Indian Prisoners Abandoned on Tangier Island

Northumberland County · dedicated 2009 · off Route 656 at Tangier Island Cruises

Following paramount chief Opechancanough's 1644 organized attacks against the English colonists for encroaching on Indian lands, Governor William Berkeley led further military strikes against the Virginia Indians in July 1645, taking many prisoners. On August 9, the Virginia Council decided to transport all the Indian male prisoners more than 11 years of age to Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay “to prevent their returning to and strengthening their respective tribes.” Berkeley's own ship transported the prisoners to Tangier, where they were abandoned. Their fate is unknown.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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