Total population | |
---|---|
Extinct as a tribe | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Western Shore of Maryland | |
Languages | |
Eastern Algonquian | |
Religion | |
Native religion | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Piscataway |
The Patuxent or Pawtuxent [1] were one of the Native American tribes living along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. They spoke an Algonquian language and were loosely dominated by the Piscataway. [2]
Living along the Patuxent River, they were among the first people taught by Andrew White.[ citation needed ]
The first European to explore the river was Capt. John Smith who sailed 40 miles [3] of it in 1608, writing: “On the west side of the Bay were five faire and delightful navigable rivers the fifth river is called Pawtuxent.”[ citation needed ]
As European settlements grew and tobacco plantations took over, surviving Indians moved on. By 1674, some Pawtuxent Indians lived on 700 acres of land set aside for them by Lord Baltimore at Billingsley Point, now public park land near Upper Marlboro at the confluence of the Patuxent River and Western Branch. [4] By the 1690s, survivors left that site and joined another group in Chaptico on the Maryland side of the Potomac River in what is now St Mary's County.[ citation needed ]
The Conoys ... along the Piscataway creek and Patuxent riverOCLC 1300929403