Patawomeck in Virginia

the Patawomeck once lived at Marlboro Point (1), and are developing a new tribal center at Duff Green Park (2) near Fredericksburg (3)
Source: GoogleMaps

When John Smith sailed up the Chesapeake Bay in 1608 and visited the mouth of Potomac Creek, he first met the Patawomeck with their palisaded town.

The Patawomeck lived on the fringe of Powhatan's paramount confederacy. They quickly realized that they could deal directly with the English. The "tassantassas" could use their ships to avoid crossing through Tsenacommacah. Despite Powhatan's efforts to starve the English, the Patawomeck traded corn for iron tools, textiles, and prestige goods such as copper and beads.

In 1609, the Patawomeck provided a safe refuge for Henry Spelman when he ran away from Werowocomoco. Two years later, Lord de la Warre described the Patawomeck chief "as great as Powhatan," rather than subordinate to him.¹

In 1613, they betrayed Powhatan's emissary rather than provide the required tribute to the paramount chief. Japasaws, the Patawomeck chief, sold Pocahontas to the English ship captain Samuel Argall. Japasaws receive at least one copper kettle in exchange for his treachery.

Powhatan lost control over the periphery of Tsenacommacah. When Opechancanough organized assaults on the English in 1622 and 1644, he was unable to get the Patawomeck to join.

The tribe is now seeking to rebuild a tribal village at Duff Green Memorial Park, on Marlborough Point in Stafford County. That would provide a permanent base, eliminating the need to create a temporary site each year at Fort AP Hill for education and outreach. The tribe is the only one officially recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia without land for a permanent home.

The original town site is underwater now, but the park is near where the Patawomeck lived when Pocahontas visited in 1613. A Stafford County supervisor, supporting donation/lease of the local park to the tribe, noted in 2019 the tourism potential related to historical sites:²

There's lots of people traveling down to Jamestown to look at them. With this, we will get them and capture those tourism dollars, and get them into our restaurants

In 2019, the county and tribe arranged for a 10-year lease of a 17 acres at Duff Green Park, with optional lease renewals for up to 50 years. The tribe will use the Duff house for educational museum exhibits, and build a cultural village showcasing native plants of significance to the lifeways in the past. The entire project, including upgrading the access road, was projected to cost only $334,000.³

In 2022, US Representative Rob Wittman expressed support for the tribe to get Federal recognition through Congressional action. Such recognition would spur the Smithsonian to repatriate artifacts acquired after an archeological dig at Marlborough Point from 1935-1940. The artifacts could be displayed at the tribe's Little Falls Farm cultural center.⁴

Three members of Congress, Reps. Abigail Spanberger, Jennifer Wexton, and Jen Kiggans, introduced the "Patawomeck Indian Tribe of Virginia Federal Recognition Act" in 2023. It claimed that the tribe had coalesced around the White Oak church after 1790, but standard recognition process was inadequate because the tribe had been disrupted by colonial supprsion:⁵

In July 1666, the General Council of Virginia declared war on the Patawomecks. Most of the men were killed and most of the women and children, who were not already living in English families, were captured as slaves. Others likely joined with nearby existing Indian groups such as the Doegs, Nanzaticos, and Portobagos.

In 1680, King Pattanochus signs the Treaty of Middle Plantation of behalf of the "Nansatiocoes, Nanzemunds, and Portabacchoes." By this time, displaced Patawomecks are living among these groups of people.

The Stafford County Historical Society opposed Federal recognition of the Patawomeck Indian Tribe of Virginia (PITV):⁶

SCHS finds no evidence to support the PITV’s claim of tribal continuity as related to their current petition or that the current members of the organization are descendants of the original Patawomeck tribe

The response from two professors from the College of William & Mary was blunt. They said the local historical society claim was "defamatory, misinformed, and salacious," and:⁷

These citizens' ongoing attacks on the credibility of the Patawomeck community and the tribe’s 2010 state recognition are unfounded.

Native American Tribes in Virginia Since Contact

Links

• Patawomeck Heritage Foundation
• Prince William Network/Virginia Department of Education
• Virginia's First People
• Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
• Virginia Indian Heritage Trail
• Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth
• Virginia Indians

References