Fort Christanna | |
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| Nearest city | Lawrenceville, Virginia |
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| Coordinates | 36°42′57″N77°52′07″W / 36.71583°N 77.86861°W /36.71583; -77.86861 |
| Area | 436 acres (176 ha) |
| Built | 1714 (1714) |
| Built by | Spotswood, Alexander |
| NRHP reference No. | 80004175[1] |
| VLR No. | 012-0008 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | July 16, 1980 |
| Designated VLR | November 20, 1979[2] |
Fort Christanna was one of the projects of Lt. GovernorAlexander Spotswood, who was governor of theVirginia Colony 1710–1722. When Fort Christanna opened in 1714, Capt. Robert Hicks[3] was named captain of the fort and relocated his family to the area. His homesteadHicks' Ford is located near the municipality ofEmporia inGreensville County, VA. The fort was designed to offer protection and schooling to the tributary Siouan and Iroquoian tribes living to the southwest of the colonized area of Virginia. Located in what becameBrunswick County, Virginia, nearGholsonville, the fort was completed in 1714 and enjoyed three successful years of operation as the westernmost outpost of the British Empire at the time,[4] before being finally closed by theHouse of Burgesses in 1718. However, theSaponi andTutelo continued to live on the allotted land, 6 miles square (36 sq. mi), into the 1730s and 1740s.
After theTuscarora War broke out in 1711, Spotswood conceived the idea of a fort where he would settle the Siouan and Iroquoian tribes of Virginia that had been Tributary since 1677. The fort would offer them protection from hostile tribes, act as a trading center, and also provide schooling to their children to learn English culture. In late 1713, he got his idea approved by the Burgesses; it was to be under the jurisdiction of the newly formedVirginia Indian Company, which had a monopoly.
In 1714 Spotswood himself visited the site and successfully persuaded the Siouan tribes, who included theSaponi,Tutelo,Occaneechi, andEno (Stuckenock), to occupy the tract that was surveyed. while theNansemond were on the north side of the Meherrin River.[5] However, the Iroquoian tribes in Virginia, theNottoway andMeherrin, refused to take up their portion, saying they would not live with the Siouans.[6] Spotswood even contemplated abducting them to make them live at the fort, but they eluded all efforts.[7]
He named the fort "Christ-Anna" afterChrist, and afterQueen Anne, who died later that year. It was built according to state-of-the-art principles of fort construction at that time, in the shape of a pentagon, and a blockhouse with 1400-lb cannon at each of the 5 corners, 100 yards apart, so as to enable each to command within sight of the next two. Inside the fort was a school for Indian children, taught by aCharles Griffin, where they learned to speak and write English, and to read the Bible and Book of Common Prayer.
Lieut. John Fontaine, who spent some time there 1715–1716, left a detailed account of his observations on the Indians, and also recorded about 45-50 words and phrases of theirTutelo-Saponi language. He saw the fort at the peak of its success, and described hordes of "happy Indian children shrieking through the rain".[8] Another visitor, Rev. Hugh Jones, reported that the 77 Indian students could read, write and say their catechisms tolerably well, and that the natives adored Griffin so much, they "fain would have chosen him for a King of the Sapony Nation".
Spotswood continued to take a keen interest and later started building his own house nearby, bringing his family there at one point in 1717.
The monopoly of the Virginia Indian Company on trading soon aroused the ire of private merchants such asWilliam Byrd II, who had inherited his father's lucrative Indian trade. While back in London, he lobbied theLords of Trade, arguing that Christanna was an unnecessary expense, and calling on them to return to independent trade and dissolve the company. Despite Spotswood's objections, they did so on November 12, 1717. In May 1718, a treaty was signed with theIroquois of New York, whereby they agreed not to come east of the Blue Ridge, and the Burgesses thereupon voted to discontinue manning the fort. Mr Griffin remained until September, then transferred to become master of the Indian school at theCollege of William & Mary.
The Saponi and Tutelo remained on the tract for several more years, at a village calledJunkatapurse (Tutelo:chunketa pasui, "horse's head"). They began moving elsewhere in small bands around 1730. The largest part of them moved toShamokin, Pennsylvania in 1740, where they joined the Iroquois, and were formally adopted by theCayuga nation in New York in 1753. Meanwhile, colonists had begun moving to the lands around the fort in such numbers that in 1720, Brunswick County was formed there as a separate county.
The five large cannon once at the fort are supposed to have been buried in the well; its location is currently uncertain. A lesser cannon said to be from Christanna was for years in the front yard of a private home in the vicinity, fired every July 4 and Christmas, and in 1900, was moved to sit in front of theChristopher Wren Building at William and Mary. Another lesser cannon attributed to Christanna was taken toLawrenceville, Virginia and fired to celebrate the election ofGrover Cleveland in 1887, at which time it accidentally exploded; its remains in 1975 were said to be buried in the filled-in cellar of a former home.[9]
It was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1980, as a nationalhistoric district.[1]
