when the English colonists first arrived, the Susquehannock were contesting with the Iroquois for control over the Susquehanna River valley and expanding their territory south to the Potomac River
Source: Library of Congress, Carte de la Louisiane et du cours du Mississippi (1718)
The Susquehannock, an Iroquoian-speaking tribe, originally lived on the North Branch of the Susquehanna River north of modern-day Scranton, Pennsylvania. They may have evolved from the same ancestral group as the Mohawk and Cayuga. Sometime before 1570, the Susquehannock moved south to what later became Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. They displaced or absorbed the Shenks Ferry people.
The Susquehannocks apparently were a confederacy of five tribes and 20 villages when Europeans first encountered them. They were a powerful force of about 6,000 people, with control of the trading routes between the Chesapeake Bay and what became New York
Their territory was bordered on the west by the Erie, on the north by the Iroquois, on the east by the Delaware (Lenni Lenape), and on the south by the Piscataway. When the Maryland colonists arrived in 1632 on the Ark and Dove, they were pushing the Piscataway out of their traditional territory to the south.
During the colonial era, the Susquehannock were not permanent residents in what ultimately became Maryland. Their presence south of the Potomac River in Virginia consisted primarily of short-term camps for hunting expeditions. Warriors also traveled down the Chesapeake Bay and through the Piedmont, raiding rival tribes as well as hunting. After the founding of Maryland, they began attacking farms of colonists who were expanding into the backcountry.
The Susquehannocks started trading deerskins and furs with the Dutch at Manhattan as early as 1626, and obtained plentiful supplies of weapons from different European competitors. For many decades, the Susquehannocks were a serious threat to the Mohawks at the "eastern door" of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and even to the Seneca nation at the "western door."1
the Susquehannock controlled trade north of the Chesapeake Bay
Source: Library of Congress, Virginia and Maryland as it is planted and inhabited this present year 1670 (by Augustine Herrman)
When furs and skins became harder to acquire due to excessive market hunting, the tribes near the European trading posts at Montreal, Albany, and the Chesapeake Bay sought to control the supply from more-distant tribes. The French, English, and Dutch tried to bypass Native American groups that served as intermediaries, and played one group against another. The resulting intertribal conflict, stimulated by the existential need to obtain guns from the Europeans and the benefits from trading in cloth and other goods, was fierce.
Before the Maryland colonists arrived in 1634, William Claiborne set up a fur-trading station at Kent Island in the Chesapeake Bay. That location made it easy for the Susquehannocks to obtain prestige goods, tools, guns, ammunition, and gunpowder from the Virginia colony to the south.
When Claiborne first occupied Kent Island, it was located within the boundaries of the Virginia colony based at Jamestown. He continued to trade with the Susquehannocks despite the creation of a new Maryland colony in 1632 and the arrival in 1634 of Governor Cecil Calvert with permanent settlers on the Ark and Dove.
the fur trade along the Delaware and Hudson rivers was important, especially to Virginia colonist William Claiborne in the 1630's
Source: Library of Congress, A mapp of Virginia discovered to ye hills (John Farrer/John Overton, 1667)
The Marylanders soon displaced various Native American groups along the Potomac River and gained control over the towns of the Piscataway confederacy. Lord Calvert evicted William Claiborne from Kent Island in 1638, though that Virginian continued to disrupt relations within the colony and with his Susquehannock fur-trading allies.
Also in 1638, Swedish traders built Fort Christina at the site of modern Wilmington, Delaware. The Swedes joined in the regional competition for furs, but lacked influence with Native American groups already doing business with the French, Dutch, and English. To compensate, the Swedes were willing to sell more ammunition and gunpowder to Native Americans than the other European groups.
The other Europeans had sold guns widely, but controlled sales of ammunition/gunpowder to limit the military capacity of the Native Americans. Thanks to the unlimited arms sales by the Swedes, Maryland colonists could not defeat the Susquehannocks in the 1640's.2
After the Iroquois defeated the Huron in the Beaver Wars, they could focus more on the threat from south. Their increased pressure on the Susquehannocks coincided with a conflict between the Susquehannocks and new Puritan settlers who had moved from Virginia into Maryland to avoid religious persecution by Governor William Berkeley.
Mohawks raiding to the south threatened all of the tribes along the Susquehanna and Potomac rivers, and also the colonists. Jesuit missionaries were forced to abandon their mission at Piscataway Creek in 1642.
For the Susquehannocks and the Piscataways, staying allied with the Maryland colonists was challenging. The English declared war in 1642. They struggled to defeat the Susquehannocks, who were well armed by the Swedish colonists on the Delaware River. Warfare continued for a decade.
The Calverts were temporarily displaced during the English Civil War, and in the early 1650's William Claiborne and his allies took control of the Calvert's colony. Claiborne could negotiate with the Susquehannocks, his Native American partners in the fur trade, in ways the Calverts could/would not.
The Susquehannock nation needed peace in order to focus on the Iroquois threat from the north. Maryland and the Susquehannocks finally chose to end their conflict and focus instead on trade. Both sides agreed to a peace in 1652, in which the Susquehannocks ceded territory near the mouth of the Susquehanna River to Maryland. At the time, there were about 5,000 Susquehannocks living in the Susquehanna River watershed stretching into New York.
From the colonists' point of view, peace increased opportunities to gain wealth by trading furs and to harvest tobacco/corn crops without disturbance. Fortified Susquehannock towns could be a useful barrier for the colonists against raids by the "Seneca" (used as a common shorthand to describe any of the five nations in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy), Nanticokes (Delaware), and other groups.
Peace in 1652 also reduced the risk that the Susquehannock nation would be incentivized by the Swedes/Dutch on the Delaware River to attack English settlements. Maryland could not depend reliably upon William Claiborne and other leaders in Virginia to provide aid, reflecting the competition between the two colonies for land/trade along the upper Chesapeake Bay and the objections of Anglicans in Virginia to the Catholic colony.3
To counter that threat and the risk of Mohawk attack, Maryland armed the Susquehannock. Between 1649-1656, they raided to the north of the future New York-Pennsylvania boundary and came close to defeating the Five Nations.
The threat from the Delaware River changed after Dutch seized New Sweden in 1655, then surrendered their colony of New Netherland to the English in 1664. The brother of King Charles II, James (Duke of York), claimed all the Dutch settlements as part of his colony of New York. In 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch briefly recaptured their settlements on the Delaware River.
Maryland colonists hoped the Susquehannocks would protect English colonists from the Iroquois in particular. Native American tribes were forced to choose between becoming subordinate "tributary" tribes (who in most cases lost their land and culture), open enemies of the colonists (who in most cases were destroyed in wars), or essentially mercenary soldiers for the colonists. The Maryland General Assembly even passed a special tax in 1673 to provide gunpowder to the Susquehannocks.4
the willingness of Dutch settlers at New Flanders ("La Novvelle Flandre") to sell weapons helped the Susquehannock, Iroquois, and other Native American groups bargain with the English nearby and the French at Montreal
Source: University of Ottawa, Centre de recherche en civilisation canadienne-francaise, Carte de la Nouvelle-France (c. 1641)
The Iroquois successfully defended themselves against the Susquehannock, then defeated them. By the 1670's, the Susquehannock population had dropped by 90% to just around 400 people.
As part of the demographic disaster, traditional customs guided by the leadership of elders was lost. Susquehannock raids against the Cayuga were led by men as young as 15 years old. Murder appeared to be a primary motivation, instead of seeking captives to bring back to a Susquehannock town to rebuild the population.
The Iroquois in 1674-1675 completed their conquest of the Susquehannock, forcing them to move south beyond the mouth of the Susquehannock River.
The Dutch surrendered their North American settlements to the English in 1674. The Calvert claim to lands on the eastern edge of the Maryland colony remained threatened by officials in New York who were sponsored by James, the Duke of York and brother of King Charles II. To assert more control over the Susquehannocks (and possibly prepare for seizure of the lands along the Delaware River), Maryland Governor Charles Calvert convinced the Susquehannocks to move closer to the Potomac River.
The invitation was for the Susquehannocks to settle near Little Falls/Great Falls, upstream of modern Washington DC. New York-based traders would have less influence there, and a fortified Susquehannock town on the Potomac River would serve as a barrier between the Iroquois and Maryland's settlers.5
the Susquehannock built a fort on Piscataway Creek after Governor Calvert invited them into Maryland
Source: Maryland Historical Magazine, The Suquehannock Fort on Piscataway Creek (1941_
By moving to the Potomac River, the Susquehannocks hoped to minimize raids by the Mohawk. However, that move was disastrous for the Susquehannock nation - and ultimately for Virginia's long-serving governor, William Berkeley.
the Susquehannocks settled on Piscataway Creek, after the Maryland colony convinced them to move west to the Potomac River
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
Major Edmund Andros, the governor of New York, was an ally of the Iroquois according to the Covenant Chain. Once the Susquehannock moved out of the Susquehanna River watershed, he converted the Delaware (Lenni-Lenape) into allies of the New York colony. That increased New York's claim to the land which later became the state of Delaware, and undercut the previous support provided by the Lenni-Lenape to the Susquehannocks.
The Susquehannock ignored Governor Calvert's invitation to locate in Maryland near Little Falls/Great Falls. Instead, they built a fortified town at Mockley Point, at the mouth of Piscataway Creek, in 1675. The fort was across the Potomac River from land patented by Colonel John Washington, property that later became George Washington's Mount Vernon. It is not clear if the Piscataways who already lived in the area welcomed or opposed the relocation, but they could not block it.
at Governor Calvert's invitation, the Susquehannock moved into Maryland and built a fort at Mockley Point in 1675
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
Archeological excavations in 1939-1940 reveal the palisades of the fort were square with bastions at the corners. About 500 people lived in and around it. Death there was a constant companion. Though occupied for only a year, an excavated ossuary contained the bones of 42 individuals - nearly 10% of the population.
Governor Calvert wanted the Susquehannocks to locate near the colony's northern border to help defend against Iroquois raids. Settling further south, outside of Maryland, was not realistic because the Virginians were expanding up the Potomac River. They were displacing the Rappahannock, Patawomeck, Dogue/Moyumpse and other Native Americans who had traditionally used the lands north of the Rappahannock River.
The Portobaco and Chingwateick living in Virginia, as shown on Augustine Herrman's 1670 map, may have been refugees from Maryland who were unhappy with the 1666 "articles of peace and amity" signed by Gov. Calvert with 12 separate Native American groups. Maryland had planned a reservation which would exclude visits from "forreign Indians" such as the Iroquois, on land surveyed between Mattawoman and Piscataway creeks in 1669.
The governor's efforts to establish more control may have initiated the shift of the Anacostin/Nacotchtank upstream from the confluence of the Anacostia/Potomac rivers to Anacostin (now Teddy Roosevelt) Island, even though the new location was more exposed to attack by the Iroquois.6
Maryland's efforts to control the Susquehannock, Piscataway, and Dogue stimulated a migration of Native Americans to the Rappahannock River, prior to Baccon's Rebellion in 1676
Source: Library of Congress, Virginia and Maryland as it is planted and inhabited this present year 1670 (by Augustine Herrman)
In 1675, members of the Dogue tribe felt cheated by a Virginia colonist and took hogs from Thomas Mathews. In a series of incidents, Virginians and Dogues retaliation grew into a borderland war that involved the Susquehannock. Virginia militia mistakenly attacked a party of Susquehannocks, thinking they were Doegs. Before the firing stopped, 8-14 Susquehannocks were killed.
Apparently the leadership of the Susquehannocks could not restrain a few angry warriors from later retaliation. They crossed the Potomac River and murdered as many as four colonists in Stafford County.
John Washington then led a Virginia raiding party across the Potomac River into Maryland and attacked the Susquehannock fort at Piscataway Creek, claiming the Dogue were being sheltered there. Instead of protecting the Susquehannock, who had been invited to move to the Potomac River, Maryland's colonial officials joined with the Virginians in the assault on the fort.
In a truce during the assault, Susquehannock emissaries were murdered without cause. The six-week siege of the fort ended when the Susquehannock escaped.
The murder of the emissaries ended any possibility of the Susquehannock remaining allies with the Maryland and Virginia colonies and uniting against Iroquois attacks. Instead, the Susquehannocks and Dogue retaliated in an emotional response. They raided isolated Virginia farms in Stafford and Rappahannock counties, where the Fall Line was the edge of colonial occupation at the time.
The raiders carried captives to locations near settler cabins, then tortured the people to death so the colonists could hear many screams of pain. Nearly 40 colonists were killed. Settlers in the backcountry of Virginia from the Potomac River down to the James River were terrorized. People fled from Curles Neck east of the Fall Line on the James River, including neighbors of Nathaniel Bacon.7
during the Susquehannock War in 1675, colonists were terrorized in the backcountry of Stafford and Rappahannock counties
Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical Boundaries
Governor William Berkeley failed to respond to demands for military protection. Backcountry colonists then initiated what became Bacon's Rebellion in 1676. Berkeley was forced to flee to the Eastern Shore, the colonial capital of Jamestown was burned to the ground, and homes of the gentry were plundered by the rebels. For the first time, British officials sent two regiments of the army to Virginia to restore the official government and to protect the colonists.8
In 1675, the Susquehannock fled from their fort at the mouth of Piscataway Creek after being attacked by the Virginia militia. During Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, the rebel forces attacked even the peaceful Native American tribes allied with the Virginia government, including the Rappahannock, Pamunkey and Occaneechi.
The Iroquois took advantage of the situation. They quickly conquered the scattered Susquehannocks, once their old enemies were left without a fortified base and forced to wander through the Piedmont:9
the last known town of the Susquehannocks is now Native Lands County Park (red X)
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
The tribe lost its independence and agreed to be subordinate to the Iroquois in a 1677 treaty negotiated by New York Governor Andros at Shackamaxon. The surviving Susquehannock ended up living in New York.
The Iroquois allowed 300 of the remaining Susquehannocks to move back into the Susquehanna River valley. With permission from the Penn family, they established a town below Conewago Falls. They were joined by refugees from the Delaware, Piscataway, Saponi, and other tribes, and in the 1700's became known as the Conestoga.
The French and Indian War and the subsequent Pontiac's War exacerbated conflict between Native Americans and British colonists. The pacifist Quaker government of Pennsylvania declined to provide military protection for settlers in the backcountry. Resentment against the Quakers was expanded to include all the Native Americans. In December 1763 a mob known as the Paxton Boys attacked Conestoga Indian Town, killing the peaceful residents. A dozen who managed to survive were taken to the Lancaster jail for safekeeping, but the mob then attacked the jail and murdered all but two.10
The genes of the Susquehannocks are still present among Native Americans living on reservations in New York, Canada, and Oklahoma, but an organized Susquehannock tribe did not continue past the 1760's. There is no state-recognized or Federally-recognized Susquehannock tribe today, but the Conestoga-Susquehannock Tribe offers "Tribal Citizenship" to those who can document descent from the Susquehannocks and Conestogas. The criteria identify family names likely to qualify:11
The last known town of the Susquehannocks is located in York County, Pennsylvania. What is now Native Lands County Park was once a town surrounded by a palisade with 16 ninety-foot longhouses. Each longhouse provided shelter for about 50 people.12
four Susquehannock (Minqua) towns on the Susquehannock River were documented by the Dutch in 1616
Source: New York Public Library, Map of New Netherland (by Schipper Cornelis Hendricksen, 1616)
the Algonquian-speaking Lenni Lenape (Delaware) lived east of the Iroquioan-speaking Susquehannock
Source: Chesapeake Bay Program, Region 3 Tribal Program Overview
the Susquehannock controlled central Pennsylvania when English colonists arrived
Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, A new map of the north parts of America claimed by France (1720)