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Piedmont
Indians
A
number of Indian tribes that spoke dialects of the Siouan language
lived in the Piedmont of Virginia.
The Manahoacs settled on the waters of the Rappahannock
River above Fredericksburg. The Monacans lived above the falls
of the James River, and the Occaneechis and Saponis lived above the
falls of the Roanoke River.
Little
is known about these people because few early traders and travelers kept
records.
These sketchy pieces of information from written records survive:
Captain John Smith
in 1608 met a group of Manahoacs, who lived in at least seven
villages to the west, above the falls of the Rappahannock River.
The Manahoacs were friends of the Monacans and enemies
of the Powhatans.
The
first mention about the Monacan tribe also comes from Captain Smith.
In 1608, he learned from a Powhatan informant about five
Monacan towns west of the James River falls at present-day Richmond.
In 1670, German traveler John Lederer was commissioned
by the governor of Virginia to explore the territory.
Approaching one of the villages along the James, he was
welcomed with friendly volleys of firearms.
After
leaving Monacan Town, Lederer proceeded to Sapon, a town of the
Saponi people located in Charlotte County along the Roanoke River.
Lederer wrote, "This nation is governed by an absolute
monarch; the people of a high stature, warlike and rich.
I saw great store of pearl unbored in their little temples,
or oratories, which they had won amongst other spoyls from the
Indians of Florida, and hold in as great esteem as we do."
Lederer
advised traders to carry with them cloth, axes, hoes, knives,
and scissors to trade with the Indians.
Though the Indians were eager to purchase arms and ammunition,
such trade was outlawed by the colonial government.
For remote tribes, he wrote, the best articles to carry
were small trinkets, copper, toys, beads, and
bracelets.
A
year after Lederer's expedition, Robert Fallam and Captain Thomas
Batts, under the commission of General Abraham Wood, left the
James River near Petersburg and traveled west.
The men arrived at Sapon Town, welcomed by the firing of
guns and plenty of supplies.
Continuing beyond the Piedmont, they met with yet another
warm greeting from the Totero people living in either the Roanoke
or New River Valleys. The closely allied Saponis and Toteros eventually
left their villages and many moved south, joining their friends
the Occaneechis.
According
to John Lederer's report, the Occaneechi people lived on an island
in the Roanoke River near Clarksville.
From 500 miles away, other tribes came to the village to
trade, making the island a great regional center.
In
1676, the Susquehannocks of Pennsylvania contacted the Occaneechis
to expand their trade with the Europeans.
At the same time, Nathaniel Bacon and his discontented followers
arrived.
Bacon was leading a revolt against the colonial government,
claiming, among other things, that Governor William Berkeley was
doing nothing to prevent ongoing Indian raids in the western part
of the colony.
The Occaneechis received both the Susquehannocks and Bacon
and his men.
Hostilities arose and Bacon defeated the Susquehannocks
with the help of the Occaneechis.
Then, the colonists turned on the Occaneechis, killing
more than 50 people.
The Occaneechis soon fled south into North Carolina along
with the Saponis and Toteros.
Probably
around 1716, the Saponis, Toteros, and Occaneechis left North
Carolina for Fort Christanna in Brunswick County, Virginia, in
a move to maintain closer trade relations with colonists.
The Indians' presence there provided a barrier between
hostile Tuscaroa in North Carolina and the Virginia settlements.
In 1722, a general peace was made between the Iroquois
and the Virginia and Carolina Indians.
Around 1740, many of the Saponis, Totero, and Occaneechis
moved north into Pennsylvania.
In
1833, a group of the central Piedmont Indian groups purchased
400 acres of land on Bear Mountain in Amherst County, where they established a small enclave.
Their descendants are known as the Monacans.
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Glass
beads of the type traded to the Indians
Copper
pot and pewter spoon, trade items desired by the Indians
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