Page "Cherokee" Paragraph 17

In 1657, there was a disturbance in Virginia Colony as the Rechahecrians or Rickahockans, as well as the Siouan Manahoac and Nahyssan, broke through the frontier and settled near the Falls of the James, near present-day Richmond, Virginia.

The following year, a combined force of English and Pamunkey drove the newcomers away.

The identity of the Rechahecrians has been much debated.

Historians noted the name closely resembled that recorded for the Eriechronon or Erielhonan, commonly known as the Erie tribe.

The Iroquoian people had been driven away from the southern shore of Lake Erie by the powerful Iroquois Five Nations in 1654.

The anthropologist Martin Smith theorized some remnants of the tribe migrated to Virginia after the wars ( 1986: 131 – 32 ).

Few historians suggest this tribe was Cherokee.