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1622 Mar 22

The Powhattan Confederacy massacred 350 colonists in Virginia, a quarter of the population.

Source:(WSJ, 10/19/98, p.A24)(HNPD, 10/23/98)

On Good Friday more than 300 colonists in and around Jamestown, Virginia, were massacred by the Powhattan Indians. The massacre was led by the Powhattan chief Opechancanough and began a costly 22-year war against the English. Opechancanough hoped that killing one quarter of Virginia’s colonists would put an end to the European threat. The result of the massacre was just the opposite, however, as English survivors regrouped and pushed the Powhattans far into the interior. Opechancanough launched his final campaign in 1644, when he was nearly 100 years old and almost totally blind. He was then captured and executed.