Wowinchapunche - Williamsburg, Virginia
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 37° 15.900 W 076° 52.233
18S E 334137 N 4125910
Marker with information on an American Indian chief, his tribe and interaction with early English settlers, located along the Virginia Capital Trail near Williamsburg.
Waymark Code: WMT4DG
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 09/23/2016
Views: 10
Text of marker
V 52
WOWINCHAPUNCKE
Wowinchapuncke was the chief of the Paspahegh Indians when the English established Jamestown in the tribe's territory in 1607. He consistently resisted the English intrusion, earning both respect and hostility from Jamestown leaders. Captured and imprisoned at Jamestown, he escaped, and the English retaliated by killing several Paspahegh men. After the English destroyed a Paspahegh town in August 1610 and executed Wowinchapuncke's wife and children, he continued to harass the English until he was killed in a skirmish near Jamestown in February 1611. In 1991, the archaeological remains of a large Paspahegh community near here was excavated.