Flocks of Birds: Virginia Colonialism Into Native Country, 1670-1776

Centers Indigenous people and voices in the history of the vast expansion of Virginia colonialism into Appalachia

Flocks of Birds is an inclusive and interconnected history of the Virginia colony, one that demonstrates the centrality of Native history to America’s colonial history. By delving deep into the primary record, Anthony S. Parent explores the evolving Indigenous response to Virginia colonialism in Native country across three generations, from 1670 to 1776.

As Virginia colonists expanded their settlements west from the Tidewater, they entered a region that was far from uninhabited wilderness. In 1685 more than 100,000 Indigenous people from dozens of nations lived in the Southern Appalachians. These were different groups than the Tsenacomoco (the Powhatan Paramount chiefdom) that colonists had encountered when they established their first permanent settlements along the coast. They included Susquehannock in the north; Shawnee and Seneca-Cayuga (Mingo) in the northwest; Saponi in the west; Tuscarora and Yamasee in the south; and the Ani’-Yun-wiya (Cherokee) in the southwest, among many others. Parent explores the complex interactions amongst and between Indigenous people, European colonists, and enslaved Africans.

Anthony S. Parent Jr. is Professor Emeritus of History, African American Studies, and American Ethnic Studies at Wake Forest University.