More than 320 colonists in and around Jamestown, Virginia, were massacred by the Powhatan Indians on this religious holiday in 1622:
In March, 1622, more than 300 colonists in and around Jamestown, Virginia, were massacred by the Powhatan Indians on Good Friday. The Good Friday Massacre of March 22 was led by the Powhatan chief Opechancanough and began a costly 22-year war against the English. Opechancanough hoped that killing one quarter of Virginia?s colonists would put an end to the European threat. The result of the massacre was just the opposite, however, as English survivors regrouped and pushed the Powhatans far into the interior. Opechancanough launched his final campaign in 1644, when he was nearly 100 years old and almost totally blind. He was then captured and executed.
