The 1622 Powhatan Uprising and Its Impact on Anglo-Indian Relations

122 Pages·2016·1.39 MB·English

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Illinois State University
ISU ReD: Research and eData
Theses and Dissertations
3-15-2016
The 1622 Powhatan Uprising and Its Impact on
Anglo-Indian Relations
Michael Jude Kramer
Illinois State University, [email protected]
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Paper 513.
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THE 1622 POWHATAN UPRISING AND ITS IMPACT ON ANGLO-INDIAN
RELATIONS

Michael J. Kramer

112 Pages

On March 22, 1622, Native Americans under the Powhatan war-leader
Opechancanough launched surprise attacks on English settlements in Virginia. The
attacks wiped out between one-quarter and one-third of the colony’s European population
and hastened the collapse of the Virginia Company of London, a joint stock company to
which England’s King James I had granted the right to establish settlements in the New
World. Most significantly, the 1622 Powhatan attacks in Virginia marked a critical
turning point in Anglo-Indian relations.
Following the famous 1614 marriage of the Native American Pocahontas to
Virginia colonist John Rolfe and her conversion to Christianity, English colonists in
North America and English policymakers in Europe entertained considerable optimism
that other Native Americans could be persuaded to embrace both English culture and the
Christian faith. After Opechacanough’s surprise attacks, efforts to assimilate Native
Americans into the Virginia colony stopped. The attitude on the part of English colonists
in Virginia and policymakers in England became decidedly antagonistic toward Native
Americans, and English colonial authorities engaged in callous Indian policies in the
wake of the 1622 Uprising.
The inimical English attitudes toward Native Americans and the ruthless policies
of separation from and extermination of Native Americans spread beyond Virginia during
the seventeenth century and lasted throughout England’s colonial presence in North
America. Through primary source material including business records, journals, letters,
and broadsheets; as well as the work of eighteenth century historians and modern
historians and anthropologists, I intend to establish the lasting impact of the 1622
Uprising on Anglo-Indian relations.

KEYWORDS: Opechancanough, Powhatans, Virginia
THE 1622 POWHATAN UPRISING AND ITS IMPACT ON ANGLO-INDIAN
RELATIONS

MICHAEL J. KRAMER

A Thesis Submitted in Partial
Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE
Department of History
ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY
2016
© 2016 Michael J. Kramer
THE 1622 POWHATAN UPRISING AND ITS IMPACT ON ANGLO-INDIAN
RELATIONS

MICHAEL J. KRAMER

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
John Reda, Chair
Linda Clemmons
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The writer wishes to thank his committee members, Dr. John Reda and Dr. Linda
Clemmons for their patience and guidance in every stage of the process that culminates in
the completion of this thesis. Thanks also to the various professors in Illinois State
University’s History Department, whose mentorship supplied the analytical tools
necessary to the pursuit of a graduate degree. The staffs at Henricus Historical Park,
Jamestown Settlement Living History Museum, and Historic Jamestowne were
unfailingly hospitable and accommodating in suggesting resources that helped make
completion of this project possible, as well as in providing a glimpse into early colonial
life through their detailed reproductions of seventeenth-century Virginia settlements and
their painstakingly researched historical interpretations. Gary, Sharon, Chris, Tim, Vicki,
Calvin, Katie, Bobby, and James Kramer, and Sue Guillory Cheek served as supportive
and perceptive sounding boards for this project. Finally, prompt and generous funding
from the Veteran’s Administration facilitated the academic training required to attain
both an undergraduate and a graduate degree.

M. J. K.

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CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS i
CONTENTS ii
FIGURES iv
CHAPTER
I. EARLY SETTLEMENT, EARLY CONFLICTS, AND THE PEACE
OF POCAHONTAS 1

Introduction: Why the 1622 Uprising Matters 1
An Inauspicious Beginning 8
The Starving Time and the Peace of Pocahontas 14
Lulling the Tassantassas 22
II. THE 1622 UPRISING AND ITS AFTERMATH 32

Two Sermons in London and News From Virginia 32
The Day the Sky Fell 40
The English Regroup 48

III. SHORT-TERM CONSEQUENCES 56

English Rage Fuels English Policy 56
The Second Anglo-Powhatan War 66
IV. THE FALL OF THE VIRGINIA COMPANY 75

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V. LONG-TERM CONSEQUENCES 91

Beyond Virginia 91
An Epilogue in Virginia 99
Conclusion 104

REFERENCES 109
iii
FIGURES
Figure Page
1. C. Smith Taketh the King of Pamaunkee Prisoner, 1608 26
2. The massacre of the settlers in 1622 43

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