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Manahoac
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Manahoac
The Manahoac, also recorded as Mahock, were a Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who lived in northern Virginia at the time of European contact. They spoke a Siouan language and numbered approximately 1,000.
They lived primarily along the Rappahannock River west of present-day Fredericksburg and the Fall Line, and east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. They merged with the Monacan, the Occaneechi, the Saponi and the Tutelo. They disappeared from the historical record after 1728.
According to William W. Tooker, the name Manahoac is Algonquian for "they are very merry", but anthropologist John R. Swanton considered this dubious.
After thousands of years of different Indigenous cultures in present-day Virginia, the Manahoac and other Piedmont tribes developed from the precontact Woodland cultures. Historically the Siouan-speaking tribes occupied more of the Piedmont area, and the Algonquian-speaking tribes inhabited the lowlands and Tidewater.
The Manahoac were a confederacy of smaller bands. In 1608, the English explorer John Smith met with a sizable group of Manahoac above the falls of the Rappahannock River. He recorded that they lived in at least seven villages west of where he had met them. One of their villages was named Mahaskahod, below the confluence of the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers. Hassinunga was near the confluence; Tauxania further upstream on the Rappahannock and Shackaconia upstream on the Rapidan River, with Stegara the most upstream on the Rapidan. Smith also noted that they were at war with the Powhatan and Haudenosaunee but were allied with the Monacan.
As the Beaver Wars upset the balance of power, some Manahoac settled in Virginia near the Powhatans. In 1656, these Manahoac fended off an attack by English and Pamunkey, resulting in the Battle of Bloody Run (1656).
By the 1669 census, because of raids by Haudenosaunee tribes from the north during the Beaver Wars and probably infectious disease from European contact, the Manahoac were reduced to only 50 bowmen in their former area. Their surviving people apparently joined their Monacan allies to the south immediately afterward. John Lederer recorded the "Mahock" along the James River in 1670. In 1671 Lederer passed through their former territory but made no mention of any inhabitants. Around the same time, the Seneca people of the Haudenosaunee began to claim the land as their hunting grounds by right of conquest, though they did not occupy it.
In 1714, Lt. Governor of Virginia Alexander Spotswood recorded that the Stegaraki subtribe of the Manahoac was present at Fort Christanna in Brunswick County. The fort was created by Spotswood and sponsored by the College of William and Mary to convert natives to Christianity and teach them the English language. The other known Siouan-speaking tribes of Virginia were all represented by members at Fort Christanna.
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Manahoac
The Manahoac, also recorded as Mahock, were a Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who lived in northern Virginia at the time of European contact. They spoke a Siouan language and numbered approximately 1,000.
They lived primarily along the Rappahannock River west of present-day Fredericksburg and the Fall Line, and east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. They merged with the Monacan, the Occaneechi, the Saponi and the Tutelo. They disappeared from the historical record after 1728.
According to William W. Tooker, the name Manahoac is Algonquian for "they are very merry", but anthropologist John R. Swanton considered this dubious.
After thousands of years of different Indigenous cultures in present-day Virginia, the Manahoac and other Piedmont tribes developed from the precontact Woodland cultures. Historically the Siouan-speaking tribes occupied more of the Piedmont area, and the Algonquian-speaking tribes inhabited the lowlands and Tidewater.
The Manahoac were a confederacy of smaller bands. In 1608, the English explorer John Smith met with a sizable group of Manahoac above the falls of the Rappahannock River. He recorded that they lived in at least seven villages west of where he had met them. One of their villages was named Mahaskahod, below the confluence of the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers. Hassinunga was near the confluence; Tauxania further upstream on the Rappahannock and Shackaconia upstream on the Rapidan River, with Stegara the most upstream on the Rapidan. Smith also noted that they were at war with the Powhatan and Haudenosaunee but were allied with the Monacan.
As the Beaver Wars upset the balance of power, some Manahoac settled in Virginia near the Powhatans. In 1656, these Manahoac fended off an attack by English and Pamunkey, resulting in the Battle of Bloody Run (1656).
By the 1669 census, because of raids by Haudenosaunee tribes from the north during the Beaver Wars and probably infectious disease from European contact, the Manahoac were reduced to only 50 bowmen in their former area. Their surviving people apparently joined their Monacan allies to the south immediately afterward. John Lederer recorded the "Mahock" along the James River in 1670. In 1671 Lederer passed through their former territory but made no mention of any inhabitants. Around the same time, the Seneca people of the Haudenosaunee began to claim the land as their hunting grounds by right of conquest, though they did not occupy it.
In 1714, Lt. Governor of Virginia Alexander Spotswood recorded that the Stegaraki subtribe of the Manahoac was present at Fort Christanna in Brunswick County. The fort was created by Spotswood and sponsored by the College of William and Mary to convert natives to Christianity and teach them the English language. The other known Siouan-speaking tribes of Virginia were all represented by members at Fort Christanna.
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