(18) in 1928, University of Pennsylvania an-
thropologist Frank Speck published a book on mod-
ern Virginia Indians with a section on the Upper 
Mattaponis; 
(19) from 1929 until 1930, the leadership of 
the Upper Mattaponi Indians opposed the use of a 
‘‘colored’’ designation in the 1930 United States 
census and won a compromise in which the Indian 
ancestry of the Upper Mattaponis was recorded but 
questioned; 
(20) during the period of 1942 through 1945— 
(A) the leadership of the Upper Mattaponi 
Indians, with the help of Frank Speck and oth-
ers, fought against the induction of young men 
of the Tribe into ‘‘colored’’ units in the Armed 
Forces of the United States; and 
(B) a tribal roll for the Upper Mattaponi 
Indians was compiled; 
(21) from 1945 to 1946, negotiations took 
place to admit some of the young people of the 
Upper Mattaponi to high schools for Federal Indians 
(especially at Cherokee) because no high school 
coursework was available for Indians in Virginia 
schools; and 
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(22) in 1983, the Upper Mattaponi Indians ap-
plied for and won State recognition as an Indian 
tribe. 
SEC. 302. DEFINITIONS. 
In this title: 
(1) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Interior. 
(2) TRIBAL MEMBER.—The term ‘‘tribal mem-
ber’’ means— 
(A) an individual who is an enrolled mem-
ber of the Tribe as of the date of enactment of 
this Act; and 
(B) an individual who has been placed on 
the membership rolls of the Tribe in accordance 
with this title. 
(3) TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Tribe’’ means the 
Upper Mattaponi Tribe. 
SEC. 303. FEDERAL RECOGNITION. 
(a) FEDERAL RECOGNITION.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Federal recognition is ex-
tended to the Tribe. 
(2) APPLICABILITY OF LAWS.—All laws (includ-
ing regulations) of the United States of general ap-
plicability to Indians or nations, Indian tribes, or 
bands of Indians (including the Act of June 18, 
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1934 (25 U.S.C. 461 et seq.)) that are not incon-
sistent with this title shall be applicable to the Tribe 
and tribal members. 
(b) FEDERAL SERVICES AND BENEFITS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—On and after the date of en-
actment of this Act, the Tribe and tribal members 
shall be eligible for all services and benefits provided 
by the Federal Government to federally recognized 
Indian tribes without regard to— 
(A) the existence of a reservation for the 
Tribe; or 
(B) the location of the residence of any 
tribal member on or near any Indian reserva-
tion. 
(2) SERVICE AREA.—For the purpose of the de-
livery of Federal services to tribal members, the 
service area of the Tribe shall be considered to be 
the area within 25 miles of the Sharon Indian 
School at 13383 King William Road, King William 
County, Virginia. 
SEC. 304. MEMBERSHIP; GOVERNING DOCUMENTS. 
The membership roll and governing documents of the 
Tribe shall be the most recent membership roll and gov-
erning documents, respectively, submitted by the Tribe to 
the Secretary before the date of enactment of this Act. 
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SEC. 305. GOVERNING BODY. 
The governing body of the Tribe shall be— 
(1) the governing body of the Tribe in place as 
of the date of enactment of this Act; or 
(2) any subsequent governing body elected in 
accordance with the election procedures specified in 
the governing documents of the Tribe. 
SEC. 306. RESERVATION OF THE TRIBE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of law, if, not later than 25 years after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Tribe transfers to the Secretary 
land within the boundaries of King William County, Caro-
line County, Hanover County, King and Queen County, 
and New Kent County, Virginia, the Secretary shall take 
the land into trust for the benefit of the Tribe. 
(b) GAMING.— 
(1) GAMING.—No reservation or tribal land or 
land taken into trust for the benefit of the Tribe or 
a member of the Tribe shall be eligible to satisfy the 
terms for an exception under section 20(b)(1)(B) of 
the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 
2719(b)(1)(B)) to the prohibition on gaming on land 
acquired by the Secretary in trust for the benefit of 
an Indian tribe after October 17, 1988, under sec-
tion 20(a) of that Act (25 U.S.C. 2719(a)). 
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(2) APPROVAL OF COMPACTS.—No compact for 
class III gaming shall be valid unless approved or 
ratified by the Virginia General Assembly. 
SEC. 307. HUNTING, FISHING, TRAPPING, GATHERING, AND 
WATER RIGHTS. 
Nothing in this title expands, reduces, or affects in 
any manner any hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering, or 
water rights of the Tribe and members of the Tribe. 
TITLE IV—RAPPAHANNOCK 
TRIBE, INC. 
SEC. 401. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) during the initial months after Virginia was 
settled, the Rappahannock Indians had 3 encounters 
with Captain John Smith; 
(2) the first encounter occurred when the Rap-
pahannock weroance (headman)— 
(A) traveled to Quiyocohannock (a prin-
cipal town across the James River from James-
town), where he met with Smith to determine 
whether Smith had been the ‘‘great man’’ who 
had previously sailed into the Rappahannock 
River, killed a Rappahannock weroance, and 
kidnapped Rappahannock people; and 
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(B) determined that Smith was too short 
to be that ‘‘great man’’; 
(3) on a second meeting, during John Smith’s 
captivity (December 16, 1607 to January 8, 1608), 
Smith was taken to the Rappahannock principal vil-
lage to show the people that Smith was not the 
‘‘great man’’; 
(4) a third meeting took place during Smith’s 
exploration of the Chesapeake Bay (July to Sep-
tember 1608), when, after the Moraughtacund Indi-
ans had stolen 3 women from the Rappahannock 
King, Smith was prevailed upon to facilitate a peace-
ful truce between the Rappahannock and the 
Moraughtacund Indians; 
(5) in the settlement, Smith had the 2 Indian 
tribes meet on the spot of their first fight; 
(6) when it was established that both groups 
wanted peace, Smith told the Rappahannock King to 
select which of the 3 stolen women he wanted; 
(7) the Moraughtacund King was given second 
choice among the 2 remaining women, and Mosco, a 
Wighcocomoco (on the Potomac River) guide, was 
given the third woman; 
(8) in 1645, Captain William Claiborne tried 
unsuccessfully to establish treaty relations with the 
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Rappahannocks, as the Rappahannocks had not par-
ticipated in the Pamunkey-led uprising in 1644, and 
the 
English 
wanted 
to 
‘‘treat 
with 
the 
Rappahannocks or any other Indians not in amity 
with Opechancanough, concerning serving the county 
against the Pamunkeys’’; 
(9) in April 1651, the Rappahannocks conveyed 
a tract of land to an English settler, Colonel Morre 
Fauntleroy; 
(10) the deed for the conveyance was signed by 
Accopatough, weroance of the Rappahannock Indi-
ans; 
(11) in September 1653, Lancaster County 
signed a treaty with Rappahannock Indians, the 
terms of which treaty— 
(A) gave Rappahannocks the rights of 
Englishmen in the county court; and 
(B) attempted to make the Rappahannocks 
more accountable under English law; 
(12) in September 1653, Lancaster County de-
fined and marked the bounds of its Indian settle-
ments; 
(13) according to the Lancaster clerk of court, 
‘‘the tribe called the great Rappahannocks lived on 
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the Rappahannock Creek just across the river above 
Tappahannock’’; 
(14) in September 1656, (Old) Rappahannock 
County (which, as of the date of enactment of this 
Act, is comprised of Richmond and Essex Counties, 
Virginia) signed a treaty with Rappahannock Indi-
ans that— 
(A) mirrored the Lancaster County treaty 
from 1653; and 
(B) stated that— 
(i) Rappahannocks were to be re-
warded, in Roanoke, for returning English 
fugitives; and 
(ii) 
the 
English 
encouraged 
the 
Rappahannocks to send their children to 
live among the English as servants, who 
the English promised would be well-treat-
ed; 
(15) in 1658, the Virginia Assembly revised a 
1652 Act stating that ‘‘there be no grants of land 
to any Englishman whatsoever de futuro until the 
Indians be first served with the proportion of 50 
acres of land for each bowman’’; 
(16) in 1669, the colony conducted a census of 
Virginia Indians; 
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(17) as of the date of that census— 
(A) the majority of the Rappahannocks 
were residing at their hunting village on the 
north side of the Mattaponi River; and 
(B) at the time of the visit, census-takers 
were counting only the Indian tribes along the 
rivers, which explains why only 30 Rappahan-
nock bowmen were counted on that river; 
(18) the Rappahannocks used the hunting vil-
lage on the north side of the Mattaponi River as 
their primary residence until the Rappahannocks 
were removed in 1684; 
(19) in May 1677, the Treaty of Middle Planta-
tion was signed with England; 
(20) the Pamunkey Queen Cockacoeske signed 
on behalf of the Rappahannocks, ‘‘who were sup-
posed to be her tributaries’’, but before the treaty 
could be ratified, the Queen of Pamunkey com-
plained to the Virginia Colonial Council ‘‘that she 
was having trouble with Rappahannocks and 
Chickahominies, supposedly tributaries of hers’’; 
(21) in November 1682, the Virginia Colonial 
Council established a reservation for the Rappahan-
nock Indians of 3,474 acres ‘‘about the town where 
they dwelt’’; 
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(22) the Rappahannock ‘‘town’’ was the hunt-
ing village on the north side of the Mattaponi River, 
where the Rappahannocks had lived throughout the 
1670s; 
(23) the acreage allotment of the reservation 
was based on the 1658 Indian land act, which trans-
lates into a bowman population of 70, or an approxi-
mate total Rappahannock population of 350; 
(24) in 1683, following raids by Iroquoian war-
riors on both Indian and English settlements, the 
Virginia 
Colonial 
Council 
ordered 
the 
Rappahannocks to leave their reservation and unite 
with the Nanzatico Indians at Nanzatico Indian 
Town, which was located across and up the Rappa-
hannock River some 30 miles; 
(25) 
between 
1687 
and 
1699, 
the 
Rappahannocks migrated out of Nanzatico, return-
ing to the south side of the Rappahannock River at 
Portobacco Indian Town; 
(26) in 1706, by order of Essex County, Lieu-
tenant 
Richard 
Covington 
‘‘escorted’’ 
the 
Portobaccos and Rappahannocks out of Portobacco 
Indian Town, out of Essex County, and into King 
and Queen County where they settled along the 
ridgeline between the Rappahannock and Mattaponi 
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Rivers, the site of their ancient hunting village and 
1682 reservation; 
(27) during the 1760s, 3 Rappahannock girls 
were raised on Thomas Nelson’s Bleak Hill Planta-
tion in King William County; 
(28) of those girls— 
(A) 1 married a Saunders man; 
(B) 1 married a Johnson man; and 
(C) 1 had 2 children, Edmund and Carter 
Nelson, fathered by Thomas Cary Nelson; 
(29) in the 19th century, those Saunders, John-
son, and Nelson families are among the core Rappa-
hannock families from which the modern Tribe 
traces its descent; 
(30) in 1819 and 1820, Edward Bird, John 
Bird (and his wife), Carter Nelson, Edmund Nelson, 
and Carter Spurlock (all Rappahannock ancestors) 
were listed on the tax roles of King and Queen 
County and taxed at the county poor rate; 
(31) Edmund Bird was added to the tax roles 
in 1821; 
(32) those tax records are significant docu-
mentation because the great majority of pre-1864 
records for King and Queen County were destroyed 
by fire; 
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(33) beginning in 1819, and continuing through 
the 1880s, there was a solid Rappahannock presence 
in the membership at Upper Essex Baptist Church; 
(34) that was the first instance of conversion to 
Christianity by at least some Rappahannock Indians; 
(35) while 26 identifiable and traceable Rappa-
hannock surnames appear on the pre-1863 member-
ship list, and 28 were listed on the 1863 member-
ship roster, the number of surnames listed had de-
clined to 12 in 1878 and had risen only slightly to 
14 by 1888; 
(36) a reason for the decline is that in 1870, 
a Methodist circuit rider, Joseph Mastin, secured 
funds to purchase land and construct St. Stephens 
Baptist Church for the Rappahannocks living nearby 
in Caroline County; 
(37) Mastin referred to the Rappahannocks 
during the period of 1850 to 1870 as ‘‘Indians, hav-
ing a great need for moral and Christian guidance’’; 
(38) St. Stephens was the dominant tribal 
church until the Rappahannock Indian Baptist 
Church was established in 1964; 
(39) at both churches, the core Rappahannock 
family names of Bird, Clarke, Fortune, Johnson, 
Nelson, Parker, and Richardson predominate; 
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(40) during the early 1900’s, James Mooney, 
noted anthropologist, maintained correspondence 
with the Rappahannocks, surveying them and in-
structing them on how to formalize their tribal gov-
ernment; 
(41) in November 1920, Speck visited the 
Rappahannocks and assisted them in organizing the 
fight for their sovereign rights; 
(42) in 1921, the Rappahannocks were granted 
a charter from the Commonwealth of Virginia for-
malizing their tribal government; 
(43) Speck began a professional relationship 
with the Tribe that would last more than 30 years 
and document Rappahannock history and traditions 
as never before; 
(44) in April 1921, Rappahannock Chief 
George Nelson asked the Governor of Virginia, 
Westmoreland Davis, to forward a proclamation to 
the President of the United States, along with an 
appended list of tribal members and a handwritten 
copy of the proclamation itself; 
(45) the letter concerned Indian freedom of 
speech and assembly nationwide; 
(46) in 1922, the Rappahannocks established a 
formal school at Lloyds, Essex County, Virginia; 
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(47) prior to establishment of the school, Rap-
pahannock children were taught by a tribal member 
in Central Point, Caroline County, Virginia; 
(48) in December 1923, Rappahannock Chief 
George Nelson testified before Congress appealing 
for a $50,000 appropriation to establish an Indian 
school in Virginia; 
(49) in 1930, the Rappahannocks were engaged 
in an ongoing dispute with the Commonwealth of 
Virginia and the United States Census Bureau 
about their classification in the 1930 Federal cen-
sus; 
(50) in January 1930, Rappahannock Chief 
Otho S. Nelson wrote to Leon Truesdell, Chief Stat-
istician of the United States Census Bureau, asking 
that the 218 enrolled Rappahannocks be listed as 
Indians; 
(51) in February 1930, Truesdell replied to 
Nelson saying that ‘‘special instructions’’ were being 
given about classifying Indians; 
(52) in April 1930, Nelson wrote to William M. 
Steuart at the Census Bureau asking about the enu-
merators’ failure to classify his people as Indians, 
saying that enumerators had not asked the question 
about race when they interviewed his people; 
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(53) in a followup letter to Truesdell, Nelson 
reported that the enumerators were ‘‘flatly denying’’ 
his people’s request to be listed as Indians and that 
the race question was completely avoided during 
interviews; 
(54) the Rappahannocks had spoken with Caro-
line and Essex County enumerators, and with John 
M.W. Green at that point, without success; 
(55) Nelson asked Truesdell to list people as 
Indians if he sent a list of members; 
(56) the matter was settled by William Steuart, 
who concluded that the Bureau’s rule was that peo-
ple of Indian descent could be classified as ‘‘Indian’’ 
only if Indian ‘‘blood’’ predominated and ‘‘Indian’’ 
identity was accepted in the local community; 
(57) the Virginia Vital Statistics Bureau 
classed all nonreservation Indians as ‘‘Negro’’, and 
it failed to see why ‘‘an exception should be made’’ 
for the Rappahannocks; 
(58) therefore, in 1925, the Indian Rights As-
sociation took on the Rappahannock case to assist 
the Rappahannocks in fighting for their recognition 
and rights as an Indian tribe; 
(59) during the Second World War, the 
Pamunkeys, 
Mattaponis, 
Chickahominies, 
and 
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Rappahannocks had to fight the draft boards with 
respect to their racial identities; 
(60) the Virginia Vital Statistics Bureau in-
sisted that certain Indian draftees be inducted into 
Negro units; 
(61) finally, 3 Rappahannocks were convicted of 
violating the Federal draft laws and, after spending 
time in a Federal prison, were granted conscientious 
objector status and served out the remainder of the 
war working in military hospitals; 
(62) in 1943, Frank Speck noted that there 
were approximately 25 communities of Indians left 
in the Eastern United States that were entitled to 
Indian classification, including the Rappahannocks; 
(63) in the 1940s, Leon Truesdell, Chief Stat-
istician, of the United States Census Bureau, listed 
118 members in the Rappahannock Tribe in the In-
dian population of Virginia; 
(64) on April 25, 1940, the Office of Indian Af-
fairs of the Department of the Interior included the 
Rappahannocks on a list of Indian tribes classified 
by State and by agency; 
(65) in 1948, the Smithsonian Institution An-
nual Report included an article by William Harlen 
Gilbert entitled, ‘‘Surviving Indian Groups of the 
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