Page 178 - Maryland Historical Trust - Archaeology Colonial MD

ing, the principal village of the Piscat- away had, indeed, been moved inland to the head of the embayed Piscataway Creek near the modern-day village of “Piscataway.” It is there where Leonard Calvert met with Wannis, the Piscataway Tayac, in the spring of 1634. A brief de- scription of the village and the encounter is related by Father Andrew White:
“From hence they went to Paƒchat- toway. All were heere armed: 500 Bow-men came to the Water-ƒide. The Emperour himƒ’elƒ more fear- leƒƒe than the reƒt, came priuately aboard, where he was courteouƒly entertained; and vnderƒtanding wee came in a peaceable manner, bade vs welcome, and gaue vs leaue to ƒit downe in what place of his King- dome wee pleaƒed. While this King was aboard. All the Indians came to the Water-ƒide, fearing treaƒon, wherevpon two of the King’s men, that attended him in our ƒhippe were appointed to row on ƒhoare to quit them of this ƒeare : but they reƒuƒing to goe for ƒeare of the popular fury; the interpretours ƒtanding on the Deck ƒhewed the King to them that hee was in ƒafety, where-with they were ƒatisfied.”6
Andrew White and a group of Jesuits would establish a mission among the Piscataway Indians at this village in 1639. White would go on to baptize the next Piscataway Tayac, Kittamaquund, at this village on July 5th, 1640. It served as the main seat of Piscataway power throughout most of the 17th century. The location of “Paƒcattawaye” is depicted on the Augustin Herman Map of 1670 with three “representative” wigwams south of the head of Piscataway Creek.7
The colonial records reveal that by the 1670s and 1680s, the Piscataway were under constant harassment from northern tribes: the Susquehannock In- dians of Pennsylvania and the Seneca (part of the powerful Iroquois Confeder- acy) in New York. In the spring of 1680, attacks became so intense that the fort at Piscataway was no longer considered sufficient protection and the Indians be-
gan petitioning the colonial government for permission to remove to a more pro- tected location. Permission was grant- ed for the Piscataway to remove to the Zekiah Swamp on June 9th, 1680, with instruction to burn down their existing fort upon leaving so that it would not fall into the hands of the Susquehannocks or Senecas.8
The intensity of the pressure the Piscataway were under at this time is re- vealed by several entries in the Archives of Maryland. On June 30th of 1631, Capt. Randolph Brandt of the Maryland militia reported to the Council of Mary- land the purported arrival of Susque- hannocks in the vicinity of Zekiah Fort. He also reports the murder of one of the “great men” among the Piscataway by a scouting party. Though Brandt searched the swamps, he could find no “fforreigne Indians.” Then, on July 29th, these for- eign Indians attempted to destroy crops at the Zekiah settlement. By August 3rd, the Zekiah Fort was fully under siege by the Senecas and Susquehannocks. On August 10th, Captain Brandt reports:
“I went up with ffifty horse, and comeing in sight of the ffort found all quiett, and calling for the greate men, the Sinniquos appeared in the Corne very neare the ffort. Our Indians [the Piscataway] imme- diately fired at them several Vollies at their running off...[I] demand- ed of our Indians what force they were, they did assure us six hun- dred at the least, and did advise me to come into the ffort, which I did both for their Security and ours... that night wee lay at the ffort, in the morning we beate about the same in Company with twenty odd of our Indians upon discovery where I found a greate tract lead- ing towards the old Pascattoway ffort, they have done greate mis- chiefe in their corne fields which I have viewed; The Neighbouring Indians much rejoyced at our come- ing and doe say had wee not come they had been cutt off thatt night.”9
In 2011, excavations by St. Mary’s
College of Maryland at the Windy Knoll Site (18CH808) revealed evidence of the 17th-century Piscataway occupation at Zekiah. Students in the SMCM An- thropology program excavated a total of 1,362 shovel tests, 233 of which produced late 17th-century artifacts.10 Once the boundaries of the site had been estimated through shovel testing, seventy-one for- mal test units were excavated in 2011 and in 2014. Thousands of 17th-century arti- facts were encountered at Windy Knoll, but very few intact subsurface features were encountered due to deep plowing at the site during historic times. The Zekiah Fort is discussed in more detail in Strick- land (this volume).
The Piscataway likely remained at Zekiah until April of 1697. At the very least, circumstantial evidence places the Piscataway Tayac’s residence within Charles County (not Prince George’s County) in the spring of 1697,11 Prince George’s County having been formed the previous year. Shortly thereafter and pri- or to June of that year, they had removed to the headwaters of the Occoquan Riv- er in Virginia, a move that alarmed the Maryland Assembly and the Governor. On June 1, 1697, Major William Barton submitted a letter to the Governor and Council relaying his journey into Virgin- ia to inquire of the Tayac why his people had left the province. It is clear from this account that ill treatment by Maryland colonists was to blame and that they had no desire to return.12 In particular, the Tayac complained that his people were continually blamed for any atrocity that took place within the colony.
By the spring of 1699, the Piscat- away had again relocated. This time they established a fort on a large island in the Potomac on the Maryland frontier which is known today as “Heater’s Island.”Then Governor of Virginia, Francis Nicholson, sent a scouting party to parley with the Emperor of the Piscataway and bring back intelligence about the country they encountered and the state of the Indian fort there. Mr. Giles Vandercastle and Mr. Bur Harrison of the Stafford County Militia were dispatched and recorded an
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