Totuskey Creek is a tributary of the Rappahannock River located in Richmond County, Virginia . The creek meets the river near Wellford, Virginia .
52-562: The creek served as the eastern border of Rappahannock Tribe lands. In the 1650s, when colonists began settling along the river, the Rappahannock withdrew from the southern bank; their weroance Accopatough deeded the land east of Totuskey Creek to settlers just before he died in April 1651. His successor Taweeren confirmed the deed in May. In 1730, a tobacco inspection site was located here. According to
104-675: A tobacco ceremony. The settlers were confused about the native names. For some time they referred to the Quiockohannock, who lived south of the James, as the Tappahannock . After Captain John Smith was captured in December 1607, he was taken northward to the Rappahannock capital. He was told that they wished to see if he was from the same nation that had attacked them some years earlier (possibly
156-547: A major battle; the Powhatans assembled 800 bowmen with Opitchapam leading their force, arrayed against only 60 colonists. The colonists, however, destroyed the Powhatans' cornfields, and the bowmen gave up the fight and retreated. A shortage of gunpowder in the colony delayed the colonists from going on marches in 1625 and 1626. The Indians seem not to have been aware of this shortage and were themselves desperately trying to regroup. However, summer 1627 brought renewed assaults against
208-518: A series of escalations and confusions which lead into becoming the violence surrounding Bacon's Rebellion starting in 1676. This resulted in the Treaty of Middle Plantation signed by Cockacoeske who rallied together other local tribes to sign as well. The treaty set up reservations for each tribe and allowed them hunting rights outside their reservations. It established that all the Indian rulers were equal, with
260-697: A settler assigned to guard him. By this time Necotowance had succeeded him as the last chief of the Powhatan Confederacy. In October 1646 the General Assembly of Virginia signed a peace treaty with Necotowance which brought the Third Anglo-Powhatan War to an end. In the treaty, the tribes of the confederacy became tributaries to the King of England, paying a yearly tribute to the Virginia governor. At
312-498: A special pass. This situation lasted until 1677 and the Treaty of Middle Plantation which established Indian reservations following Bacon's Rebellion . The settlement at Jamestown, Virginia , was established in May 1607 within the territory of the Powhatan , who were led by Chief Wahunsunacawh, known to the colonists as Chief Powhatan . The area was quite swampy and ill-suited to farming, and Powhatan wanted Captain John Smith and
364-424: A vivid description of the weroance , whose body was painted crimson, and face was painted blue sprinkled with silver. He wore a red deer-hair crown tied around his hair knot and a copper plate on the other side, with two feathers arranged like horns, and earrings made of bird-claws fastened with yellow metal. When the weroance came to the shore, he was playing a flute. He escorted the explorers to his camp following
416-531: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . For articles relating to the City of Richmond, use Template:RichmondCityVA-geo-stub This article related to a river in Virginia is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Rappahannock Tribe The Rappahannock are a federally recognized tribe in Virginia and one of the eleven state-recognized tribes . They are made up of descendants of several small Algonquian -speaking tribes who merged in
468-512: Is very near six miles (9.7 km) long, bounded in by two large Creeks. …in this manner to take also in all the ground between those two Rivers, and so utterly excluded the Indians from thence; which work is conceived to be of extraordinary benefit to the country. Twelve years of peace followed the Indian Wars of 1622–1632 before another Anglo–Powhatan War began on April 18, 1644, as the remnants of
520-517: The Appomattox , where Petersburg is now located. In August, Governor William Berkeley stormed the village where Opechancanough resided and captured him. All captured males in the village older than 11 were deported to Tangier Island . Opechancanough was taken to Jamestown and imprisoned. Very old and infirm, unable to even move without assistance, Opechancanough died in captivity in October 1646, killed by
572-546: The Colony of Virginia and the Powhatan People of Tsenacommacah in the early 17th century. The first war started in 1609 and ended in a peace settlement in 1614. The second war lasted from 1622 to 1632. The third war lasted from 1644 until 1646 and ended when Opechancanough was captured and killed. That war resulted in a defined boundary between the Indians and colonial lands that could only be crossed for official business with
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#1732890814185624-558: The Kecoughtan village. Smith also sent 120 men with Francis West to build a fort upriver at the falls of the James , right above the main town of Powhatan at present-day Richmond, Virginia . He purchased the site from Powhatan's son Parahunt, but this ended up faring no better. Smith was injured in an accidental gunpowder explosion and sailed to England on October 4 for treatment. The settlers established Fort Algernon at Old Point Comfort in
676-517: The Patawomeck , and he captured Powhatan's daughter Pocahontas . This caused an immediate ceasefire from the Powhatan raids on the colonists, as they held her ransom for peace. In the meantime, settlers had begun to expand south of the rivers, building houses near present-day Hopewell, Virginia . In early 1609, Jamestown Island had been the only territory under colonial control. By the end of this period,
728-654: The Tobacco Inspection Act the inspection was "At Naylor's Hole, upon William Fantleroy's land, where his prise houses now are; and the mouth of Totaskey, at Newman Brokenborough's landing, in Richmond County; both under one inspection." On September 6, 1778, Baptist minister Lewis Lunsford baptised Robert Carter III in the waters of this creek. 37°52′29″N 76°44′48″W / 37.8747°N 76.7466°W / 37.8747; -76.7466 This Richmond County, Virginia state location article
780-572: The Chickahominy, Appamattoc, Powhatan proper, Warraskoyak, Weyanoke, and Nansemond. A peace was declared in 1628, but it was more like a temporary ceasefire; hostilities resumed in March 1629 and continued until a final peace was made on September 30, 1632. The colonists began to expand their settlements on the eastern shore and both sides of the James, as well as on the south of the York , and they palisaded off
832-463: The Indians than any of his predecessors, and his solution was simply to engage in wars of conquest against them, first sending Gates to drive off the Kecoughtans from their village on July 9, then giving Chief Powhatan the ultimatum to either return all colonists and their property or face war. Powhatan responded by insisting that the colonists either stay in their fort or leave Virginia. De la Warr had
884-571: The Patawomeck tried to work with the colonists, deeding them tribal lands, but it backfired. In 1662, colonists, wanting more, falsely accused Wahanganoche of murder. Found innocent of all charges by a specially convened session of the House of Burgesses, Wahanganoche was nevertheless murdered by colonists while attempting to return home from his trial. Shortly thereafter the colonial government demanded all Patawomeck 'sell' their land and in 1666 declared war on
936-465: The Patawomeck, calling for their "extirpation". The tribes of the Northern Neck of Virginia were effectively wiped out, the few that managed to escape the settlers were absorbed into other remaining tribes in the region . The peace was shattered further when a small group of Doeg natives murdered two settlers known for mistreating and defrauding natives in general and pilaged the general area caused
988-516: The Powhatan Confederacy under Opechancanough tried once again to drive out the settlers from the Virginia Colony. Several hundred colonists were killed. In February 1645, the colony ordered the construction of three frontier forts: 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 at the falls of
1040-565: The Powhatans had lost much of their riverfront property along the James; the Kicoughtan and Paspehegh tribes had been effectively destroyed, and the settlers had made major inroads among the lands of the Weyanoke , Appomattoc, Arrohattoc , and Powhatan. The Arrohattoc and Quiockohannock tribes disappear from the historical records after this, possibly indicating that they had been dispersed or merged with other tribes. Peace negotiations stalled over
1092-468: The Rappahannock River, considered by the tribe as sacred. The Rappahannock use Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium for a variety of uses. They take an infusion of the roots for chills, smoke an infusion of dried leaves or dried stems in a pipe for asthma , and chew the leaves recreationally. Second Anglo-Powhatan War The Anglo–Powhatan Wars were three wars fought between settlers of
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#17328908141851144-604: The Rappahannock and other Native Americans lost their records as "Indian" after this law was implemented. This made it difficult for the Rappahannock to demonstrate tribal continuity as required for federal recognition. For more than two decades, persons who were of mixed race had been classified as black in records, despite identifying culturally as Rappahannock. Rappahannock men, Robert Percell Byrd, Oliver W. Fortune and Edward Arnell Nelson were drafted as “colored,” they refused to serve and were convicted and jailed. Upon release and classification as conscientious objectors, they served in
1196-675: The Rappahannock joined the briefly resurrected Powhatan Confederacy of Cockacoeske , but broke away again in 1678. In 1684, the tribe numbered only 70 total, located on the ridge between the Mattaponi and Rappahannock rivers. The Virginia Colony ordered them to merge with the Portobago Indians on the Upper Rappahannock in Essex County, Virginia , supposedly for protection from the marauding Iroquois Seneca nation . The Seneca had invaded
1248-704: The Spanish); however, they determined that he was not. In 1608 Smith returned to the Rappahannock and mediated a feud between them and their neighbors, the Moraughticund. The Rappahannock seldom appeared in English colonial records. Colonists attacked them in 1623 in retaliation after tribes attacked settlers in and near Jamestown in the Indian massacre of 1622 . When the Second Anglo-Powhatan War of 1644–1645 broke out,
1300-539: The Virginia Indians for colonists farming and fishing. It is partially described in a letter written by Captain Thomas Yonge in 1634 from Jamestown: a strong palisade… upon a straight between both rivers and… a sufficient force of men to defence of the same, whereby all the lower part of Virginia have a range for their cattle, near forty miles in length and in most places twelve miles (19 km) broad. The pallisades
1352-565: The allied Algonquian Rappahannock, Morattico ( Moraughtacund ), Portobacco, and Doeg tribes, who merged in the late 17th century. Most live in Essex , Caroline , and King and Queen counties. To solidify their tribal government to seek state recognition, the Rappahannock incorporated in 1921; their first chief was George Nelson. The Commonwealth of Virginia officially recognized the tribe in January 1983. In 1998, they elected Chief G. Anne Richardson ,
1404-571: The area from their base in western, present-day New York as part of the Beaver Wars . Rappahannock descendants continued to live there. The Nanzatico ( Nantaughtacund ) lived across the river from them, and until 1705 (when the colonial legislature outlawed Indian slavery) colonists deported the Nanzatico as slaves to the West Indies . The Rappahannock Tribe consists of a few hundred descendants of
1456-473: The colonial government to maintain peace. In 1656 he died in the Battle of Bloody Run fighting on the side of the colonists against encroaching hostile tribes. His wife Cockacoeske succeeded him. This period of time is often referred to as a time of relative peace between the colonists but it also saw the constant encroachment upon the lands designated to the Indians in the treaty of 1646. Chief Wahanganoche of
1508-427: The colonists seem to have viewed the Rappahannock as independent and outside the conflict, and did not attack the people. In the 1650s, when colonists began settling along the river, the Rappahannock withdrew from the southern bank; their weroance Accopatough deeded the land east of Totuskey Creek to settlers just before he died in April 1651. His successor Taweeren confirmed the deed in May. Their main town in 1652
1560-457: The colonists threw the children overboard and shot them in the water. Wowinchopunk's wife was executed in Jamestown. The Paspahegh never recovered from this attack and abandoned their town. A party of colonists was ambushed at Appomattoc in the fall of 1610, and De La Warr managed to establish a company of men at the falls of the James, who stayed there all winter. In February 1611, Wowinchopunk
1612-405: The colonists to forsake the swamp and live in one of his satellite towns called Capahosick where they would make metal tools for him in exchange for full provision. Smith underestimated the capabilities of the Virginia Indians, as they knew the land much better than the colonists. He was reconnoitering the countryside near Powhatan's capital of Orapax in December, only seven months after building
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1664-530: The colonists went to plunder villages and cornfields of the Chickahominy, Nansemond , Warraskoyack, Weyanoke , and Pamunkey in 1622. Opechancanough sued for peace in 1623. The colonists arranged to meet the Indians for a peace agreement but poisoned their wine then fell upon them shooting them and killing many in revenge for the massacre. They then attacked the Chickahominy, the Powhatans, the Appomattocs, Nansemond, and Weyanokes. In 1624 both sides were ready for
1716-454: The colony and even met with a Christian minister to give the appearance of his imminent conversion to Christianity. Then his warriors struck without warning from where they had been planted among the settlements on March 22, 1622, killing hundreds in the Indian massacre of 1622 . A third of the colony was wiped out that day, and a higher toll would have been taken were it not for last minute warnings by Christian Indians. Powhatan war practice
1768-518: The fall of 1609, right beside the Kecoughtan village. In November, Powhatan ambushed and killed Captain John Ratcliffe and 32 other colonists, who had gone to Orapax to buy corn, and the colonists began to starve to death . After being shipwrecked on Bermuda for nearly a year, Thomas Gates finally arrived in late May 1610 with meager and insufficient supplies . Gates saw the state that the colony
1820-551: The first woman chief to lead a Native American tribe in Virginia since the 18th century. The tribe did not have a reservation, and during the centuries had intermarried with other ethnicities in the region. But they had a community and identified as Rappahannock or Indian. By the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 , Virginia enforced a binary system of a one-drop rule , classifying all persons as "white" or "colored", and even requiring changes to vital records to reflect this. Most of
1872-544: The fort at Jamestown. However, their weroance Wowinchopunk declared an uneasy truce after he was captured and had escaped. Smith had become president of the colony the preceding fall, and he attempted to establish new forts in the territory that summer. He sent a party with Captain John Martin to settle in Nansemond territory. They abandoned the position after 17 men disobeyed orders and were wiped out while trying to buy corn at
1924-486: The fort on Jamestown Island , when a communal hunting party led by Chief Powhatan's son Opechancanough captured him. Smith was released in time for New Year's 1608 when he promised to move the colony to Capahosick. He had convinced Powhatan that he was the son of Captain Christopher Newport and that Newport was their head weroance (tribal chief). By spring 1609, the local Paspahegh tribe had resumed raiding
1976-631: The hand of a Paspahegh captive cut off and sent him to the Powhatan with another ultimatum: return all colonists and their property or the neighboring villages would be burned. Powhatan did not respond. The First Anglo–Powhatan War lasted from 1609 to 1614 between the Powhatans and the colonists. De La Warr sent George Percy and James Davis with 70 men to attack the Paspahegh town on August 9, 1610, burning houses and cutting down cornfields. They killed between 15 and 75 villagers and captured one of Wowinchopunk's wives and her two children. Returning downstream,
2028-515: The late 17th century. In January 2018, they were one of six Virginia tribes to gain federal recognition by passage of the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2017. In 1607, the Rappahannock were the dominant tribe of the Rappahannock River valley, maintaining thirteen villages along the north and south banks of the river named after them. Their capital town
2080-536: The military as medics. But on January 12, 2018, federal recognition was granted to the Rappahannock Tribe through the passage of the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2017, in addition to five other landless Virginia tribes who had suffered from similar documentation and discrimination issues. In 2022, the Rappahannock Tribe reacquired Fones Cliff , 465 acres of land along
2132-550: The peninsula between the York and James at about Williamsburg in 1633. By 1640, they began claiming land north of the York as well, and Opechancanough leased some land on the Piankatank to settlers in 1642 for the price of 50 bushels of corn per year. By 1634, a palisade (stockade) was completed across the Virginia Peninsula , which was about 6 miles (9.7 km) wide at that point. It provided some security from attacks by
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2184-537: The peninsula north of the York and below the Poropotank , as they had already been there since 1640. Necotowance remained paramount chief of what was left of the Powhatan Confederacy until his death about 1649. The tribes of the former confederacy however were scattered. When Totopotomoi succeeded Necotowance, it was no longer as paramount chief of the Powhatan but as chief of the Pamunkey. Totopotomoi worked as an ally with
2236-556: The return of captured hostages and arms for nearly a year; Dale went with Pocahontas and a large force to find Powhatan in March 1614. They were showered with arrows at present-day West Point , so they went ashore and sacked the town. They finally found Powhatan at his new capital in Matchcot, and they concluded a peace that was sealed by the marriage of Pocahontas to colonist John Rolfe . Rolfe and Pocahontas married April 16, 1614 and had their only son 8 months later on January 18, 1615. This
2288-481: The same time, a racial frontier was delineated between Indian and colonial settlements, with members of each group forbidden to cross to the other side except by a special pass obtained at one of the border forts. The extent of the Virginia Colony open to patent was defined as the land between the Blackwater and York rivers, and up to the navigable point of each of the major rivers. The treaty also permitted settlements on
2340-566: The time of Christmas 1611, Dale and his men seized the Appomattoc town at the mouth of their river and palisaded off the neck of land, renaming it New Bermudas. The aged Chief Powhatan made no major response to this colonial expansion, and he seems to have been losing effective control to his younger brother Opechancanough during this time, while the colonists strengthened their positions. In December 1612, Captain Samuel Argall concluded peace with
2392-611: Was Topahanocke (or Tappahannock). They were a peripheral group among the Algonquian -speaking tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy . In spring of that year, when news spread of explorers sailing on the James River , their weroance took a party and rushed there. They stayed with their cousins, the Quiockohannock, and sent word requesting audience with the newcomers. The weroance and explorers met on May 4. George Percy wrote
2444-405: Was 2 mi (3.2 km) up Cat Point Creek. By 1653, English settlers were moving into the region in such numbers, that the colony assigned the tribe reserved land. They also committed to build Taweeren an English-style house. Disputes between the two groups continued. In November 1654, a group of colonists visited the tribe to demand restitution for damages, but a brawl ensued in which Taweeren
2496-454: Was in after his arrival due to their lack of food, and decided to evacuate Jamestown on June 7. However, on their second day of sailing, they met Francis West's older brother Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr , coming into the bay equipped with additional colonists, a doctor, food, supplies, and a contingent of 150 armed men. They therefore returned to the fort under De La Warr's command. De La Warr proved far harsher and more belligerent toward
2548-509: Was killed in a skirmish near Jamestown, which his followers avenged a few days later by enticing some colonists out of the fort and killing them. In May, Governor Thomas Dale arrived and began looking for places to establish new settlements; he was repulsed by the Nansemonds but successfully took an island in the James from the Arrohattocs , which became the palisaded fort of Henricus . Around
2600-518: Was killed. Border disputes continued under his successor Wachicopa. In 1662, the Virginia Colony fixed the Rappahannock boundaries at Cat Point Creek on the west and Totuskey Creek on the east. The Rappahannock gave up trying to defend their homeland and moved away; by 1669 they were settled at the headwaters of the Mattaponi River with 30 bowmen (and likely about 100 people in total). In 1677,
2652-460: Was the first known inter-racial union in Virginia and helped to bring a brief period of better relations between the Indians and the colonists. A separate peace was concluded the same year with the Chickahominy tribe which made them honorary "Englishmen" and thus subjects of King James I . This period of peace has been called the peace of Pocahontas. Opechancanough maintained a friendly face to
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#17328908141852704-423: Was to wait and see what would happen after inflicting such a blow, in hopes that the settlement would simply abandon their homeland and move on elsewhere. However, English military doctrine called for a strong response, and the colonial militia marched out nearly every summer for the next 10 years and made assaults on Powhatan settlements. The Accomac and Patawomeck allied with the colony, providing them corn while
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