THE ASSATEAGUE INDIANS: WHAT BECAME OF THEM?
"In the beginning the Assateague Indians were friendly, but it was not
long before their attitude changed, as European newcomers began to covet
the lands. Colonel Edward Scarburgh, one of the first Indian fighters, was
obsessed with the desire to rid this Maryland-Virginia area of all Indians
at any cost, legally or illegally, and he devised an unfair and vindictive
policy in regard to them. Although a Virginian, he served on some Maryland
commissions and requested aid of the Maryland authorities in his campaign.
When the Maryland officials refused his request, he set up a personal
mission hoping to lead 300 footmen and 60 horses in an attack. However, as
he noted in one of his report, the Assateagues "were harder to find than
to conquer." The Scarburgh campaign was known as the "Seaside War" of
1659.
In 1662 Maryland made a treaty with the Assateagues (and the
Nanticokes) whereby every white man that took land in Indian territory was
to give the Indian emperor six matchcoats (garments made of a rough
blanket or frieze, heavy rough cloth with uncut nap on one side). The
emperor was also to receive a matchcoat for every runaway slave returned.
The treaty further stated that no murders were to be committed by either
side, that no Englishmen were to enter Indian territory without a pass,
and that the Indians were not to trade with the Dutch to the north in
Delaware so long as the English could supply their necessities.
This did not prevent Colonel Scarburgh from making plans to exterminate
them, nor did it give them protection from the roving bands of Indians
from the north.
Several other treaties were signed between Maryland and the Assateagues
before the close of the seventeenth century. One which ordered the
Assateagues onto five reservations along the Pocomoke was signed by
AMONUGUS, as Emperor of the Assateagues. And from the signatures of the
1678 treaty, it seems that the Emperor of the Assateagues held a dominant
position over the Chincoteague king and kings of the Pocomoke River
tribes.
Sessions of the Maryland General Assembly during this period recorded
numerous complaints by the Assateague, stating that the colonists were
letting their cattle into the cornfields, breaking the Indian's traps,
cutting their timber and usurping (taking possession without authority)
their lands."
The Assateagues complained in 1686 that several English men had
encroached upon the Indian land and had even built homes in the town where
the Indians lived. They complained that one man in particular, EDWARD HAMMOND,
was an encroacher and that he had stolen great quantities of Roanoke
(Indian money) and skins from the tombs of former Indian kings. The
Roanoke and skins had been offerings to the dead. They asked that
something be done about Hammond and that provisions be made so that the
Indians could live without disturbance and encroachment by the
English.
In 1722 a Peace
Treaty was signed between the King of the Assateagues, Knosum, alias
M. Walker, the King of the Pocomokes, Wassounge, alias Daniel and Charles
Calvert, Governor of Maryland. It was agreed that this treaty would last
to the "worlds end" and that hostilities and damages from former acts
would be "buried in perpetual oblivion". The agreement reads that if an
Indian killed an Englishman, he was to be brought to the Governor as a
prisoner. That because the English could not easily tell one Indian from
another no Indian should come onto an English plantation with his face
painted, and that upon approaching the plantation they should lay down
their weapons, whether guns or bows and arrows and call out. If they
approached closer, then their weapons must remain behind. If an Englishman
killed any Indian that comes un-painted, calls out and lays down his arms
then the Englishman shall die. If the Indian and the English should meet
accidentally in the woods, the Indian must immediately throw down his
arms, and if they refuse they will be considered an enemy.
The privilege of crabbing, fowling, hunting and fishing would be
granted to each Indian individually.
The Indian that kills or steals a hog, calf or other beast, or any
other goods will be punished the same as an Englishman.
Slaves and servants who runaway from their masters and take shelter in
the Indian towns are to be returned by the Indians to the nearest
plantation.
The Indians were not to make any new peace with the enemy of the
Governor, nor make war without the consent of the Governor. If the
Assateagues and Pocomokes killed any Indian subject to the Governor, it
would be considered as great an offense as killing an Englishman. Strange
and foreign Indians coming into the area were to be reported immediately
to some person of note.
For the expected protection the Indians were to receive from the
Governor, the Assateagues and Pocomokes were to deliver unto the Lord
Proprietor of Maryland two bows and two dozen arrows yearly on the 10th
day of October.
"In 1742 a final treaty was made with the Assateagues, and signed by
BASTOBELL, JOHN WITTONGUIS, JEREMY PEAKE and ROKAHAUM, Chiefs of the
Assateagues and Pocomokes."
The once powerful Pocomoke-Assateague in 1678 began to gather and live
at a single large town called Indian Town by the whites and known as
Askiminokonson by the Indians. It was located near present day Snow Hill,
Maryland.
In 1742, on the pretense of making an emperor, every Indian on the
Eastern Shore disappeared into the marshes. Investigation revealed that a
number of chiefs had become involved in a plot for a general uprising,
fomented by a errant Shawnee chief, Messowan. The provincial government
dissolved the empire, making the title of Emperor merely honorary, and
placed each town directly under its own authority. Thereafter there was
much agitation for permission to emigrate, and by the end of the decade a
large part of the tribe had moved to the Susquehanna and become tributary
to the Iroquois. This group moved slowly northward, and their descendants
are now in Ontario, Canada. Of those who stayed in Maryland, one group
lived on the Choptank reserve until 1798, when the State, having purchased
all but 100 acres of their land, parceled out this remainder among the
four or five families left. The last survivor of the group is said to have
died some time in the 1840s. Another remnant of the tribe, retaining
little of its native culture, has survived near Indian River in
Delaware.
Other sources: Maryland Writer's Program,
1941. Provincial Court, Land Records, Maryland State
Archives. Assateague; Dr. William Wroten Article prepared by Sue
Hurley
This information is from The Ocean City Museum website
|