Appomattoc
Encyclopedia
The Appomattoc were a historic tribe of Virginia Indians speaking an Algonquian
language, and residing along the lower Appomattox River
, in the area of what is now Petersburg
, Colonial Heights, Chesterfield and Dinwiddie Counties in present-day southeast Virginia
.
The Appomattoc were affiliated with the estimated 30 tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy, who controlled the area then known as Tenakomakah, present-day Tidewater Virginia. According to William Strachey
, the Appomattoc were one of four subtribes within the original inheritance of Chief Powhatan
, before he incorporated the other tribes into his Confederacy, and were said to be closely connected with the Powhatan royal line.
explorers on May 8, 1607, when a party led by Christopher Newport
reached one of their villages at the mouth of the Appomattox River (it was shown as "Mattica" on the 1608 Tindall map). The English recorded that the foremost warrior
among the Virginia Indians was bearing a bow and arrow in one hand, and a pipe with tobacco
in the other, to signify the choice of war or peace. The English party soon settled some 30–40 miles downstream from there, on Jamestown
Island.
On May 26, Newport led a second party of 24 Englishmen to Mattica. They were welcomed with food and tobacco. He noted the village was surrounded by cornfields, which the Indians cultivated. A weroansqua (female chieftain), Oppussoquionuske, led the village. Despite welcoming the English, some Appomattoc warriors took part in the sporadic raids on their fort until June 13, after which the paramount Chief Powhatan called a ceasefire. John Smith saw the weroansqua of Appomattoc again at Werowocomoco
(the main residence of Chief Powhatan) during his capture in December 1607, where she was appointed to wash his hands; as well as on another expedition to Werowocomoco in February 1608, when Powhatan commanded her to serve him water, turkey and flatbread.
Desperate for corn, Smith and Ralph Waldo visited the Appomattoc village in late fall 1608, and bought corn in exchange for copper
. Smith reported in this year that the tribe had 60 warriors (some historians estimated the total population might be 220 based on that.) Their larger village nearby on the north bank of Wighwhippoc Creek, now called Swift Creek, was ruled by the weroance
Coquonasum, brother of Oppussoquionuske.
Anglo-native relations deteriorated in 1609, culminating in the First Anglo-Powhatan War by 1610. Around Christmas 1611, in reprisal for an Appomattoc ambush on the English a year before, Sir Thomas Dale seized Oppussoquionuske's village and the surrounding cultivated land. He renamed it "New Bermudas" (the settlement was incorporated in 1614 as the town of Bermuda Hundred).
Following the resumption of hostilities in 1622
, the colonists, led by Captain Nathaniel West, destroyed Coquonasum's village and drove off the residents in August 1623. The remnants of the tribe moved their settlement farther up Swift Creek, and slightly southward to Old Town Creek in present-day Colonial Heights, Virginia
. Colonists attacked them again in 1627.
In 1635 the Appomattoc were driven from the upper Swift Creek Valley by Captain Henry Fleet. He had spent four years with Indians at Nacotchtank
, the present site of Washington DC, and spoke Algonquian Powhatan fluently. Fleet built a small fort on the large hill overlooking the falls on the north bank. The site is now occupied by the campus of Virginia State University
in Ettrick
.
After the Powhatan Confederacy were finally defeated by the English during the second major Anglo-Powhatan War (1644–46), the Confederacy was dissolved, and all the subtribes, including the Appomattoc, individually became tributary
to the King of England, rather than to the former Pamunkey
Emperor. The Appomattoc by then were located mainly at Ronhorak (or Rohowicke; modern Rohoic Creek, running near the modern border between Petersburg
and Dinwiddie) and Matoks, on the opposite bank north of the Appomattox (now Randolph Farm at VSU). This was at the northern end of the "Occaneechi
Trail", a long-used Native American trail that ran all the way to South Carolina.
In 1645, the Virginia Colony built Fort Henry
at the falls, a short distance east of Ronhorak. Following the treaty of 1646, and until 1691, this fort marked the legal frontier of white settlement, which ran in a straight line from the "head of Yapin" (modern Franklin, Virginia
) to the Monacan town on the James River
(west of where Richmond
is now). The Appomattoc and other southern Powhatan tribes (Weyanoke, Nansemond
) were thus separated from the more northerly ones by a substantial enclave of English settlement. During all those years, Fort Henry was to be the only point in Virginia at which the Indians could be authorized to cross eastward into white territory, or whites westward into Indian territory. At first the Virginia Indians had to wear a badge made of striped cloth while in white territory to show they were authorized, or they could be murdered on the spot. In 1662, this law was changed to require them to display a copper badge, or else be subject to arrest. In the early 20th century, such a 17th-century copper badge, inscribed with "Appomattock", was excavated in eastern Dinwiddie County.
Fort Henry also served as a starting point for subsequent English westward exploration. In 1650, an Appomattoc guide called Pyancha took a party led by Abraham Wood
beyond the headwaters of the river. In 1671, their weroance Perecuta led Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam on an expedition within the borders of present-day West Virginia
. A 1669 census shows that the Appomattoc had 50 bowmen around this time, which means their total population may have been about 150.
Although beyond the allowed treaty limits, Batts in 1674 patented land just west of Matoks. Settlers destroyed the Appomattoc village during Bacon's Rebellion
in 1676. The nearby Matoaca, Virginia
was named after the native village. Perecuta and his tribe were excluded from the 1677 Treaty of Middle Plantation
. He was among those who signed the 1680 addendum to the treaty. Wood patented land at Ronhorak in 1680, indicating some further retreat of the Appomattoc from their lands.
Although the colony had prohibited Indian slavery by law, Nathaniel Bacon re-introduced the practice in 1676. It was violently opposed by the Indians and caused much suffering to the people. Tribes raided their enemies to sell captives as slaves to the English in Virginia and further north. But, the colonial legislature took 15 years until it abolished Indian slavery in 1691.
As the Appomattoc population began to dwindle, the people were vulnerable to attack from traditional western enemy tribes. On April 24, 1691, the weroansqua who succeeded Perecuta petitioned the colony for permission for her people to live among the English for protection. In 1705, Robert Beverley, Jr.
noted that the Appomattoc consisted of no more than seven families, living on the pasture of William Byrd II
at Westover Plantation
. This was the last known mention of them as a distinct tribe in historic records and they were estimated to be extinct by 1722. Their descendants likely assimilated into Virginia colonial society or merged with other tribes.
The names "Appomattox" and "Mattox" were sometimes applied to the Matchotic, a Virginia Indian group made up of the Onawmanient and other remnant tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy, but located principally in the Northern Neck
region between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. There were historic villages named Matchotic in Northumberland and King George's counties.
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
language, and residing along the lower Appomattox River
Appomattox River
The Appomattox River is a tributary of the James River, approximately long, in central and eastern Virginia in the United States, named for the Appomattocs Indian tribe who lived along its lower banks in the 17th century...
, in the area of what is now Petersburg
Petersburg, Virginia
Petersburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States located on the Appomattox River and south of the state capital city of Richmond. The city's population was 32,420 as of 2010, predominantly of African-American ethnicity...
, Colonial Heights, Chesterfield and Dinwiddie Counties in present-day southeast Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
.
The Appomattoc were affiliated with the estimated 30 tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy, who controlled the area then known as Tenakomakah, present-day Tidewater Virginia. According to William Strachey
William Strachey
William Strachey was an English writer whose works are among the primary sources for the early history of the English colonisation of North America...
, the Appomattoc were one of four subtribes within the original inheritance of Chief Powhatan
Chief Powhatan
Chief Powhatan , whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh , was the paramount chief of Tsenacommacah, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking Virginia Indians in the Tidewater region of Virginia at the time English settlers landed at Jamestown in 1607...
, before he incorporated the other tribes into his Confederacy, and were said to be closely connected with the Powhatan royal line.
History
The Appomattoc first encountered EnglishEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
explorers on May 8, 1607, when a party led by Christopher Newport
Christopher Newport
Christopher Newport was an English seaman and privateer. He is best known as the captain of the Susan Constant, the largest of three ships which carried settlers for the Virginia Company in 1607 on the way to find the settlement at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, which became the first permanent...
reached one of their villages at the mouth of the Appomattox River (it was shown as "Mattica" on the 1608 Tindall map). The English recorded that the foremost warrior
Warrior
A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...
among the Virginia Indians was bearing a bow and arrow in one hand, and a pipe with tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
in the other, to signify the choice of war or peace. The English party soon settled some 30–40 miles downstream from there, on Jamestown
Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
Island.
On May 26, Newport led a second party of 24 Englishmen to Mattica. They were welcomed with food and tobacco. He noted the village was surrounded by cornfields, which the Indians cultivated. A weroansqua (female chieftain), Oppussoquionuske, led the village. Despite welcoming the English, some Appomattoc warriors took part in the sporadic raids on their fort until June 13, after which the paramount Chief Powhatan called a ceasefire. John Smith saw the weroansqua of Appomattoc again at Werowocomoco
Werowocomoco
Werowocomoco was a village that served as the political center of the Powhatan Paramount Chiefdom, a grouping of about 30 Virginia Indian tribes speaking an Algonquian language...
(the main residence of Chief Powhatan) during his capture in December 1607, where she was appointed to wash his hands; as well as on another expedition to Werowocomoco in February 1608, when Powhatan commanded her to serve him water, turkey and flatbread.
Desperate for corn, Smith and Ralph Waldo visited the Appomattoc village in late fall 1608, and bought corn in exchange for copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
. Smith reported in this year that the tribe had 60 warriors (some historians estimated the total population might be 220 based on that.) Their larger village nearby on the north bank of Wighwhippoc Creek, now called Swift Creek, was ruled by the weroance
Weroance
Weroance is an Algonquian word meaning tribal chief, leader, commander, or king, notably among the Powhatan confederacy of the Virginia coast and Chesapeake Bay region. The Powhatan Confederacy, encountered by the colonists of Jamestown and adjacent area of the Virginia Colony beginning in 1607,...
Coquonasum, brother of Oppussoquionuske.
Anglo-native relations deteriorated in 1609, culminating in the First Anglo-Powhatan War by 1610. Around Christmas 1611, in reprisal for an Appomattoc ambush on the English a year before, Sir Thomas Dale seized Oppussoquionuske's village and the surrounding cultivated land. He renamed it "New Bermudas" (the settlement was incorporated in 1614 as the town of Bermuda Hundred).
Following the resumption of hostilities in 1622
Indian massacre of 1622
The Indian Massacre of 1622 occurred in the Colony of Virginia, in what now belongs to the United States of America, on Friday, March 22, 1622...
, the colonists, led by Captain Nathaniel West, destroyed Coquonasum's village and drove off the residents in August 1623. The remnants of the tribe moved their settlement farther up Swift Creek, and slightly southward to Old Town Creek in present-day Colonial Heights, Virginia
Colonial Heights, Virginia
Colonial Heights is an independent city in Virginia, United States. The population was 17,411 as of 2010. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the City of Colonial Heights with Dinwiddie County for statistical purposes...
. Colonists attacked them again in 1627.
In 1635 the Appomattoc were driven from the upper Swift Creek Valley by Captain Henry Fleet. He had spent four years with Indians at Nacotchtank
Nacotchtank
The Nacotchtank were a native Algonquian people who lived in the area of what is now Washington, D.C. during the 17th century. Their principal village was situated within the modern borders of the District of Columbia, on the eastern bank of a small river that still bears an anglicised variant of...
, the present site of Washington DC, and spoke Algonquian Powhatan fluently. Fleet built a small fort on the large hill overlooking the falls on the north bank. The site is now occupied by the campus of Virginia State University
Virginia State University
Virginia State University is a historically black and land-grant university located north of the Appomattox River in Chesterfield, in the Richmond area. Founded on , Virginia State was the United States's first fully state-supported four-year institution of higher learning for black Americans...
in Ettrick
Ettrick, Virginia
Ettrick is a census-designated place in Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States. The population was 6,682 at the 2010 census. The town is home to Virginia State University and the Petersburg Amtrak train station....
.
After the Powhatan Confederacy were finally defeated by the English during the second major Anglo-Powhatan War (1644–46), the Confederacy was dissolved, and all the subtribes, including the Appomattoc, individually became tributary
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...
to the King of England, rather than to the former Pamunkey
Pamunkey
The Pamunkey nation are one of eleven Virginia Indian tribes recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The historical tribe was part of the Powhatan paramountcy, made up of Algonquian-speaking tribes. The Powhatan paramount chiefdom was made up over 30 tribes, estimated to total about...
Emperor. The Appomattoc by then were located mainly at Ronhorak (or Rohowicke; modern Rohoic Creek, running near the modern border between Petersburg
Petersburg, Virginia
Petersburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States located on the Appomattox River and south of the state capital city of Richmond. The city's population was 32,420 as of 2010, predominantly of African-American ethnicity...
and Dinwiddie) and Matoks, on the opposite bank north of the Appomattox (now Randolph Farm at VSU). This was at the northern end of the "Occaneechi
Occaneechi
The Occaneechi are Native Americans who lived primarily on a large, long Occoneechee Island and east of the confluence of the Dan and Roanoke Rivers, near current day Clarksville, Virginia in the 17th century...
Trail", a long-used Native American trail that ran all the way to South Carolina.
In 1645, the Virginia Colony built Fort Henry
Fort Henry (Virginia)
Fort Henry was an English frontier fort in 17th century colonial Virginia near the falls of the Appomattox River. Its exact location has been debated, but the most popular one is on a bluff about four blocks north of the corner of W. Washington and N...
at the falls, a short distance east of Ronhorak. Following the treaty of 1646, and until 1691, this fort marked the legal frontier of white settlement, which ran in a straight line from the "head of Yapin" (modern Franklin, Virginia
Franklin, Virginia
Franklin is an independent city in Virginia. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Franklin with Southampton county for statistical purposes. The population was 8,582 in 2010.-History:...
) to the Monacan town on the James River
James River (Virginia)
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is long, extending to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. The James River drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million...
(west of where Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
is now). The Appomattoc and other southern Powhatan tribes (Weyanoke, Nansemond
Nansemond
The Nansemond have been recognized as a Native American tribe by the Commonwealth of Virginia, along with ten other Virginia Indian tribes. They are not Federally recognized but are one of six Virginia tribes without reservations that are included in a bill for Federal recognition under...
) were thus separated from the more northerly ones by a substantial enclave of English settlement. During all those years, Fort Henry was to be the only point in Virginia at which the Indians could be authorized to cross eastward into white territory, or whites westward into Indian territory. At first the Virginia Indians had to wear a badge made of striped cloth while in white territory to show they were authorized, or they could be murdered on the spot. In 1662, this law was changed to require them to display a copper badge, or else be subject to arrest. In the early 20th century, such a 17th-century copper badge, inscribed with "Appomattock", was excavated in eastern Dinwiddie County.
Fort Henry also served as a starting point for subsequent English westward exploration. In 1650, an Appomattoc guide called Pyancha took a party led by Abraham Wood
Abraham Wood
Abraham Wood , sometimes referred to as "General" or "Colonel" Wood, was an English fur trader and explorer of 17th century colonial Virginia...
beyond the headwaters of the river. In 1671, their weroance Perecuta led Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam on an expedition within the borders of present-day West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
. A 1669 census shows that the Appomattoc had 50 bowmen around this time, which means their total population may have been about 150.
Although beyond the allowed treaty limits, Batts in 1674 patented land just west of Matoks. Settlers destroyed the Appomattoc village during Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion was an uprising in 1676 in the Virginia Colony in North America, led by a 29-year-old planter, Nathaniel Bacon.About a thousand Virginians rose because they resented Virginia Governor William Berkeley's friendly policies towards the Native Americans...
in 1676. The nearby Matoaca, Virginia
Matoaca, Virginia
Matoaca is a census-designated place in Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,403 at the 2010 census. It is named after the Algonquian princess Matoaka who was better known by her nickname "Pocahontas"...
was named after the native village. Perecuta and his tribe were excluded from the 1677 Treaty of Middle Plantation
Middle Plantation
Middle Plantation in the Virginia Colony, was the unincorporated town established in 1632 that became Williamsburg in 1699. It was located on high ground about half-way across the Virginia Peninsula between the James River and York River. Middle Plantation represented the first major inland...
. He was among those who signed the 1680 addendum to the treaty. Wood patented land at Ronhorak in 1680, indicating some further retreat of the Appomattoc from their lands.
Although the colony had prohibited Indian slavery by law, Nathaniel Bacon re-introduced the practice in 1676. It was violently opposed by the Indians and caused much suffering to the people. Tribes raided their enemies to sell captives as slaves to the English in Virginia and further north. But, the colonial legislature took 15 years until it abolished Indian slavery in 1691.
As the Appomattoc population began to dwindle, the people were vulnerable to attack from traditional western enemy tribes. On April 24, 1691, the weroansqua who succeeded Perecuta petitioned the colony for permission for her people to live among the English for protection. In 1705, Robert Beverley, Jr.
Robert Beverley, Jr.
Robert Beverley, Jr. was an important historian of early colonial Virginia. He was born in Jamestown and died in King and Queen County, Virginia...
noted that the Appomattoc consisted of no more than seven families, living on the pasture of William Byrd II
William Byrd II
Colonel William Byrd II was a planter, slave-owner and author from Charles City County, Virginia. He is considered the founder of Richmond, Virginia.-Biography:...
at Westover Plantation
Westover Plantation
Westover Plantation is located on the north bank of the James River in Charles City County, Virginia. It is located south of State Route 5, a scenic byway which runs between the independent cities of Richmond and Williamsburg...
. This was the last known mention of them as a distinct tribe in historic records and they were estimated to be extinct by 1722. Their descendants likely assimilated into Virginia colonial society or merged with other tribes.
The names "Appomattox" and "Mattox" were sometimes applied to the Matchotic, a Virginia Indian group made up of the Onawmanient and other remnant tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy, but located principally in the Northern Neck
Northern Neck
The Northern Neck is the northernmost of three peninsulas on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This peninsula is bounded by the Potomac River on the north and the Rappahannock River on the south. It encompasses the following Virginia counties: Lancaster,...
region between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. There were historic villages named Matchotic in Northumberland and King George's counties.