Rappahannock people facts for kids
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Two members of the tribe, Wanda Fortune and G. Anne Richardson, with Tad Davis of the US Army Environmental Command, 2009
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| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Enrolled members: 500 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Virginia | |
| Essex, Caroline, and King and Queen counties, Virginia | |
| Languages | |
| English, Algonquian (historical) | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
Monacan, Chickahominy, Mattaponi  |
The Rappahannock are a Native American tribe from Virginia. They are one of eleven tribes officially recognized by the state of Virginia. This tribe is made up of people who are descendants of several smaller tribes that spoke the Algonquian language. These smaller tribes joined together in the late 1600s. In January 2018, the Rappahannock became one of six Virginia tribes to be officially recognized by the United States government. This happened when the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2017 was passed.
Contents
History of the Rappahannock Tribe
Early Days in the 1600s
In 1607, the Rappahannock were a very important tribe in the Rappahannock River valley. They had thirteen villages along both sides of the river, which was named after them. Their main town was called Topahanocke, also known as Tappahannock. They were part of the larger Algonquian-speaking groups in the Powhatan Confederacy.
When news spread that explorers were sailing on the James River in the spring of 1607, the Rappahannock leader, called a weroance, quickly went to meet them. He stayed with his relatives, the Quiockohannock, and asked to meet the newcomers. The weroance and the explorers met on May 4.
George Percy, one of the explorers, wrote about the weroance. He said the leader's body was painted red, and his face was blue with silver spots. He wore a crown of red deer hair and a copper plate with two feathers that looked like horns. He also had earrings made of bird claws with yellow metal. The weroance played a flute when he came to the shore. After a tobacco ceremony, he led the explorers to his camp.
The early settlers sometimes got the Native American names mixed up. For a while, they called the Quiockohannock, who lived south of the James River, the Tappahannock.
After Captain John Smith was captured in December 1607, he was taken to the Rappahannock capital. The tribe wanted to know if he was from a group that had attacked them years before. They decided he was not. In 1608, Smith returned to the Rappahannock and helped them settle a disagreement with their neighbors, the Moraughticund.
The Rappahannock tribe did not appear often in the early English records. In 1623, colonists attacked them after other tribes had attacked settlers near Jamestown. However, during the Second Anglo-Powhatan War (1644–1645), the colonists seemed to see the Rappahannock as separate and did not attack them.
Moving and Changing Lands
In the 1650s, more colonists started settling along the Rappahannock River. The Rappahannock tribe moved away from the southern bank. Their leader, Accopatough, gave land east of Totuskey Creek to settlers just before he died in 1651. His successor, Taweeren, confirmed this land deal. By 1652, their main town was two miles up Cat Point Creek.
By 1653, so many English settlers were moving into the area that the colony set aside special land for the tribe. They also promised to build Taweeren a house in the English style.
However, disagreements between the two groups continued. In 1654, colonists visited the tribe to demand payment for damages. A fight broke out, and Taweeren was killed. Land disputes continued under the next leader, Wachicopa. In 1662, the Virginia Colony set the Rappahannock's land boundaries at Cat Point Creek to the west and Totuskey Creek to the east.
The Rappahannock tribe stopped trying to protect their original homeland and moved. By 1669, they had settled near the start of the Mattaponi River. At that time, they had about 30 bowmen, meaning around 100 people in total.
In 1677, the Rappahannock briefly joined the Powhatan Confederacy again under Cockacoeske. But they left the confederacy in 1678. By 1684, the tribe had only 70 people. They were living on the land between the Mattaponi and Rappahannock rivers. The Virginia Colony told them to join with the Portobago Indians in Essex County, Virginia. This was supposedly for protection from the powerful Iroquois Seneca nation, who had come into the area from New York.
Rappahannock descendants continued to live there. The Nanzatico tribe lived across the river from them. Until 1705, when the colonial government made it illegal, some Native American groups were forced to leave their homes and sent to other places.
The 1900s and Today
The Rappahannock Tribe today includes hundreds of descendants from the Rappahannock, Morattico, Portobacco, and Doeg tribes. These tribes joined together in the late 1600s. Most members live in Essex, Caroline, and King and Queen counties in Virginia.
To make their tribal government stronger and seek state recognition, the Rappahannock officially formed a group in 1921. Their first chief was George Nelson. The Commonwealth of Virginia officially recognized the tribe in January 1983. In 1998, the tribe elected Chief G. Anne Richardson. She was the first woman chief to lead a Native American tribe in Virginia since the 1700s.
The tribe did not have a special land area called a reservation. Over the centuries, they had also married people from other backgrounds in the region. However, they kept their community and identified as Rappahannock or Indian. In 1924, Virginia passed a law called the Racial Integrity Act. This law made it difficult for the Rappahannock to prove their continuous tribal history, which was needed for federal recognition. For many years, people of mixed heritage were recorded as "black" in official records, even if they identified as Rappahannock.
But on January 12, 2018, the Rappahannock Tribe finally received federal recognition. This happened through the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2017. Five other Virginia tribes, who also had similar record and discrimination problems, were recognized at the same time.
In 2022, the Rappahannock Tribe got back Fones Cliff. This is 465 acres of land along the Rappahannock River that the tribe considers sacred.
Plants Used by the Rappahannock
The Rappahannock tribe uses a plant called Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium, ssp obtusifolium in many ways. They make a special drink from the roots to help with chills. They also smoke dried leaves or stems in a pipe to help with asthma. Sometimes, they chew the leaves just for fun.
Important Rappahannock People
