Pamunkey Indians Attacked by Nathaniel Bacon

OB-14

Although the Pamunkey Indians had been allies of the Virginia colonists since 1646, early in 1676 they were driven from their main town on the Pamunkey River by sympathizers of insurrectionist Nathaniel Bacon, and took refuge in Dragon Run Swamp. In August, Bacon's forces searched for tribal leader Cockacoeske there, capturing an old woman identified as her nurse, whom they killed after she deliberately misled them. Bacon then found the Pamunkey and attacked, killing 7 and capturing another 45. Cockacoeske escaped into the swamp and hid for two weeks, emerging almost starved. The tribe returned to the town after Bacon’s death in October.

Department of Historic Resources, 2009

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Martha W. McCartney. Cockacoeske, Queen of Pamunkey: Diplomat and Suzeraine. In Powhatan’s Mantle: Indians in the Colonial Southeast, 2nd edition. Ed: Peter H. Wood, Gregory A. Waselkov, and M. Thomas Hartley. 2006. Wilcomb E. Washburn. The Governor and the Rebel. University of North Carolina Press. 1957. John Berry and Francis Moryson. A True Narrative of the Late Rebellion in Virginia, by the Royal Commissioners. 1677. Transcribed in Narratives of the Insurrections 1675-1690. Ed. Charles M. Andrews. 1915. (most of the information is found in this 1677 account) H. R. McIlwaine and J. P. Kennedy, comps. Journals of the House of Burgesses, 13 Vols. LVA 1905-1915. 1659/60 – 1693. Chief Kevin Brown, personal communication, July 2009