Mythologies of the Kiskiack Tribe

We are the people of The Kiskiack Tribe. Our Tribe was created out of two or more tribal groups, The Kiskiack and the Chickahominy groups, which were both of the Powhatan confederacy. The Chickahominy’s were not members of the Powhatan confederacy; The Chickahominy’s served as an ally to the Powhatan chief. The Kiskiack is a native American tribe of the Powhatan confederacy in what is now the present-day York County, Virginia. The name means “WIDE LAND OR BROAD PLACE” in the native language. It was one of their villages on the Virginia peninsula in the middle of the 16th and early 17th centuries. The Kiskiack Tribe was part of the large Powhatan confederacy near the south bank of the York river on the Virginia Peninsula that extended into the Chesapeake Bay. The Kiskiack were one of the original six tribes on the Powhatan confederacy that had built permanent villages made up of numerous long-houses or Yihakans, in which related families would live with both private and communal space. By 1649 the Kiskiack had settled along the Piankatank River when the english granted Weroance Ossakican or Wassatickon a reservation of 5,000 acres. In 1651 they exchanged this land for another 5,000 acre tract farther upriver. There were 30 tribes within the confederacy. The Kiskiack chief or Werowance was Ottahotin with about 40 to 50 warriors. The Kecoughtan Native americans, led by chief Pochins, where settled in Hampton, Va. before the english settlement. Pochins was the young son of chief Powhatan (WAHUNSENACAWH) or (WAHUNSUNACOCK) around 1597.

Kiskiack (or Chisiack or Chiskiack) was a Native American tribal group of the Powhatan Confederacy in what is present-day York County, Virginia. The name means "Wide Land" or "Broad Place" in the native language, one of the Virginia Algonquian languages. It was also the name of their village on the Virginia Peninsula. Later English colonists adopted the name for their own village in that area. The site was later developed for the US Naval Weapons Station Yorktown in York County. The settlement was 11 miles (18 km) from Werowocomoco, the capital of the Powhatan Confederacy. In the mid-16th and early 17th century, the Algonquian-speaking Kiskiack tribe, part of the large Powhatan Confederacy, was located near the south bank of the York River on the Virginia Peninsula, which extended into the Chesapeake Bay. The present-day city of Yorktown developed a few miles east of here. The Kiskiack had built permanent villages, made up of numerous long-houses or yihakans, in which related families would live. The longhouses had both private and communal spaces. The Kiskiack were one of the original four tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy, which by the early 17th century included 30 tributary tribes. Beginning with the arrival of the English colonists at Jamestown in 1607, the Kiskiack was generally one of the most hostile toward the English encroachments. They were reluctant to give away their goods to English parties from Jamestown who sought corn and other foodstuffs in order to survive during their first difficult years. But, the Kiskiack was one of the few tribes to be relatively friendly to the English in the First Anglo-Powhatan War. Kiskiack was about 15 miles (24 km) from Jamestown, to the north across the Peninsula and located along the York River. This area did not receive as many English colonists as did the waterfront along the James River. In 1612, John Smith estimated the Kiskiack population included about 40–50 warriors. William Strachey recorded the name of their weroance as Ottahotin. The Kiskiack took part in the Indian massacre of 1622 and helped kill colonists, hoping to drive away the survivors. The next year the colonists retaliated against them and other nearby tribes, killing about 200 men by giving them poison at a supposed friendly meeting. Some time before 1627, the Kiskiack left their village to migrate west; the English colonists occupied the site in 1629 and retained the name for some time. By 1649, the Kiskiack had settled along the Piankatank River, where the English granted their weroance Ossakican (or Wassatickon) a reservation of 5,000 acres (20 km²). In 1651, the Kiskiack exchanged this land for another 5,000-acre (20 km²) tract farther upriver. Soon the English began to encroach on that reservation in Gloucester County as well. In 1669 the Kiskiack were recorded as having only 15 bowmen. They last appeared in historical records as participants in the 1676 Bacon's Rebellion. The remaining Kiskiack appear to have merged and intermarried with other groups, probably the Pamunkey, Chickahominy, or Rappahannock.

Chief Charles Delaware “Spirit Eagle” Bowman would like to thank our Heavenly Creator and our Heavenly Ancestors for our many Blessings. I want to thank my Vice-Chief, my Second Vice-Chief, my Tribal staff members, my Tribal members, our non-members, all of our members near and far, and to each of our wonderful supporters. Thank you all for making our Tribe what it is today. As we grow as a Va. Tribe, we are truly blessed to know and share our Tribal and Family history. Our Youth is our future. Although we live in troubled times, it’s my duty, my Tribal staff, and my tribal member’s duties to educate and teach our young people – Our History, Religion, and all aspects of growth. As we speak at schools, colleges, churches, events, and a variety of other functions, our goal is to teach and educate others. I would like to thank the Commonwealth of Va. and the Internal Revenue for their Approval of The Kiskiack Tribe. I would like to thank all the Va. Tribes for their hard work, their achievements, and their recognition from the Commonwealth of Va. and from the Federal Government. CONGRATULATIONS from The Kiskiack Tribe to your Tribes. In closing, my Kiskiack Tribe is here to stay, to educate, to teach, to learn, to share, and to respect all. We also want that respect in return. We are so blessed by our Heavenly Creator and our Heavenly Ancestors. They left us tons of history to pass on to our families—peace and respect to all.

The name Kiskiack applied to the territory inhabited by the Kiskiack Indians. The word means “broad or flat land,” Clyde F. Trudell writes in “Colonial Yorktown.” The Kiskiack Indians were driven away by early colonial settlers, one of which was Henry Lee. Lee received a patent for 250 acres of land in 1641, writes Trudell, and on that land he built what is now known as the Henry Lee House, or “Kiskiack. The Library of Congress archives entry for the Kiskiack says ” ‘Kiskiack’ or the ‘Henry Lee House’ exists as an 18th-century artifact characterized by extravagant brickwork popular in the mid-1720s. Kiskiack’s most salient features are its T-shaped chimney stacks. The entry goes on to say “The expense incurred by building in brick made such dwellings unusual in colonial Virginia, leaving it as a place characterized by wood, that is to say, forests and wood-frame houses. Thus, the quality of materials (brick) and the manipulation of the brickwork, as well as the allusion to labor required for the project, quietly stated the owner’s wealth and inferred his position in society.” A fire destroyed the interior of the building in 1915, according to Trudell and the Library of Congress. The structure still stands, however, in Yorktown at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.