Opechancanough (1554-1646) was the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy from 1630 to 1646, succeeding Opitchapam and preceding Necotowance.
Biography[]
Opechancanough was born in Werowocomoco (present-day Gloucester, Virginia) in 1554, the brother of Chiefs Wahunsonacock, Kekataugh, and Opitchapam. He and his brothers Kekataugh and Opitchapam ruled the Powhatan as a triumvirate following Wahunsonacock's death in 1618, with Opechancanough serving as his brother Opitchapam's war chief and becoming paramouth chief after his brother's death in 1630. Opechancanough was the most warlike of his brothers, having captured the English explorer John Smith in 1607. The expansion of the Colony of Virginia's plantations and "hundreds", and the arrival of more English settlers in the New World, brough the colony of Jamestown into conflict with the Powhatan, resulting in Opechancanough leading a surprise offensive against the settlers in 1622 and massacring 347 of them. A third of Virginia's settlers were killed in Indian attacks along the James River, but the colonists rebounded and killed hundreds more Indians. In 1644, Opechancanough launched a third Anglo-Powhatan War, but he was captured by the English in 1646, paraded through Jamestown as a prisoner, and shot in the back by a guard assigned to protect him.