Opechancanough

Opechancanough
'John Smith taking the King of Pamunkey prisoner', a fanciful image of Opechancanough from Smith's General History of Virginia (1624). The image of Opechancanough is based on a 1585 painting of another native warrior by John White[1] (see below)
Paramount chief of the Powhatan Confederacy
Preceded byOpitchipam
Succeeded byNecotowance
Personal details
Bornc. 1554
Died1646 (aged 92)
Jamestown, Colony of Virginia, British America
Cause of deathShot in the back while a prisoner
Resting placePamunkey Reservation, King William, Virginia, U.S.
RelativesChief Powhatan (brother)
Pocahontas (niece)
John Rolfe (nephew-in-law)
Military service
AllegiancePowhatan Confederacy
Battles/warsAnglo-Powhatan Wars
A 1585 painting of a Chesapeake Bay warrior by John White; this painting was adapted to represent Opechancanough in the engraving above.

Opechancanough (/oʊpəˈtʃænkənoʊ/ oh-pə-CHAN-kə-noh; c. 1554–1646)[2] was paramount chief of the Powhatan Confederacy in present-day Virginia from 1618 until his death. He had been a leader in the confederacy formed by his older brother Powhatan, from whom he inherited the paramountcy.

Opechancanough led the Powhatan in the second and third Anglo-Powhatan Wars, including the Indian massacre of 1622.

In 1646, the aged Opechancanough was captured by English colonists and taken to Jamestown, where he was killed by a settler assigned to guard him.

  1. ^ "Colonial Williamsburg | the World's Largest Living History Museum".
  2. ^ Rountree, Helen C. (2006). Pocahontas, Powhatan, Opechancanough: Three Indian Lives Changed by Jamestown. University of Virginia Press: Charlottesville. ISBN 9780813925967.