Appomattoc

The Appomattoc (also Appamatuck, Apamatic, and numerous other variants) were an Algonquian tribe of the Powhatan Confederacy, and the native inhabitants of the lower Appomattox River in what is now Virginia.

On May 8, 1607, a party of the English explorers who soon afterwards settled on Jamestown Island, led by Christopher Newport, first encountered the Appomattocs, who greeted them near one of their villages at the mouth of the Appomattox (shown as "Mattica" on the 1608 Tindall map). They recorded that the foremost brave among them was bearing a bow and arrow in one hand, a pipe with tobacco in the other, to signify the choice of war or peace. This village was under the leadership of a "weroansqua" (female chieftain), Oppussoquionuske. John Smith and Ralph Waldo also visited them in 1608, learning that the tribe had 60 warriors, and a larger village nearby on the north bank of Wighwhippoc Creek, now called Swift Creek, ruled by the "weroance" Coquonasum, brother of Oppussoquionuske.

Around Christmas 1611, in reprisal for an ambush the year before, Sir Thomas Dale seized Oppussoquionuske's village and the surrounding cultivated land, renaming it "New Bermudas" (incorporated in 1614 as the town of Bermuda Hundred). Coquonasum's village was destroyed and driven off in August, 1623 by Captain Nathaniel West, following resumption of hostilities the previous year. Following this, the remnants of the tribe moved their habitations farther up Swift Creek, and slightly southward to Old Town Creek in present-day Colonial Heights, Virginia. They were driven from the upper Swift Creek Valley around 1635 by Capt. Henry Fleet (who himself had spent 4 years with the Indians at Nacotchtank, the present site of Washington DC, and spoke their language fluently). Fleet then built a small fort on the large hill overlooking the falls on the north bank, now occupied by the campus of Virginia State University in Ettrick.

After being attacked again in the hostilities of 1644, they became tributary to the King of England, rather than to the former Pamunkey Emperor, who likewise became subject. The Appomattocs' principal towns were by then located at "Ronhorak" (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).

The English built Fort Henry at the falls, a short distance east of Ronhorak, in 1646, to mark the legal frontier — which from then until 1691, 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). Fort Henry was the only point in Virginia at which the Indians could be authorized to cross eastward into white territory, or whites westward into Indian territory, during all these years. All Indians were at first required to display a badge made of striped cloth while in white territory, 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. Such a copper badge bearing the name "Appomattock" was excavated in the early 20th century 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", Perecute, personally led Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam on an expedition even farther away; they became the first Europeans to set foot within the present borders of West Virginia ["First Biennial Report of the Department of Archives and History of the State of West Virginia", p. 154] ["A History of Monroe County, West Virginia" by Oren Frederic Morton p. 19] . A 1669 census shows that they included 50 bowmen around this time. Attacked again by settlers during Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, Perecuta and his tribe were excluded from the 1677 Treaty of Middle Plantation, but he was among those who signed on to the 1680 annex to that treaty. Although technically beyond the allowed limits, Batts had patented land just west of Matoks in 1674, and Wood patented the land at Ronhorak in 1680, indicating some further retreat of the Appomattoc from their own lands at this time. The name of Matoks survives in the nearby town of Matoaca, Virginia.

Although it had previously been prohibited by law to make slaves of Indian captives in Virginia, Nathaniel Bacon introduced the practice in 1676. However, Indian slavery was permanently abolished only 15 years later, in 1691. As the Appomattoc population began to dwindle, they also felt themselves to be targets for enemy tribes farther west. On April 24, 1691, a "weroansqua" who succeeded Perecuta petitioned for the remnant of her people to live among the English [Helen C. Rountree, "Pocahontas's People", p. 109] . This request was apparently granted, for in 1705, Robert Beverley, Jr. noted that they consisted of no more than seven families, living on the pasture of William Byrd II at Westover Plantation. This is the last known mention of them as a distinct tribe, their descendants apparently being assimilated into Virginia colonial society.

The names "Appomattox" and "Mattox" were also sometimes used for the Matchotic, who were a different group consisting of the Onawmient and other remnants of native peoples in the Northern Neck region.

References

* [http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/jame1/moretti-langholtz/chap4.htm A Study of Virginia Indians and Jamestown: The First Century" (Chapter 4)]
*"Dinwiddie County: Carrefour of the Commonwealth", Richard L. Jones