Anglo-Powhatan Wars facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Anglo-Powhatan Wars |
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| Part of the American Indian Wars | |||||||
Matthaeus Merian's 1628 woodcut depicting the massacre of Jamestown and outlying Virginia settlements by the Powhatan Indians on March 22, 1622; based on Theodore de Bry's earlier depictions but with a large degree of conjecture |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Virginia Colony |
Powhatan Confederacy | ||||||
The Anglo–Powhatan Wars were a series of three important conflicts. They took place between English settlers in the Virginia Colony and the Algonquin Indians of the Powhatan Confederacy. These wars happened in the early 1600s.
The first war began in 1609 and ended with a peace agreement in 1614. The second war lasted from 1622 to 1626. The third war was from 1644 to 1646. It ended when the Powhatan leader, Opechancanough, was captured. This final war created a clear border between Indian lands and colonial areas. People could only cross this border for official reasons with a special pass. This situation continued until 1677. That's when the Treaty of Middle Plantation set up Indian reservations after a big event called Bacon's Rebellion.
Contents
First Encounters: English Settlers and Powhatan People
The English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, started in May 1607. This area was part of the territory of a powerful leader named Wahunsunacawh. The colonists knew him as Chief Powhatan. The land around Jamestown was quite swampy and not good for farming. Chief Powhatan wanted Captain John Smith and the colonists to leave the swamp. He suggested they live in one of his towns, Capahosick. There, they could make metal tools for him. In return, he would provide them with all the food they needed.
Captain Smith did not fully understand the strength of the Virginia Indians. They knew the land much better than the colonists. In December 1607, Smith was exploring near Powhatan's main town, Orapax. He was captured by a hunting group led by Opechancanough. Smith was released by New Year's 1608. He promised to move the colony to Capahosick. He had convinced Powhatan that he was the son of Captain Newport. He also said that Newport was their main weroance (tribal chief).
Growing Tensions and Early Attacks
By spring 1609, the local Paspahegh tribe started raiding the fort at Jamestown again. Their leader, Wowinchopunk, agreed to a shaky peace after he was captured and escaped. Smith became the colony's president in the fall of 1608. He tried to build new forts in the area that summer. He sent Captain John Martin to settle in Nansemond territory. But they left this spot after 17 men were killed. These men had disobeyed orders while trying to buy corn at the Kecoughtan village. Smith also sent 120 men with Francis West to build a fort upriver. This was at the falls of the James River, near Powhatan's main town. He bought the land from Powhatan's son, Parahunt, but this effort also failed.
Smith was then hurt in an accidental gunpowder explosion. He sailed back to England on October 4, 1609. After he left, the colony began to suffer from hunger. Soon after, settlers built Fort Algernon near the Kecoughtan village. In November, Powhatan ambushed and killed Captain John Ratcliffe. Ratcliffe had gone to Orapax to buy corn. The colonists then began to starve. Thomas Gates arrived in May 1610. He decided to leave Jamestown. However, on their second day of sailing, they met Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr. He was coming into the Bay with his fleet. They returned to the fort under De La Warr's command.
De La Warr was much tougher on the Indians than previous leaders. He wanted to fight and conquer them. He sent Gates to drive the Kecoughtans from their village in July. Then he told Chief Powhatan to return all colonists and their property. If not, they would face war. Powhatan replied that the colonists should either stay in their fort or leave Virginia. De La Warr sent a Paspahegh captive to Powhatan with another warning. He said to return all colonists and their property, or nearby villages would be burned. Powhatan did not answer.
First Anglo-Powhatan War (1609–1614)
The First Anglo–Powhatan War lasted from 1609 to 1614. It was fought between the Powhatans and the colonists. De La Warr sent George Percy and James Davis with 70 men to attack the Paspahegh capital. This happened on August 9, 1610. They burned houses and cut down cornfields. They killed between 65 and 75 villagers. They also captured one of Wowinchopunk's wives and her two children. The Paspahegh tribe never recovered from this attack and left their town.
In the fall of 1610, a group of colonists was ambushed at Appomattoc. De La Warr managed to set up a company of men at the falls of the James River. They stayed there all winter. In February 1611, Wowinchopunk was killed near Jamestown. His followers got revenge a few days later. They tricked some colonists out of the fort and killed them. In May, Governor Thomas Dale arrived. He looked for places to build new settlements. The Nansemonds pushed him back. But he successfully took an island in the James River from the Arrohattocs. This became the strong fort of Henricus.
Around Christmas 1611, Dale and his men took the Appomattoc town. They built a strong fence around the land. They renamed it New Bermudas. The elderly Chief Powhatan did not strongly react to this colonial expansion. He seemed to be losing control to his younger brother, Opechancanough. Meanwhile, the colonists made their positions stronger. In December 1612, Argall made peace with the Patawomeck tribe. He also captured Powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas. This led to an immediate stop in Powhatan raids. The colonists held Pocahontas for ransom to gain peace. During this time, settlers began to expand south of the rivers. They built houses at City Point in Hopewell, Virginia.
By the end of this period, the Powhatans had lost much of their land along the James River. The Kicoughtan and Paspehegh tribes were mostly destroyed. The settlers had moved deeply into the lands of the Weyanoke, Appomattoc, Arrohattoc, and Powhatan tribes. The Arrohattoc and Quiockohannock tribes are not mentioned in history after this. They might have scattered or joined other tribes.
The Peace of Pocahontas
Peace talks were slow because of disagreements over returning captured people and weapons. This lasted for almost a year. In March 1614, Dale went with Pocahontas and a large group to find Powhatan. They were met with arrows at West Point. So, they landed and attacked the town. They finally found Powhatan at his new capital in Matchcot. They agreed to a peace, which was sealed by the marriage of Pocahontas to colonist John Rolfe. This was the first known marriage between an Indian and a colonist in Virginia. It helped bring a short time of better relations between the Indians and the colonists.
A separate peace was made the same year with the Chickahominy tribe. This made them honorary "Englishmen" and subjects of King James I. This time of peace is often called the Peace of Pocahontas.
Second Anglo-Powhatan War (1622–1632)
Opechancanough seemed friendly to the colony. He even met with a Christian minister to appear as if he would convert to Christianity. But then, his warriors attacked without warning on March 22, 1622. They had been living among the settlements. This attack, known as the Indian Massacre of 1622, killed hundreds of colonists. A third of the colony was wiped out that day. Even more would have died if Christian Indians had not given warnings at the last minute.
The Powhatan way of war was to wait after such a strike. They hoped the settlement would simply leave their land. However, English military rules called for a strong response. The colonial militia marched out almost every summer for the next 10 years. They attacked Powhatan settlements. The Accomac and Patawomeck tribes became allies with the colony. They provided corn while the colonists attacked villages and cornfields of other tribes. These included the Chickahominy, Nansemond, Warraskoyack, Weyanoke, and Pamunkey in 1622.
Opechancanough asked for peace in 1623. The colonists arranged to meet the Indians for a peace agreement. But they tricked them with a drink, then attacked them. Many were killed in revenge for the massacre. They then attacked the Chickahominy, Powhatans, Appomattocs, Nansemond, and Weyanokes.
In 1624, both sides were ready for a big battle. The Powhatans gathered 800 bowmen. Opitchapam led their force. They faced only 60 colonists. However, the colonists destroyed the Powhatans' cornfields. The bowmen gave up the fight and retreated.
A lack of gunpowder in the colony stopped the colonists from marching in 1625 and 1626. The Indians did not seem to know about this shortage. They were also trying hard to regroup. But summer 1627 brought new attacks. These were against the Chickahominy, Appamattoc, Powhatan proper, Warraskoyak, Weyanoke, and Nansemond. A peace was declared in 1628. But it was more like a short break. Fighting started again in March 1629. It continued until a final peace was made on September 30, 1632. The colonists began to expand their settlements. They moved onto the Eastern Shore and both sides of the James River. They also moved south of the York River. They built a strong fence across the peninsula between the York and James rivers around Williamsburg in 1633. By 1640, they began claiming land north of the York River too. Opechancanough leased some land on the Piankatank to settlers in 1642. The price was 50 bushels of corn a year.
The Virginia Palisade
By 1634, a palisade (a strong fence or stockade) was finished across the Virginia Peninsula. It was about 6 miles (10 km) wide at that point. This fence gave some safety from attacks by the Virginia Indians. It protected colonists who were farming and fishing. Captain Thomas Yonge described it in a letter from Jamestown in 1634. He wrote about a strong fence between two rivers. It had enough men to defend it. This allowed the lower part of Virginia to have land for their cattle. This land was nearly 40 miles (64 km) long and often 12 miles (19 km) wide. The palisade itself was nearly 6 miles (10 km) long. It was bordered by two large creeks. This work was seen as very helpful to the colony. It helped to keep the Indians out of that area.
Third Anglo-Powhatan War (1644–1646)
Twelve years of peace followed the wars of 1622-1632. Then, another Anglo–Powhatan War began on April 18, 1644. The remaining parts of the Powhatan Confederacy, led by Opechancanough, tried again to push the settlers out of the Virginia Colony. Around 400 colonists were killed in this conflict.
In February 1645, the colony ordered three frontier forts to be built. These were Fort Charles at the falls of the James, Fort James on the Chickahominy, and Fort Royal at the falls of the York. In March 1646, the colony built Fort Henry. This fort was at the falls of the Appomattox River, where Petersburg is now.
In August, Governor William Berkeley attacked the village where Opechancanough lived. He captured Opechancanough. All captured males in the village older than 11 were sent away to Tangier Island. Opechancanough was taken to Jamestown and held there. He was very old and sick, unable to move without help. Opechancanough died in captivity in October 1646. He was killed by a settler assigned to guard him. By this time, Necotowance had become the last Mamanatowick (Paramount Chief) of the Powhatan Confederacy.
Treaty of 1646
In October 1646, the General Assembly of Virginia signed a peace treaty with Necotowance. He was the King of the Indians. This treaty brought the Third Anglo-Powhatan War to an end.
In the treaty, the tribes of the Confederacy became subjects of the King of England. They had to pay a yearly tribute to the Virginia governor. At the same time, a border was drawn between Indian and colonial settlements. People from each group were not allowed to cross to the other side. They could only do so with a special pass from one of the border forts. The area of the Virginia Colony open for settlement was defined. It was the land between the Blackwater and York rivers. It also extended up to the point where each major river could be navigated. The treaty also allowed settlements north of the York River and below the Poropotank. These settlements had been there since 1640.
Aftermath of the Wars
Necotowance remained the Paramount Chief of what was left of the Powhatan Confederacy until he died around 1649. However, the tribes of the former confederacy were scattered. When Totopotomoi became chief after Necotowance, he was no longer the Paramount Chief of the Powhatan. Instead, he was the Weroance (chief) of the Pamunkey tribe. Totopotomoi worked with the colonial government to keep peace. In 1656, he died in the Battle of Bloody Run. He was fighting alongside the colonists against other tribes moving into the area. His wife, Cockacoeske, became the Weroansqua (female chief) of the Pamunkey after him.
This time is often called a period of relative peace between the colonists. But it also saw the colonists constantly moving onto lands set aside for the Indians in the 1646 treaty. Chief Wahanganoche of the Patawomeck tribe tried to work with the colonists. He gave them tribal lands. But this did not work out well. In 1662, colonists, wanting more land, falsely accused Wahanganoche of a crime. He was found innocent by a special meeting of the House of Burgesses. But Wahanganoche was still killed by colonists while trying to return home from his trial. Soon after, the colonial government demanded all Patawomeck people "sell" their land. In 1666, they declared war on the Patawomeck. The tribes of the Northern Neck of Virginia were mostly wiped out. The few who escaped joined other remaining tribes in the region.
The peace was further broken by the attacks of Bacon's Rebellion in 1676. This led to the Treaty of Middle Plantation. Cockacoeske, the Weroansqua of the Pamunkey, signed this treaty. She also brought other local tribes together to sign it. The treaty set up reservations for each tribe. It also allowed them hunting rights outside their reservations. It stated that all the Indian rulers were equal. It also said that the Queen of Pamunkey was now owed loyalty from several scattered groups of Indians.
Images for kids
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Red line shows boundary between the Virginia Colony and Tributary Indian tribes, as established by the Treaty of 1646; red dot shows Jamestown, capital of Virginia Colony
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