The Susquehannock War of 1676 was one of many wars between Native Americans and European settlers that set the East Coast ablaze in 1675-77. The Susquehannock, who had been decimated by smallpox and wars with the Iroquois, fled to Maryland and camped on Piscataway Creek near the fort occupied by the Piscataway Indians. The Susquehannock asked the governor to allow them to settle in Maryland because they had a treaty of peace and friendship with the colony. Worried about potential conflicts between the Susquehannock and the Piscataway, Maryland officials offered the Susquehannock land above the Potomac’s Great Falls, a remote region that the Susquehannock found undesirable. In July 1675 trouble began. Murders and robberies in Virginia and Maryland were attributed by colonists to the Susquehannock. In September Colonel John Washington of Virginia asked permission and cooperation from the Maryland council to attack the Susquehannock in Maryland. Both Maryland and Virginia raised 500 troops each to carry out orders that the Susquehannock “be forthwith forced off from the place they now are and remove themselves to the place they assured the last Assembly they would goe and seate themselves.” Many local Indians joined the colonial forces.
The colonial commanders accused the Susquehannock of murders in both colonies, which they denied. Although the treaty with Maryland pledged eternal friendship with the Susquehannock, colonial forces murdered the Indian leaders and laid siege to their encampment. With only 100 warriors, the Susquehannock managed to resist for six weeks, killing between 50 and 100 colonists. Eventually, the Susquehannock escaped and fled into Virginia, where they raided settlements at the heads of the Rappahannock and York Rivers.
This tragedy was a triggering event of Bacon’s Rebellion, in which Nathaniel Bacon and his followers attacked peaceful Indian allies and eventually challenged the Virginia government itself. In the process, many of the local Indian groups were exterminated.
Further reading: Helen C. Rountree and Thomas E. Davidson, Eastern Shore Indians of Virginia and Maryland (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1997).
—James F. Adomanis
World History
