Accomac people

{{short description|Historical Native American tribe in Virginia}} {{Infobox ethnic group | group = Accomac | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = | image_caption = | image_alt = | total = extinct as a tribe<ref name=hodge8/> | total_year =  | regions = Virginia | languages = unattested Eastern Algonquian language | religions = Indigenous | related_groups = Powhatan Confederacy | footnotes = }} The '''Accomac people'''{{refn|Or ''Accawmack'', ''Accawmacke'', ''Accowmack'', ''Accohanoc''.<ref name="clark" />}} were a historic Native American tribe in Accomack and Northampton counties in Virginia.<ref name=hodge8>Frederick Webb Hodge, ''Handbook'', 8.</ref> They were loosely affiliated with the Powhatan Confederacy.<ref name=hodge8/> Archeological and historical records suggest trading relationships between the Accomacs and the Powhatans as well as other related groups such as the Occohannocks.<ref name=":0" />

The term Accomac was eventually applied to a larger group of related Indigenous peoples living on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. To the north, the Eastern Shore of Maryland was home to the Pocomoke and related tribes, such as the Annamessex.<ref>Christian F. Feest, "Nanticoke and Neighboring Tribes," 240–241.</ref> Further north, the Assateague people lived on the Atlantic Coast of Maryland and Delaware.<ref>Christian F. Feest, "Nanticoke and Neighboring Tribes," 241.</ref>

== History == [[File:Debedeavon Monument.jpg|thumb|Monument to Debedeavon, a 17th-century Accomac chief]] Their primary settlement, also called Accomac, was near present-day Cheriton, Virginia, on Cherrystone inlet in Northampton County.<ref name=hodge8/> This settlement was located in proximity to Tsenacomoco, the Powhatans' primary chiefdom.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wolfe |first=Brendan |title=Indigenous Peoples in Virginia |url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/indians-in-virginia/ |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=Encyclopedia Virginia |language=en-US}}</ref>

Debedeavon (Accomac, died 1657) was the principal chief of the Accomac when English colonists first arrived in 1608. They called him the "Laughing King" and allied with him. In 1608, the Accomac were recorded as having 80 warriors.<ref name=hodge8/> This initial population estimate is likely already diminished due to spread of epidemic disease from initial contact with the Roanoke Colony in 1585.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Rountree |first1=Helen C. |title=Eastern Shore Indians of Virginia and Maryland |last2=Davidson |first2=Thomas E. |date=1997 |publisher=University Press of Virginia |isbn=978-0-8139-1734-4 |location=Charlottesville}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mires |first=Peter B. |date=1994 |title=Contact and Contagion: The Roanoke Colony and Influenza |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25616316 |journal=Historical Archaeology |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=30–38 |doi=10.1007/BF03374188 |jstor=25616316 |issn=0440-9213}}</ref> Based on disease profile descriptions involving high fatality rates, short illness lifecycle, and strongest outbreaks during cold seasons, this epidemic is thought to have been caused by an Influenza virus carried over from Europe for which the Accomac people did not have built up defenses.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mires |first=Peter B. |date=1994 |title=Contact and Contagion: The Roanoke Colony and Influenza |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25616316 |journal=Historical Archaeology |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=30–38 |doi=10.1007/BF03374188 |jstor=25616316 |issn=0440-9213}}</ref>

Records indicate that by the mid 17th century, the British colonists had appropriated a majority of Accomac land.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rountree |first=Helen C. |title=Pocahontas's people: the Powhatan Indians of Virginia through four centuries |date=1996 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-2849-8 |edition=1st paperback |series=The civilization of the American Indian series |location=Norman}}</ref> By 1700, the Accomac population had declined by approximately 90 percent due to introduced diseases such as smallpox and violence from the colonists.<ref>Christian F. Feest, "Nanticoke and Neighboring Tribes," 242.</ref> The colonists began calling all American Indians to the immediate east of Chesapeake Bay "Accomac."<ref name=hodge8/> They maintained communal lands through 1812, mostly in and near Accomack County.<ref name=hodge8/>

A subgroup, the Gingaskins, lived near present-day Eastville, Virginia. They intermarried with African Americans living nearby. After Nat Turner's Rebellion in 1831, local White Americans forcibly expelled them from their homelands.<ref name=hodge8/>

==List of rulers== From the mid-17th century onward, the English people called the Accomac paramount chief "emperor" or "empress."<ref name="rountree">{{Cite book |last=Rountree |first=Helen C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUzd7LeJpjYC&pg=PA124 |pages=124–127 |title=Pocahontas's People: The Powhatan Indians of Virginia Through Four Centuries |date=1990 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-2849-8 |language=en}}</ref>

The list of emperors of Accomac:<ref name="rountree"/> # Esmy Shichans, also known as the Laughing King # Okiawampe, also spelled Wackawamp # Tapatiapon or Debedeavon # Johnson However, Debedeavon is considered to be the same person as Johnson by Fausz and the Laughing King by Upshur.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Debedeavon (fl. 1648–1664) |url=https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/dvb/bio.asp?b=Debedeavon |access-date=2025-01-10 |first=J. Frederick |last=Fausz |website=Dictionary of Virginia Biography}}</ref> Also, Okiawampe may have been the same person as Debedeavon.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wise |first=Jennings Cropper |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hmVOL9NbdU4C&pg=PA55 |page=55|title=Ye Kingdome of Accawmacke Or the Eastern Shore of Virginia in the 17th Century |year=2009 |orig-date=1911|publisher=Genealogical Publishing Com |isbn=978-0-8063-4693-9 |language=en}}</ref>

The list of empresses of Accomac:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hutner |first=Heidi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DmnnCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 |page=10|title=Colonial Women: Race and Culture in Stuart Drama |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-514188-7 |language=en}}</ref> # Empress of 1673 (Tabbity Abby?) who was mentioned by George Fox # Empress of 1705 (Mary?) who was mentioned by Robert Beverley In 1673 the governor referred to the transfer of power from mother, Tabbity Abby, to daughter, Mary, and that same year George Fox wrote of the old Empress of Accomack.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Appleton |first=Thomas H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ObHptCEugG0C&pg=PA28 |page=28|title=Searching for Their Places: Women in the South Across Four Centuries |date=2003 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |isbn=978-0-8262-6288-2 |language=en}}</ref> Mary is probably the empress who lived in Nanduye referred to by Robert Beverley in 1705.<ref name="rountree"/>

== Culture and tradition == Little is known about the Accomac’s day to day life due to a scarcity of archival records and archeological excavation in the area.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Feest |first=Christian F. |title=Handbook of North American Indians: Northeast, Vol. 15 |publisher=Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution |year=1978 |editor-last=Trigger |editor-first=Bruce G. |pages=240–252}}</ref> However, there is some evidence that the land was deer scarce. As such, the Accomac appear to have relied on fishing and horticulture over hunting for their nutritional needs.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> It is thought that corn and beans were their primary crops while the occasional deer was hunted in order to make clothing and tools.<ref name=":0" />

== Subtribes == [[File:Historical marker for Gingaskin reservatoin.jpg|thumb|210px|Historical marker for the Gingaskin Indian Reservation in Northampton, Virginia.]] Subtribes of the Accomac included the following groups: * Acohanock{{refn|Or ''Accahanock'', ''Accohanoc'', ''Anancock'', ''Accohannock'', ''Accohanock'', ''Oanancocke'', ''Occoahannock'', ''Onancock'', ''Accotronack''.<ref name="clark">{{cite book |last1=Clark |first1=Patricia Roberts |title=Tribal Names of the Americas: Spelling Variants and Alternative Forms, Cross-Referenced |date= 2009 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-5169-2 |page=11 |language=en}}</ref>}} * Chiconessex, Chicconessick * Combec * Gingaskin, Gangascoe, Gingaskoyne, * Kiquotank, Kikotanke * Matchapungo, Machepungo, Mastiapungo, Matchopungo, * Macheteege * Mashawatoc * Matomkin, Matompkin, Motomkin * Nadue, Nandewy, Nanduye * Pungotege, Pungoteque.<ref>Christian F. Feest, "Nanticoke and Neighboring Tribes," 248.</ref>

== Name == Philologist James Hammond Trumbull wrote that ''Accomac'' means "the other-side place" or "on-the-other-side-of-water place."<ref>Frederick Webb Hodge, ''Handbook'', 7.</ref> Alternative spellings include Accawmacke, Accomack, Accowmack, Acomack, and Acomak.<ref name=hodge8/>

== Cultural heritage groups == Maryland designated the Accohannock Indian Tribe as a state-recognized tribe in 2017.<ref name=sun>{{cite news |last1=Tkacik |first1=Christina |title=Maryland recognition of Accohannock tribe sparks debate within community of Native Americans|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-accohannock-eastern-shore-indians-20180115-story.html|access-date=12 February 2018|work=baltimoresun.com|date=11 February 2018|archive-date=23 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023005158/http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-accohannock-eastern-shore-indians-20180115-story.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> They claim to be descendants of the Accomac people; however, historians and other Native American tribes dispute those claims.<ref name=sun/> The Maryland-based organization should not be confused with the American Indigenous Accawmacke Indians, an unrecognized nonprofit organization based in Cape Charles, Virginia.<ref>{{cite web |title=American Indigenous Accawmacke Indians |url=https://www.guidestar.org/profile/83-2108519 |website=GuideStar |access-date=16 March 2024}}</ref>

== See also == * Native American tribes in Virginia

== Further reading == * Helen C. Rountree. [https://books.google.com/books?id=fUzd7LeJpjYC ''Pocahontas's People: The Powhatan Indians of Virginia Through Four Centuries.''] Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990. {{ISBN| 9780806128498}}. * Weslager, Clinton Alfred. ''The Accomac and Accohannock Indians from Early Relations''. Cape Charles: Hickory House, 2001. {{ISBN|1886706522}}.

== References == {{reflist}}

== Bibliography == * {{cite book |last1=Hodge |first1=Frederick Webb |title=Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico |date=1911 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |location=Washington, DC |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ze4YAAAAYAAJ}} * {{cite book |last1=Feest |first1=Christian F. |author1-link=Nanticoke and Neighboring Tribes |editor1-last=Trigger |editor1-first=Bruce G. |title=Handbook of North American Indians: Northeast, Vol. 15 |date=1978 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |location=Washington, DC |pages=240–248}} * {{Cite book |last=Roundtree |first=Helen C. |title=Pocahontas's People : The Powhatan Indians of Virginia through Four Centuries |publisher=Norman: University of Oklahoma Press |year=1990 |isbn=978-0806128498}} * {{Cite book |last1=Roundtree |first1=Helen C. |title=Eastern Shore Indians of Virginia and Maryland |last2=Davidson |first2=Thomas E. |publisher=Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia |year=1997 |isbn=978-0813918013}} * {{Cite journal |last=Mires |first=Peter B. |date=1994 |title=Contact and Contagion: The Roanoke Colony and Influenza |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25616316 |journal=Historical Archaeology |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=30–38 |doi=10.1007/BF03374188 |jstor=25616316 }} * {{Cite web |last=Wolfe |first=Brendan |date=2020-12-09 |title=Indigenous Peoples in Virginia |url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/indians-in-virginia/ |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=Encyclopedia Virginia}}

==External links== * [http://www.virginiaplaces.org/nativeamerican/reservationging.html Gingaskin Reservation on the Eastern Shore]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Accomac People}} Category:Algonquian ethnonyms Category:Eastern Algonquian peoples Category:Extinct Native American tribes Category:Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands Category:Native American tribes in Virginia Category:Powhatan Confederacy