Rulers of the Chesepeake: the Pisacataway

The Piscataway are an Algonquian-speaking people who lived on the North bank of the Potomac River in what is now Charles County, with portions of territory in Prince George's and St. Mary's Counties.  The Jamestown settlers encountered them in in 1608.  Much like the Wampanoag of New England and the Powhatan of Virginia, they held sway over several other related tribes, such as the Anacostan, Doeg, Mattawoman, and Pamunkey.  Like most Eastern Woodlands tribes they relied on agriculture to supplement their hunting.  Their villages were of the typical longhouse within a palisade architecture seen along the Northeast and mid-Atlantic coastline. 

Sources trace the Piscataway presence in the Potomac River area to around 1300 A.D., although a difference of opinion exists as to where they migrated from, be it the Eastern Shore or much further away.  Once settled along the Potomac, they developed stable villages where they lived year-round, subsisting on maize and other crops in addition to hunting.  By the 1600's, they were facing intrusion from the Susquehannock, who were in turn being pushed out of their land by White settlement.  Warfare between the tribes reduced the Piscataway population.  The Piscataway's response to this was to consolidate under powerful chiefs and war leaders who could lead the people in this time of distress.  Local leaders were known under the mid-Atlantic designation of werowance, while the paramount chief was referred to as the Tayac. 

They were first encountered by John Smith I'm 1608, who noted their close association with the Anacostans.  As the British sought other Native auxiliaries to partner with them in the fur trade, the power of the Piscataway continued to decrease.  When the English began settling Maryland, a Tayac granted them the land for St. Mary's City.  Some Piscataway converted to Catholicism, including a prominent leader and his wife, whose daughter married a local Colonist.  However, in time, the English turned against the Piscataway, confining them to two areas, one on the Wicomico River and another in their traditional homeland of Charles County.  Refugees from other tribes merged with the Piscataway.  After a war between the Iroquoian-speaking Susquehannock and the Iroquois Confederacy, Maryland authorities tried to force them to live with their traditional enemies.  The Piscataway rose in revolt and drove out the Susquehannock.  They reformed their alliance with the Iroquois and the Five Nations were in constant conflict with the Piscataway.  Facing the Iroquois on one side and the English on the other, the Piscataway power and population continued to decline.  Some Piscataway attempted to relocated to Virginia but were forced to Conoy Island in the Potomac near present day Point-of-Rocks.

In the 18th century, the remaining Piscataway merged with the Nanticoke and migrated north of the Susquehannah River, settling among other displaced tribes in Pennsylvania's backcountry.  By 1793, members of the tribe were noted as having migrated as far away as Fort Detroit.  Some Piscataway/Nanticoke found refuge with the Haudenosaunee/Iroquois on the Grand River Reserve in Canada.  Other Piscataway remained in Virginia, merging with tribes still there.  Meanwhile, a small number of Piscataway families clung to their homeland in Maryland.  They settled into farming and were classified as free people of color, a catch-all that also including free blacks and those of mixed race.  Some of these people were of mixed white and black as well as Native ancestry.  In the 20th century, the Piscataway sought federal and state recognition as a tribal unit.  Though not able to achieve federal recognition, the Piscataway people are represented by the Piscataway Indian Nation and Tayac Territory, and the Conoy Tribe of Maryland.