On this Indigenous People’ Day, I want to have a brief overview of some of the articles I have written over the years about Native Americans and their history here on the Hill. I wish there were more, but sadly, the history of those who were here before the land was divided up among British settlers in the 17th century is not well-known. Whatever information may have existed at the time is now well and truly gone.
But, some fragments remain. Including information about the Nacotchtank Indians who lived along the Anacostia River. Their lives were chronicled in brief by Captain John Smith, and I looked at his book in this piece.
Further information can only be found deep under ground, and in building infrastructure throughout the Hill, there have been some surprising finds, including a whole canoe that was found near the Navy Yard when the railroad tunnel was being built there in the 1870s.
Other finds were made when large-scale regrading was going on in what is now Garfield Park. While much smaller in scale, they do seem to indicate that this was where indigenous people lived at some point in the past. Sadly, the sum total of finds did little to tell us about the lives of those who made that area their home.
My interest in all this was originally piqued by the work of Armand Lione, who found most of the articles on which I based my research for the above items. Read more about his work and how he came out into Garfield Park to display his findings a year ago here.
And, finally, I rounded out my research with a look at some of the Native Americans who came to Washington over the years, several of whom ended up in Congressional Cemetery. Lots of links in that article if you are interested in learning more about this topic.
I am hoping that some further excavation around the Hill succeeds in uncovering more relics or remains, and giving us more data about those who came before us. If it happens, I will be sure to let you know, and will try to continue to flesh out what is, at present, a sadly thin story.