Saponi go by the name Monasukapanough and are part of the Monacan nation. They are living in Charlottesville, virginia.
Captain John Smith first heard about the Monacans in 1607 when he considered traveling up the James River to look for iron and copper. Chief Powhatan warned Captain Smith that the Monacan were unfriendly and invaded his country.
1608:
Captain Christopher Newport visited the Monacans a year later. His group visited two Monacan towns. Although the tribe was not hostile, Newport and his men took one of the Monacan leaders prisoner to ensure their safety when they left.
Although the Indians did not have much copper, they used copper to make beads. Copper beads were a sign of wealth. Chiefs and other important men wanted copper beads as a sign of their high rank. Chief Powhatan was probably forced to get his copper from tribes in North Carolina since the Monacans cut off the trade route to the Powhatans. Although there were probably some times when the tribes did trade, war between the two was common.
1608-1611:
The Cherokees may have defeated the Monacans in a battle in which many of the Monacan warriors were killed.
1611:
The Monacan and Powhatan join together to try to drive out the English. The colonists then killed many of the Indians. This was called the The First Anglo�Powhatan War (1609�1613). This war involved the English colonists who were based in Jamestown, Virginia beginning in 1607 and Native Americans of the Powhatan Confederacy. Newly appointed governor Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr (�Lord Delaware�) arrived from England in Jamestown in June 1610. Delaware introduced "Irish Tactics", where his troops raided Indian villages, burned houses, confiscated provisions, and torched cornfields, Under his leadership, Samuel Argall kidnapped Pocahontas, daughter of the Powhatan chief, and hold her at Henricus. Attempts at ransom failed, however. The Native American Pamunkey warriors, led by Opechancanough counter-attacked defending their own land, and laid siege to the fort at Jamestown. He and his warriors nearly succeeded in driving the English out of the Jamestown area. A peace settlement ended the war in 1614, and it was sealed by the marriage of Pocahontas to the colonist John Rolfe. This was the first known inter-racial union in Virginia.
1655:
Seneca attacked Illinois forcing them west of the Mississippi; war stalemate resulted in peace between Mohawk/Oneida and Susquehannock; Dutch took over Swedish settlements; Susquehannock war began with Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga; Susquehannock allied in war with Shawnee, Delaware, Nanticoke, Conoy, Saponi, and Tutelo.
The Susquehannock's long war against the Mohawk and Oneida had barely ended in 1655, when a new conflict began with the Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga. The western Iroquois found them just as stubborn as had the Mohawk. Outnumbered three-to-one, the Susquehannock enlisted support from their tributary Algonquin and Siouan tribes (Shawnee, Delaware, Nanticoke, Conoy, Saponi, and Tutelo), and although they had lost the Swedes in 1655, alliances with Maryland colonists in 1661 and 1666 provided the necessary weapons.
1658:
The Powhatan are put on 2 reservations, Mattaponi and Pamunkey. Later several people from these reservations seek refuge with neighboring tribes, Among these neighboring tribes was Saponi and Monacan.
1670:
Dr. John Lederer visited a Saponi town near Charlotte Court House, an Occanneechee town near Clarksville, and then six other towns in Piedmont North Carolina.
1671:
Tutelo found living near Salem, Virginia
September 5th 1671
''The three gentlemen bore a commission from Major-general Wood "for the finding out tile ebbing and flowing of the Waters on the other side of the Mountains in order to the discovery of the South Sea."
They struck off due west along a trail that was evidently already familiar, and having five horses made rapid progress. On the fourth day 'they reached the Sapony villages, one of which Lederer had visited the year before. They were "very joyfully and kindly received with firing of guns and plenty of provisions." **They picked up a Sapony guide to show them to the Totero village by "a nearer way than usual," and were about to leave when overtaken by a reinforcement of seven Appomattox Indians sent them by Wood. They sent back Mr. Thomas Wood's worn out horse by a **Portuguese servant of General Wood's whom they had found in the village**, and pushed on to the Hanahaskie "town," some twenty-five miles west by north, on an island in the Staunton River. Here Mr. Thomas Wood was left, dangerously ill.''
The Expedition of Batts and Fallam:
A Journey from Virginia to beyond the Appalachian Mountains, September, 1671.
From Annals of Southwest Virginia, 1769-1800.
An expedition led by Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam visited the Saponi town near Charlotte Court House, and then a second Saponi village on Long Island at Pittsylvania's northeastern boundary. The same group moved on to a Tutelo town at Radford.
1671-1722:
The first phase of the Beaver Wars ended with the Iroquois conquest of the Susquehannock. During the next ten years, the Iroquois finished off the last of their Nanticoke and Conoy allies and incorporated them into the Covenant Chain. Maryland made peace with the League in 1682, but raids (which had begun in 1671) against the Saponi and Tutelo in Virginia and the Catawba in South Carolina continued. Iroquois power reached its peak in 1680.
After 1671:
Sometime after 1671 the Tutelo and Saponi was driven south by the Norhern Iroqious to Join the Occaneechi in Clarksville, Each tribe settled on a different neighboring island on the Dan and Staunton rivers. They then leave the islands and enter North Carolina until 1710.
January 27 1674:
Trader James Needham was killed by an Occaneechi whom he had hired as a porter named John aka Hasecoll, It was during this report that we learn Some Cherokee was friendly as well as enemies with the Monacan, Tutelo, and Occaneechi.
Letter from Abraham Wood to John Richards, August 22, 1674, Original Letter Source:
Public Records Office of London, Shaftesbury Papers, section ix, bundle 48, no. 94.
1676:
The Occaneechis were attacked by Susquehannas during Bacon's Rebellion in 1676; Nathaniel Bacon's soldiers, who were battling the Susquehannas, in ignorance or greed turned on their own supposed allies the Occaneechis and Saponis and almost destroyed them. This was at Occaneechi, Tutelo, and Saponi islands.
1677:
Treaty of 1677 signed, Treaty also known as treaty of Middle Plantation-Williamsburg.
Queen Pomunckey and her son, Captain John West
The King of the Nottowayes
King Peracuta of the Appomattux
The Queen of Wayonaoake
The King of the Nanzem'd
King Pattanochus of the Nansatiocoes, Nanzemunds, and the Portabacchoes
King Shurenough of the Manakins
King Mastegonoe of the Sappones
Chief Tachapoake of the Sappones
Chief Vnuntsquero of the Maherians
Chief Horehonnah of the Maherians
(Mastegonoe, young King of the Sappones)
(Tachapoake, Chiefe man of the Sappones)
1682:
Maryland made peace with the Iroquois League; Iroquois conducted raids against the Saponi and Tutelo in Virginia.
1699:
The Monacans had fairly well disappeared from the area around the upper James River. At one point the tribe had been reduced to thirty bowmen with a population of fewer than 120 people.
Febuary 1701:
John Lawson stopped at a Waxhaw indian villiage that was just on the NC/SC border along the Catawba river. A Saponi messanger arrives in the villiage to discuss business between the two tribes. This messanger had his entire face painted with Vermillion and carried a Cutlas in his belt and Gun in his hand. The Waxhaw celebrated that night with a Masqurade which John Lawson and Lawson's party attended. This Saponi Messanger apperantly came from the Saponi village on the Yadkin river near present day Salisbury NC. Lawson visted this Village after leaving the Waxhaw, This village was called Sapona, the Village is a few miles NE of the Salisbury NC in Davidson county.
Page 39 of The Siouan Tribes of the East By James Mooney
1701:
John Lawson finds Sapona indians along the banks of the Yadkin river (at that time was named Sapona river).
Also in 1701 NC Davidson County. Trading Fort established on Sapona River (now called Ydkin River) at the Indian town of Sapona Town.
1701-1709:
After John Lawson's visit to Sapona Village around Febuary 1701, the Saponi and Tutelo left their villages behind.
The Siouan tribes had been getting attacked from the North and South Iroqious tribes.
These 2 tribes moved Eastward and the Saponi creek near Nashville NC probally shows the path they took. Occaneechi and the other allied tribes followed. They was al moving toward the settler's settlements so Saponi village was no longer safe.
They crossed the Roanoak river before the Tuskarora war of 1711.
Their new Village was called Sapona townn. The Location was slightly East of roanoak river and about 15 miles westward from Windsor in Bertie county NC.
1709:
In 1709 North Carolina courts the Saponi Chief complained in Court to the Judge that the Nottoway and Tuskarora had killed two Saponi, the Nottoway replied that the Saponi had killed 3 of theirs and wounded 2 more before their return attack. The Saponi proposed the indian custom which stated that if one tribe murdered another tribe's person then that tribe must pay them. The Nottoway appeared upon this if the Saponi would also pay for the 3 they had killed as well. This made the Judge mad and said this was not the white man's way to put aprice upon human life and if they bargain among themselves then he would have nothing to say on the matter. That Saponi then stated that it was not them which killed the 3 Nottoway, stating it was the Tutelo. The Nottoway stated the Tutelo and Saponi was one, the Nottoway further stated that some time ago the Nottoway paid these Saponi a ammount of Wampum (a shell used in jewlery and adoption ceremonies) to help kill off all the Tutelo. The Nottoway said instead these Saponi took the Wampum then told the Tutelo of the plan. This is probally why the three Nottoway was killed. The Nottoway then proposed that they would allow the Saponi to keep the Wampum and also pay for the 2 dead if they would honor their original deal and join the Nottoway in killing off all the Tutelo. The Saponi chief stated he would consider this new offer, the tribes returned home. The judge over this matter wrote to the Virginia government stateing that if the Tuskarora was offered up to be murdered by the Saponi then English lives would for certain be taken.
1710:
Governor spotswood encourages the Saponi and Tutelo to return to virginia from North Carolina.
1711:
Colonial Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood, along with 1600 armed men, visited the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Reservation at the mouth of the Assamoosick Swamp in what is now Courtland, Virginia. He met with the �Teerheer� (Chief) of the Nottoway Nation whose name was Occuraass (often referred to as �William Edmund� by the Colonials). The purpose of Spotswood�s visit was to ensure that the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indians did not join forces with the warring Tuscaroras Indians and to get the Chief Men to send their sons to the �Brafferton,� a school for Indians at William and Mary College (Karen Stuart, �So Good A Work,� The Brafferton School, 1691-1777). The Nottoway were fearful that their sons would be sold into slavery. As evidence of his good faith, Spotswood, offered to remit the annual treaty tribute due from the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe, in exchange for the promise to send two of the Chief Men�s sons to the �Brafferton.� Ethnohistoric records reveal that by November 17, 1711, Spotswood reported that two sons of the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Chief Men were attending the College. It is noted that Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian surnames continued to appear on the enrollment roster of the �Brafferton� throughout the 1750s and 1760s.
Febuary 27th 1713:
Treaty made with Saponi
These traders not only went into the Carolinas, but also were apparently active in the local Indian trade. The native people in southside Virginia at this time were the Saponi, the Ocaneeche, the Eno, and the Tutelo, part of the eastern Siouan speaking tribes. The Treaty of Fort Christianna on 27 February 1713 led to an era of settlement where these Indians lived at Fort Christianna, including a 36 square mile area set aside for them, located in what is now Brunswick County. Richard Smith helped to build Christianna.
George II. To all know ye that for diverss good causes & considerations but more specialty for and in consideration of diverss services performed toward making the new settlement for the Saponi Indians at Christ Anna persuant to a treaty with that Nation We have given granted and confirmed and by these presents for us our heirs and successors do give grant and confirm unto Richard Smith of Isle of Wight County one certain tract or parcel of land containing three hundred and ninety acres lying and being on the south side of the Meherrin River in the county aforesaid (and being part of that tract of land whereon the said Indians lately dwelt and which they have surrendered to us in exchange for a like quantity of land which we have assigned them at the aforesaid place of Christ Anna) and bounded followeth, to wit, Beginning at a pine in the Sapone old field a corner of Edward Brantley...In witness & witness our trusty and beloved Alexander Spotswood out Lt. Governor at Williamsburgh under the seal of our said Colony the twentieth day of February one thousand seven hundred and nineteen in the sixth year of our Reign.
A. Spotswood
Report of the Council of Virginia at Williamsburg meeting to ratify treaty between the Council of North Carolina and Tuscanoro. August 1713 (f.48).
Council of Virginia negotiations with Tuscanoro, Pamencky, Maharine, Wilcomoco and Panauckey Indians. Proposals for land settlements. October 1713 (folios 51-55).
Report and proposals before Council of Virginia for merger of Maharine and Nottoway Indians to join with Tuscanoro as "Tributary" Indians. Proposals for land settlements for Saponic, Sucanoro, Ouonochec, Tottero and Tuscanoro Indians. January 1713 (f.59).
Treaty between Council of Virginia and Saponic, Tottero, Ouonochec and Sucanoros. Merger of the said Indians and designation of lands reserved for the same. February 1713. (f.113).
Treaty between the Council of Virginia and Nottoways. Land settlement February 1713 (f.116).
Treaty between the Council of Virginia and Tuscanoros. Land settlement February 1713 (f. 118)
Document is available under the Freedom of Information act, the reference information is "CO 5/1341".
Signed by (Each treaty was individually made with the tribes):
Tawhee Sockha Hoontky of the Saponies;,
Nehawroose (hehaurooss) in behalf of Hoonthmiya (hoontky miha) of the Stukanoes;
Chaweo ; or chawco Hooutky(sp) of the Occaneechis
Mawseeuntky, Hoontky of the Tottero
Signed at Williamsburg the 27th day of February 1713.
December 1713:
Governor Spotswood told the Assembly of his plans for
forts on the frontiers. After making treaties with the Sapony, Nottoway,
and Tuscarora Indians who agreed to make peace and come under the
protection of Virginia, the Council and Governor decided that the forts
should be built at the proposed Indian settlements. However, the
Tuscaroras who had fled to the upper Roanoke and who had intimated they
would like to settle in Virginia and become tributaries, changed their
minds and returned to North Carolina.
1714:
The Virginia government built Fort Christiana on the Meherrin River
and they appointed Robert Hicks as Captain of the Fort's paid militia, known as the
"Rangers", and it's 12 indian scouts. Robert subsequently moved most of his
family into this area. Governor Spotswood gave the family exclusive trade
rights in western Virginia in return for their service. The family residence
was known as "Hicks' Ford" and was located where the present day city of
"Emporia" is found today, in Greenville Co., Va. In 1728, Capt. Robert was
appointed to the large expedition that surveyed the boundary between North
Carolina and Virginia.
July 1714:
Governor Spotswood started out on his six-week expedition
to the southern frontier to carry out the provisions of the treaties he had
made. At this time Colonel John Allen, of Surry, laid out the tract of
land, six miles square (23,040 acres) on both sides of Meherrin River, on
which the Indians would settle. This was in later Brunswick County, near
Lawrenceville [in present-day Brunswick County]. The Sapony, Occoneechee,
Stuckanox, and Totero Indians were to settle on the south side of the
river. They spoke the same language but preserved their different rules.
The Nottoways and Meherrins were to settle on the north. They could not
live peacefully with their traditional enemies, the Saponies. The Notto
ways and Meherrins, however, decided not to move from their old lands but
to remain where they were.
"Governor Spotswood named the settlement Christ-Anna (or Christanna) in
honor of Christ and Queen Anne. "Some of the Indians settled at Christanna while Spotswood was there in
the summer of 1714. At this time he placed a teacher among them, Charles
Griffin, whose salary of 50 dollars a year he paid out of pocket. He later wrote to the Bishop
of London that he had also conferred with Mr. Forbes, a clergyman, to
settle there, but 'his retiring soon after into a married State, has
chang'd his inclinations.'
1715:
Major Joshua Wynne, youngest son of Colonel Robert Wynne, born 1659-1662 in Charles City Co., Virginia. Joshua lived in Prince George County, Virginia. On 29 March 1715 Major Joshua Wynne was shot and killed by Saponey Indians because one of Joshua's servants had killed one of the Indian's "great" men.
Upon trial of the Indian, they pleaded that the Wynne's were the aggressors and that they never rest without revenge. The Indians said that they and the Wynne's were then equal, each having lost a great man. To avoid more bloodshed the Indian was pardoned. Joshua was an Indian interpreter and was said to be a fearless adventurer. He was a Justice in Charles City County, Virginia as well as Sheriff of Prince George County, Virginia. Joshua was born in Charles City, Virginia in 1660. He was married to Mary Jones, daughter of Captain Peter Jones and wife Margaret (Wood) Jones, daughter of the eminent Major General Abraham Wood, head of Virginia's fur trade under Royal Governor Sir William Berkley. Joshua was overseer of the Berkley plantation during Bacon's Rebellion, was a member of the Governor's Council, and a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. After building Fort Henry in 1646, he and three other Virginians, two servants and a guide explored what someday would become Tennessee and Kentucky, and being the first Englishmen to set foot there.
Feb 7th, 1715/1716:
Alexander spotswood replies about the Saponi's grievence of being forced off their land. Spotswood says the Saponi abandoned their land, The Saponi said they did not abandon their land. It is also brought up the question if Spotswood had bought the land. "So the Saponys, being the only Indians who, under my Administration, have changed their Seat of habitation, must be the Nation meant in this Query. But this is the first time I ever heard it alledged that Force was used to remove them, or that I had made a Purchase of their Lands, and I am certain the Querist would be hooted out of Town, did he show his face there to these Assertations, when every Indian would plainly confute him, as my appear by the annexed Affidavit"
Spotswood, Alexander. The Official Letters of Alexander Spotswood, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1710 - 1722; Volumes 1 & 2. Ed. R.A. Brock. Richmond: Virginia Historical Society. 1882. 368pgs.
The above was on pages 190 - 218
Virginia, Feb'ry 7th, 1715 [1716].
April 15 1716:
Spotwood visits the Saponi indians at Fort Christiana which he is met by . The Saponey are dresed for war and perform a war dance and practice shooting arrows, They numbered 200 men and had recently been Governed by a Queen, she had either died or was dying so are now governed by 12 men, these 12 men meet Spotswood as he arrives and lay several animal skins at his feet and bow to him at the same time. They inform Spotswood thru a interpretor that the Genitoes had surprised 15 of them and had killed these 15 men. They asked for Spotswood's assitance in killing 15 of them (which is the code of the Saponi that if any of your men was killed then you could kill that same number but no more). He agreed that they may take revenge and that he would supply ammunition. They also complained of being cheated by the English which Spotswood furnished resitution. 60 young men then show up with feathers in their hair and thru their Ear like a Earring. Face painted blue and Red (the Saponi war colors). Their hair was cut in fantastic ways with some appearing like a Rooster's comb. They had Blue and Red blankets wraped around them (their war dress), this made them appear like Furies, these men (the soliders) made no speach. Then the women enter, long straight hair to the waist, blanket tied around them and hanging like a petticoat, most of the women was naked from the waist up, the ones not naked from the waist up wore a Mantle over one shoulder made of two deer skins sewed together. These women was greased with bear oil on their head and body which gave a disagreeable smell due to the bear oil mixed with the smoke of their cabins (Cabins was the Saponi current homes). These women was modest and very faithful to their Husbands, straight and well limbed, good shape and extraordinary good features, they look wild and shy of Englishmen with which they will not allow to touch them. The Saponi village was a musket shot from Fort Christiana (which taught 77 children), the village cabins were all joined making a circle with 3 passages 6 feet wide each, the doors all faced inside the circle while the center of the cirlce was a tree stump which the 12 head men spoke on, the infants was hung from trees out of harms way by them being bound to boards in the shape of the child with the top being round in shape, a string went thru a hole on the top of the board making a hoop to place upon tree branches or pin of a post. The boys praticed bow and arrow shooting by shoot at the eye of a axe 20 yards away, spotswood gave the boys knifes and hourglasses. After their village war dance Spotswood treated them to food which they ate wildly.
History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia By Charles Campbell. Pg.385 (the book lists references).
John Fontaine was the author of above.
1717:
Fort Christiana closes and some students relocate to the William and Mary-the Brafferton school.
Charles Kimball (b. btw 1698-1702) and his brother William. are documented as interpreters to the Saponi Indians.
(House of Burgesses). Many researchers believe that they were traders also as was
their dad, Joseph Kimball (d.1711 VA). Charles and William are documented at Fort Christiana , VA (Indian School)
as early as 1717. They were investigated by Govenor Spotswood for possible
collusion in an Indian massacre at there Fort. Charles was named as one of
the surveyors for Byrd for the 1728 dividing line, which established the
boundary between VA and NC.
9 April 1717:
The Governor went to Christanna to meet
the Great Men of the Catawbas and other Western Indians who, having been
promised goods at cheap rates at the Fort, had brought with them some of
their children to be hostages and educated at the school. Next day the
Indians, lying unarmed in their camp about 50 yards from the Fort, were
attacked suddenly at dawn by a party of the Senecas and Tuscaroras, who
killed five, one of whom was Queen of the Catawbas. They wounded two, and
carried off five prison-ers including the Chief of the Catawbas, one of the
greatest and most influential Indians in the South. The Indians suspected
the English of being traitors. They were finally persuaded otherwise, and
left eleven children at the school. One the prisoners who escaped reported
later that the Iroquois had come down to surprise the Saponies, and
threatened to return soon to massacre the whole tribe and any of the whites
who might try to befriend them."
when the English representives of Albany New York told the Iroqious to account for their outrageous actions they stated that the Catawba had in about the year 1714 killed 5 Iroqious as they slept the night after the treaty of peace had been signed. The Iroqious further stated that these southern indians had long been the enemy of the Iroqious and had even taken them prisoner out of Christian houses due to such hate. The Iroqious called the Catawba "Toderichroone".
The Iroqious stated they had no intention to attack the Saponi nor the white allies, they declared the Catawba lied about this statement. The Iroqious told how they wished to be friends with those at Fort Christana and wish for a commision of VA come to Alabany and set up a firm and lasting peace treaty.
On Sept 1722 a meeting was held in Albany New York. Representives of the 5 natives of Iroqious, the Tuskaroras (Iroqious allies), Shawnee, and other ally tribes, along with the Iroqious tribe Susquehanna. Others which attened was New York, Pennsylvanis, and Virgina governors (Spotswood was there). This meeting had a new peace treaty made which made peace between the north and south tribes.
May 31 1718:
The General Assembly decided not to keep up the Fort. The
was nothing the Council could do about it.
"As a result, several men employed by the Indian Company for the Guard of
Fort Christanna became mutinous and disorderly, refused sentinel duty, and
so exposed the Fort and the hostages there to great danger because the
northern Indians were again on the frontier. The Council ordered that the
com-mander, Captain Robert Hicks or any other person the late company had
employed for the management of their affairs, be given power to correct or
punish any of the Company servants who refused to do their duty. If they
tried to desert, Captain Hicks was to order out parties of Indians to
pursue and bring them back.
"The northern Indians went so far as to send a message to the officer who
commanded the Fort, demanding that the Sapony Indians (their enemies) be
delivered over to them. Therefore, in the summer of 1718, Spotswood moved
all of the Sapony Indians into the Fort for their protection.
Febuary 20th 1719
George II. To all know ye that for diverss good causes & considerations but more specialty for and in consideration of diverss services performed toward making the new settlement for the Saponi Indians at Christ Anna persuant to a treaty with that Nation We have given granted and confirmed and by these presents for us our heirs and successors do give grant and confirm unto Richard Smith of Isle of Wight County one certain tract or parcel of land containing three hundred and ninety acres lying and being on the south side of the Meherrin River in the county aforesaid (and being part of that tract of land whereon the said Indians lately dwelt and which they have surrendered to us in exchange for a like quantity of land which we have assigned them at the aforesaid place of Christ Anna) and bounded followeth, to wit,
Beginning at a pine in the Sapone old field a corner of Edward Brantley...In witness & witness our trusty and beloved Alexander Spotswood out Lt. Governor at Williamsburgh under the seal of our said Colony the twentieth day of February one thousand seven hundred and nineteen in the sixth year of our Reign.
A. Spotswood
(Note: Isle of Wight County in 1719 included Brunswick county where the Saponi reservation was).
1719
Iroquois raiders in 1719 ravaged the cornfields of the Christanna Indians and lay in ambush before the gate of the fort.
1719:
The Governor of Pennsylvania wrote to the Virginia Council that
the northern Indians had marched toward Virginia with the intention of
testing the strength of the English at Fort Christanna. The Council
decided to halt any attempted march through Virginia. The Militia was
ordered not to shoot until shot at. The Virginia Tributary Indians were
ordered to notify the Government if any northern Indians arrived at their
towns.
"There are local traditions of a fierce fight between the Saponies and the
Genitoes (northern Indi-ans). Bullets have been plowed up in the low
grounds on the north side of the Meherrin River, opposite the Fort site.
"After the creation of Brunswick County in 1720, the region around the
Fort and beyond was becoming well-settled. All Indians were required to
get a passport to go through settled country.
June 13 1723:
The Council heard a petition of Thomas Jones in behalf of
the late Virginia Indian Company, in which the former members asked to be
reimbursed for their expenses in repairing the fortifications of
Christanna, according to the orders of the Governor, dated 12 November
1717. The Council ordered that they be paid. This seems to be about the
time that the officers and men left the Fort permanently.
1722:
Peace treaty made between Siouan and iroqious nations.
1723:
The Stegaraki were located by Governor Spotswood of Virginia at Fort Christanna about 10 years earlier, and the Mepontsky, also placed there, may have been the Ontponea. We hear of the former as late as 1723, and there is good reason to believe that they united with the Tutelo and Saponi and followed their fortunes, and that under these two names were included all remnants of the Manahoac.
1727:
letter to the governor from one R. Everard, a settler living near the Meherrin Indians, and it refers to disturbances involving the Meherrins and the Nottoways. Everard says that the Meherrins deny any attacks on the Nottoways, stating "they lay the whole blame upon the old Occaneechy King and the Saponi Indians."
(Virginia state papers)
August the 16th, 1728:
"The great men of the Nottoway and Saponie Indians, together with the Tottero King this day attending the Governor (i.e., Spottswood) in Council, the said Tottero King complain'd that the Nottoway Indians some time since attack'd and killed his son near to his own house, and charges an Indian of that nation named Hickory particularly as one of the party , which was also confirmed by a letter from Capt. Thomas Avent, an inhabitant of that neighborhood, that the Tottero King's son on his death bed told him he knew the said Nottoway Indian named Hickory was one of the Indians that fired at him, and afterwards came up and knock'd him down with a Tommahawk.."
The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography", Vol. 4, Executive Journals, Council of Colonial Virginia, p. 185.
1728:
William Byrd Chief commisioner for Virgina which ran the Virginia land boundry. He met 2 Saponi hunters at Fort Christana. These two was used as guides. One got sick and had to return however the 2nd went for the full journey, his name was Ned bearskin. Ned Bearskin is who we get the "Byrd's saponi words" from. From Ned Bearskin we learn that both the Saponi and Tutelo used many of the same words at the Dakota tribe...such as Mini means water in both Dakota and Saponi/Tutelo other ways to use the word is Mani or moni.
In Dakota the word house is spelled/spoken tipi or ti, Houses in Tutelo is Ati.
October 12-15 1728:
Col. William Byrd II and his party camped just west of here while surveying the Virginia-North Carolina boundary. Ned Bearskin, Byrd's Saponi guide, described his tribe's religious beliefs, which, wrote Byrd in his diary, contained, �the three Great Articles of Natural Religion: the Belief of a God; the Moral Distinction betwixt Good and Evil; and the Expectation of Rewards and Punishments in another World.� Bearskin's religion also included a Hindu-like belief in reincarnation.�
27 Sept 1728
Sir:
The 27th of September John Carter brought Negro Cofey to my house, as he says, by your orders, for me to examine concerning what the Saponys have told him about the white people, which I have done, and he tells me:
that Great George told him that John Sauano and a fellow called Ben Harrison was gone to the Cotobers to fetch one hundred of them to come and see why their Indians was put in prison,
and if Capt. Tom was hanged they would carry their wives and children over the Roanoke River and then they would drive the white people and negros as far as James River,
and he says that Tony Mack told him that if Pyah was hanged he and the Cotobers would come and take revenge of the English,
and he says that Sapony Tom told him if his son Harry Erwin was hanged they would kill you and three or four more Gentlemen and then go off,
and he says that Dick told him that we had no business to come to the fort armed to concern ourselves about their killing one another, but we were like a sow that had lost her pigs would rally for a little time and then have done *, but when they began a war with the English they never would have done *.
This from your humble servant to command,
Thomas Avent
The original document is held by the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA and will give you a copy of the original.
http://aventfamily.org/taveltr.htm
Some time after this John Sauano was captured by another tribe and given to the French, Capt. Joseph Collings/Collins of Orange county,Va paid Sauano's ransom to have him back (Apprently John Sauano was a member of the Collins family and was later identified as John Collings/Collins of Orange county, VA -Son of Joseph Collings/Collins- and Cate Collins/Collings was the Brother of John Collins).
1729:
William Byrd while visiting one of the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Towns in Southampton County � �the young men danced to beat of a gore drum, stretched tight with a skin - the women wore Blue and Red Match Coats with their hair braided with Blue and White beads.� This is not Saponi..but it helps understand the use of the colors blue and Red.
May 27, 1730, Charles Kimball petitioned the House of Burgesses for "his allowance Interpreter to the Saponi and Occaneechi Indians may be levied" (McIlwaine 1910:757).
In 1730, "William Bohannon came into court and made oath that about twenty-six of the Sapony Indians that inhabit Colonel Spotswood's land in Fox's neck go about and do a great deal of mischief by firing the woods; more especially on the 17th day of April last whereby several farrows of pigs were burnt in their beds, and that he verily believes that one of the Indians shot at him the same day, the bullet entering a tree within four feet of him; that he saw the Indian about one hundred yards from him, and no game of any sort between them; that the Indian after firing his gun stood in a stooping manner very studdy [steady] so that he could hardly discern him from a stump, that he has lost more of his pigs than usual since the coming of the said Indians; which is ordered to be certified to the General Assembly. " Orange county VA
1730:
Many of the Saponi left the area to take residence with the Catawbas.
June 1733:
The Sapony and Nottoway Indians met with the Governor and
Council. The Sapo-nies were given permission to join the Tuscaroras if
they wished, provided that neither Nation would hunt on any lands patented
in Virginia, nor go among the inhabitants in groups of more than three.
The Sapo-nies were permitted to stay at their town until their corn was
gathered. If they decided not to join the Tuscaroras, they were to move to
some place beyond the inhabitants between the Roanoke and Appomattox
rivers.
"Soon after this they all left the Fort. Some joined the Catawbas, and
some eventually joined the Five Nations of the Iroquois in New York.
"After the Indians left the region, all their former lands were taken up
in grants. The site of the Fort became known as Fort Hill Plantation.
1733:
Saponi not happy with their living with the Catawbas and returned to Virginia. These Saponi bring with them some Cheraws (Catawba). They were forced to petition Lt. Governor Gooch for permission to resettle in Virginia, which was granted (Merrell 1989:116). Note: This Cheraw/Saura town very near the settlement of the 'Rockingham County Indians' known as the Gibson and Goins.
1736:
William and Mary-the Brafferton school-listed one Will Jeffries as a student from 1736 to 1742. No tribe is listed for him. We latter find out this Will Jeffries is one of the Cheraw indians. Many of the Indians who were students at Griffin's school at Fort Christanna went with him to Williamsburg when the school closed. Many of the names on the school rolls can be identified as Pamunkey, Mattaroni, etc., because of the records of those tribes (Stewart 1988).
1737:
Amelia County, Virginia (1737), where the "Saponi Indians Cabins" are mentioned in a deed (Holland 1982).
1740:
About this time a number of Saponi and the Majority if not all the Tutelo move to shamokin, Pennsylvania under Iroqious protestion.
1742:
The settlement of the Saponi reservation area is no longer mentioned, the settlement name was "Junkatapurse".
July 1742:
Treaty Held with the Indians of the Six Nations at Philadelphia.
"Tutolo's _originally lived in_ Virginia, _there are but Few of them;
they settled this_ Spring _at_ Shamokin, (_on the East Side of_
Susquehanna, _just below the_ Forks) _and are intirely devoted to the_
Six Nations."
1742 ""Alexander Machartoon, John Bowling, Manicassa, Capt. Tom, Isaac, Harry,
Blind Tom, Foolish Jack, Charles Griffin, John Collins, Little Jack. Indians
being brought before the court by precept under the hands and seals of Wm
Russell & Edward Spencer, Gent. for terrifying one Lawrence Strother and on
suspicion of stealing hoggs........"
" The above put up security individually. It was ordered that their guns be
taken from them till they are ready to depart out of this county, "they
having declared their intentions to the Court to depart this colony within a
week" (Orange Co..VA Order Book 3 1741-1743. 309) Orange Co Va Microfilm Reel
31, Va
http://www.jgoins.com/old_thomas_collins.htm
Orange County [Virginia] Register of Deeds
1741-1743 Order Book 3:308-309. Orange, Virginia.
1742. Sundry Indians, among them Manincassa, Captain Tom, Blind Tom, Foolish Zack, and Little Zack, were before Court for "terrifying" one Lawrence Strother, who testified that one of them shot at him, that they tried to surround him, that he turned his horse and rid off, but they gained on him till he crossed the run. Ordered, that the Indians be taken into custody by the sheriff until they give peace bonds with security, and that their guns be taken from them until they are ready to depart out of this Colony, they having declared their intention to depart within a week. They gave bond.
VMHB III:190
"25 Jan 1745 Louisa County, Virginia Court: William Hall, Samuel Collins, William Collins, Samuel Bunch, George Gibson, Benjamin Brannum, Thomas Gibson, & William Donothan appear to answer an indictment for concealing tithables. Plead not guilty, Case continued."
1743-1747:
Governor Clarence Gooch of Virginia reported to the Colonial Office that the "Saponies and other petty nations associated with them . . . are retired out of Virginia to the Cattawbas" (British Colonial Office 1743).
25 Jan 1745:
Louisa County, Virginia Court: William Hall, Samuel Collins, William Collins, Samuel Bunch, George Gibson, Benjamin Brannum, Thomas Gibson, & William Donothan appear to answer an indictment for concealing tithables. Plead not guilty, Case continued."
1747:
Saponi return to Virginia.
1749:
3598 pg 384 WILLIAM MACKINTOSH 13 October 1749 200 acres in Johnston County on the S. side of the Neuse River on a place called Powells run near Sapony Camps, joining near the sd. run.
1750 The Saponia Indian reservation established near Hillsboro, North Carolina (I think this fits to the last paragraph on this post).
1751 near Orange county Va:
A party of indians visit a Indian burial mound, Thomas Jefferson observed this in which he later dug into.
"A party of Indians passing about 1751 where this barrow is, near Charlottesville, went through the woods directly to it, without any instructions or inquiry, and having staid about it some time, with expressions construed to be those of sorrow, returned to the high road, which they had left about six miles to pay this visit, and pursued their journey.""
1753:
The Tutelo and some Saponi are adopted into the League of Iroqious thru the Cayuga who thus became a part of the Six Nations.
1754:
Granville�Willm Eaton Esqr Coll: of Granville county His Regimt consists of 8 companys 734 besides officers 2 Captns Simms & Jones are moved away the others Resigned He thinks the fines on delinquents should be fixed by a Court Martial.
No arms or ammunition in the Stores There are about 12 or 14 Sapona men and as many women & children in the county Major Payne by Col: Eaton for Granville county recommends John Martin to be Captn over part of Sugar Jones Company & Willm Hawkins Captn over the other part above Shaws Road and John Hawkins Captn over part of Richd Coleman's Company & Willm Johnston over part of Willm Harris Company & Willm Paton Captn instead of Benjamin Sims moved away Capt Hursts Troop with officers 32. Report concerning the militia in each county of North Carolina
Creator: No Author 1754 Volume 5, Pages 161 - 163. Found on Page 162.
Also found in (Saunders 1968).
April 19 1755:
Abstracts of the Minutes of the
Court of Pleas and Quarter
Sessions Rowan County,
North Carolina 1753-1762
II:72 19 April 1755
Esquires present: Jas Carter, Jno Handby, Alexr Osburn & Thos Potts. � Whereas John Auston a Saponia Indian and Mary a Susquhanah Indian and Thos a Cattaaba applied for a pass to the Cataba Nation being now on their Journey to conclude a Genl Peace with ye Catabas in behalf of the Sd Nation and also presented 3 Belts of Wampum to Sd Court by which the sd Treaty is to be concluded.
Copyright Jo White Linn 1977
Mrs. Stahle Linn, Jr.
Box 1948
Salisbury, N.C. 28144
Stamped (Carnegie Public Library, Washington C. H., Ohio 43160)"
1757:
Virginia governor at Williamsburg received a delegation of Indians including "King Blunt and the thirty-three Tuscaroras, seven Meherrins, two Saponies and thirteen Nottoways" (Hillman 1966).
1761:
A 1761 report counted 20 Saponi warriors in the area of Granville County, NC
Quere 13 What is the number of the Indians inhabiting those parts of America lyeing within or bounding upon your Province? What Contracts or Treaties of Peace have been made with them and are now in force? What Trade is carried on with them and under what Regulations and how have these Regulations been established?
Answer The only Tribes or remains of Tribes of Indians residing in this Province are the Tuskerora Sapona Meherin and Maramuskito Indians. The Tuskerora have about 100 fighting men the Saponas and Meherrin Indians about 20 each and the Maramuskitos about 7 or 8. the first 3 are situated in the Middle of the Colony upon and near Roanoak and have by Law 10,000 acres of Land allotted to them in Lord Granvilles District they live chiefly by hunting and are in perfect friendship with the Inhabitants
The Catauba Indians who are also in close friendship with the Inhabitants resided upon the Cataubas river near our Western Frontier near the Boundary Line in 35� No Latitude proposed to be laid out betwixt this and the South Province they consisted within these few years of about 300 fighting men but last year the small pox ravaged in their Towns which made them desert them and leave their sick behind them to perish; by an account from their King Haglar to me they are reduced to 60 fighting and about as many old men and boys and a suitable number of Women, upon which and the Cherokee war they removed farther West upon or near the Boundary Line where they have had a Town laid out for them in South Carolina but allege that they are still within this Government Mr. Glenn wantonly promised them a District of 30 Miles radius round their Towns, which wod have contained about 1,800,000 acres, but now as they are reduced I suppose less than 10,000 acres will content them.
page 616
Report by Arthur Dobbs concerning general conditions in North Carolina
Creator: Arthur Dobbs (1689-1765)
1761
Volume 6
[B. P. R. O. North Carolina B. T. Vol. 14. E. 53.]
THE COLONY, ITS CLIMATE, SOIL, POPULATION, GOVERNMENT,
RESOURCES, &c.
An Answer to the several Queries sent by the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations.
1763:
The official papers of Lt. Governor Francis Fauquier of Virginia. In 1763, he wrote to the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantation Affairs in response to various queries about affairs in the colony. Referring to Indians in Virginia, he states "There are some of the Nottoways, Meherrins, Tuscaroras, and Saponys, who tho' they live in peace in the midst of us, lead in great measure the lives of wild Indians" (Reese 1981:1017). Fauquier contrasts them with the Pamunkey and Eastern Shore Indians (probably the Ginkaskin), whom he says follow the customs of the common planters and wear non-Indian clothing.
1763:
The Covenant Clan had been joined by Shawnee, Miami, Delaware, Conestoga (Susquehannock), Nanticoke, Saponi, Tutelo, Munsee Delaware, Mahican, Conoy, Cherokee Creek, Choctaw, Catawba, and Chickasaw though Chickasaw, Creek, Cherokee, Catawba, and Choctaw refused to submit to Iroquois authority; Seneca joined Pontiac Rebellion and laid siege to Fort Niagara but Niagara held; White settlement took Abenaki lands as well Caughnawaga lands around Lake Champlain; Proclamation of 1763 attempted to protect Caughnawaga lands
1764:
Report from the Indian superintendent of the South, they (Saponi) and the Nottoway combined had "60 gunmen" (American Historical Review 1915).
1765:
In 1765,
when they were living on the upper Susquehanna, the Saponi are
said to have had 30 warriors, this was near Tioga, about Sayre, Pa.
March 1765: Cate COLLINGS (COLLINS) , an "Indian Woman" servant of William GIBBS,
Constable of Arrowmuskeet. March 1765 Hyde County Court Minutes and
Orphans Book 2, on motion of Patrick Gordon ordered that Wm. GIBBS
"shew" cause if he has any, why Cate COLLINGS (COLLINS) an Indian
woman, now in his service should not be set free.
June Court 1765 - ordered that Wm. GIBBS have timely notice that he
show cause why Cate COLLINGS (COLLINS), an Indian woman be not set at
liberty. descendants (all free people of color) were
Susannah b. before 1776, Charity b. circa 1800, Horatio, and Nancy. Both
Horatio and Nancy were cited for illegal marriages to slaves. Horatio
had "taken up" with a slave named Winney property of Henry Lucas in Hyde
County, April 1863. Nancy, had "taken up" with a slave named Ellick,
property of Ananias Sadler, October 1842. ( note: the Gibbs family lived next to the collins family in Orange county virginia and Granville county North Carolina, Cate was the sister of John Collins).
1771:
The Tutelo and some Saponi are with the Cayunga tribe at the Cayunga lake in New York State near Ithaca, N. Y. After the American revolution they travel with the Cayunga into Canada at which point the Tutelo and Saponi depart ways.
1775:
James Adair's History of the American Indians, published in 1775.
"In Virginia, resides the remnant of an Indian tribe, who call themselves Sep�ne" (Williams 1930:67).
1783:
Brant's final foray into the Mohawk Valley was stopped at Johnstown; Joseph Brant crossed into Canada and settled along the Grand River in southern Ontario with almost 2,000 mostly Mohawk and Cayuga followers, though followers included a few Delaware Munsee, Saponi, Nanticoke, and Tutelo; a second group of Iroquois settled at Tyendenaga on the north shore of Lake Ontario just west of Kingston, Ontario.
Oct 22 1784:
The Six Nations of the Iroquois sign the Treaty of Fort Stanwix (Rome), surrender all
claims to the Northwest territory in exchange for protection of an Indian zone in western and central New York, western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, from whites. To help protect local Indian lands the state constitution will forbid the sale of their lands to individuals.:
Treaty made with the Cayuga at Albany in 1784 shows that a remnant of Saponi was still living with this tribe on Seneca river in Seneca county, N. Y.
Not sure the date on this one:
John Johnson (Johnston) settled in Bertie and established a large
plantation called "Saponia" which was adjacent to the Indian Reservation. He was the brother of Samuel Johnston, Governor of the
colony of Carolina, and Brother to Hannah Johnston - who married James
Iredel who became the first chief Justice of the NC Supreme Court during
the Revolutionary War. John became a noted Bertie County Clerk of
Court. He was NOT Indian, nor did he in any way descend from Indians.
In 1718 (the date of this is not clear....and may have been about 1710). The NC government took steps to engage their help against the hostile Tuskarora (State of NC needed the Saponi's help). The State of NC gave the Saponi the option to make their own terms for the deal between the Saponi and the NC government. The NC state government promised to provide for the Saponi families in the meantime if their families would move into the settlements (At the current time the Saponi families was confined to the shore of Albemarle sound).
Several months later the NC Government once again asked for the assistance of the Saponi, this time to cut off the retreat of the hostiles on the North. Since the Nottoway and Mehherrin was Iroqious (friends of the Tuskarora, they could not be used for this mission).
Negotiations was left to VA Governor Spotswood, he was energetic and had influence over most tribes in the area.
The Saponi, Tutelo, Occaneechi, nad other grouped Siouan tribes had bad blood agianst their neighbors of this area which was the Tuskarora, Mehherrin, and Nottoway (the Iroqious) since the begining ( VA and NC governments knowing this is probally why the Saponi was picked for their missions).
