Machapunga

The Machapunga were a small Algonquian language–speaking Native American tribe from coastal northeastern North Carolina.Swanton, ''The Indian Tribes of North America'', 81. They were part of the Secotan people. They were a group from the Powhatan Confederacy who migrated from present-day Virginia.

Machpunga is also the name of an early 16th-century village on the Potomac River and of an 18th-century Powhatan Confederacy village in Northampton County, Virginia.Hodge
''Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico''
p. 781.

Name

Anthropologist John Reed Swanton wrote that ''Machapunga'' meant "bad dust" or "much dirt" in their Algonquian language.

Language

The spoke an Carolina Algonquian language which became extinct.

Territory

The Machapunga lived in what is now Hyde County, North Carolina. Their lands may have extended into present-day Beaufort, North Carolina, as well as Washington, Tyrrell, and Dare counties.

In 1700 and 1701, the Machapunga maintained a village named Mattamuskeet.Hodge
''Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico''
p. 822. It held 30 warriors and was likely located on the shore of Mattamuskeet Lake in present-day Hyde County.

History

Early 20th-century ethnographer Frank Speck believed that the historical Machapunga and other Algonquian tribes in North Carolina had probably been earlier connected to the larger population based in coastal Virginia. He believed the tribes in North Carolina were part of an early and large Algonquian migration south after European contact. He noted the presence of Algonquian-speaking tribes on the Northeast coast and in eastern and central Canada.Frank G. Speck, "REMNANTS OF THE MACHAPUNGA INDIANS OF NORTH CAROLINA"
''American Anthropologist'' 18 (1916): pp. 271–276, Carolina Algonkian Project, Rootsweb, permission by ''American Anthropologist'', accessed Apr 22, 2010.

16th century

When the British founded their colonist on Roanoke Island that lasted from 1586 to 1685, displaced Secotan people moved in with the Machapunga.

17th century

Ethnographer James Mooney estimated in 1600 there were 1,200 Machapunga and related tribes.

18th century

By 1701, the Machapunga consolidated into a single village named Mattamuskeet. In 1701, English explorer John Lawson wrote that the tribe had about 100 members.

In 1711 they participated in the Tuscarora War against the colonists.Hodge
''Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico''
p. 349. By 1715, the English colonists assigned a tract of land on Mattamuskeet Lake to the surviving Machapunga and Coree, who lived in a single village. The Coree soon left and joined the Tuscaroras.

From 1718 to 1746, John Squires emerged as a leader on the tract, or Mattamuskeet reservation. John Mackey and Long Tom served as his advisors. His son Charles Squires followed him as a leader; however, his influence declined from 1752 to 1760. A deed to the Mattamuskeet reservation was signed by six Machapunga men in 1761. Even before 1727, Machapunga residents began selling their land until 1761, which the land had all been sold.

Scattered Machapunga families still resided in North Carolina in 1761. Then missionary Rev. Alexander Stewart founded a school for eight Native children and two African-American children. Roanoke and Hatteras people moved into the area. Stewart wrote that he had baptized seven "Attamuskeet, Hatteras, and Roanoke" adults and children. In 1763, he baptized 21 more Native people from that region.

The Machapunga ultimately became extinct as a tribe in the 18th century.

Notes

References

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External links

* Karen Ordahl Kupperman
''Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony''
Second Edition

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Algonquian ethnonyms
Algonquian peoples
Extinct languages of North America
Extinct Native American tribes
Native American history of North Carolina
Native American tribes in North Carolina