The Indian massacre of 1622, popularly known as the Jamestown massacre, took place in the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
Colony of Virginia, in what is now the United States, on 22 March 1622.
John Smith, though he had not been in Virginia since 1609 and was not an eyewitness, related in his ''History of Virginia'' that warriors of the
Powhatan
The Powhatan people (; also spelled Powatan) may refer to any of the indigenous Algonquian people that are traditionally from eastern Virginia. All of the Powhatan groups descend from the Powhatan Confederacy. In some instances, The Powhatan ...
"came unarmed into our houses with deer, turkeys, fish, fruits, and other provisions to sell us". The Powhatan then grabbed any tools or weapons available and killed all the English settlers they found, including men, women, children of all ages. Chief
Opechancanough
Opechancanough (; 1554–1646)Rountree, Helen C. Pocahontas, Powhatan, ''Opechancanough: Three Indian Lives Changed by Jamestown.'' University of Virginia Press: Charlottesville, 2005 was paramount chief of the Powhatan Confederacy in presen ...
led the
Powhatan Confederacy
The Powhatan people (; also spelled Powatan) may refer to any of the indigenous Algonquian people that are traditionally from eastern Virginia. All of the Powhatan groups descend from the Powhatan Confederacy. In some instances, The Powhata ...
in a coordinated series of surprise attacks, and they killed a total of 347 people, a quarter of the population of the Virginia colony.
Jamestown, founded in 1607, was the site of the first successful English settlement in North America, and was the capital of the Colony of Virginia. Its tobacco economy, which quickly degraded the land and required new land, led to constant expansion and seizure of Powhatan lands, which ultimately provoked the massacre.
Background
Upon the settlement's founding in 1607, the
local indigenous tribes were willing to trade provisions to the Jamestown colonists for metal tools, though by 1609 governor of the colony
John Smith had begun to send raiding parties to demand for provisions from local indigenous settlements. These raiding parties burned down settlements which refused their demands, and frequently stole provisions, leading to resentment towards the colonists and precipitating conflict. The raiding parties further alienated the colonists from the indigenous tribes, who eventually laid siege to the Jamestown fort for several months. Unable to secure more provisions, many colonists in Jamestown died of starvation during the "
Starving Time
The Starving Time at Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia was a period of starvation during the winter of 1609–1610. There were about 500 Jamestown residents at the beginning of the winter. However, there were only 61 people still alive when the ...
" in 1609–1610.
The
London Company's primary concern was the survival of the colony. Due to the interests of the company, the colonists would be required to maintain civil relations with the Powhatan. The Powhatan and the English realized that they could benefit from each other through trade once peace was restored. In exchange for food, the chief asked the colonists to provide him with metal hatchets and copper. Unlike John Smith, other early leaders of Virginia, such as
Thomas Dale
Sir Thomas Dale ( 1570 − 19 August 1619) was an English naval commander and deputy-governor of the Virginia Colony in 1611 and from 1614 to 1616. Governor Dale is best remembered for the energy and the extreme rigour of his administration in ...
and
Thomas Gates, based their actions on different thinking. They were military men and considered the Powhatan Confederacy as essentially a "military problem."
The Powhatan peoples concluded that the English were not settling in Jamestown for the purposes of trade but rather to "possess" the land. As
Chief Powhatan
Powhatan ( c. 1547 – c. 1618), whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh (alternately spelled Wahunsenacah, Wahunsunacock or Wahunsonacock), was the leader of the Powhatan, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking Native Americans living in Tsenacommaca ...
said:
First Anglo-Powhatan War
In 1610, the London Company instructed Gates, the newly appointed colonial governor, to
Christianise the natives and absorb them into the colony. As for Chief Powhatan, Gates was told, "If you finde it not best to make him your prisoner yet you must make him your
tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...
, and all the other his ''
weroance
Weroance is an Algonquian word meaning leader or commander among the Powhatan confederacy of the Virginia coast and Chesapeake Bay region. Weroances were under a paramount chief called Powhatan. The Powhatan Confederacy, encountered by the coloni ...
s''
ubordinate chiefsabout him first to acknowledge no other Lord but King James".
When Gates arrived at Jamestown, he decided to evacuate the settlement because he thought the government's plan was not feasible. As the colonists were sailing down the James River towards the open sea they were met by the incoming fleet of
Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr ( ; 9 July 1577 – 7 June 1618), was an English merchant and politician, for whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, a Native American people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named. He wa ...
off
Mulberry Island. Taking command as governor, de la Warr ordered the fort reoccupied. He plotted conquest of the surrounding tribes.
In July 1610, West sent Gates against the Kecoughtan people. "Gates lured the Indians into the open by means of music-and-dance act by his drummer, and then slaughtered them".
This was the
First Anglo-Powhatan War
The AngloPowhatan Wars were three wars fought between settlers of the Virginia Colony and Algonquin Indians of the Powhatan Confederacy in the early seventeenth century. The first war started in 1609 and ended in a peace settlement in 1614. The ...
. The English, led by
Samuel Argall
Sir Samuel Argall (1572 or 1580 – 24 January 1626) was an English adventurer and naval officer.
As a sea captain, in 1609, Argall was the first to determine a shorter northern route from England across the Atlantic Ocean to the new English ...
, captured
Pocahontas
Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, known as Matoaka, 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman, belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of ...
, daughter of Powhatan, and held her hostage until he would agree to their demands. The English "demanded that all Powhatan captives be released, return all English weapons taken by his warriors, and agree upon a lasting peace".
While Pocahontas was held by the English, she met
John Rolfe
John Rolfe (1585 – March 1622) was one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia in 1611.
Biography
John Rolfe is believed ...
, whom she later married. While in captivity, Pocahontas was taught the English language, customs and the Anglican religion. She was baptized as a Christian and took the name Rebecca. Rolfe wrote that the way to maintain peace between the Powhatan and the English, was to marry Pocahontas, not "with the unbridled desire of carnal affection but for the good of the colony and the glory of God. Such a marriage might bring peace between the warring English and Powhatan, just as it would satisfy Pocahontas's desire."
After they married, more peaceful relations were maintained for a time between the English colonists and the Powhatan Confederacy. Edward Waterhouse, secretary of the Virginia Company, wrote:
New governance
In 1618, after the death of Powhatan, his brother Opitchapam, a lame and quiet old man, became
paramount chief
A paramount chief is the English-language designation for the highest-level political leader in a regional or local polity or country administered politically with a chief-based system. This term is used occasionally in anthropological and ar ...
of the confederacy. Their youngest brother,
Opechancanough
Opechancanough (; 1554–1646)Rountree, Helen C. Pocahontas, Powhatan, ''Opechancanough: Three Indian Lives Changed by Jamestown.'' University of Virginia Press: Charlottesville, 2005 was paramount chief of the Powhatan Confederacy in presen ...
, was probably the effective leader, with his friend, war-chief and advisor
Nemattanew Nemattanew (also spelled Nemattanow; died 1621 or 1622) was a war leader of the Powhatan during the First Anglo-Powhatan War. At the time he served as a close adviser to paramount chief Opchanacanough (1554-1646).
History
Nemattanew first appears i ...
. Neither of the younger men believed that peaceful relations with the colonists could be maintained.
Perhaps in 1620–1621, Opitchapam retired or he was deposed (but possibly he died in 1630), and he was succeeded by his youngest brother. Opechancanough and Nemattanew began to develop plans for the unavoidable war. Having recovered from their defeat commanding
Pamunkey warriors during the First Anglo-Powhatan War, they planned to shock the English with an attack that would leave them contained in a small trading outpost, rather than expanding throughout the area with new plantations.
In the spring of 1622, after a settler murdered his adviser Nemattanew, Opechancanough launched a campaign of surprise attacks on at least 31 separate English settlements and plantations, mostly along the James River, extending as far as Henricus.
Jamestown forewarned
Jamestown was saved by the warning of an Indian youth living in the home of
Richard Pace, one of the colonists. The youth woke Pace to warn him of the planned attack. Living across the river from Jamestown, Pace secured his family and rowed to the settlement to spread the alarm. Jamestown increased its defenses.
The name of the Indian who warned Pace is not recorded in any of the contemporary accounts. Although legend has named him "
Chanco", this may be wrong. An Indian named "Chauco" is mentioned in a letter from the Virginia Council to the Virginia Company of London dated April 4, 1623. He is described not as a youth but as "one...who had lived much amongst the English, and by revealinge yt pl
tTo divers appon the day of Massacre, saved theire lives..." "Chauco" may be the same person as "Chacrow", an Indian mentioned in a court record of 25 October 1624 as living with Lt Sharpe, Capt. William Powell, and Capt. William Peirce "in the tyme of Sir Thos Dale's government"—that is, before 1616. It is possible that the older Indian, Chauco, and the youth who warned Richard Pace have been conflated.
Destruction of other settlements
During the one-day surprise attack, the Powhatan tribes attacked many of the smaller communities, including Henricus and its fledgling college for children of natives and settlers alike. In the neighborhood of
Martin's Hundred
Martin's Hundred was an early 17th-century plantation located along about ten miles (16 km) of the north shore of the James River in the Virginia Colony east of Jamestown in the southeastern portion of present-day James City County, Virgin ...
, 73 people were killed. More than half the population died in
Wolstenholme Towne
Wolstenholme Towne was an English settlement in the Colony of Virginia, east of the colonial capital, Jamestown. One of the earliest English settlements in the New World, the town existed for roughly four years until its destruction in the I ...
, where only two houses and a part of a church were left standing. In all, the Powhatan killed about four hundred colonists (a third of the white population) and took 20 women captive. The captives lived and worked as Powhatan Indians until they died or were ransomed. The settlers abandoned the
Falling Creek Ironworks
Falling Creek Ironworks was the first iron production facility in North America. It was established by the Virginia Company of London in Henrico Cittie (sic) on Falling Creek near its confluence with the James River. It was short-lived due ...
,
Henricus
The "Citie of Henricus"—also known as Henricopolis, Henrico Town or Henrico—was a settlement in Virginia founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original English settlement at Jamest ...
, and
Smith's Hundred
Smith's Hundred or Smythe's Hundred was a colonial English settlement in the Province of Virginia, in the modern United States of America. It was one of the original James River plantations named after the treasurer of the Virginia Company, Sir Tho ...
.
Aftermath
After the attack the surviving English settlers worked on a plan of action. "By unanimous decision both the council and planters it was agreed to draw people together into fewer settlements" for better defense. The colony intended to gather men together to plan a retaliatory attack, but this was difficult. Of the survivors "two-thirds were said to have been women and children and men who were unable to work or to go against the Indians".
[William S. Powell, "Aftermath of the Massacre](_blank)
The First Indian War, 1622–1632", ''The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography'', Vol. 66, no. 1 (Jan., 1958), pp. 44–75
Opechancanough withdrew his warriors, believing that the English would behave as Native Americans would when defeated: pack up and leave, or learn their lesson and respect the power of the Powhatan. Following the event, Opechancanough told the
Patawomeck
Patawomeck is a Native American tribe based in Stafford County, Virginia, along the Potomac River. ''Patawomeck'' is another spelling of Potomac.
The Patawomeck Indian Tribe of Virginia is a state-recognized tribe in Virginia that identifies ...
, who were not part of the Confederacy and had remained neutral, that he expected "before the end of two Moones there should not be an Englishman in all their Countries." He misunderstood the English colonists and their backers overseas.
In May 1623, plans were made with Opechancanough to negotiate peace and the release of the missing women. He released Mistress Boyse as a good faith gesture, with the implied message that he would negotiate for the release of the remaining women.
Captain Tucker and a group of musketeers met with Opechancanough and members of a
Powhatan
The Powhatan people (; also spelled Powatan) may refer to any of the indigenous Algonquian people that are traditionally from eastern Virginia. All of the Powhatan groups descend from the Powhatan Confederacy. In some instances, The Powhatan ...
village along the
Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...
on May 22. In preparation for the event, Dr.
John Pott
John Potts (or Pott) was a physician and Colonial Governor of Virginia at the Jamestown settlement in the Virginia Colony in the early 17th century.
Biography
John Potts is said to have taken his degree of M.A., at Oxford University in 1605. H ...
s prepared poisoned wine. Captain Tucker and others offered ceremonial toasts and 200 Powhatans died after drinking the wine. Another 50 people were killed. Opechancanough escaped, but a number of tribal leaders were killed.
The English retaliated by attacking and burning down Powhatan villages. Tribal members and the captive women fled the English attacks. They also were hungry due to lost corn crops. Three of the women included Jane Dickenson and Mistress Jeffries, the wife of Nathaniel Jeffries, who died in the massacre.
In England when the massacre occurred, John Smith believed that the settlers would not leave their plantations to defend the colony. He planned to return with a ship filled with soldiers, sailors, and ammunition, to establish a "running Army" able to fight the Powhatan. Smith's goal was to "inforce the Savages to leave their Country, or bring them in the feare of subjection that every man should follow their business securely."
Smith, however, never returned to Virginia.
The colonists used the 1622 massacre as a justification for seizing Powhatan land for the next ten years. Historian
Betty Wood
Betty C. Wood (23 February 1945 – 3 September 2021) was a British historian and academic, who specialised in early American history, Atlantic history, social history, and slavery in eighteenth and early nineteenth century. She was a Fellow of ...
writes:
Wood quotes a Virginian settler:
The colonists, in revenge for the massacre, attacked the Powhatan through "the use of force, surprise attacks, famine resulting from the burning of their corn, destroying their boats, canoes, and houses, breaking their fishing weirs and assaulting them in their hunting expedition, pursuing them with horses and using bloodhounds to find them and mastiffs to seaze them, driving them to flee within reach of their enemies among other tribes, and 'assimilating and abetting their enemies against them".
Indian decline and defeat
In 1624 Virginia was made an English
royal colony
A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counci ...
by King James I. This meant that the Crown took direct authority rather than allowing guidance by the
London Company. The Crown could exercise its patronage for royal favorites. Settlers continued to encroach on land of the Powhatan tribes, and the colonial government tended to change or ignore agreements with the natives when no longer in the colony's interest. The tribes felt increasing frustration with the settlers.
The next major confrontation with the Powhatan, the
Third Anglo-Powhatan War, occurred in 1644, resulting in the deaths of about 500 colonists. While similar to the death toll in 1622, the loss a generation later represented less than ten percent of the population, and had far less impact upon the colony. This time, the elderly Opechancanough, who was being transported by litter, was captured by the colonists. Imprisoned at Jamestown, he was killed by one of his guards.
His death marked the beginning of the increasingly precipitous decline of the once-powerful Powhatan. Its member tribes eventually left the area entirely, gradually lived among the colonists, or lived on one of the few reservations established in Virginia. Most of these were also subject to incursion and seizure of land by the ever-expanding European population.
In modern times, seven tribes of the original Powhatan Confederacy are recognized in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The
Pamunkey and
Mattaponi
The Mattaponi () tribe is one of only two Virginia Indian tribes in the Commonwealth of Virginia that owns reservation land, which it has held since the colonial era. The larger Mattaponi Indian Tribe lives in King William County on the reser ...
still have control of their reservations established in the 17th century, each located between the rivers of the same names within the boundaries of present-day
King William County
King William County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,810. Its county seat is King William.
King William County is located in the Middle Peninsula and is included in the Greater R ...
.
See also
*
List of events named massacres
The following is a list of events for which one of the commonly accepted names includes the word "massacre".
Definition
''Massacre'' is defined in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as "the indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of people ...
References
Further reading
*
*
*
The woman who writes about native AmericaAdded November 21, 2012.
{{coord missing, Virginia
1622 in Virginia
Conflicts in 1622
Colony of Virginia
English colonization of the Americas
Massacres in the Thirteen Colonies
Powhatan Confederacy
Massacres by Native Americans
Massacres in 1622