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 |
The Patuxent or Pawtuxent[1] were one of the Native American tribes living along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. They spoke an Algonquian language and were loosely dominated by the Piscataway.[2]
Living along the Patuxent River, they were among the first people taught by Andrew White.
The first European to explore the river was Capt. John Smith who 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 by Lord Baltimore at Billingsley Point, now public park land near Upper Marlboro at 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
- ^ Hodge, Frederick Webb, ed. (1912). Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington: G.P.O. p. 1118. LCCN 15002143. id=LCCN 15-2143
- ^ 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
OCLC 1300929403 - ^ Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network. "Exploring the Western Shore: The Patuxent River" (PDF). National Park Service. p. 8. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
- ^ "Billingsley's Point". Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
Further reading
- Land, Aubrey C. Maryland: A Colonial History at the Internet Archive. Millwood NY: KTO Press, 1981.
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- Accokeek
- Assateague
- Chaptico
- Choptank
- Doeg
- Lumbee
- Mattawoman
- Nacotchtank
- Nanticoke
- Patuxent
- Piscataway Indian Nation
- Piscataway
- Pocomoke
- Potapoco
- Powhatan
- Shawnee
- Susquehannock
- Tockwogh
- Yaocomico
- Aisquith Farm E Archeological Site
- Arundel Cove Archaeological Site
- Barton Village Site
- Beck Northeast Site
- Biggs Ford Site
- Brinsfield I Site
- Buckingham Archeological Site
- Bumpstead Archeological Site
- Elkridge Site
- Grear Prehistoric Village Site
- Heath Farm Camp Archeological Site
- Heath Farm Jasper Quarry Archeological Site
- Hoye Site
- Iron Hill Cut Jasper Quarry Archeological Site
- Katcef Archeological Site
- Martins Pond Site
- McCandless Archeological Site
- Meyer Site
- Monocacy Site
- Nolands Ferry I Archeological Site
- Sandy Point Site
- Shoemaker III Village Site
- Walker Prehistoric Village Archeological Site
- Willin Village Archeological Site
- Broad Creek Soapstone Quarries
- Magothy Quartzite Quarry Archeological Site
- National Archives Archeological Site
- Old Colony Cove Site
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