Cockacoeske
Encyclopedia
Cockacoeskie (ca. 1640 - ca. 1686) (aka the Queen of Pamunckey) was a 17th century leader of the Pamunkey
Pamunkey
The Pamunkey nation are one of eleven Virginia Indian tribes recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The historical tribe was part of the Powhatan paramountcy, made up of Algonquian-speaking tribes. The Powhatan paramount chiefdom was made up over 30 tribes, estimated to total about...

 Tribe of Native Americans in what is now Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

She was born ca. 1640, on Pamunkey Neck between the Pamunkey
Pamunkey River
The Pamunkey River is a tributary of the York River, about long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. Via the York River it is part of the watershed of Chesapeake Bay.-Course:...

 and Mattaponi rivers
Mattaponi River
The Mattaponi River is a tributary of the York River estuary in eastern Virginia in the United States.It rises as four streams in Spotsylvania County, each of which is given a shorter piece of the Mattaponi's name:...

. In 1656 after her husband Totopotomoi's death, Cockacoeske became the leader of the Pamunkey
Pamunkey
The Pamunkey nation are one of eleven Virginia Indian tribes recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The historical tribe was part of the Powhatan paramountcy, made up of Algonquian-speaking tribes. The Powhatan paramount chiefdom was made up over 30 tribes, estimated to total about...

 Tribe and as Weroansqua, led her people for 30 years. She worked within the English system to attempt a paramount chiefdom of tribal groups under her leadership, and was the first signatory of the Articles of Peace in 1677 after Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion was an uprising in 1676 in the Virginia Colony in North America, led by a 29-year-old planter, Nathaniel Bacon.About a thousand Virginians rose because they resented Virginia Governor William Berkeley's friendly policies towards the Native Americans...

. The English colonists called her the Queen of Pamunckey.

History

After the death of Opechancanough, the once mighty Pamunkey chiefdom disintegrated and the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 grew stronger in the Virginia Colony. Cockacoeske was married to Totopotomoi
Totopotomoi
Totopotomoi was a grandson of a sister of Chief Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas. He became the Chief of the Pamunkey Tribe in 1649 when he succeeded Nectowance as chief sometime after the death of Opechancanough...

, who by 1649 was the leader of the Pamunkey
Pamunkey
The Pamunkey nation are one of eleven Virginia Indian tribes recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The historical tribe was part of the Powhatan paramountcy, made up of Algonquian-speaking tribes. The Powhatan paramount chiefdom was made up over 30 tribes, estimated to total about...

 Tribe. He became a staunch ally of the English and often sided with them in conflicts.

Cockacoeske became the Weroansqua (chief) of the Pamunkey Tribe after her husband Totopotomoi died in 1656. He was killed in a battle in which he fought on the side of the English against another Indian tribe called "Rickaheckrins" by the English. Over the thirty-year span of her reign, she worked within the English system to recapture the former power of past paramount chiefs and maintain a peaceful unity among the several tribes under her control. By maintaining a diplomatic relationship with the English, she helped her people survive

Sporadic raids by Indian tribes on the colony's frontier contributed to Nathaniel Bacon's beginning a popular uprising. A wealthy planter, he competed with Gov. Berkeley and resented the failure of the government to help settlers on the frontier. Although raids had been by the Doeg
Doeg (tribe)
The Doeg were a Native American tribe who lived in northern Virginia. They spoke an Algonquian language and may have been a branch of the Nanticoke tribe, historically based on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The Nanticoke considered the Algonquian Lenape as "grandfathers"...

 and Susquehannock
Susquehannock
The Susquehannock people were Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans who lived in areas adjacent to the Susquehanna River and its tributaries from the southern part of what is now New York, through Pennsylvania, to the mouth of the Susquehanna in Maryland at the north end of the Chesapeake Bay...

 tribes, Bacon and his men attacked the peaceful Pamunkey, Mattaponi
Mattaponi
The Mattaponi tribe is one of only two Virginia Indian tribes in the Commonwealth of Virginia that owns reservation land. The larger Mattaponi Indian Tribe lives in King William County on reservation lands that stretch along the borders of the Mattaponi River, near West Point, Virginia.The...

, and Kiskiack tribes, causing much distress in their towns.

Cockacoeske is best known for having signed the Articles of Peace in 1677 after Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion was an uprising in 1676 in the Virginia Colony in North America, led by a 29-year-old planter, Nathaniel Bacon.About a thousand Virginians rose because they resented Virginia Governor William Berkeley's friendly policies towards the Native Americans...

. It was also called the Treaty of Middle Plantation. Historians believe she helped create it, as it made her leader over Indian nations, including the Rappahannock
Rappahannock Tribe
The Rappahannock are one of the eleven state-recognized Native American tribes in Virginia. They are made up of descendants of several small Algonquian-speaking tribes who merged in the 17th century.-17th century:...

 and the Chickahominy, who had not previously been subject to the Powhatan
Powhatan
The Powhatan is the name of a Virginia Indian confederation of tribes. It is estimated that there were about 14,000–21,000 of these native Powhatan people in eastern Virginia when the English settled Jamestown in 1607...

 paramount chiefdom. In addition, Cockacoeske had personal ties with English officials who governed the colony. Her signature appeared as Queen of the Pamunkey.

After the death of her first husband Totopotomoi, Queen Cockacoeske "kept company" with the English Colonel John West, who had a plantation on the Pamunkey River. He was the son of colonial Governor John West (1635–1637), the namesake of the town of West Point, Virginia
West Point, Virginia
West Point is an incorporated town in King William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,867 at the 2000 census.-Geography:West Point is located at...

. He was also a nephew of Thomas West, 2nd Baron De La Warr
Thomas West, 2nd Baron De La Warr
Thomas West, 2nd and 11th Baron De La Warr of Wherwell Abbey in the English county of Hampshire was a member of Elizabeth I's Privy Council and High Sheriff of Hampshire. Thomas was the only son of William West, 1st Baron De La Warr and Lady Elizabeth Strange...

. He married Unity Croshaw
Unity Croshaw
Unity Croshaw was the daughter of Major Joseph Croshaw, one of the main figures of early Jamestown, Virginia. She was the grandchild of Raleigh Croshaw, one of the founders of Jamestown. She was the daughter-in-law of Colonial Virginia Governor John West of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia...

 (daughter of Joseph Croshaw
Joseph Croshaw
Major Joseph Croshaw was a substantial planter living near Williamsburg in the US Colony and Dominion of Virginia.-Early Life:Crowshaw was born in probably 1610-1612, the son of Captain Raleigh Croshaw. He became a substantial planter and lived just a few miles from present-day Williamsburg,...

 and grandaughter of Raleigh Croshaw
Raleigh Croshaw
Captain Raleigh Croshaw was an Ancient planter and a representative in the House of Burgesses for Elizabeth City County in the US Colony and Dominion of Virginia. He was the only son of Joseph Croshaw .-Virginia settler:...

), but later left her to live with Cockacoeske.

Cockacoeske and West had at least one child, a son named John West. At age 20, John West
John West III
John West III was a justice and sheriff of King and Queen County and a House of Burgesses representative for King William County, all in the US Colony and Dominion of Virginia. He was the second son of Colonel John West of West Point, Virginia and Unity Croshaw...

 accompanied his mother to act as interpreter at meetings to end Bacon's Rebellion, and helped conclude the treaty with the English. John West also signed the treaty.

Further reading

  • Frederick W. Gleach, Powhatan’s World and Colonial Virginia: Conflict in Cultures (Lincoln and London: The University of Nebraska Press, 1997)
  • Martha McCartney, "Cockacoeske, Queen of Pamunkey: Diplomat and Suzeraine", in Peter H. Wood, Gregory A. Waselkov, and M. Thomas Hatley (eds.), Powhatan’s Mantle: Indians in the Colonial Southeast, (Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, c1989)
  • Helen C. Rountree, The Powhatan Indians of Virginia: Their Traditional Culture. (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989).


Category:Female Native American leadersCategory:Native American women in warfare
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