Accohannock Nation

The Accohannock Indian Tribe is a small group of indigenous people who have lived in the Chesapeake Bay region of Maryland and Virginia in the United States for thousands of years.

The Accohannock people were part of the larger Powhatan Confederacy, which also included the Piscataway and Mattaponi tribes. They were skilled farmers, fishermen, and hunter-gatherers, and lived in small villages along the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

During the early colonial period, the Accohannock had contact with English settlers, but relations between the two groups were generally peaceful. However, as the number of English settlers in the region increased, the Accohannock people began to lose control of their lands and resources. Many Accohannock people were forced to move west or assimilate into white society.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Accohannock people faced a further loss of land and rights as the US government passed laws and implemented policies aimed at assimilating indigenous peoples. This included the forced removal of Native American children from their families and communities to attend boarding schools, where they were forced to adopt European-American customs and ways of life.

Despite the significant challenges and losses they have faced, the Accohannock Indian Tribe has not disappeared. The tribe continues to exist today and has been formally recognized by the State of Maryland.

The Accohannock people are working to preserve their culture, language, and traditions and to gain federal recognition as a sovereign nation. It is to be noted that the tribe is still not Federally recognized, but they continue to work towards it. They also actively participate in various cultural and community events, to raise awareness and educate people about their history and heritage.