Patuxent people

Last updated
Patuxent
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 ]

References

  1. Hodge, Frederick Webb, ed. (1912). Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington: G.P.O. p. 1118. LCCN   15002143. id=LCCN   15-2143
  2. Brinton, Daniel Garrison; Rafinesque, Constantine Samuel (1885). The Lenâpé and Their Legends, With the Complete Text and Symbols of the Walam Olum, a New Translation, and an Inquiry Into Its Authenticity. p. 25. The Conoys ... along the Piscataway creek and Patuxent river OCLC   1300929403
  3. Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network. "Exploring the Western Shore: The Patuxent River" (PDF). National Park Service. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 22, 2017. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  4. "Billingsley's Point". Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission . Retrieved 2020-06-21.

Further reading