, the Native Americans got pushed from their land and were forced to move farther and farther back. After they lost most of their land the Native Americans started to settle into white groups and free black groups. The government allowed the tribes to keep areas of land but these small bits of land were only big enough for hunting and gathering. A lot of tribes were pushed back from their land and eventually went away or sometimes they would merge with other tribes in the area. The Pamunkey and the Accomac tribes were the last tribes ever to exist and still be recognized as Native Americans. A few tribes still remained throughout the land. The Native American tribes still keep their identity today keeping their culture alive.
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.
Early Virginian Indians spoke dialects of Algic, Iroquoian, and Siouan, three large linguistic families that include many of the more than 800 indigenous languages in North America. Among Virginia's Algic-speakers were the Powhatan Indians, who lived in the Tidewater region and encountered the Jamestown settlers in 1607. Little is known of their language, which was a form of Algic known as Virginia Algonquian.
Very little is known about the old algonquian languages and dialects. William Strachey, who worked with two boys that had lived with the native americans and learned their language became one of the most educated men on the subject, being more knowledgeable than John Smith and Thomas Hariot. However, he had trouble understanding algonquian sounds, and only 263 out of hundreds of words were legible and identified as algonquian. Thomas Hariot, an english soldier in 1585, may have been taught basic algonquian by two native people at the time, and he made a list of 46 algonquian words, including moccasins, which are shoes, and tomahawks, which are axes. Some more words are pejig-one, inini-man, ikwe-woman, animosh-dog, kizis-sun, tibek-kizes-moon, nibi-water, and waba-white. John Smith knew a simplified version of the language used to trade, and wrote down “Bid Pocahontas bring hither two little baskets, and I will give her beads to make a chaine”. He also found much of Hariot’s old work, and wrote it down in his document, A Brief and True Report of the Newfoundland of Virginia. Captain Gabriel Archer and Robert Beverly Jr. both compiled short lists of Algonquian as well.
This concludes our knowledge of the fascinating language called algonquian. I hope this inspires you to become more knowledgeable on the subject of native americans and their languages.
When a small ice age hit, many tribes wanted to move south to have better land. In the Tidewater, Piedmont, and Richmond regions of what would eventually be known as virginia these tribes formed 3 indian languages. They were algonquien, siouan, and iroquois. Eventually six or nine small tribes and chiefdoms (a territory or state ruled by a chief) were having trouble fending off other tribes and formed what is called a paramount chiefdom. This was called Tsenacomoco. When Powhatan took over Tsenacomoco in the mid to late 1500’s, he extended its borders by both diplomacy (dealing with people in a sensible way.) and violence to include 28 - 32 chiefdoms. The tribes of Tsenacomoco sometimes respected Powhatan’s authority and sometimes did not. The chickahominy Indians defied Powhatans rule, even though they lived in the center of Tsenacomoco on the Chickahominy river. Other tribes like the patawomeck and the accomac lived on the outskirts of the chiefdom, sometimes paying tribute, and sometimes not. The people of Tsenacomoco lived in towns situated near the regions wide, tidal rivers which made for good farming, good fishing, better means of transportation, and more efficient communication. Tsenacomoco extended from the James river (called the Powhatan river by the Indians) in the north to the south bank of the Potomac River. It was bounded by the fall line in the west, and the Atlantic Ocean in the east. The colonists co-opted these boundaries and they became the unofficial borders of Virginia. By the early 1600’s, before the colonists arrived, the population was between 13,000 and 22,000.
Central Virginia has been a key place for Indians for thousands of years. Nomadic tribes have been going there to hunt elk, turkey, bear and deer, as well as to gather the various nuts, roots, and berries found there. These tribes left no permanent structures behind and only through archaeological studies were they discovered. Later, after places became warmer, these nomadic groups started settling in one place. These settlements were in places such as Piedmont, and also farther west in parts of the Shenandoah Valley. There were many tribes, and the Powhatans were simply the tribes surrounding Jamestown, Central Virginia, and the tidewater areas.
By the time settlers arrived in 1607, most of the villages in the area had come together under the rule of a single, all powerful chief, or “werowance”. The chief came from the town of Powhatan, which is where the name comes from. At the time of English arrival, the population of Indians in the tidewater region was about 14,000.
As more settlers arrived, the Indians became increasingly frustrated that the english were encroaching on their land, and after many settlers had arrived, fighting became regular. In addition, Indians had never encountered many of the diseases brought over from Europe, and many died off. Over the years, the population of settlers increased while the Indian population steadily decreased. In 1644, the Indian chief was captured and killed, and the once-thriving indian civilization crumbled to pieces.
Although all but lost, the Powhatan empire was a powerful one, and one that ended because the English were greedy. However, most of what we know today did come from original primary sources that came from Jamestown and a few other early European explorers.
Hello and welcome to The Powhatan Empire trail walk. The trail you are about to enter will take you on an audio tour of the life, culture, and history of the Powhatan Indians. Each stop on the trail is identified by a blue marker and a QR code. Simply scan the QR code to find the corresponding audio track, or search St. Michael’s Trail Tales on Itunes, choose “Season One: The Powhatan Empire” and the episode number that corresponds to the marker you are closest to.
The information provided on this audio tour has primarily come from editor Brendan Wolfe’s Encyclopedia Virginia entries on Indians in Virginia and historian Helen Rountree’s extensive research on the Powhatan people. Though both of these secondary sources are well vetted, it is important to note that there are significant limitations on what information researchers can gather about Central Virginia’s native people.
The Powhatan lacked a written language until significantly later in their colonial history, which means that most of the primary sources we are familiar with come from English settlers, who recorded information about the Powhatan people with their own biases.
To the English settlers, the Powhatan people were at best viewed as gatekeepers of agricultural knowledge and thus a means of survival, at worst, they were a conquered people. And the latter essentially removes almost all Indian agency from historical accounts.
In addition to these narrow viewpoints, none of the English settlers who recorded information about the Powhatan people were anthropologists-- meaning that these recounts were not gathered as a means of observation, but as a reflection of the settlers' own day-to-day lives. Thus, the settlers showed little to no interest in Indian life that did not intersect with their own, leaving much wanting from these accounts as a source of comprehensive information about the Powhatan people.
At its peak, the Powhatan empire, led by the Paramount Chief Wahunsenecaw, consisted of over 30 tribes from the coastal plains region of modern day Virginia. Its influence stretched North to South from the Potomac River to the southern side of the James River; East to West it stretched from the Eastern Shore across the Chesapeake Bay inland up to the Fall Line -- which is a geological feature that stretches North-South through modern day Richmond and acted as a barrier to further upstream water travel. As the 1600’s began and Europeans began their search for new profits in America, the paramount chief Powhatan expanded his empire for various reasons through military force, familial relations, and installation of his own local chiefs, or weroances. Those tribes that were under the influence of Powhatan, had local chiefs and paid tributes to the Paramount Chief Wahunsenecaw as a form of taxation. A handful of groups in the area managed to hold out from joining the Powhatan empire, the Chickahomany tribes being one such example.