Virginia's Indians: Monacans

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History

Monacan is used to describe both the Monacan tribe who lived above the rapids, called the falls, on the James River near Richmond and the tribes of the Monacan Confederacy which included the Monacan tribe, the Tutelo, the Saponi and the Mannahoac. For information on these tribes, please see Virginia's Indians: Past & Present. The Monacans, Tutelo and Saponi had villages in the James and Rivanna River areas. The Mannahoac villages were in the Rappahannock and the Rapidan River areas. Both the Monacans and the Mannahoacs had several tribes which paid tribute to their chiefs (kings). These tribes were Siouan speaking people. They were enemies of both the Algonquian speaking Powhatans and the Iroquoian speaking Cherokees.

The culture of the people of the Monacan Confederacy was very similar to that of the Powhatans. They combined farming, hunting, fishing and gathering for their food and materials. The women gardened and gathered nuts, berries and other food. They grew corn, beans, squash and other crops. The women made household items out of wood, bone, animal skins and other locally available resources. They used the thread they made from milkweed to make a strong cord which they used in making baskets. The women also wove the cord into an apron like garment which they wore.

The men hunted, fished and made war. Black bear and deer were plentiful. Like the Powhatans and other Eastern Woodland Indians, the men constructed weirs to catch fish. One type of weir was built by placing rocks across the water. Water came through the rocks through a narrow opening in which the people placed woven baskets to trap the fish.

The colonists called one of the Monacan tribe villages they visited Monacan Town. This village did not have a high fence, called a palisade, which many Indian villages had. The land was beautiful as the village was built on the James River's flat flood plain. High cliffs were behind the village. The land was rich for planting crops and there was plenty of wild game for hunting.

The tribes used steam to help cure some kinds of sickness. They built special huts covered with clay to hold in the steam. They would heat coals very hot and then pour water on the coals to make steam. We call this a "sauna." They greased their bodies with bear oil. Early visitors thought they were a healthy and handsome people.

The tribes of the Monacan Confederacy like many Siouan speaking tribes, buried the bones of people who had died in earth-covered mounds. The bones of many people were buried together. The Indian burial mound which Thomas Jefferson found on his land was probably a burial site of the Tutelo people.

The Monacans are considered the first people of Albemarle and Amherst Counties, Virginia. The Monacan tribe had their land above the rapids near the headwaters of the James River. They received tribute from four other tribes who lived in Louisa, Fluvanna, Bedford, Buckingham, Cumberland and Powhatan counties. One of their major towns, Monasukapanough, was located on the Rivanna River near Route 29. There are few written records about the Monacans. Estimates vary in terms of how many people the tribes had. One estimate is that the Monacan tribe had 1,200 people. The number of people in the Monacan Confederacy has been estimated at 5,200 or more.(1) Once the English colony began to expand beyond the lands of the Powhatan Confederacy, the Monacans came under increasing pressure both from the Cherokees and from the colonist as well.

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. 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.

The tribes of the Monacan Confederacy lived in an important place on the Virginia Piedmont since the area around present day Richmond was central to trade routes. Copper and dyes were important trade items. 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.

The tribe became caught between the expanding English colony and the Cherokees. The Cherokees may have defeated the Monacans in a battle in which many of the Monacan warriors were killed. The Monacans and the Powhatans, despite their past, joined together in 1611 to try to drive out the English. The colonists then killed many of the Indians. In 1657 the Pamunkey Indians were forced onto a reservation. In 1677 the Monacans and the Powhatans were included in a treaty, Treaty between Virginia and the Indians. By 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. Death from war and disease probably reduced the number of people. Epidemics of smallpox and other diseases brought by the Europeans killed many Indians.

In order to survive, many of Virginia's Indians moved to other places where they thought they could continue to follow their way of life. Members of the Monacan tribe may have joined some of the Saponi and Tutelo who moved to the Roanoke Region to join the Totera Tribe. The Totera may have been a branch of the Tutelos, the first people in Salem, Virginia, in the Roanoke River Valley. Some of the people may have moved south and joined the Catawba Indians. Others may have joined tribes of the Delawares in Maryland. Some remained in Amherst County. Their ancestors live in Amherst County today.

We have little in the way of written records about the people of the Monacan Confederacy. Most of the Monacan people seem to have left Monacan Town. In 1657 a large group of Indians moved into this abandoned Monacan village above the James River rapids. The colonials sent a strong force including Pamunkey Indians to remove the Indians. Cherokee tradition says that the new Indians were Cherokees. Some historians think that these people were Siouan-speaking people, including members of the Manahoac Tribe. The colonials and their Indian allies suffered a great defeat there. By 1699 most of the Monacan people had left Monacan Town. In 1699 the Monacan village above the James River rapids was settled by a colony of French refugees, called the Huguenots. Still, some members of the tribe continued to camp in the area until 1702. They traded furs and other goods with the settlers. The tribes of the Monacan Confederacy almost disappeared from Virginia. Some people of the tribes later returned to Virginia to live at Fort Christanna.

Today the Monacans have about 700 members, most of whom live in Maryland and other states. Some members of the tribe live in the Amherst County and Lynchburg area. Virginia recognized the tribe in 1989. The tribe has been trying recently to have Virginia state law changed. In 1924, the state adopted a policy which did not allow Indians to register their children as being Native Americans. Their birth records did not show their heritage as Indians. In 1967, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the law must be changed. The new law would allow the people of the tribes to change their birth records to show that they are Native Americans at no cost. Recently, too, the Episcopal Church returned a small piece of sacred land in southwest Virginia to the tribe.

The Monacans held their first annual powwow in Fredricksburg in 1996. They have had powwows in other areas in Virginia.

For more information on the Monacans, see also Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia: ch. 11.

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Related Sites

The James River Association Membership information, facts

Reclaiming a Heritage: The Monacan Nation of Virginia Documentary available produced by the Monacan Nation. From Virginia Folklife Program

References: See: Bushnell, (1) Rountree, Kegley

Go to: Virginia Indians