Evening star., 1951-10-07

WIlcIc IIle lily OF washington now
stands. more than two centuries ago
was a vast forest inhabited by the
Anacostia Indian tribe.
The late James Mooney, who knew
the history Of the Indians of this
locality well. tells us that the Ma
cotchtank Indians were of the great
Algonquin stock and spoke the Ian
guage of the Powhatan confereracy
of which Pocahontas was a cele-
brated daughter.
On his way up the Potomac, Capt.
John Smith (whos life was saved by
Pocahontas), met "a show of hostility
at several places" Mooney tells us
but the Moyaones. Nacotchtanks
and Toag tribes) did their best to
content u.s." The Moyaones were on
the eastern side of the Potomac,
about opposite Mount Vernon, the
Toags Tor TauxenenD being about IT
miles below Washington, on the
Mount Vernon or Virginia side.
The Nacotchtanks and kindred
tribes Of this vicinity were usually
kept between the devil and the deep
blue sea, living in constant dread, as
it were. Of the Susquehannocks and
other Iroquois tribes from the North,
Of the depredations of the Cherokees
from the South, and the encroach-
ments Of the colonists of the East.
A few of the remnants of the Taux-
enents, whose principal village was
near Mount Vernon, joined the sur
vivors Of the Virginia Powhatans and
retired to the Pamunkey River.
The Treoty Of 1852
The only treaty with the Indians
bearing on events in this locality
which f1ts In with the well-known
Widows Mite" legend. was one made
in 1852. when the Susquehannocks
successfully fought for a while the
whites and Indians Of the lower Po-
tomac and Patuxenent River region.
The treaty was agreed to IL years
before the tract called Widows Mite
was patented. The treaty of peace
Of 1877. by which all the Indians as
far as the head Of Chesapeake Bay
were brought under tribute to the
whites. was not agreed to until 13
years after the designation "Widow's S
Mite" had been recorded.
Hugh r. Taggart says in his book,
"Old Georgetown" "At the time
Georgetown was laid out in 1851, the
Anascostan Indians had disappeared
from its vicinity. for no mention of
them is to be found in its annals:
they were then lost tribe and were
either extinct or had been forced by
the advancing tide of white settlers
toward the upper Potomac and had
been incorporated with the Indians
of that region"
Capt. Henry Fleet, who was per-
haps the first European to ascend
the Potomac River beyond George
town. makes this record under date
of June Is, 1882: I'VE set sail for
the town of Tohogae, when We came
to another anchor about two leagues
short OF the Falls. being in the lati-
tude Al, on the 26th of June. This
location is. without question, the
most pleasant and healthful place in
all the country, and most convenient
for habitation, the air temperate in
summer and not violent in winter
It aboundeth with all manner of fish.
The Indians in one night will catch
80 surgeons in a place where the
river is not above II fathoms broad
And as for deer. buffaloes, bear. and
turkeys, the woods do swarm with
them, and the soil is exceedingly
fertile"
Taggart says that Georgetown ev-
IDENTIFY arose upon the ashes of To-
hogae," the Indian town here men
toned by Fleet.
The Indians Of what is now the
District of Columbia and its nearby
area were q simple people, and theil
villages were erected along the rivers
and bay shores. where oysters ano
fish were abundant and easily OBJ
tanned. Their farms occupied the
lowlands nearby.
The first trace of the grant OF
Widows Mite is found in the will oil
James Langworth of St. Johns
Charles County, Md, which was pro.
bated on August Is. 1860. Mention
is here made OF his wife Agatha, tc
whom he leaves one-third of his es-
tate during her life and all lands
should she survive the testator's chill
dren. given as William, John. Mary
and Eliza.
To his son John he willed 30C
acres on st. Clements Bay, and his
rights to 670 acres yet to be taken
up" Though not given the name
Widows Mite, there is no doubt but
that this grant, which was later
patented by John. the son. in 1864
as the record shows was soon after