After the Rebellion and George Mason II
In the aftermath of Bacon's Rebellion, the encroachment on Indian land and racial hatred toward Indians were still well in effect. George Mason II, as commander of the militia and Sheriff of Stafford County, spent most of his time concerned about and in defense of Virginia's frontiers. Because of this, he also came into conflict with Indians.
After Bacon's Rebellion, a continued decrease in the population of the former Powhatan chiefdom was due in large part to being overrun by English settlers. Indians continued to fight for not only the tributary land promised to them, but the right to fish and hunt on unfenced patented lands of the English, for which tribes like the Pamunkey petitioned the governor in 1705.[1] After the Treaty of Middle Plantation, acts of the Virginia Assembly in 1679 and 1682 once again allowed Indian slavery under certain circumstances, until 1683, when the Assembly stated that no Indian could be a slave.[2] The importation of African and Indian slaves continued, however, and in 1705 an act of the Assembly made them "real estate."[3]
George Mason's defense of the frontier led to a joint operation with Maryland, and Potomac rangers patrolled Virginia and Maryland borders. The Piscataway tribe frequently hunted along the borders of Stafford County, and on one of their hunting trips in 1689, Burr Harrison spread a rumor that the Piscataway and the Maryland Catholics were conspiring to kill Protestants.[4] George Mason used his credibility as a respected figure and helped to spread this rumor. He was suspended from his duties as Justice of the Peace and commanding officer of the Stafford County militia for, as Copeland puts it, "spreading dangerous rumors and encouraging lawlessness," but was soon returned to these positions.[5]
In 1691, Seneca Indians passed by Mason's land to visit the Piscataway. Soon after, it was reported that a mare had gone missing and a cow was killed by Indian dogs. A search party of rangers captured 6 Indians, who were kept in custody at Mason’s home. One turned out to be the chief of the Doeg- the same 8-year-old boy who was baptized by George Mason I. He was the last of his tribe and living with the Nanticoke, who later secured his freedom.[6]
In 1696, George Mason advocated for the closing of Virginia's borders to Maryland Indians, which included the Piscataway. But continued harassment by other Indian tribes, as well as the lack of protection from the Maryland government, led them to leave Maryland in 1697 for the mountains in Virginia.[7] Mason and other local authorities got them to agree to return to Maryland, but they did not.[8] In 1700, Luitenant Colonel George Mason was ordered to send men to where the Piscataway Indians were thought to be living at the head of Potomac River, and report on "whether they are now there, in what condition and how many."[9]
Devoted as he was to defending the frontier, Mason's absence from the Assembly was notable between 1701-1711. In 1711 he asked permission to leave, preferring to devote time to his family and plantation, which was located on Mason's Neck, formerly Doeg's Neck.[10] Just like the Powhatan tribes, such as the Pamunkey, and the Maryland tribe, the Piscataway, the Doeg too were pushed out of their lands in favor of settlers like George Mason II. As Indian land continued to be reduced, so too did their civil rights.[11] They continued to fight for their rights in court, where people like George Mason II systematically denied them in favor of English white settlers.
[1] Helen C Rountree, Pocahontas’s People : The Powhatan Indians of Virginia through Four Centuries (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996). 113
[2] Kristalyn Marie Shefveland, Anglo-Native Virginia : Trade, Conversion, and Indian Slavery in the Old Dominion, 1646-1722 (Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2018). 62
[3] Ibid 62
[4] Pamela C Copeland, The Five George Masons (University Of Virginia Press, 2016). 24
[5] Ibid 24
[6] Ibid 28-29
[7] Anna Coxe Toogood, Piscataway Park, Maryland : General Historic Background Study (Washington: U.S. Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, Division of History, 1969). 73
[8] Copeland, The Five George Masons. 32
[9] Minutes of Council of Virginia. James City. (Vol. 18. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Taylor & Francis Ltd, 1700.) http://mutex.gmu.edu/login url=https://www.proquest.com/government-official-publications/minutes-council-virginia-james-city/docview/1845186762/se-2?accountid=14541.
[10] Copeland, The Five George Masons. 37
[11] Rountree, Pocahontas’s People. 127