Kiskiack (or Chisiack or Chiskiack) was a Native American tribal group of the Powhatan Confederacy. The name means "Wide Land" or "Bread Place" in the native language, which was apart of the Algonquian language group. It was also the name of their village site on the Virginia Peninsula, which is now located on the grounds of the US Naval Weapons Station Yorktown in York County, Virginia. [1] The settlement was 11 miles (18 km) from the Powhatan Confederacy capital of Werowocomoco.
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History
In the mid 16th and early 17th century, the Native American village of the Kiskiak tribe of the Powhatan Confederacy was located near the south bank of the York River on the Virginia Peninsula a few miles west of the current site of Yorktown. The Native American architecture was based upon permanent villages made up of long-houses or "yihakans."
The Kiskiack were one of the original 6 tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy. Beginning with the arrival of the English settlers at Jamestown in 1607, they were generally one of the most hostile toward the English encroachments, and were reluctant to give away their goods simply at the request of the parties sent from Jamestown to collect corn and other foodstuffs during the first few years after English settlement. However, they were one of the few tribes friendly to the English in the First Anglo-Powhatan War.
Kiskiak was only about 15 miles (24 km) from Jamestown, but across the Peninsula and along the York River, which did not see as much early development by the English as did the James River. Their population was around 40-50 fighting men as of one 1612 estimate by John Smith. The name of their weroance at this time, according to William Strachey, was Ottahotin.
The Kiskiacks took part in the Indian Massacre of 1622 and the settlers retaliated against them the next year. They had moved away some time before 1627, when the colony decided to occupy their village; this occupation took place in 1629.
They were living on the Piankatank River by 1649, when their weroance Ossakican (or Wassatickon) was granted a reservation of 5,000 acres (20 km2) for them. In 1651, they exchanged this land for another 5,000-acre (20 km2) tract farther upriver; this reservation in Gloucester County soon began to shrink. In 1669 they numbered 15 bowmen, and last appear in the records during Bacon's Rebellion, at which time they seem to have merged with other groups, probably the Pamunkey, Chickahominy, or Rappahannocks[2].
English settlement and the palisade
At a meeting held at Jamestown on October 8, 1630, Sir John Harvey, the Governor, and his Council, "for the securing and taking in a tract of land called the forest, bordering upon the cheife residence of ye Pamunkey King, the most dangerous head of ye Indyan enemy," did "after much consultation thereof had, decree and sett down several proportions of land for such commanders, and 50 acres (200,000 m2) per poll for all other persons who ye first yeare and five and 20 acres (81,000 m2) who the second yeare, should adventure or be adventured to seate and inhabit on the southern side of Pamunkey River, now called York, and formerly known by the Indyan name of Chiskiack, as a reward and encouragement for their undertaking." [1]
Under this order houses were built on both sides of King's Creek, and extended rapidly up and down the south side of York River, and plans were put into motion to fortify the area. In 1634, a palisade was erected across the Peninsula from Martin's Hundred to Kiskiack to protect the lower (eastern) area from Indian attacks. Middle Plantation, near the center of the palisade, was the first inland settlement, established by an Act of Assembly of the House of Burgesses in 1632. Middle Plantation was renamed Williamsburg after being designated the capital of the Colony in 1699.
The former site of Kiskiack is now located on within the boundaries of the U.S. Naval Weapons Station Yorktown. The name, often mispronounced, gave rise to "Cheesecake Road" and "Cheesecake Cemetery", also located on Navy lands in the same area.
The southern end of Cheesecake Road left the federal property and crossed State Route 143 (Merrimack Trail), and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, and connected with U.S. Route 60 (Pocahontas Trail) near the western edge of Grove and the James City County-York County border, but was severed with the construction of Interstate 64 in the late 1960s.
Other use
"Kiskiack" is also the name of a very early 17th century brick building located on the Naval Weapons Station Yorktown. This brick structure, which is the oldest building owned by the U.S. Navy, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
See also
This home was built by Dr. Henry Lee who married Marah Buck. Marah's father was the minister who officiated at the wedding of Pocahontas and John Rolfe. One of Dr. Lee's hand-built tables was donated to the Naval Weapons Museum by Barbara Blunt Brooks of Richmond, Virginia. This table was one of two identical tables built by Lee. The location of the other table is unknown. Lee's ancesters refer to the property as Kiskiak (without the "c").
References
- ^ 'Kiskiack' was an Indian tribe - dailypress.com
- ^ Helen Rountree, Pocahontas's People p. 116-17.
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