Chanco () is a name traditionally assigned to a Native American who is said to have warned a Jamestown colonist,

Richard Pace Richard Pace (c. 148228 June 1536) was an English clergyman and diplomat of the Tudor period. Life He was born in Hampshire and educated at Winchester College under Thomas Langton. He attended the universities of Padua and Oxford. In 1509, ...

, about an impending Powhatan attack in 1622. This article discusses how the Native American came to be known as Chanco.

Unnamed Native

The Native American's warning to

is described in the

Virginia Company of London The Virginia Company of London (sometimes called "London Company") was a Division (business), division of the Virginia Company with responsibility for British colonization of the Americas, colonizing the east coast of North America between 34th ...

's official account of the 1622 attack, but the Native American is not named. He is described only as a converted Native American "belonging to one Perry:" The account later makes reference to other Native Americans who warned settlers of the impending attack: All of the Native Americans who gave warnings are unnamed.

Chauco

A Native American named Chauco is mentioned in a letter from the Council in Virginia to the Virginia Company of London, dated April 4, 1623:

"Chauco" misread as "Chancho"

In 1740, William Stith published his ''History of the first discovery and settlement of Virginia''. According to a description of the book on the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

website, "William Stith compiled this detailed factual history of Virginia by culling material from the Records of the

Virginia Company The Virginia Company was an English trading company chartered by King James I on 10 April 1606 with the objective of colonizing the eastern coast of America. The coast was named Virginia, after Elizabeth I, and it stretched from present-day ...

, a manuscript archive that Jefferson later owned and used in his own work." The archive was subsequently acquired by the Library of Congress and is now available online Stith evidently read the letter in which Chauco's peace mission is mentioned and concluded that Chauco (misread by Stith as "Chanco") was the same person as the Native American who warned Pace. The identification is explicitly made by Stith in the following passage: Whether Stith's identification was correct or mistaken remains undetermined. In ''Pocahontas's People'', the historian Helen C. Rountree argues that Chauco and the Pace's Paines Native American have probably been wrongly conflated. Whatever the truth, the name "Chanco" has by now been firmly established in folklore as the name of "the Native American who saved Jamestown" and seems unlikely ever to be dislodged.

Appearance in modern culture

Chanco on the James (formerly Camp Chanco) is an outdoor events facility and summer camp in

Surry County, Virginia Surry County is a county in the southeastern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,561. In 1652, Surry County was formed from the portion of James City County south of the James River. For more tha ...

, and is owned and operated by the

Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America located in the southeast area of Virginia. It is in Province III (for the Middle Atlantic region). The diocese includes the Hampton Roa ...

References

Sources

{{Authority control People of the Powhatan Confederacy 17th-century Native American people