Totopotomoi

Who was Totopotomoi?

Totopotomoi was a grandson of a sister of Chief Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas. He became the Chief of the Pamunkey Tribe in 1649 when he succeeded Nectowance as chief sometime after the death of Opechancanough. He married Cockacoeske the daughter of Opechancanough.

Totopotomoi's community controlled the modern area of New Kent including that part of New Kent which is now Hanover. After the death of Opechancanough the once mighty chiefdom had disintegrated and the English had grown much stronger in the Virginia Colony. He became a staunch ally of the English and often sided with them in conflicts. The allied Monacan and Manahoac confederacies were constantly at war with the Powhatan and the Iroquois who were their mortal enemies. After banding into a league late in the sixteenth century, the powerful Iroquois began a gradual descent upon these weaker tribes of the south, annihilating some and causing others to flee, and eventually to merge for protection.

About 1656, six or seven hundred members of the Shackoconian tribe of the Manahoac confederacy in search of a new dwelling place, moved down near the falls of the James River. In an attempt to remove them the English Colonists, joined by the Pamunkey Tribe under Totopotomoi, precipitated what was perhaps the bloodiest Native American battle ever fought on the soil of Virginia, and the last great fight between the Siouan and the Algonquian tribes. Colonel Edward Hill was put in command of the Colonial Rangers and ordered to dislodge them. He was reinforced by Totopotomoi, with 100 warriors.