PRIMARY DOCUMENT

Deposition of Chief Cook (August 25, 1917)

ORIGINAL IMAGES
Deposition of Chief Cook, August 25, 1917
CONTEXT

In this summary of a deposition given on August 25, 1917, Pamunkey Chief George Major Cook argues that the tribe’s noncitizen status within Virginia and the United States makes tribal members ineligible for the draft. This deposition was part of a successful appeal by a group of Pamunkey citizens, including Cook’s son, who were drafted to serve in World War I.

Author: Chancery Court of the City of Richmond
    Transcription Source: King William County Chancery Court Case: Holmes and Cook v. Draft Board located in RG 3 Governor’s Letters Received, Governor James H. Price, Box 47: Indians Correspondence. Library of Virginia, https://edu.lva.virginia.gov/oc/stc/entries/deposition-of-chief-cook-august-25-1917.

    FULL TEXT

    Deposition of Chief Cook, August 25, 1917
    Deposition of Chief Cook, August 25, 1917

    In the matter of appeal by Ashland Holmes and O. P. Cook, Indians, from Local Board of King William County to District Board for the Eastern District of Virginia.

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    State of Virginia,
    City of Richmond, to-wit:

    This day personally appeared before the undersigned G. M. Cook, Chief of the Pamunkey Tribe of Indians, who having been first duly sworn, deposes as follows:

    That the Pamunkey Tribe of Indians is governed by a Chief and Council, and those coming under its jurisdiction constitute what is known as Tribal Indians; that he is Chief of said Tribe. That this affidavit is made in support of the appeals filed before the District Board by Ashland Holmes and O. P. Cook under date of Aug. 24, 1917, from decision of Local Board for the County of King William, Virginia; that as a part thereof there is filed herewith a copy of a statement or petition, dated July 22, 1917, addressed to the said Local Board for King William County by the Chief and Council of said Pamunkey Tribe of Indians, and there is also filed as part hereof a copy of a letter, dated June 26, 1917, from Hon. Leslie C. Garnett, Assistant Attorney-General, to Hon. C. Lee Moore, Auditor of Public Accounts of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and there is also filed as part hereof an original letter, dated Aug. 13, 1917, signed by L. M. Bazile, Law Assistant to the Attorney-General of Virginia, addressed to the affiant, which said two letters establish the fact that the land and other property of said Pamunkey Tribe of Indians is not subject to taxation by the Commonwealth of Virginia; that said Pamunkey Tribe of Indians have always been wards of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and that the male members thereof have never been allowed to exercise the privilege of voting, and therefore affiant believes that they are not deemed and held citizens within the laws of this State and of the United States, and hence that members of said Tribe are not properly subject to draft for military service in the present war.

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    Subscribed and sworn to before me, Hill Montague, a Commissioner in Chancery for the Chancery Court of the City of Richmond, Virginia, this 25th day of August, 1917.

    Commissioner in Chancery.

    FEATURED IN
    FURTHER READING
    CITE THIS ENTRY
    APA Citation:
    Chancery Court of the City of Richmond. Deposition of Chief Cook (August 25, 1917). (2025, May 22). In Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/deposition-of-chief-cook-august-25-1917.
    MLA Citation:
    Chancery Court of the City of Richmond. "Deposition of Chief Cook (August 25, 1917)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (22 May. 2025). Web. 25 Aug. 2026
    Last updated: 2025, May 22
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