Peracuta
{{Short description|17th-century leader of the Appomattoc tribe}}
Peracuta (also spelled Perecuta or Perecute) (birth year unknown{{snd}}{{circa|1690}}) was a 17th-century leader of the Appomattoc tribe in what is now the U.S. state of Virginia.{{Cite web |title=Annual Treaty Ceremony |url=http://www.powhatanmuseum.com/Annual_Treaty_Ceremony.html |access-date=19 December 2022 |website=Powhatan Museum of Indigenous Arts and Culture}} During his reign, he worked with the English colony of Virginia in an attempt to recapture the former power of past paramount chiefs and maintain peaceful unity among the tribe under his leadership.
Life and rule
Peracuta was a respected warrier within the Appomattoc tribe. By the 1660s, Peracuta had become the new weroance of the tribe.{{Cite web |last=Kessler |first=Mick |title=Native North American Tribes - Appamatuck (Powhatan Confederacy) |url=https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsAmericas/NorthPowhatanAppamatuck.htm |access-date=2022-12-19 |website=The History Files |language=en}}
In September 1671, Peracuta was the guide for settlers and explorers Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam on their "Batts and Fallam Expedition"{{Cite web |title=e-WV {{!}} Batts and Fallam Expedition |url=https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/408&lang=en#:~:text=Batts%20and%20Fallam%20Expedition%20On%20September%201,%201671,,little%20about%20what%20was%20beyond%20the%20Appalachian%20Mountains. |access-date=2022-12-19 |website=www.wvencyclopedia.org}} within the borders of present-day West Virginia.First Biennial Report of the Department of Archives and History of the State of West Virginia, p. 154A History of Monroe County, West Virginia by Oren Frederic Morton p. 19 They were acting under a commission granted to Abraham Wood "for finding out the ebbing and flowing of the water behind the mountains, in order to the discovery of the South Sea" and authorized by the Virginia House of Burgesses.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=llBDAAAAYAAJ&q=Perecuta |title=Manual of the State of West Virginia for the Years 1907-1908 |date=1907 |publisher=Tribune Print. Company |pages=91 |language=en}}
The expedition is credited with discovering Woods River, now called the New River.'America and West Indies: October 1671', Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Volume 7: 1669-1674 (1889), pp. 263-271. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=70214&strquery=batts Date accessed: 11 January 2009.{{Cite web |title=Batts and Fallam Expedition |url=http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/408}} Before leaving and returning home, the party formally declared the river to be a part of the realm of Charles II. Batts and Fallam branded a series of trees with marking irons representing Governor William Berkeley and the sponsor of the expedition, Abraham Wood. They also branded a tree in honor of their trusted guide, Peracuta.{{Cite book |last=Steelhammer |first=Rick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=idoPAQAAQBAJ&dq=Perecuta+Virginia&pg=PA4 |title=It Happened in West Virginia |date=2013-07-02 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4930-0165-1 |pages=4 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Peters |first1=J. T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YjUTAAAAYAAJ&q=Perecuta |title=History of Fayette County, West Virginia |last2=Carden |first2=H. B. |date=1926 |publisher=Jarrett Print. Company |language=en}}
In 1675, the tribe requested that Peracuta be granted permission to plant and clear any land that was note occupied by British Colonists. During this period, the request was granted and Peracuta was formally recognized as "King of the Appomattoc" by the Virginia General Assembly and Governor Berkeley.{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SH0bAQAAMAAJ&dq=Peracuta+king&pg=PA523 |title=Order of the Grand Assembly, 7 March 1675 |date=1914 |publisher=Virginia General Assembly |pages=64 |language=en}}
Peracuta's time in leadership was met with severe hardship and persecution for Native peoples. The Appomattoc village was destroyed as a result of Bacon's Rebellion in 1676,{{Cite book |last=Kruer |first=Matthew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PxJOEAAAQBAJ&dq=Perecuta+Virginia&pg=PA66 |title=Time of Anarchy: Indigenous Power and the Crisis of Colonialism in Early America |date=2022-02-08 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-97617-7 |language=en}} and in the same year, the practice of slavery of Indians was re-introduced in Virginia colony, caused much suffering to the Appomattoc peoples.
While Peracuta was present at the ceremony for the signing of the Treaty of 1677 (also known as the "Treaty Between Virginia and the Indians" or "Treaty of Middle Plantation"), he was originally not allowed to sign it because some of the members of the Appomattoc tribe were accused of murder at the time. Peracuta was permitted by the British Crown to sign the 1680 annexure of the Treaty of 1677.{{Cite web |date=2010-08-11 |title=Signe & Tribe of Indians Signing 1677 Treaty |url=http://www.baylink.org/treaty/signes.html |access-date=2022-12-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100811155652/http://www.baylink.org/treaty/signes.html |archive-date=2010-08-11 }}
Death
Records indicate that Peracuta died {{circa|1690}} and was succeeded by a new weroance by April 1691.Helen C. Rountree, Pocahontas's People, p. 109