Bloody Run

From the overlook at Libby Terrace

About 1656, six or seven hundred members of the Shackoconian tribe of the Manahoac confederacy in search of a new dwelling place, moved down near the falls of the James River (Virginia). In an attempt to remove them the English Colonists, joined by the Pamunkey Tribe under Totopotomoi, precipitated what was perhaps the bloodiest Native American battle ever fought on the soil of Virginia, and the last great fight between the Siouan and the Algonquian tribes. Colonel Edward Hill was put in command of the Colonial Rangers and ordered to dislodge them. He was reinforced by Totopotomoi, with 100 warriors.

The resulting battle known as the Battle of Bloody Run took place at a point in the eastern limits of Richmond, Virginia, now known as Bloody Run spring. So many were slain in the battle, (Totopotomoi being among them) that the tradition is that the streamlet from the spring ran with blood. Hill was so disgraced that he had to personally pay for the cost of the battle and was stripped of his rank.

There is another marker at the edge of Chimborazo Park.