The Chiskiack Indians

7/7/2025

The Chiskiack Indians

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The Chiskiack Indians, who were living on the lower side of the York River when Virginia’s first European colonists arrived, were under the sway of the Native emperor Powhatan. During the mid-to-late 1630s, they withdrew to the Middle Peninsula, when settlers began moving into their homeland on the York River. In 1649 Ossakican, leader of the Chiskiack or “North Indians,” was allocated 5,000 acres as a preserve or reservation. That land, which had been surveyed by 1662, extended along the lower side of the Piankatank River as far as Harper Creek and ran inland for a mile. The Chiskiacks’ old and new towns were mentioned in several early land patents for acreage in what is now in Mathews County. During the 1640s, Wadinger Creek was known as Tankes or Tanx (Little) Chiskiack Creek.

By 1655 the Chiskiack’s leaders had disposed of more than half of their assigned land. This prompted the Council of State to assign the rest of it to church officials for the “glebes of Gloucester,” contingent upon the natives abandoning it. In October 1669 when Virginia officials compiled a census of the colony’s native population, they noted that there were only 15 Chiskiack Indian warriors, who were living in Gloucester County. References to the Chiskiack cease after 1677, suggesting that they may have disbursed or been assimilated into other native groups.

By Martha McCartney, Passage from Mathews County: Lost Landscapes, Untold Stories

8 Comments

Anthony (Sky Hawk) White

9/2/2025 06:01:59 pm

Good Afternoon,
My name is Anthony White, and I serve as the Historian for the Kiskiack Tribe. I recently read your article, and I found it to be an excellent contribution. I would very much like the opportunity to meet with you, or someone you recommend, to discuss the article further and to exchange additional information about the history of the Kiskiack Tribe.
Please let me know a time that would be convenient for you. I look forward to connecting.
With respect and gratitude,
Anthony Sky Hawk White
Historian, Kiskiack Tribe

iqos heets link

11/4/2025 02:27:50 am

Very informative post! I learned some useful insights here. Thanks for sharing such valuable information.

Anthony "Sky Hawk" White

11/4/2025 05:26:48 pm

Good afternoon,
The above post did not come from myself. I only made the comment. I have not had a response from the Historical Society to exchange. As the Historian for the Kiskiack Tribe (Kiskiack spelled with a K is the correct spelling). If you would like to know more about the Kiskiack Tribe feel free to send me a email request, I will provide a full history of our Kiskiack Tribe.

Anthony Sky Hawk White

Martha McCartney

3/11/2026 10:19:08 am

Here are a few examples of the way Kiskiack/Chiskiack were spelled and there are others (this is from the little place names book I did with Helen Rountree). There were other spelling variations for creeks, etc. Hope this helps!

Indian Towns and Territory: York County; on the York River’s right bank, downstream from Indian Field Creek; a king’s house when the first colonists arrived; vacated by the Indians in 1622-1623 after retaliatory raids and displaced in 1629-1630. In ca. 1610, the chief’s name was Ottahotin (HAILE 628).

Chescaik (BAR I:98) (1607)
Chesceyek (Tyndall map) (1608)
Kiskirk (CJS I:57) (1608)
Kiskieck (CJS I:63) (1608)
Kiskiack (Smith map) (1612)
Chiskact (CJS III:303) (1624)
Kiskyack (HEN I:141) (1629)
Chiscake (PB 1:369) (1630)
Chisekiake (PB 1:525) (1634)
Chiskeiake (PB 1:513) (1637)
Chiskiake (PB 1:513) (1637)
Chiskiacke (PB 1:513) (1637
Chiskiack (Vingboons map) (1639)
Chikiake (PB 1:740) (1642)
Chiskyake (PB 2:166) (1648)
Chickyack (PB 2:340) (1651)
Cheesecake (PB 3:31) (1652)
Cheeskiack (York County, Deeds, Wills and Orders 1: 139) (1652)
Chesceake (PB 6:72) 1667)

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tophatters.co link

4/1/2026 07:40:37 am

This is a fascinating and sobering glimpse into a chapter of history that often goes overlooked.

What stands out most is how quickly things changed within just a few decades—from a people established along the York River, to relocation, land reduction, and eventually disappearance from written records. The shift from land being held as a preserve to being reassigned reflects a much larger pattern seen across early colonial history.

The detail about place names like Chiskiack Creek is especially interesting. It’s a reminder that even when communities are no longer visible in records, traces of their presence remain embedded in the landscape.

The final note about the Chiskiack potentially dispersing or being assimilated raises important questions about identity, survival, and how histories are recorded—or lost. It makes you wonder how many stories continue beyond what the official documents tell us.

This kind of research helps bring attention back to those narratives and encourages a deeper understanding of the region’s past.

joyfulpink.com link

4/1/2026 07:41:19 am

This is a really important reminder of how much history can be condensed—and sometimes erased—within just a few records.

What strikes me is how the story unfolds almost entirely through land transactions and census notes. We see movement, reduction, and eventual disappearance, but only from the perspective of colonial documentation. It leaves you wondering what the experience looked like from the Chiskiack themselves.

The mention of place names like Chiskiack Creek feels especially significant. Even as written references fade, the landscape still carries echoes of who was there before.

There’s also something powerful in that final line—how quickly a people can seem to vanish from official history, when in reality their story likely continued in ways that weren’t recorded.

Posts like this highlight the importance of looking closer, asking questions, and recognizing how much more there is beneath the surface of early records.

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The Chiskiack Indians

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