Nansemond Indian Villages

The principal villages of the Nansemond Indians stood just east of here on the Nansemond River. The Nansemonds fought frequently with the English colonists who arrived in 1607 as the Indians resisted the newcomers' attempts to occupy their villages and seize their corn. Two major periods of hostility occurred in 1609 and again after Opechancanough's coordinated assault on the English settlements on 22 Mar. 1622 that began the Powhatan-English War of 1622-1632. Sir George Yeardley retaliated for the assault by burning the Nansemond villages and destroying their cornfields. The surviving Nansemonds scattered, their power broken.