CHAPTER VII.

Indian Antiquities.

There is a notable Indian Mound near the Greene line. The following description of it is condensed from a special report of the United States Bureau of Ethnology in 1894:

"The country along the upper portion of the Rappahannock and its tributaries was inhabited by tribes known collectively as the Manahoac. They probably migrated westward and united with tribes beyond the Ohio whose names they took. They and the Monacan were allied against the Powhatan.

"It will be proper to describe here a mound, evidently a tribal burial place, situated in the former territory of the Manahoac, and due probably to their labor.

"The mound stands on the right bank of Rapidan river, a mile east of the boundary between Orange and Greene. Originally it was elliptical in form, with the longer axis nearly east and west; but the river in shifting its channel some years ago, undermined and carried away the eastern portion, probably from one-half to two-thirds of the entire structure. For several years, some of the earth fell in at every freshet, thus keeping a vertical section exposed to view. The different strata of bone were plainly visible, and when the

water was low fragments of human bones were strewn along the shore beneath. The river shifted again, and the mound soon assumed its natural shape. At present the base measures 42 by 48 feet, with the longer axis nearly north and south. A considerable part of it has been hauled away, leaving a depression at the middle fully 20 feet across and extending almost to the bottom of the mound. As a result, the interior was very muddy, the bones extremely soft and fragmentary, and excavation difficult.

'The highest point left by these destructive agencies was six feet; the river had probably left it fully ten feet high. If the statements concerning its original form and extent be correct, the apex was at least twelve feet above the base, the latter being not less than 50 by 75 feet.

"The earth was removed from an area 28 by 40 feet. At seven feet was found the outer edge of a bone deposit measuring 6 by 15 feet. There were indications in several places that skeletons had been compactly bundled, but most of the bones were scattered promiscuously, as if they had been collected from some place of previous interment and carelessly thrown in, there being no evidence of an attempt to place them in proper order. In the mass were two small deposits of calcined human bones, and beneath it were graves or burial pits.

"This bone bed, which was at the level of the natural surface, was the largest found. Two feet above it, and four feet within its outer margin, was another, much smaller; and numerous others were found in all the

portion removed. There was no attempt at regularity in position or extent; in some places only such a trace as may have resulted from the decomposition of a few bones; in others, as many as fifteen or twenty skeletons may have been deposited. They occurred at all levels below a foot from the upper surface of the mound, but no section showed more than four layers above the original surface of the ground, though it was reported that six strata had been found near the central portion, which would indicate that the burials were carried nearly to the top of the mound.

"In the skeletons all ages were represented, for among the bones were those of very young children, while of others many of the teeth were worn to the neck.

"Numerous small deposits of human bones, almost destroyed by fire, were scattered through the mound. The bones in some of the graves appeared to have been placed in their proper position, but it was impossible to ascertain this with certainty. One of the deeper pits had its bottom lined with charcoal; none of the others had even this slight evidence of care or respect.

"No relics of any kind were deposited with the bones; a rough mortar, two arrowheads, and some fragments of pottery were found loose in the debris.

"It is plain that this spot was for a long period the burial place of a small tribe or clan, among whom prevailed the habit of stripping the flesh from the corpse before interment, or of depositing the body elsewhere for a time and afterwards removing the bones to this ossuary. That no stated intervals elapsed between

consecutive deposits is shown by the varying position and size among the different bone beds, and by the overlapping of many of the graves beneath.

"It is impossible accurately to estimate the number of skeletons found; certainly not fewer than 200, possibly 250, which figures represent approximately one-fourth of the number deposited, if the statements as to the original size of the mound be correct.

"In its construction this mound corresponds closely with one opened by Jefferson on the Rivanna, a few miles above Charlottesville. The contents were such as on the whole to give the idea of bones emptied promiscuously from a bag or basket and covered with earth, without any attention to their order.' That the bones near the top were in a better state of preservation than those towards the bottom is due probably less to their being of much later deposit than to the dryness. of the earth near the top. A party of Indians passing about 1751 where this barrow is, near Charlottesville, went through the woods directly to it, without any instructions or inquiry, and having staid about it some time, with expressions construed to be those of sorrow, returned to the high road, which they had left about six miles to pay this visit, and pursued their journey."

For a fuller account the reader is referred to a pamphlet of the Smithsonian Institution, entitled, Archæologic Investigations in the James and Potomac Valleys.

As so little is known about the Indians who once inhabitated this section, it has been thought worth

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while to transcribe the few orders relating to them made by the county court.

In 1730, "William Bohannon came into court and made oath that about twenty-six of the Sapony Indians that inhabit Colonel Spotswood's land in Fox's neck go about and do a great deal of mischief by firing the woods; more especially on the 17th day of April last whereby several farrows of pigs were burnt in their beds, and that he verily believes that one of the Indians shot at him the same day, the bullet entering a tree within four feet of him; that he saw the Indian about one hundred yards from him, and no game of any sort between them; that the Indian after firing his gun stood in a stooping manner very studdy [steady] so that he could hardly discern him from a stump, that he has lost more of his pigs than usual since the coming of the said Indians; which is ordered to be certified to the General Assembly."

1742. Sundry Indians, among them Manincassa, Captain Tom, Blind Tom, Foolish Zack, and Little Zack, were before Court for "terrifying" one Lawrence Strother, who testified that one of them shot at him, that they tried to surround him, that he turned his horse and rid off, but they gained on him till he crossed the run. Ordered, that the Indians be taken into custody by the sheriff until they give peace bonds with security, and that their guns be taken from them until they are ready to depart out of this Colony, they having declared their intention to depart within a week. They gave bond.

There is no record extant of any Indian massacre, large or small, in the original limits of the County east of the Blue Ridge.