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Battle of Bloody Run (1656)

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For the 1763 Battle of Bloody Run in Michigan, see Battle of Bloody Run.
Battle of Bloody Run
Date1656
Location
Bloody Run Creek, currently paved over, previously near 32nd Street, Richmond, Virginia
Result defeat of English and allied Pamunkey tribe
Belligerents
Shackoconian/Rickohockan tribe
Manahoac confederacy		 Great Britain
Virginia Colony
Pamunkey tribe
Commanders and leaders
unknown Colonel Edward Hill
Chief Totopotomoi †
Strength
500 - 600 ~200 (100 Colonial Rangers and 100 Pamunkey warriors)

The Battle of Bloody Run was fought in 1656 near Richmond, Virginia. The English colonists of the area were concerned because of the sudden southward migration of a tribe of the Manahoac confederacy. The Manahoac were enemies of both the Iroquois and the Powhatan, who were allied with the English. In an attempt to remove the threat, the colonists, together with their Native American allies, attacked the newcome tribe.

In 1654, the expansion of the Iroquois Nation displaced several tribes from their homelands around Lake Erie. One tribe moved south into Virginia, settling temporarily around the James River. The exact identity of the tribe is in question, as some sources name them the Shackoconians, and some the Rickohockans.[1] The colonists in nearby Richmond were uneasy with the proximity of a potentially hostile force. Within two years, the Virginia General Assembly had given permission to Colonel Edward Hill to remove the Indian presence. His orders specifically stated[2] that war should only be a last resort.

Colonel Hill led the Colonial Rangers, reinforced by 100 Pamunkey warriors under Chief Totopotomoi. During the battle, Hill and his men retreated, resulting in the slaughter of their Indian allies, including Totopotomoi himself. The large number of casualties—nearly all of the Pamunkey warriors, and a good part of the Colonial Rangers—earned the site its name of Bloody Run, as the creek was said to have run red with blood. Afterward, Hill was disgraced because of his defeat, censured by the Virginia Assembly, and stripped of his rank.

The creek was the site of another bloody battle 20 years later,[3] during Bacon’s Rebellion, in 1676. More Indian incursions led the Virginia colonists to authorize Nathaniel Bacon to march against the Indians. The battle of Bacon’s Quarter Branch[4] took place near Bloody Run, and the creek was once again christened with blood.

Today, the site of the battle had been paved over and the creek and spring have dried up. The only indication of the site is a state-erected marker commemorating the event.[5]

References

  1. ^ Montague, Ludwell Lee. “Richard Lee, the Emigrant 1613(?) - 1664.” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 62.1 (1954): 38. JSTOR. Web. Retrieved 2015-03-23.
  2. ^ Noel, Tricia. The Battle of Bloody Run. Church Hill People’s News. 2014-12-02. Web. Retrieved 2015-03-23. The Battle of Bloody Run
  3. ^ Howe, Henry (1852). Historical Collections of Virginia. Wm. R. Babcock. p. 334.
  4. ^ Howison, Robert Reid (1846). A History of Virginia: From Its Discovery and Settlement by Europeans to the Present Time, Volume 1. Carey & Hart. p. 359-60.
  5. ^ Noel, Tricia. The Battle of Bloody Run. Church Hill People’s News. 2014-12-02. Web. Retrieved 2015-03-23. The Battle of Bloody Run
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