Abraham Wood

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Abraham Wood

Abraham Wood (1614 – 1682), sometimes referred to as "General" or "Colonel" Wood, was an English fur trade

Fur trade

The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur....
r (specifically the beaver

Beaver

Beavers are two primarily nocturnal, semi-aquatic species of rodent, one native to North America and one to Eurasia. They are known for building dams, canals, and lodges ....
and deerskin trade

Deerskin trade

The deerskin trade between Colonial America and the Native Americans in the United Statess was one of the most important trading relationships between Europeans and Native Americans, especially in the southeast....
s) and explorer of 17th century colonial Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
. Wood's base of operations was Fort Henry

Fort Henry (Virginia)

Fort Henry was an England frontier fort in 17th century Virginia Colony near the falls of the Appomattox River. Its exact location has been debated, but the most popular one is on a bluff about four blocks north of the corner of W....
at the falls of the Appomattox

Appomattox

Appomattox may refer to:*Appomattox, Virginia, a town*Appomattox County, Virginia*Appomattox Basin, a name for the Tri-Cities, Virginia region...
in present-day Petersburg

Petersburg, Virginia

Petersburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States located on the Appomattox River and 23 miles south of Richmond, Virginia. The population was 33,740 as of the United States Census 2000....
.

Henry was built in 1646 to mark the legal frontier between the white settlers and the Native Americans, and was near the Appomattoc

Appomattoc

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Abraham Wood (1614 – 1682), sometimes referred to as "General" or "Colonel" Wood, was an English fur trade

Fur trade

The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur....
r (specifically the beaver

Beaver

Beavers are two primarily nocturnal, semi-aquatic species of rodent, one native to North America and one to Eurasia. They are known for building dams, canals, and lodges ....
and deerskin trade

Deerskin trade

Virginia

Fort Henry (Virginia)

Appomattox

Appomattox may refer to:*Appomattox, Virginia, a town*Appomattox County, Virginia*Appomattox Basin, a name for the Tri-Cities, Virginia region...
in present-day Petersburg

Petersburg, Virginia

Biography

Fort Henry was built in 1646 to mark the legal frontier between the white settlers and the Native Americans, and was near the Appomattoc

Appomattoc

The Appomattoc were an Algonquian tribe of the Powhatan Confederacy, and the native inhabitants of the lower Appomattox River in what is now Virginia....
Indian tribe with whom Abraham Wood traded. It was the only point in Virginia at which Indians could be authorized to cross eastward into white territory, or whites westward into Indian territory, from 1646 until around 1691. This circumstance gave Wood, who commanded the fort and privately owned the adjoining lands, a considerable advantage over his competitors in the "Indian trade".

Several exploration parties were dispatched from Fort Henry by Wood during these years, including one undertaken by Wood himself in 1650, which explored the upper reaches of the James River

James River (Virginia)

The James River in the U.S. state of Virginia is a long river, including its Jackson River source. It drains a Drainage basin comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million people ....
and Roanoke River

Roanoke River

The Roanoke River is a river in southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina in the United States, 410 mi long. A major river of the southeastern United States, it drains a largely rural area of the coastal plain from the eastern edge of the Appalachian Mountains southeast across the Piedmont to Albemarle Sound....
.

The first English expeditions to reach the southern Appalachian Mountains

Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains or , often called the Appalachians, are a vast mountain range in eastern North America. Definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians....
were also sent out by Wood. In 1671, explorers Thomas Batts (Batte) and Robert Fallam reached the New River Valley

New River Valley

The New River Valley is a region in the eastern United States along the New River in the Commonwealth of Virginia . The valley is comprised of the counties of Montgomery , Pulaski, Floyd, Giles and the independent City of Radford....
and the New River. The New River was named Wood's River after Abraham Wood, although in time it became better known as the New River. Batts and Fallam are generally credited with being the first Europeans to enter within the present-day borders of West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a U.S. state in the Appalachian, Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia on the southeast, Kentucky on the southwest, Ohio on the northwest, and Pennsylvania and Maryland on the northeast....
.

In 1673 Wood sent his friend James Needham and his indentured servant Gabriel Arthur on an expedition to find an outlet to the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
. Shortly after their departure Needham and Arthur encountered a group of Tomahitan Indians, who offered to conduct the men to their town across the mountains . The Tomahitans are sometimes thought to have been Cherokee

Cherokee

The Cherokee are a Native Americans in the United States people orginally from the Southeastern United States . They are linguistically connected to speakers of the Iroquoian language....
, but in 1727 a delegation of Cherokee visiting Charleston

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is a city in Charleston County, South Carolina in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is the largest city and county seat of Charleston County....
referred to the Tomahitans as old enemies of their allies the Yamasee

Yamasee

The Yamasee were a Native Americans in the United States tribe that lived in coastal region of present-day northern Florida and southern Georgia near the Savannah River....
. After reaching the Tomahitan town Needham returned to Fort Henry to report to Wood. While en route back to the Tomahitan town Needham was killed by a member of the trading party with whom he was traveling . Shortly thereafter, Arthur was almost killed by a mob in the Tomahitan settlement, but was saved and then adopted by the town's headman . Arthur lived with the Tomahitans for almost a year, accompanying them on war and trading expeditions as far south as Spanish Florida

Spanish Florida

Spanish Florida refers to the Spain colony of Florida. The Spanish first landed on the peninsula in 1513, and laid claim to the land from 1565 to 1763 and again from 1784 to 1821....
and as far north as the Ohio River

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. It is approximately 981 miles long and is located in the eastern United States....
.

By 1676 Wood had given his place as commander and chief trader to his son-in-law, Peter Jones, for whom Petersburg was eventually named. He retired to patent more plantation land in 1680 west of the fort, in what had been Appomattoc territory, notwithstanding it being disallowed by the House of Burgesses.