Manahoac Indians (Algonquian: ‘they are very merry.’ – Tooker). A confederacy or group of small tribes or bands possibly Siouan, in north Virginia, in 1608, occupying the country from the falls of the rivers to the mountains and from the Potomac to North Anna river. They were at war with the Powhatan and Iroquois, and in alliance with the Monacan, but spoke a language different from any of their neighbors. Among their tribes Smith mentions the Manahoac, Tanxnitania, Shackaconia, Ontponea, Tegninateo, Whonkenti, Stegaraki, and Hassinunga, and says there were others. Jefferson confounded them with the Tuscarora. Mahaskahod is the only one of their villages of which the name has been preserved. Others may have borne the names of the tribes of the confederacy. The Mahocks mentioned by Lederer in 1669 seem to be identical to them.
Manahoac Tribe. A tribe or band of the Manahoac group. According to Jefferson they lived on Rappahannock river in Stafford and Spottsylvania Counties, Va.
For Further Study
The following articles and manuscripts will shed additional light on the Manahoac as both an ethnological study, and as a people.
- Mooney, Siouan Tribes of the East, 18, 1894.
