All,
It was the Nanzatico community to which Kevin Berland is referring.  
They lived on the north side of the Rappahannock River across from  
Portobago Bay. By 1700, Nanzatico/Portobago had become something of a  
mixed-Indian community that consisted of Potobagos from Maryland, the  
ancestral Nantaughtacund (anglicized Nanzatico) community, and other  
displaced peoples from all along the northern neck--Patawomecks,  
Matchotics, Rappahannocks to name only a few.

In the years after Bacon's Rebellion, this region of the Rappahannock  
experienced a significant growth in English settlement. The Wormeley,  
Corbin, and Lomax families were all major patentees at both Portobago  
and Nanzatico. The steady incursions by Englishmen upon Indian land  
displaced even more communities. By treaty, the Virginia governor  
bound himself to protect Indian lands, though he was rarely  
successful. Such was the case in April 1704, the Nanzatico Indians  
complained to the colonial council that a neighbor, Thomas Kendall,  
had broken down their fences and “turned them off their land.” The  
council referred the complaint to House of Burgesses, but no one  
acted. A second complaint by the Nanzatico against another  
Englishman, John Rowley, was also ignored. Finally, on August 30,  
1704, ten Nanzatico men attacked and murdered John Rowley and his  
family in their home.

The militia of Richmond County, commanded by Colonel William Tayloe,  
went after the Nanzatico. Colonel Tayloe’s scouts found most of the  
community hiding in the woods. The Richmond County militia rounded up  
forty-nine men, women, and children. Tayloe marched them to Richmond  
County and jailed them to await trial. Meanwhile, the Nanzatico’s  
English neighbors “plundered” and “destroyed” the Nanzatico’s vacant  
town.

The council ordered that a court of oyer and terminer be held in  
Richmond County the first week of October. This show trial attracted  
the leading men of the colony: four councilors, fourteen burgesses  
including the Speaker of the House, all of the justices from Richmond  
County, and the militia officers and clerks from Westmoreland,  
Stafford, Richmond, and Essex counties. The colony ordered that two  
or three of the great men from each of the tributaries attend the  
trial. Sixteen judges heard the case. These judges, with advice from  
the councilors and militia commanders in attendance decided the fate  
of the accused and their families. The judges found seven of the  
Nanzatico men guilty. They were hanged immediately. The rest of the  
Nanzatico were jailed in Williamsburg for the winter until the  
assembly decided their fate. They were the second set of prisoners in  
the new Williamsburg goal.

In May 1705, on the advice of the militia commanders who had attended  
the trial, the assembly decided to invoke a 1665 law that made whole  
communities’ answerable “with their lives or liberties” for “any  
murthers [that] be committed upon the English.” This was the first  
time that the assembly had invoked this harsh law The burgesses  
decided to sell as servants in the West Indies all of the Nanzatico  
over the age of twelve. They were not allowed to return to Virginia  
on pain of death. Those under the age of twelve were bound as  
servants to members of the council and not allowed to return to the  
Rappahannock River or live in an Indian town ever again.

For more on this see, Gwenda Morgan, “Sold into Slavery in  
Retribution against the Nanziattico Indians,” Virginia Cavalcade, 33  
(Spring 1984):168-73.


Best,
Edward Ragan


On Jun 20, 2007, at 10:35 AM, Kevin Joel Berland wrote:

>
> I am trying to remember the name of the Virginia nation which was  
> defeated,
> captured, and sent as slaves to the West Indies.  I'll go back and  
> check my
> notes and if I turn anything up, I'll let you know.