Patuxent people
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Extinct as a tribe | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Western Shore of Maryland | |
| Languages | |
| Eastern Algonquian | |
| Religion | |
| Native religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Piscataway |
ThePatuxentorPawtuxent[1]were one of the Native American tribes living along the western shore of theChesapeake Bay.They spoke anAlgonquianlanguage and were loosely dominated by thePiscataway.[2]
Living along thePatuxent River,they were among the first people taught byAndrew White.
The first European to explore the river was Capt.John Smithwho sailed 40 miles[3]of it in 1608, writing: “On the west side of the Bay were five faire and delightful navigable rivers the fifth river is called Pawtuxent.”
The Algonquians migrated here 2,000 years ago.[citation needed]Capt. Smith noted 17 Indian villages along the Patuxent River. English historians asserted that the Indians were not very settled, but—as asserted by archaeologist Wayne Clark—they actually had extensive agricultural fields and raised corn, beans, squash, sunflowers and tobacco; the Indian ‘old fields’ were much in demand because they were already cleared.
As European settlements grew and tobacco plantations took over, surviving Indians moved on. By 1674, some Pawtuxent Indians lived on 700 acres of land set aside for them byLord Baltimoreat Billingsley Point, now public park land nearUpper Marlboroat the confluence of the Patuxent River and Western Branch.[4]By the 1690s, survivors left that site and joined another group in Chaptico on the Maryland side of the Potomac River in what is now St Mary's County.
References
[edit]- ^Hodge, Frederick Webb,ed. (1912).Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico.Washington: G.P.O. p. 1118.LCCN15002143.id=LCCN15-2143
- ^Brinton, Daniel Garrison;Rafinesque, Constantine Samuel(1885).The Lenâpé and Their Legends, With the Complete Text and Symbols of the Walam Olum, a New Translation, and an Inquiry Into Its Authenticity.p. 25.
The Conoys... along the Piscataway creek and Patuxent river
OCLC1300929403 - ^Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network."Exploring the Western Shore: The Patuxent River"(PDF).National Park Service.p. 8.Retrieved2020-06-21.
- ^"Billingsley's Point".Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.Retrieved2020-06-21.
Further reading
[edit]- Land, Aubrey C.Maryland: A Colonial Historyat theInternet Archive.Millwood NY: KTO Press, 1981.
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