Opchanacanough
Encyclopedia
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
of the Powhatan Confederacy of what is now Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and its leader from sometime after 1618 until his death in 1646. His name meant "He whose Soul is White" in the Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
language. He was the famous Chief Powhatan
Chief Powhatan
Chief Powhatan , whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh , was the paramount chief of Tsenacommacah, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking Virginia Indians in the Tidewater region of Virginia at the time English settlers landed at Jamestown in 1607...
's younger brother (or possibly half-brother).
Powhatan warrior
The Powhatan Confederacy was established in the late 16th and early 17th century under the leadership of Chief Wahunsonacock (who was more commonly known as Chief Powhatan, named for the tribe he originally led which was based near present-day Richmond, VirginiaRichmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
). Over a period of years, through negotiation and/or coercion, Chief Powhatan united more than 30 of the Virginia Indian tribal groups in the Tidewater region
Tidewater region of Virginia
The Tidewater region of Virginia is the eastern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia formally known as Hampton Roads. The term tidewater may be correctly applied to all portions of any area, including Virginia, where the water level is affected by the tides...
of what is now the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, essentially the southeastern portion of the state.
At the time of the English settlement at Jamestown
Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
which was established in May of 1607, Opechancanough was a much-feared warrior and a charismatic leader of the Powhatans. As Chief Powhatan's younger brother (or possibly half-brother), he headed a tribe situated along the Pamunkey River
Pamunkey River
The Pamunkey River is a tributary of the York River, about long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. Via the York River it is part of the watershed of Chesapeake Bay.-Course:...
near the present-day town of West Point
West Point, Virginia
West Point is an incorporated town in King William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,867 at the 2000 census.-Geography:West Point is located at...
. Known to be strongly opposed to the European settlers, he captured John Smith of Jamestown
John Smith of Jamestown
Captain John Smith Admiral of New England was an English soldier, explorer, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania and friend Mózes Székely...
along the Chickahominy River
Chickahominy River
The Chickahominy is an river in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Virginia. The river rises about northwest of Richmond and flows southeast and south to the James River...
and brought him before Chief Powhatan at Werowocomoco
Werowocomoco
Werowocomoco was a village that served as the political center of the Powhatan Paramount Chiefdom, a grouping of about 30 Virginia Indian tribes speaking an Algonquian language...
, one the two capital villages of the Powhatans. Located along the northern shore of the present-day York River
York River (Virginia)
The York River is a navigable estuary, approximately long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. It ranges in width from at its head to near its mouth on the west side of Chesapeake Bay. Its watershed drains an area including portions of 17 counties of the coastal plain of Virginia north...
, Werowocomoco is the site where the famous incident with Powhatan's young daughter Pocahontas
Pocahontas
Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...
intervening on Smith's behalf during a ceremony is thought to have occurred, based upon Smith's account.
Written accounts by other colonists confirm that Pocahontas subsequently did serve as an intermediary between the natives and the colonists, and helped deliver crucial food during the winter of 1607-08, when the colonist's fort at Jamestown Island burned in an accidental fire in January 1608.
A later marriage of Pocahontas and colonist John Rolfe
John Rolfe
John Rolfe was one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia and is known as the husband of Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy.In 1961, the Jamestown...
in 1614 brought a period of peace, which ended not long after her death while on a trip to England and the death of her father, Wahunsonacock, in 1618. A short time later, after a brief succession of the chiefdom by Opitchipam, Opechancanough became chief of the Powhatan Confederacy.
Powhatan chief
The natives and the colonists came into increasingly irreconcilable conflicts as the land-hungry export crop, tobaccoTobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
(which had been first developed by Rolfe), became the cash crop
Cash crop
In agriculture, a cash crop is a crop which is grown for profit.The term is used to differentiate from subsistence crops, which are those fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family...
of the colony. The relationship became even more strained as ever-increasing numbers of Europeans arrived and began establishing "hundreds" and plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
s along the navigable rivers.
Beginning with the Indian massacre of 1622
Indian massacre of 1622
The Indian Massacre of 1622 occurred in the Colony of Virginia, in what now belongs to the United States of America, on Friday, March 22, 1622...
, Chief Opechancanough abandoned diplomacy
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
with the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
settler
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
s of the Virginia Colony
Colony and Dominion of Virginia
The Colony of Virginia was the English colony in North America that existed briefly during the 16th century, and then continuously from 1607 until the American Revolution...
as a means of settling conflicts and tried to force them to abandon the region. On the morning of Friday, March 22, 1622, approximately a third of the settlers in Virginia were killed during a series of coordinated attacks along both shores of the James River
James River (Virginia)
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is long, extending to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. The James River drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million...
, extending from Newport News Point
Newport News, Virginia
Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...
, near the mouth of the river, all the way to Falling Creek
Falling Creek
Falling Creek is a tributary of the James River located near Richmond, Virginia. Approximately in length, it varies in width between at its source to several hundred feet in the Falling Creek Reservoir. Falling Creek rises in the Salisbury section of northwestern Chesterfield County and empties...
, near the fall line
Fall line
A fall line is a geomorphologic unconformity between an upland region of relatively hard crystalline basement rock and a coastal plain of softer sedimentary rock. A fall line is typically prominent when crossed by a river, for there will often be rapids or waterfalls...
at the head of navigation. The colony eventually rebounded, however, and later hundreds of natives were killed in retaliation, many poisoned by Dr. John Pott
John Pott
John Potts was a physician and Colonial Governor of Virginia at the Jamestown settlement in the Virginia Colony in the early 17th century.-Biography:...
s at Jamestown.
Chief Opechancanough launched one more major effort to get rid of the colonists on April 18, 1644. In 1646, forces under Royal Governor William Berkeley captured Opechancanough, at the time believed to be between 90 or 100 years old. While a prisoner, Opechancanough was killed by a soldier, who shot him in the back while assigned to guard him. He was succeeded as Weroance
Weroance
Weroance is an Algonquian word meaning tribal chief, leader, commander, or king, notably among the Powhatan confederacy of the Virginia coast and Chesapeake Bay region. The Powhatan Confederacy, encountered by the colonists of Jamestown and adjacent area of the Virginia Colony beginning in 1607,...
first by Nectowance
Nectowance
Nectowance was the Weroance of the Pamunkey tribe following the death of his uncle Opechancanough. After his death he was succeeded by Totopotomoi as Weroance of the tribe...
, then by Totopotomoi
Totopotomoi
Totopotomoi was a grandson of a sister of Chief Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas. He became the Chief of the Pamunkey Tribe in 1649 when he succeeded Nectowance as chief sometime after the death of Opechancanough...
, and later by his daughter, Cockacoeske
Cockacoeske
Cockacoeskie was a 17th century leader of the Pamunkey Tribe of Native Americans in what is now Virginia in the United States....
, Totopotomoi's wife. Cockacoeske had a concubine relationship with Colonel John West
John West (colonel)
Lieutenant-Colonel John West, Jr. of West Point, Virginia was commander of the New Kent Militia in the Colony and Dominion of Virginia, and a representative of the same county in the House of Burgesses.-Biography:...
, who was the son of the Governor of Virginia.
Connection with 'Don Luis'
It is speculated by some historians, including Carl BridenbaughCarl Bridenbaugh
Carl Bridenbaugh was an American historian of Colonial America. He had an illustrious career, writing fourteen books and editing or co-editing five more, and he was acclaimed as a historian and teacher.-Career:...
but not known with certainty, that Opechancanough was the same Native American youth who was the son of a chief and is known to have been transported voluntarily from the village of Kiskiack
Kiskiack
Kiskiack was a Native American tribal group of the Powhatan Confederacy. The name means "Wide Land" or "Bread Place" in the native language, one of the Virginia Algonquian languages. It was also the name of their village on the Virginia Peninsula. Later English colonists adopted the name for...
in Virginia to Spain in the 16th century at the age of 17 and educated. Murrin, however, suggests that Opechancanough was probably the nephew or cousin of Don Luis. (Ibid.)
Rechristened as "Don Luis", the young man returned to his homeland in what is now the Virginia Peninsula
Virginia Peninsula
The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay.Hampton Roads is the common name for the metropolitan area that surrounds the body of water of the same name...
subregion of the Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
region of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, where Jesuit priests established their ill-fated Ajacan Mission
Ajacàn Mission
The Ajacán Mission was a failed attempt in 1570 to establish a Jesuit mission on the Virginia Peninsula. They intended to bring Christianity to the Virginia Indians. The effort to found what was to be called St...
in September of 1570. However, shortly thereafter, Don Luis is believed to have returned to life with the Powhatan Confederacy, and turned against the Europeans. The mission failed during the winter of 1571 when the Jesuits were killed by the Native Americans, ending Spanish efforts to colonize the area.
There is also other speculation that Don Luis may have been the individual who became the father of both chiefs Wahunsunacock
Chief Powhatan
Chief Powhatan , whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh , was the paramount chief of Tsenacommacah, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking Virginia Indians in the Tidewater region of Virginia at the time English settlers landed at Jamestown in 1607...
, who died in 1618, and Opechancanough, who died in 1646.
Illness
From various contemporary reports, Marsteller (1988) concludes that Opchanacanough may have suffered from myasthenia gravisMyasthenia gravis
Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune neuromuscular disease leading to fluctuating muscle weakness and fatiguability...
. These reports include weakness which improved with resting and drooping of the eyelids.
Fictional representations
He was portrayed by Stuart Randall in the 1953 low-budget film Captain John Smith and Pocahontas.He was voiced by Lorenzo Gonzalez in the Animated Hero Classics
Animated Hero Classics
Animated Hero Classics is an educational Animated television series of programs co-produced by Nest Family Entertainment and Warner Bros. The series, geared toward elementary school aged children, includes twenty biographies of both female and male scientists, inventors, explorers, and social...
1994 episode Pocahontas.
Opechancanough appears in the 2005 film The New World, in which he is played by Wes Studi
Wes Studi
Wesley "Wes" Studi is a Cherokee actor, who has earned notability for his portrayal of Native Americans in film. He has appeared in well-received Academy Award-winning films, such as Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves, Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans, the award-winning Geronimo: An...
. In the film, he is conflated with Tomocomo
Tomocomo
Uttamatomakkin, known as Tomocomo for short, was a Powhatan native shaman who accompanied Pocahontas on her visit to London in 1616.Little is known about Tomocomo's life before his visit to London. He is known to have been a shaman. He appears to have met Captain John Smith during Smith's time in...
, a priest who accompanied Pocahontas
Pocahontas
Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...
to London.
See also
- History of VirginiaHistory of VirginiaThe history of Virginia began with settlement of the geographic region now known as the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States thousands of years ago by Native Americans. Permanent European settlement began with the establishment of Jamestown in 1607, by English colonists. As tobacco emerged...
- NemattanewNemattanewNemattanew was a renegade captain of the Powhatan Confederacy, and at times a close advisor to paramount chief Opechancanough....