Draft Interpretive Plan Join the adventure! - Captain John Smith ...

proportion that he seemed the goodliest man that ever we
beheld. His hair, the one side was long, the other shore
close with a ridge over his crown like a coxcomb. His
arrows were five quarters long [45 inches], headed with
flints or splinters of stones in form like a heart, an inch
broad and an inch and a half or more long. These he wore
in a wolf’s skin at his back for his quiver, his bow in the
one hand and his club in the other as is described. . . .
Five of the their chief werowances came boldly
aboard us to cross the bay for Tockwhogh, leaving their
men and canoes, the wind being so high they durst not pass.
Archaeological evidence from Susquehannock burial sites gives the lie to Smith’s
description of these Indians as “giants”—they were of normal size. To impress Smith,
the chiefs may have selected their tallest warriors for the delegation.
Although much has been written about the later Susquehannock, much about them at the
time of Smith’s encounter remains a mystery. Their name, Susquehannock, is what the
Tockwogh called them; what they called themselves is not known. The principal town,
which Smith called Sasquesahanough, has since been located through archaeological
investigation at Washington Boro, Pennsylvania, on the eastern bank of the river.
Apparently it had only been occupied since about 1600, when the Susquehannock moved
there from a location a short distance downstream at a place that archaeologists call the
Schultz site. The Susquehannock had only occupied the Schultz site for about twentyfive
years when they moved upstream to Washington Boro, having allegedly exhausted
the woods and soil in the former place.
The fact that the Susquehannock were Iroquoian speakers suggests a link to the Iroquois
of present-day New York, where one branch of the river also has its headwaters. Pottery
fragments found at sites in both New York and Pennsylvania support this theory. The
nature of that link, however, is unclear. Were the Susquehannock essentially Iroquois
who migrated downstream (divergence), or were they a separate group that shared certain
cultural features with the Iroquois (convergence)? The question has not yet been
answered. Similarly, assuming that the Susquehannock originated in New York, or at
least far upstream, why did they move to the lower part of the river? One theory is that
the Susquehannock was a trading route with European settlers at least as important as the
St. Lawrence River, and the Indians moved south to control a strategically vital location
relative to trade via the Chesapeake Bay. That theory, likewise, is the subject of debate.
Excavations at the Susquehannock town site at Washington Boro have confirmed that it
was palisaded and contained longhouses, not unlike some Powhatan towns. An estimated
1,700 people lived there. Soon, the Susquehannock became middlemen in the valuable
beaver-pelt trade with the European settlers along the seaboard. Their location on the
river enabled them to compete with other tribes, including the Iroquois, who periodically
attacked them. The Susquehannock, in turn, extended their influence into the Potomac
River valley as far west as present-day Romney, West Virginia. The success of the
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