Cockacoeske

Cockacoeskie (also spelled Cockacoeske) (ca. 1640 - ca. 1686) (aka the Queen of Pamunckey) was a 17th century leader of the Pamunkey Tribe of Native Americans in what is now Virginia in the United States.

She was born ca. 1640, on Pamunkey Neck between the Pamunkey and Mattaponi rivers. In 1656 after her husband Totopotomoi's death, Cockacoeske became the leader of the Pamunkey Tribe and as Weroansqua, led her people for 30 years. She worked within the English system to attempt a paramount chiefdom of tribal groups under her leadership, and was the first signatory of the Articles of Peace in 1677 after Bacon's Rebellion. The English colonists called her the Queen of Pamunckey.

History

After the death of Opechancanough, the once mighty Pamunkey chiefdom disintegrated and the English grew stronger in the Virginia Colony. Cockacoeske was married to Totopotomoi, who by 1649 was the leader of the Pamunkey Tribe. He became a staunch ally of the English and often sided with them in conflicts.

Cockacoeske became the Weroansqua (chief) of the Pamunkey Tribe after her husband Totopotomoi died in 1656. He was killed in a battle in which he fought on the side of the English against another Indian tribe called "Rickaheckrins" by the English. Over the thirty-year span of her reign, she worked within the English system to recapture the former power of past paramount chiefs and maintain a peaceful unity among the several tribes under her control. By maintaining a diplomatic relationship with the English, she helped her people survive^[1]

Sporadic raids by Indian tribes on the colony's frontier contributed to Nathaniel Bacon's beginning a popular uprising. A wealthy planter, he competed with Gov. Berkeley and resented the failure of the government to help settlers on the frontier. Although raids had been by the Doeg and Susquehannock tribes, Bacon and his men attacked the peaceful Pamunkey, Mattaponi, and Kiskiack tribes, causing much distress in their towns.

Cockacoeske is best known for having signed the Articles of Peace in 1677 after Bacon's Rebellion.^[2] It was also called the Treaty of Middle Plantation. Historians believe she helped create it, as it made her leader over Indian nations, including the Rappahannock and the Chickahominy, who had not previously been subject to the Powhatan paramount chiefdom. In addition, Cockacoeske had personal ties with English officials who governed the colony. Her signature appeared as Queen of the Pamunkey.^[3]

After the death of her first husband Totopotomoi, Queen Cockacoeske "kept company" with the English Colonel John West, who had a plantation on the Pamunkey River. He was the son of colonial Governor John West (1635–1637), the namesake of the town of West Point, Virginia.^[2] He was also a nephew of Thomas West, 2nd Baron De La Warr. He married Unity Croshaw (daughter of Joseph Croshaw and grandaughter of Raleigh Croshaw), but later left her to live with Cockacoeske.

Cockacoeske and West had at least one child, a son named John West. At age 20, John West accompanied his mother to act as interpreter at meetings to end Bacon's Rebellion, and helped conclude the treaty with the English. John West also signed the treaty.

Preceded by Totopotomoi

Weroansqua of the Pamunkey 1656–1686

Succeeded by Queen Betty

Notes

1. ^ "Who Was Cocacoeske?", Virginia Vignettes, Virginia Council on the Humanities, April 2007, accessed 31 Jan 2009
2. ^ ^{a b} Frank E. Grizzard, D. Boyd Smith, Jamestown Colony, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2007, p. 162, accessed 31 Jan 2009
3. ^ "Who Was Cockacoeske?", Virginia Vignettes, Virginia Council on the Humanities, April 2007, accessed 31 Jan 2009

Further reading

• Frederick W. Gleach, Powhatan’s World and Colonial Virginia: Conflict in Cultures (Lincoln and London: The University of Nebraska Press, 1997)
• Martha McCartney, "Cockacoeske, Queen of Pamunkey: Diplomat and Suzeraine", in Peter H. Wood, Gregory A. Waselkov, and M. Thomas Hatley (eds.), Powhatan’s Mantle: Indians in the Colonial Southeast, (Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, c1989)
• Helen C. Rountree, The Powhatan Indians of Virginia: Their Traditional Culture. (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989).