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Brenda has a timeline posted on one of her pages, too. (At the bottom of the page, it says that it was extracted from the Haithcock books.)
http://www.angelfire.com/wv2/dillon1944/native_american_timeline.htm
1729–
The agricultural regimen remained so central to native life that colonists learned to persue Indian fields in order to read Indian minds. In April 1729, William Gooch correctly predicted that the Saponis at Christianna were planning to leave. How did he know? They had planted no corn that spring. Later the Virginia Council would again attest to corn’s importance by permitting those Saponis who had returned from the Catawba Nation (significantly, they had arrived early enough to get crops in the ground) to remain where they were until after the harvest.
Anglo-American’s were reduced to using cornfields as tea leaves because native thought was still unfathomable; entry into the realm of belief that lay behind the planting and hunting, the tattooing and painting was still by permission only– and permission was rarely given. Yet since patterns of thought generally remain more resistant to change than their outward expressions, it seems likely that the Catawba nation’s peoples occupied a mental universe more akin to that of thier ancestors than was the physical world of horses and ruffled shirts. Unfortunately, during these years only William Byrd II was able to explore this forbidden territory in even the most cursory way. During a conversation with a Saponi Indian named Ned Bearskin, Byrd caught a glimpse of “the religion of his country”.
1729–
In the spring of 1729 the Govenor received news that the Sapony Indians had made no preperation for planting corn; it seemed probably that they were preparing to leave the Fort. The inhabitants of Brunswick County were apprehensive, fearing that the Indians might make trouble as they left. The Council appointed someone to go with the interpreter, Charles Kimball, to the Indian Town to observe waht preparations they were making to continue there, so that suitable measures might be taken for protecting the inhabitants. The Journals of the Executive Council, in October 1729, state that “the Sapony … have lately deserted their settlement… (in Virginia) and joined the….. Catawba Indians”.
1730–
In 1730 the members of the late Virginia Indian Company petitioned for 1000 acres “where Fort Christianna stood”, on the south side of Meherrin River and back into the woods, and 1000 acres on the north side of the river. They also requested that 23,040 acres of land formerly assigned for the Sapony Indians be laid out and granted to the petitioners who pointed out that they had invested money in buildings and improvements at the Fort. This was done.
1730–
Under mounting pressure from the expanding colony of Virginia and after numberous injustices carried out against them under the colur of law, the majority of the Saponi Nation made the faithful decision to withdraw in mass from their reservation to their cousins to the South, the Catawba Nation.
1730–
Some Saponi remained behind on the reservation and in surrounding countries.
1730–
In 1730, “William Bohannon came into court and made oath that about twenty-six of the Sapony Indians that inhabit Colonel Spotswood’s land in Fox’s neck go about and do a great deal of mischief by firing the woods; more especially on the 17th day of April last whereby several farrows of pigs were burnt in their beds, and that he verily believes that one of the Indians shot at him the same day, the bullet entering a tree within four feet of him; that he saw the Indian about one hundred yards from his gun stood in a stooping manner very studdy (steady) so that he could hardly discern him from a stump, that he has lost more of his pigs than usual since the coming of the said Indians; which is ordered to be certified to the General Assembly”.
1731–
The Colony of Virginia acted under Article V of the Treaty of 1713 and reclaimed the reservation lands for the colony.
I just copied and pasted bits and pieces of it. There is lots more info there (about 35 pages).
Stacey
I’ve been looking for exact sources on one of the items listed.
Here is what I have in my files…..I’ve notfound why the Saponi Chief was hung….but the Saponi chief was hung on the reservation. Ned Bearskin said the Chief was hung….
But here is the reference.
27 Sept 1728
Sir:
The 27th of September John Carter brought Negro Cofey to my house, as he says, by your orders, for me to examine concerning what the Saponys have told him about the white people, which I have done, and he tells me:
that Great George told him that John Sauano and a fellow called Ben Harrison was gone to the Cotobers to fetch one hundred of them to come and see why their Indians was put in prison,
and if Capt. Tom was hanged they would carry their wives and children over the Roanoke River and then they would drive the white people and negros as far as James River,
and he says that Tony Mack told him that if Pyah was hanged he and the Cotobers would come and take revenge of the English,
and he says that Sapony Tom told him if his son Harry Erwin was hanged they would kill you and three or four more Gentlemen and then go off,
and he says that Dick told him that we had no business to come to the fort armed to concern ourselves about their killing one another, but we were like a sow that had lost her pigs would rally for a little time and then have done *, but when they began a war with the English they never would have done *.
This from your humble servant to command,
Thomas Avent
The original document is held by the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA and will give you a copy of the original.
http://aventfamily.org/taveltr.htm
Cotobers is Catawba.
May 27, 1730, Charles Kimball petitioned the House of Burgesses for “his allowance Interpreter to the Saponi and Occaneechi Indians may be levied” (McIlwaine 1910:757).
So 2 years after the Chief was hung….the interpretors are no longer needed.
Interesting things happen that same exact year:
In 1730, “William Bohannon came into court and made oath that about twenty-six of the Sapony Indians that inhabit Colonel Spotswood’s land in Fox’s neck go about and do a great deal of mischief by firing the woods; more especially on the 17th day of April last whereby several farrows of pigs were burnt in their beds, and that he verily believes that one of the Indians shot at him the same day, the bullet entering a tree within four feet of him; that he saw the Indian about one hundred yards from him, and no game of any sort between them; that the Indian after firing his gun stood in a stooping manner very studdy [steady] so that he could hardly discern him from a stump, that he has lost more of his pigs than usual since the coming of the said Indians; which is ordered to be certified to the General Assembly. ” Orange county VA
1730:
Many of the Saponi left the area to take residence with the Catawbas.
June 1733:
The Sapony and Nottoway Indians met with the Governor and
Council. The Sapo-nies were given permission to join the Tuscaroras if
they wished, provided that neither Nation would hunt on any lands patented
in Virginia, nor go among the inhabitants in groups of more than three.
The Sapo-nies were permitted to stay at their town until their corn was
gathered. If they decided not to join the Tuscaroras, they were to move to
some place beyond the inhabitants between the Roanoke and Appomattox
rivers.
“Soon after this they all left the Fort. Some joined the Catawbas, and
some eventually joined the Five Nations of the Iroquois in New York.
“After the Indians left the region, all their former lands were taken up
in grants. The site of the Fort became known as Fort Hill Plantation.
1733:
Saponi not happy with their living with the Catawbas and returned to Virginia. These Saponi bring with them some Cheraws (Catawba). They were forced to petition Lt. Governor Gooch for permission to resettle in Virginia, which was granted (Merrell 1989:116). Note: This Cheraw/Saura town very near the settlement of the ‘Rockingham County Indians’ known as the Gibson and Goins.
So it seems to all happen right after the Chief was hung.
[FONT=Verdana]1737:
Amelia County, Virginia (1737), where the “Saponi Indians Cabins” are mentioned in a deed (Holland 1982).[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][FONT=Verdana]1742:
The settlement of the Saponi reservation area is no longer mentioned, the settlement name was “Junkatapurse”.
[/FONT][/FONT]
Now for the record of Orange county, VA
1723:
The Stegaraki were located by Governor Spotswood of Virginia at Fort Christanna about 10 years earlier, and the Mepontsky, also placed there, may have been the Ontponea. We hear of the former as late as 1723, and there is good reason to believe that they united with the Tutelo and Saponi and followed their fortunes, and that under these two names were included all remnants of the Manahoac.
The Stegaraki, who were in Orange County along the Rapidan River
The Ontponea, who were located in Orange County
Other interesting stuff.
June 13 1723:
The Council heard a petition of Thomas Jones in behalf of
the late Virginia Indian Company, in which the former members asked to be
reimbursed for their expenses in repairing the fortifications of
Christanna, according to the orders of the Governor, dated 12 November
1717. The Council ordered that they be paid. This seems to be about the
time that the officers and men left the Fort permanently.
So what happened there? the fort was left unguarded?
August the 16th, 1728:
“The great men of the Nottoway and Saponie Indians, together with the Tottero King this day attending the Governor (i.e., Spottswood) in Council, the said Tottero King complain’d that the Nottoway Indians some time since attack’d and killed his son near to his own house, and charges an Indian of that nation named Hickory particularly as one of the party , which was also confirmed by a letter from Capt. Thomas Avent, an inhabitant of that neighborhood, that the Tottero King’s son on his death bed told him he knew the said Nottoway Indian named Hickory was one of the Indians that fired at him, and afterwards came up and knock’d him down with a Tommahawk..”
The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography”, Vol. 4, Executive Journals, Council of Colonial Virginia, p. 185.
I really want to fully read that above document and see what else it has.
Now if we go back right before the Fort became unguarded and made the Saponi sitting ducks…
1719
Iroquois raiders in 1719 ravaged the cornfields of the Christanna Indians and lay in ambush before the gate of the fort.
1719:
The Governor of Pennsylvania wrote to the Virginia Council that
the northern Indians had marched toward Virginia with the intention of
testing the strength of the English at Fort Christanna. The Council
decided to halt any attempted march through Virginia. The Militia was
ordered not to shoot until shot at. The Virginia Tributary Indians were
ordered to notify the Government if any northern Indians arrived at their
towns.
“There are local traditions of a fierce fight between the Saponies and the
Genitoes (northern Indi-ans). Bullets have been plowed up in the low
grounds on the north side of the Meherrin River, opposite the Fort site.
“After the creation of Brunswick County in 1720, the region around the
Fort and beyond was becoming well-settled. All Indians were required to
get a passport to go through settled country.
I have a idea about this passport…..not entirely sure…but I know all tribes who signed a treaty was given a item with the tribe name and the Queen’s name….this item was to be woren when tribal members went into towns.
A freaking boyscout troop currently has one of these…how a boyscout troop got one I have no idea at all.
Tutelo lodge 161 is the troop that has one of these passports.
This boyscout troop has the 3 arrows as their symbol….they dress up like some tribe out west…….they call their self the The Order of the Arrow .
There is even some tribe that goes to the camp and dances around and stuff.
Here is photos of this boyscout troop calling their self the tutelo 161 troop aka order of the arrow (which does have one of the real Passports given by the queen to one of the Va tribes)
We are no western tribe….this is not how our ancestors dressed…..and personally I feel they should give that passport artifact to the tribe is belongs to….
Here is where the Va people who was supposed to help protect the Saponi for them help protect the English settlers…look how the Saponi’s good deed of helping protect the English from the french get repaid….I’m curious as to what “Hostages” means…I wish I knew the exact reference for this.
May 31 1718:
The General Assembly decided not to keep up the Fort. There
was nothing the Council could do about it.
“As a result, several men employed by the Indian Company for the Guard of
Fort Christanna became mutinous and disorderly, refused sentinel duty, and
so exposed the Fort and the hostages there to great danger because the
northern Indians were again on the frontier. The Council ordered that the
com-mander, Captain Robert Hicks or any other person the late company had
employed for the management of their affairs, be given power to correct or
punish any of the Company servants who refused to do their duty. If they
tried to desert, Captain Hicks was to order out parties of Indians to
pursue and bring them back.
“The northern Indians went so far as to send a message to the officer who
commanded the Fort, demanding that the Sapony Indians (their enemies) be
delivered over to them. Therefore, in the summer of 1718, Spotswood moved
all of the Sapony Indians into the Fort for their protection.
Febuary 20th 1719
George II. To all know ye that for diverss good causes & considerations but more specialty for and in consideration of diverss services performed toward making the new settlement for the Saponi Indians at Christ Anna persuant to a treaty with that Nation We have given granted and confirmed and by these presents for us our heirs and successors do give grant and confirm unto Richard Smith of Isle of Wight County one certain tract or parcel of land containing three hundred and ninety acres lying and being on the south side of the Meherrin River in the county aforesaid (and being part of that tract of land whereon the said Indians lately dwelt and which they have surrendered to us in exchange for a like quantity of land which we have assigned them at the aforesaid place of Christ Anna) and bounded followeth, to wit,
Beginning at a pine in the Sapone old field a corner of Edward Brantley…In witness & witness our trusty and beloved Alexander Spotswood out Lt. Governor at Williamsburgh under the seal of our said Colony the twentieth day of February one thousand seven hundred and nineteen in the sixth year of our Reign.
A. Spotswood
(Note: Isle of Wight County in 1719 included Brunswick county where the Saponi reservation was).
I’m just going to just lay down the rest of what I have in my Saponi time line.
1709:
In 1709 North Carolina courts the Saponi Chief complained in Court to the Judge that the Nottoway and Tuskarora had killed two Saponi, the Nottoway replied that the Saponi had killed 3 of theirs and wounded 2 more before their return attack. The Saponi proposed the indian custom which stated that if one tribe murdered another tribe’s person then that tribe must pay them. The Nottoway appeared upon this if the Saponi would also pay for the 3 they had killed as well. This made the Judge mad and said this was not the white man’s way to put a price upon human life and if they bargain among themselves then he would have nothing to say on the matter. That Saponi then stated that it was not them which killed the 3 Nottoway, stating it was the Tutelo. The Nottoway stated the Tutelo and Saponi was one, the Nottoway further stated that some time ago the Nottoway paid these Saponi a ammount of Wampum (a shell used in jewlery and adoption ceremonies) to help kill off all the Tutelo. The Nottoway said instead these Saponi took the Wampum then told the Tutelo of the plan. This is probally why the three Nottoway was killed. The Nottoway then proposed that they would allow the Saponi to keep the Wampum and also pay for the 2 dead if they would honor their original deal and join the Nottoway in killing off all the Tutelo. The Saponi chief stated he would consider this new offer, the tribes returned home. The judge over this matter wrote to the Virginia government stateing that if the Tuskarora was offered up to be murdered by the Saponi then English lives would for certain be taken.
1710:
Governor spotswood encourages the Saponi and Tutelo to return to virginia from North Carolina.
1711:
Colonial Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood, along with 1600 armed men, visited the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Reservation at the mouth of the Assamoosick Swamp in what is now Courtland, Virginia. He met with the “Teerheer” (Chief) of the Nottoway Nation whose name was Occuraass (often referred to as “William Edmund” by the Colonials). The purpose of Spotswood’s visit was to ensure that the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indians did not join forces with the warring Tuscaroras Indians and to get the Chief Men to send their sons to the “Brafferton,” a school for Indians at William and Mary College (Karen Stuart, “So Good A Work,” The Brafferton School, 1691-1777). The Nottoway were fearful that their sons would be sold into slavery. As evidence of his good faith, Spotswood, offered to remit the annual treaty tribute due from the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe, in exchange for the promise to send two of the Chief Men’s sons to the “Brafferton.” Ethnohistoric records reveal that by November 17, 1711, Spotswood reported that two sons of the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Chief Men were attending the College. It is noted that Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian surnames continued to appear on the enrollment roster of the “Brafferton” throughout the 1750s and 1760s.
Febuary 27th 1713:
Treaty made with Saponi
These traders not only went into the Carolinas, but also were apparently active in the local Indian trade. The native people in southside Virginia at this time were the Saponi, the Ocaneeche, the Eno, and the Tutelo, part of the eastern Siouan speaking tribes. The Treaty of Fort Christianna on 27 February 1713 led to an era of settlement where these Indians lived at Fort Christianna, including a 36 square mile area set aside for them, located in what is now Brunswick County. Richard Smith helped to build Christianna.
George II. To all know ye that for diverss good causes & considerations but more specialty for and in consideration of diverss services performed toward making the new settlement for the Saponi Indians at Christ Anna persuant to a treaty with that Nation We have given granted and confirmed and by these presents for us our heirs and successors do give grant and confirm unto Richard Smith of Isle of Wight County one certain tract or parcel of land containing three hundred and ninety acres lying and being on the south side of the Meherrin River in the county aforesaid (and being part of that tract of land whereon the said Indians lately dwelt and which they have surrendered to us in exchange for a like quantity of land which we have assigned them at the aforesaid place of Christ Anna) and bounded followeth, to wit, Beginning at a pine in the Sapone old field a corner of Edward Brantley…In witness & witness our trusty and beloved Alexander Spotswood out Lt. Governor at Williamsburgh under the seal of our said Colony the twentieth day of February one thousand seven hundred and nineteen in the sixth year of our Reign.
A. Spotswood
Report of the Council of Virginia at Williamsburg meeting to ratify treaty between the Council of North Carolina and Tuscanoro. August 1713 (f.48).
Council of Virginia negotiations with Tuscanoro, Pamencky, Maharine, Wilcomoco and Panauckey Indians. Proposals for land settlements. October 1713 (folios 51-55).
Report and proposals before Council of Virginia for merger of Maharine and Nottoway Indians to join with Tuscanoro as “Tributary” Indians. Proposals for land settlements for Saponic, Sucanoro, Ouonochec, Tottero and Tuscanoro Indians. January 1713 (f.59).
Treaty between Council of Virginia and Saponic, Tottero, Ouonochec and Sucanoros. Merger of the said Indians and designation of lands reserved for the same. February 1713. (f.113).
Treaty between the Council of Virginia and Nottoways. Land settlement February 1713 (f.116).
Treaty between the Council of Virginia and Tuscanoros. Land settlement February 1713 (f. 118)
Document is available under the Freedom of Information act, the reference information is “CO 5/1341”.
Signed by (Each treaty was individually made with the tribes):
Tawhee Sockha Hoontky of the Saponies;,
Nehawroose (hehaurooss) in behalf of Hoonthmiya (hoontky miha) of the Stukanoes;
Chaweo ; or chawco Hooutky(sp) of the Occaneechis
Mawseeuntky, Hoontky of the Tottero
Signed at Williamsburg the 27th day of February 1713.
December 1713:
Governor Spotswood told the Assembly of his plans for
forts on the frontiers. After making treaties with the Sapony, Nottoway,
and Tuscarora Indians who agreed to make peace and come under the
protection of Virginia, the Council and Governor decided that the forts
should be built at the proposed Indian settlements. However, the
Tuscaroras who had fled to the upper Roanoke and who had intimated they
would like to settle in Virginia and become tributaries, changed their
minds and returned to North Carolina.
1714:
The Virginia government built Fort Christiana on the Meherrin River
and they appointed Robert Hicks as Captain of the Fort’s paid militia, known as the
“Rangers”, and it’s 12 indian scouts. Robert subsequently moved most of his
family into this area. Governor Spotswood gave the family exclusive trade
rights in western Virginia in return for their service. The family residence
was known as “Hicks’ Ford” and was located where the present day city of
“Emporia” is found today, in Greenville Co., Va. In 1728, Capt. Robert was
appointed to the large expedition that surveyed the boundary between North
Carolina and Virginia.
July 1714:
Governor Spotswood started out on his six-week expedition
to the southern frontier to carry out the provisions of the treaties he had
made. At this time Colonel John Allen, of Surry, laid out the tract of
land, six miles square (23,040 acres) on both sides of Meherrin River, on
which the Indians would settle. This was in later Brunswick County, near
Lawrenceville [in present-day Brunswick County]. The Sapony, Occoneechee,
Stuckanox, and Totero Indians were to settle on the south side of the
river. They spoke the same language but preserved their different rules.
The Nottoways and Meherrins were to settle on the north. They could not
live peacefully with their traditional enemies, the Saponies. The Notto
ways and Meherrins, however, decided not to move from their old lands but
to remain where they were.
“Governor Spotswood named the settlement Christ-Anna (or Christanna) in
honor of Christ and Queen Anne. “Some of the Indians settled at Christanna while Spotswood was there in
the summer of 1714. At this time he placed a teacher among them, Charles
Griffin, whose salary of 50 dollars a year he paid out of pocket. He later wrote to the Bishop
of London that he had also conferred with Mr. Forbes, a clergyman, to
settle there, but ‘his retiring soon after into a married State, has
chang’d his inclinations.’
1715:
Major Joshua Wynne, youngest son of Colonel Robert Wynne, born 1659-1662 in Charles City Co., Virginia. Joshua lived in Prince George County, Virginia. On 29 March 1715 Major Joshua Wynne was shot and killed by Saponey Indians because one of Joshua’s servants had killed one of the Indian’s “great” men.
Upon trial of the Indian, they pleaded that the Wynne’s were the aggressors and that they never rest without revenge. The Indians said that they and the Wynne’s were then equal, each having lost a great man. To avoid more bloodshed the Indian was pardoned. Joshua was an Indian interpreter and was said to be a fearless adventurer. He was a Justice in Charles City County, Virginia as well as Sheriff of Prince George County, Virginia. Joshua was born in Charles City, Virginia in 1660. He was married to Mary Jones, daughter of Captain Peter Jones and wife Margaret (Wood) Jones, daughter of the eminent Major General Abraham Wood, head of Virginia’s fur trade under Royal Governor Sir William Berkley. Joshua was overseer of the Berkley plantation during Bacon’s Rebellion, was a member of the Governor’s Council, and a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. After building Fort Henry in 1646, he and three other Virginians, two servants and a guide explored what someday would become Tennessee and Kentucky, and being the first Englishmen to set foot there.
Feb 7th, 1715/1716:
Alexander spotswood replies about the Saponi’s grievence of being forced off their land. Spotswood says the Saponi abandoned their land, The Saponi said they did not abandon their land. It is also brought up the question if Spotswood had bought the land. “So the Saponys, being the only Indians who, under my Administration, have changed their Seat of habitation, must be the Nation meant in this Query. But this is the first time I ever heard it alledged that Force was used to remove them, or that I had made a Purchase of their Lands, and I am certain the Querist would be hooted out of Town, did he show his face there to these Assertations, when every Indian would plainly confute him, as my appear by the annexed Affidavit”
Spotswood, Alexander. The Official Letters of Alexander Spotswood, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1710 – 1722; Volumes 1 & 2. Ed. R.A. Brock. Richmond: Virginia Historical Society. 1882. 368pgs.
The above was on pages 190 – 218
Virginia, Feb’ry 7th, 1715 [1716].
April 15 1716:
Spotwood visits the Saponi indians at Fort Christiana which he is met by . The Saponey are dresed for war and perform a war dance and practice shooting arrows, They numbered 200 men and had recently been Governed by a Queen, she had either died or was dying so are now governed by 12 men, these 12 men meet Spotswood as he arrives and lay several animal skins at his feet and bow to him at the same time. They inform Spotswood thru a interpretor that the Genitoes had surprised 15 of them and had killed these 15 men. They asked for Spotswood’s assitance in killing 15 of them (which is the code of the Saponi that if any of your men was killed then you could kill that same number but no more). He agreed that they may take revenge and that he would supply ammunition. They also complained of being cheated by the English which Spotswood furnished resitution. 60 young men then show up with feathers in their hair and thru their Ear like a Earring. Face painted blue and Red (the Saponi war colors). Their hair was cut in fantastic ways with some appearing like a Rooster’s comb. They had Blue and Red blankets wraped around them (their war dress), this made them appear like Furies, these men (the soliders) made no speach. Then the women enter, long straight hair to the waist, blanket tied around them and hanging like a petticoat, most of the women was naked from the waist up, the ones not naked from the waist up wore a Mantle over one shoulder made of two deer skins sewed together. These women was greased with bear oil on their head and body which gave a disagreeable smell due to the bear oil mixed with the smoke of their cabins (Cabins was the Saponi current homes). These women was modest and very faithful to their Husbands, straight and well limbed, good shape and extraordinary good features, they look wild and shy of Englishmen with which they will not allow to touch them. The Saponi village was a musket shot from Fort Christiana (which taught 77 children), the village cabins were all joined making a circle with 3 passages 6 feet wide each, the doors all faced inside the circle while the center of the cirlce was a tree stump which the 12 head men spoke on, the infants was hung from trees out of harms way by them being bound to boards in the shape of the child with the top being round in shape, a string went thru a hole on the top of the board making a hoop to place upon tree branches or pin of a post. The boys praticed bow and arrow shooting by shoot at the eye of a axe 20 yards away, spotswood gave the boys knifes and hourglasses. After their village war dance Spotswood treated them to food which they ate wildly.
History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia By Charles Campbell. Pg.385 (the book lists references).
John Fontaine was the author of above.
1717:
Fort Christiana closes and some students relocate to the William and Mary-the Brafferton school.
Charles Kimball (b. btw 1698-1702) and his brother William. are documented as interpreters to the Saponi Indians.
(House of Burgesses). Many researchers believe that they were traders also as was
their dad, Joseph Kimball (d.1711 VA). Charles and William are documented at Fort Christiana , VA (Indian School)
as early as 1717. They were investigated by Govenor Spotswood for possible
collusion in an Indian massacre at there Fort. Charles was named as one of
the surveyors for Byrd for the 1728 dividing line, which established the
boundary between VA and NC.
9 April 1717:
The Governor went to Christanna to meet
the Great Men of the Catawbas and other Western Indians who, having been
promised goods at cheap rates at the Fort, had brought with them some of
their children to be hostages and educated at the school. Next day the
Indians, lying unarmed in their camp about 50 yards from the Fort, were
attacked suddenly at dawn by a party of the Senecas and Tuscaroras, who
killed five, one of whom was Queen of the Catawbas. They wounded two, and
carried off five prison-ers including the Chief of the Catawbas, one of the
greatest and most influential Indians in the South. The Indians suspected
the English of being traitors. They were finally persuaded otherwise, and
left eleven children at the school. One the prisoners who escaped reported
later that the Iroquois had come down to surprise the Saponies, and
threatened to return soon to massacre the whole tribe and any of the whites
who might try to befriend them.”
when the English representives of Albany New York told the Iroqious to account for their outrageous actions they stated that the Catawba had in about the year 1714 killed 5 Iroqious as they slept the night after the treaty of peace had been signed. The Iroqious further stated that these southern indians had long been the enemy of the Iroqious and had even taken them prisoner out of Christian houses due to such hate. The Iroqious called the Catawba “Toderichroone”.
The Iroqious stated they had no intention to attack the Saponi nor the white allies, they declared the Catawba lied about this statement. The Iroqious told how they wished to be friends with those at Fort Christana and wish for a commision of VA come to Alabany and set up a firm and lasting peace treaty.
On Sept 1722 a meeting was held in Albany New York. Representives of the 5 natives of Iroqious, the Tuskaroras (Iroqious allies), Shawnee, and other ally tribes, along with the Iroqious tribe Susquehanna. Others which attened was New York, Pennsylvanis, and Virgina governors (Spotswood was there). This meeting had a new peace treaty made which made peace between the north and south tribes.
While i was just going back over my records I found something VERY interesting……the Saponi did abandoned the Reservation because of the hanging.
And in earnest they would have served well enough for that purpose, if the white people in the neighbourhood had not debauched their morals, and ruined their health with rum, which was the cause of many disorders, and ended at last in a barbarous murder committed by one of these Indians when he was drunk, for which the poor wretch was executed when he was sober. It was matter of great concern to them, however, that one of their grandees should be put to so ignominious a death. All Indians have as great an aversion to hanging as the Muscovites, though perhaps not for the same cleanly reason: these last believing that the soul of one that dies in this manner, being forced to sally out of the body at the postern, must needs be defiled. The Sapponies took this execution so much to heart, that they soon after quitted their settlement and removed in a body to the Catawbas. The daughter of the Tetero king went away with the Sapponies, but being the last of her nation, and fearing she should not be treated according to her rank, poisoned herself, like an old Roman, with the root of the trumpet plant. Her father died two years before, who was the most intrepid Indian we have been acquainted with. He had made himself terrible to all other Indians by his exploits, and had escaped so many dangers that he was esteemed invulnerable. But at last he died of a pleurisy, the last man of his race and nation, leaving only that unhappy daughter behind him, who would not long survive him.
Pleursy…..interesting thing…because I have Pleursy alogn with Tachycardia….Pleursy is also a thing that part of what Brent kennedy has.
But anyway on to the document.
The most uncommon circumstance in this Indian visit was, that they all came on horse-back, which was certainly intended for a piece of state, because the distance was but three miles, and it is likely they had walked on foot twice as far to catch their horses. The men rode more awkwardly than any Dutch sailor, and the ladies bestrode their palfreys a la mode de France, but were so bashful about it, that there was no persuading them to mount till they were quite out of our sight. The French women used to ride a-straddle, not so much to make them sit firmer in the saddle, as from the hopes the same thing might peradventure befall them that once happened to the nun of Orleans, who, escaping out of a nunnery, took post en cavalier, and in ten miles’ hard riding had the good fortune to have all the tokens of a man break out upon her. This piece of history ought to be the more credible, because it leans upon much the same degree of proof as the tale of bishop Burnet’s two Italian nuns, who, according to his lordship’s account, underwent the same happy metamorphosis, probably by some other violent exercise.
The last two replies was from
Page 89
The Westover Manuscripts:
Containing the History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina;
A Journey to the Land of Eden, A. D. 1733; and A Progress to the Mines.
Written from 1728 to 1736, and Now First Published:
Electronic Edition.
Byrd, William, 1674-1744
Ok found the reference to who the Hostages mentioned was.
Page 36 of the sameWilliam Byrd documents I used before.
And some of them too have made the worst use of the knowledge they acquired among the English, by employing it against their benefactors. Besides, as they unhappily forget all the good they learn, and remember the ill, they are apt to be more vicious and disorderly than the rest of their countrymen. I ought not to quit this subject without doing justice to the great prudence of colonel Spotswood in this affair. That gentleman was lieutenant governor of Virginia when Carolina was engaged in a bloody war with the Indians. At that critical time it was thought expedient to keep a watchful eye upon our tributary savages, who we knew had nothing to keep them to their duty but their fears. Then it was that he demanded of each nation a competent number of their great men’s children to be sent to the college, where they served as so many hostages for the good behaviour of the rest, and at the same time were themselves principled in the Christian religion. He also placed a school master among the Saponi Indians, at the salary of fifty pounds per annum, to instruct their children. The person that undertook that charitable work was Mr. Charles Griffin, a man of a good family, who, by the innocence of his life, and the sweetness of his temper, was perfectly well qualified for that pious undertaking. Besides, he had so much the secret of mixing pleasure with instruction, that he had not a scholar who did not love him affectionately. Such talents must needs have been blest with a proportionable success, had he not been unluckily removed to the college, by which he left the good work he had begun unfinished. In short, all the pains he had taken among the infidels had no other effect but to make them something cleanlier than other Indians are. The care colonel Spotswood took to tincture the Indian children with Christianity produced the following epigram, which was not published during his administration, for fear it might then have looked like flattery.
The next page talks further about the schools.
Long has the furious priest assayed in vain,
With sword and faggot, infidels to gain,
But now the milder soldier wisely tries
By gentler methods to unveil their eyes.
Wonders apart, he knew ’twere vain t’engage
The fix’d preventions of misguided age.
With fairer hopes he forms the Indian youth
To early manners, probity and truth.
The lion’s whelp thus, on the Lybian shore,
Is tamed and gentled by the artful Moor,
Not the grim sire, inured to blood before.
I am sorry I cannot give a better account of the state of the poor Indians with respect to Christianity, although a great deal of pains has been and still continues to be taken with them. For my part, I must be of opinion, as I hinted before, that there is but one way of converting these poor infidels, and reclaiming them from barbarity, and that is, charitably to intermarry with them, according to the modern policy of the most Christian king in Canada and Louisiana. Had the English done this at the first settlement of the colony, the infidelity of the Indians had been worn out at this day, with their dark complexions, and the country had swarmed with people more than it does with insects. It was certainly an unreasonable nicety, that prevented their entering into so good-natured an alliance. All nations of men have the same natural dignity, and we all know that very bright talents may be lodged under a very dark skin. The principal difference between one people and another proceeds only from the different opportunities of improvement. The Indians by no means want understanding, and are in their figure tall and well-proportioned. Even their copper-coloured complexion would admit of blanching, if not in the first, at the farthest in the second generation. I may safely venture to say, the Indian women would have made altogether as honest wives for the first planters, as the damsels they used to purchase from aboard the ships. It is strange, therefore, that any good Christian should have refused a wholesome, straight bed-fellow, when he might have had so fair a portion with her, as the merit of saving her soul.
Many of my family history could have been right in any of these writings. My Howard’s, Parrish’s, Hamilton’s, Brown’s, Bethea’s, etc. were in these areas. I have family who came from the Isle of Wight. My Putney family came west from the Richmond area after the Civil War.
I have a friend who told me she found some of our Howards and she learned that Allen served in the Revolution. On his paper work the Catawba were mentioned. She said she was unable to make out what was on the paper.
Ga-Nc Collins wrote: I’ve been looking for exact sources on one of the items listed.
Here is what I have in my files…..I’ve notfound why the Saponi Chief was hung….but the Saponi chief was hung on the reservation. Ned Bearskin said the Chief was hung….
But here is the reference.
[FONT=Verdana]27 Sept 1728
Sir:
The 27th of September John Carter brought Negro Cofey to my house, as he says, by your orders, for me to examine concerning what the Saponys have told him about the white people, which I have done, and he tells me:
that Great George told him that John Sauano and a fellow called Ben Harrison was gone to the Cotobers to fetch one hundred of them to come and see why their Indians was put in prison,
and if Capt. Tom was hanged they would carry their wives and children over the Roanoke River and then they would drive the white people and negros as far as James River,
and he says that Tony Mack told him that if Pyah was hanged he and the Cotobers would come and take revenge of the English,
and he says that Sapony Tom told him if his son Harry Erwin was hanged they would kill you and three or four more Gentlemen and then go off,
and he says that Dick told him that we had no business to come to the fort armed to concern ourselves about their killing one another, but we were like a sow that had lost her pigs would rally for a little time and then have done *, but when they began a war with the English they never would have done *.
This from your humble servant to command,
Thomas Avent
The original document is held by the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA and will give you a copy of the original.
Hi, If this is the quote you are looking for, it came from the Calendar of State Papers…
Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts: 1652-1781, Preserved in the Capitol at Richmond By Virginia, William Pitt Palmer, Sherwin McRae, Raleigh Edward Colston, Henry W. Flournoy
Published by R.F. Walker, 1875
Page 215
1728
Sir—
The 27th of September, John Carter brought negro Cofey to my hous, as he fays by your orders for me to examine concerning what the Saponys have told him about the white people which I have don, and he tells me that great george tould him that John Sauano and a fellow called ben harrison was gon to the Cotobers to fetch one hundred of them to come and fee why their Indians was put in prison and if capton torn was hanged they would carry their wives and children over roanoake river and then they would drive the white peopel and negros as far as James river, and he says that tony mack tould him that if pyah was hanged, he and the Cotobers would com and take revenge of the english, and he fays that Sapony torn tould him If his son harry ervin was hanged they would kill you and three or four more gentlemen and then goe of, and fays that Dick tould him that we had no busnes to com to the fort armed to concern ourselves about their killing one another, but we were like a fow that had lost her pigs, would ralley for a little time and then have don, but when they began a war with the english they never would have don— this from yr humble fervt: to comand—
THOMAS ARENT.
Stacey
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