One of the most famous Indian chiefs of his time, the founder of the Powhatan Confederacy composed of the Algonquian Virginia tribes. Powhatan's Indian name was Wahunsonacock, but, as his favorite residence at the time Captain John Smith arrived was at Powhatan on the James River Falls where the city of Richmond now stands, the whites called him Powhatan. Powhatan was the father of the famed Indian maiden, Pocahontas.
When first known the Powhatan Confederacy of some thirty tribes or subtribes had nearly 200 villages, of which more than 160 were mentioned by Captain John Smith in his writings. These villages, composed of oblong houses with rounded roofs, were enclosed within palisades. The Powhatan raised maize, beans, melons, pumpkins, and some fruit trees. They used the decimal system in counting, and reckoned their years by winters, or by cohonks, a name in imitation of the cry of the wild geese that visited them each winter.
Except for some petty warfare with the whites, these Indians were very friendly during Chief Powhatan's time. When Powhatan died in 1618 his younger brother, Opechancanough, became chief and began planning a secret uprising against the colonists. Four years later 347 English were killed and the colonists began a war of extermination against the Indians, finally defeating more than 1,000 and burning their villages.
Peace lasted until 1641 when in another uprising the Indians killed 500 colonists. A year later Opechancanough was captured and shot and the Powhatan Confederacy broken up.
Several hundred survivors of this once powerful confederacy still live in Virginia. There are towns named Powhatan in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and West Virginia; a county and county seat in Virginia, a Powhatan Point in Ohio; and a town called Powhattan in Kansas.
Related Information within this Site
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