Rappahannock Indian Migration

N-28

West of here, on the ridge between the Mattaponi and Rappahannock Rivers, the Rappahannock Indians built a fort to defend themselves from hostile settlers and other Indians during Bacon's Rebellion in 1676. An order of the colonial Virginia Council in 1682 granted 4,000 acres to the Rappahannocks "about the town where they dwelt." In 1683, following increased attacks along the Virginia frontiers by Iroquoian warriors, the General Assembly ordered the Rappahannocks either to find a new home or merge with the Nanzaticos. During January and February 1684, the Rappahannocks and their belongings were transported 35 miles up the Rappahannock River.

Department of Historic Resources, 2000

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Ben C. McCary, John Smith’s Map Of Virginia in E. G. Swem, ed., Jamestown 350th Anniversary Historical Booklets, 3 (Williamsburg: Virginia 350 Anniversary Celebration Corporation, 1957); Thelma Wilkerson deShields Bastow, What Happened to the Rappahannocks? (Indian Neck, Va.: The Board of Trustees for the Preservation of the Rappahannock Indian History, 1975), 10-12; Helen C. Rountree, The Powhatan Indians of Virginia: Their Traditional Culture (Norman, Ok. and London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989), 12, 19; Helen C. Rountree, Pocahontas’s People: The Powhatan Indians of Virginia Through Four Centuries (Norman, Ok. and London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990), 118-119; James B. Slaughter, Settlers, Southerners, Americans: The History of Essex County, Virginia 1608-1984 (Salem, Wv.: Don Mills Inc., 1985), 1-2,5,8, 289-290; Ruth and Sam Sparacio (ed.), Virginia County Court Records: Order Book Abstracts of (Old) Rappahannock County, Virginia, 1683-1685, 6 February 1863 – 2 July 1685 (McLean, Va.: The Antient Press, 1990), 13-17; Thomas Hoskins Warner, History of Old Rappahannock County, Virginia, 1656-16-92 with Introduction 1608-1656…(Tappahannock, Va.,: Pauline Pearce Warner, 1965), 35-39.