Addressing the Assembly: Piscataway Treaty Talks, 1666

On April 12, 1666, three representatives from different Indigenous nations delivered speeches to the Upper House of the General Assembly of the colony of Maryland. The representatives were Mattagund, for the Anacostan, Doeg, and Patuxent; Choatick, possibly for the Chingwateick and Pangayo (explanation below); and Isapatawn, for the Nanjemoy. Each of their addresses depicts the challenges that were facing their people and express the discontent and tension persisting between the colonists and their nations. Through the issues presented and suggestions made, the impact of decades of colonial presence is made plain. These addresses serve as the basis for development of the 1666 Piscataway Treaty.

By 1666, colonial presence west of the Chesapeake Bay and north of the Potomac River had been prevalent for over thirty years. Expansion of the colony meant encroachment on Indigenous land, with colonizers constantly pushing boundaries set by leadership on both sides. Tensions were high and violence was not uncommon. In an attempt to stabilize, three representatives, or Great Men, came to St. Mary’s City on April 12, 1666 to make a new agreement with Maryland’s colonial leadership. These Great Men represented different nations and brought their own concerns and issues they wished to be addressed in the new agreement. 

The first of the Great Men to speak was Mattagund, who spoke for the Anacostan, Doeg, and Patuxent peoples. He opened by requesting that previous grievances be set aside from the current discussions, pointing out that there were numerous offenses on both sides. Mattagund addresses the problem of the colonist’s livestock, whose hogs and cattle eat their corn and encroach on their territories. This was a major problem, as the livestock are destroying an essential food source that sustains his people year round, and especially through winter. Additionally, the continued encroachment was pushing them further and further from their lands. In order to stop this, the Indigenous people had been responding by killing the colonist’s hogs. The oft quoted line from Mattagund’s address is an expression of this:

“Your hogs and cattle injure us you come too near us to live and drive us from place to place. We can fly no farther let us know where to live and how to be secured for the future from hogs and cattle” (Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly, April 1666 - June 1676, Pg. 15).

Another topic addressed is the happenings related to the murder of the Langworth children. Mattagund speaks of the murder, saying that those responsible were given over to the colonial authorities to face punishment. Yet, a native man was found dead in the path, killed by colonists, and there had been no action taken on the matter. He asked for this inequality to be considered. 

Choatick was the second of the Great Men to speak. While it was not stated at the time which peoples he was representing, the name Chotike, Chatike, and Choticke is mentioned throughout this time period as a Great Man who represents the Chingwateick and Pangayo nations. Notably, Choticke was a signer of the Treaty that stemmed from these talks with the General Assembly. Operating under this belief, Choatick represented the Chingwateick and Pangayo nations. Choatick addressed a number of issues. First was the spread of misinformation. He suggests that punishment should be dealt out for those, on both sides, that “carry tales” and “cannot prove their allegation” (Proceedings of the General Assembly, April 1666 - June 1676, Pg. 15). This hints at the prevalence of misunderstandings and miscommunications, as well as potential deceptions. Next, Choatick requests that they ensure the safety of native people when they are among the colonists, as beatings were a common concern (not to mention the man found dead in the path). He also requests that the rights to hunting, fishing, and crabbing be maintained. Due to the intensifying conflict with northern adversaries (particularly the Haudenosaunee), Choatick asks that the colonists permit them to send their women and children to them for protection from the assaults. Additionally, he asks that the women and children be given arms so they may assist their allies with the protection they are seeking. Lastly, Choatick formally recognizes the power given by Kittamaquund, former Emperor of Piscataway, to the English to select new tayacs (emperors). This recognition is quite important, as it helps legitimize the previous agreement, which had caused much turmoil among the Piscataway peoples.

The final Great Man to address the Assembly was Isapatawn, representative for the King of Nanjemaick’s (Nanjemoy) son. Isapatawn informs the Assembly of the death of the Nanjemoy king, or werowance, and tells that he (the werowance) wished for his people to live under the Governor of the colony of Maryland, continuing to live at Nanjemoy. He makes plain that he does not want his people to be subjected to the authority of any other native peoples, and that they wish for the late werowance’s son, Necatahamon, to be their next werowance. Additionally, Isapatawn presented the Governor with Roanoke, a gift given for the purpose of currying protection for his people. One particular issue raised by Isapatawn was the incident of a fenced area of corn being torn down and the loss of eight families worth of corn, a substantial blow to their self-sufficiency. The tearing down of the fence was an act of aggression, likely done in an attempt to push the native people from their lands. Essentially, this act is evidence of colonizer land grabs in the earliest days of colonial expansion. Allan Greer calls this sort of aggression “a multispecies assault” (Greer, 2018). Greer uses this phrase in reference to the destruction of fences and land encroachment, committed by the colonists, and the destruction of corn and crops, committed by the cattle and hogs of the colonists.

After the Great Men had spoken, the Upper House of the General Assembly ordered that the addresses be presented to the Lower House for their consideration. The Lower House asked for clarification on a couple components of the Great Men’s addresses. One such clarification was in regard to the native man found dead in the path. The Chingwateick had formerly requested 120 arms length of Roanoke for the man killed. It was made clear that, in the future, no compensation would be accepted for the murder of one of their own, save the life of the person who did the murdering. Among the issues brought forth by these Great Men is a concept that is danced around: equal treatment under colonial law. While the murder of a colonist requires the Indigenous people to turn over the murderer, the same had not been done when a colonist murdered an Indigenous person. This is one example of the inequality experienced by those who lived in proximity to the Maryland colonizers. The issues presented by Mattagund, Choatick, and Isapatawn were reviewed and discussed, and after a week of consideration, on April 20, 1666, Articles of Peace and Amity were drawn up and signed, creating the 1666 Piscataway Treaty. 

Greer, Allan. Property and Dispossession: Natives, Empires and Land in Early Modern North America. August 2018. Cambridge University Press, UK.

Porter III, Frank W.. Strategies for Survival: The Nanticoke Indians in a Hostile World. Ethnohistory. Vol. 26, No. 4 (Autumn, 1979), pp. 325-345. Duke University Press, NC.

Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly, April 1666-June 1676, Archives of Maryland Online. Accessed November 2nd 2022. http://aomol.msa.maryland.gov/000001/000002/html/am2--14.html.

Rice, James D.. Nature and History in the Potomac Country: From Hunter-Gatherers to the Age of Jefferson. 2009, pp. 141-143. Johns Hopkins University Press, MD.

Strickland, Scott M.; Virginia R. Busby; Julia A. King. Indigenous Cultural Landscapes Study for the Nanjemoy and Mattawoman Creek Watersheds, Chesapeake Conservancy. November 1st 2015. Accessed January 11th 2022. https://chesapeakeconservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/NanjemoyMattawoman-ICL-FINAL.pdf.