TUSCARORA INDIANS IN NORTH CAROLINA

TUSCARORA ARE A NATIVE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHO ARE IROQUOIAN SPEAKING WITH TRIBES IN NORTH CAROLINA., NEW YORK, AND CANADA. THEY LIVED AROUND THE GREAT LAKES ABOUT THE SAME TIME AS THE IROQUOIAN TRIBES BASED IN NEW YORK BEFORE THE COLONISTS CAME HERE THEY WERE SETTLED IN EASTERN NEW YORK ALONG THE ROANOKE RIVER.

AFTER THE TUSCARORA WARS IN 1711 MOST OF THE TUSCARORA MOVED TO PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW YORK OVER A PERIOD OF OVER 90 YEARS.AND ALIGNED WITH THE IROQUOIS. THEY HAD ANCESTRAL CONNECTIONS. IN 1722 THEY WERE SPONSORED BY THE ONEIDA AND ACCEPTED AS 1 OF 6 NATIONS. AFTER THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION THE ONEIDA AND TUSCARORA SHARED RESERVATION LAND WITH THE ONEIDA BEFORE GETTING THEIR OWN. THEIR NATION IN NEW YORK IS FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED.

A MINORITY ARE IN NORTH CAROLINA WITHOUT RESERVATION LAND. SOME MOVED TO ONTARIO WITH THE SIX NATIONS. HISTORICALLY THEY HAD THREE TRIBES: 1) KAUTANOHAKAU. 2) KAWELSIKA, 3) TUSCARORA. THEY WERE ALSO ACTIVE IN NEW YORK AND ONTARIO. ONE HISTORIAN SAID THEY HAD 24 LARGE TOWNS AND COULD ASSEMBLE 6000 WARRIORS. IN 1710 CHIEF HANCOCK REPORTED THE WARRIORS NUMBERED 1200, AND THEIR TOTAL POPULATION MAY HAVE BEEN THREE TIMES THAT.

THE COLONISTS ENCROACHED ON SECOND TERRITORY AND KIDNAPPED THEM AND SOLD THEM AS SLAVES. SOME WERE TRANSPORTED TO PENNSYLVANIA. BOTH GROUPS SUFFERED POPULATION LOSS AFTER INFECTIOUS DISEASES. CHIEF HANCOCK ATTACKED THE SETTLERS IN 1711.

MANY OF THE INDIAN GROUPS ATTACKED THE SETTLERS IN MANY LOCALS. THEY WERE AGAINST THE PLANTERS ON THE ROANOKE AND NEARBY RIVERS. THEY KILLED 100'S OF SETTLERS AND KEY POLITICAL FIGURES.

IN 1712 A LARGE FORCE ORGANIZED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF NORTH CAROLINA INCLUDED 600 MILITIA AND 300 NATIVE AMERICANS TO ATTACK THE SOUTHERN TUSCARORA, THEY WERE DEFEATED - 100 WERE CAPTURED AS PRISONERS. AFTER ANOTHER BATTLE IN 1713, 1500 TUSCARORA FLED TO NEW YORK TO JOIN THE IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY.

1500 TUSCARORA MOVED TO VIRGINIA AND A MAJORITY RETURNED TO NORTH CAROLINA. THESE FOLKS SIGNED A TREATY WITH THE COLONY IN 1718 GRANTING THEM 56,000 ACRES.ON THE ROANOKE RIVER. IN 1722 THIS WAS KNOWN AS THE BERLIE COUNTY RESERVATION OR INDIAN WOODS.

IN YEARS AFTERWARDS THE GOVERNMENT FORCED THEM TO SELL OFF TRACTS OF THEIR LAND. BY 1760'S MANY MOVED TO NEW YORK.

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