On March 22, 1622, the Powhatan Indians of Virginia massacred 350 white colonists in and around Jamestown. Tired of the relentless assaults perpetrated by English settlers and worried about the colony’s growth, Powhatan chief 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. English survivors regrouped and pushed the Powhatans far into the interior, setting the pattern for white-Indian relations for the next 250 years.