TUSCARORA CHRONOLOGY
IN NORTH CAROLINA
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                                                                   1585-1712



                                                                         1585-1587

Sir Richard Grenville, Ralph Lane, Thomas Hariot, John White, and others set sail from Plymouth on April 9, 1585, to establish the first of Sir
Walter Raleigh’s colonies, arriving at Roanoke Island on August 17th.
  •        Lane and the other colonists proceed to look for the passage to the orient by exploring the western Albemarle Sound and the rivers
    flowing into the region, such as the Moratoc (Roanoke) and Chowan.
  •        This was the vicinity in which earlier explorers thought would lead to the Pacific Ocean and the fabled city of "El Dorado".
  •       This is the first known contact with Tuscarora, initially known as Mongoaks, Hatteras (Kateras), Roanoaks, Chowanoaks, and others,
    usually being called by the name known by other tribes.
  •       The colony is forced to abandon the colony and is picked up by Francis Drake on June 19th 1586, leaving 15 men behind on Roanoke
    Island.




Accepting the theory of the French, Menendez de Aviles, and Vicente Gonzalez; Grenville and Raleigh establish what is now known as “the Lost
Colony” in 1587 at 36degrees north on Roanoke Island. (Page 54, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages by Paul E. Hoffman, 1987 America’s Four
Hundredth Anniversary Committee)
  •        August 13th Manteo was made “Lord of Roanoke and Dasamonguepeuk” by Sir Walter Raleigh (Raleigh)
  •        The village of Dasamonguepeuk is located in present day Bertie County.

Edward, second in command of the Grenville Fleet, gave a deposition on December 7, pertaining to the whereabouts of the English at Roanoke.
  •        He reported about Simon Fernando, a Portuguese pilot who was looking for a southwest passage to the orient and had visited the
    location in 1577 and 1584 with Amadas and Barlowe.
  •        “Spanish maps place the location at 38.5 degrees north, yet Edward said that it was at 36 degrees north on the English maps. There was
    a bay with a good anchorage that led to certain islands and to a source of fresh water 4 leagues from the sea. This bay was alleged to be the
    best on the Atlantic coast and to have offered a way to the “other sea” (Pacific Ocean)” (Page 32,   Spain and the Roanoke Voyages by Paul
    E. Hoffman, 1987 America’s Four Hundredth Anniversary Committee)
























                       


                                            1590
John White, the governor of the colony, went back to England in 1587, shortly after the colonists were settled. Returning in 1590 he wrote:  
“…According to a secret token agreed upon between them and me at my last departure from them, which was that in any way they should not fail
to write or carve on the trees or posts of the doors, the name of the place where they should be seated; for at my coming away they were prepared
to remove from Roanoke fifty miles into the main…” (Sider’s, “Living Indian Histories” page 88, and McPherson report)

                              Early  1600's

By this time, the English now in Jamestown send individuals into what is now North Carolina, looking for the Lost Colonists. On at least 7
occasions, there are reports of sightings of at least some of the Colonists, all being within Tuscarora territory. (F.Roy Johnson's "Lost Colony in Fact
and Legend", 1983 Johnson publishing Co. ISBN-0-930230-9)
  •       In 1609, there were reports in London of Englishmen from Roanoke living under a chief called Gepanocan, and in the village of
    Pakerikinick. It was said that Gepanocan held four men, two boys, and a "young maid"(Virginia Dare) from Roanoke as copper workers.
  •       As late as 1610, reports are still given that there are colonists in the Tuscarora village of Pakerikinick.
  •        A map of the interior region of N.C. was drawn by Francis Nelson in 1608, who was a Jamestown resident. This map is now known as
    the "Zuniga Map".

The late,Thomas C. Parramore, in the "Lost Colony in Fact and Legend", in the section called "The Lost Colony and the Tuscarora", he states that
the Spanish had outposts within Tuscarora territory for many years, and that it was possible that it was these Spanish, who had incited the
Tuscarora to capture and destroy most of the English colony.
  •      In 1614, a group of deserters from Jamestown head for the Tuscarora village of Ocamahawan, where the inhabitants had built two-story
    stone houses, and that they raised tame turkeys, and used brass utensils.

                                  1654
Francis Yeardley sends a group into Tuscarora country, where they reported that they had met a Tuscarora chief. "This chief has invited them to his
village, where he said lived a Spaniard, who had been among these Tuscarora for seven years. The Spaniard was said to be very rich, to have some
thirty people in his party, including Negro slaves, and had been absent from time to time on long trips" (Lost Colony in Fact and Legend)


                                  1660
Reverend Morgan Jones, in traveling in the Tuscarora country was captured by the Doegs, a branch of that tribe who spoke Welsh. He describes
them as settled upon Pontigo River near Cape Atross.” (Taken from Senate Doc. 677, page 46)
  •        In the "Lost Colony in Fact and Legend", it states in part; ..."The day after his capture the Indians held a council and condemned Jones
    and his five companions to death. When an interpreter told them that they were to die the next morning, Jones dejectedly remarked in his
    native tongue, "have I escaped so many Dangers (of the wilderness), and must I now be knocked in the head like a Dog? Upon hearing this
    remark a chief man, who seemed to be a war captain belonging to the Sachem of the Doegs, came forward, took Jones by the waist and told
    him in the "British" tongue that he should not die. This man appeared before the emperor and stood for Jone's ransom. The Welsh clergyman
    and his companions remained with the Indians four months, talked with them "familiarly in the British Language" and preached to them three
    times a week in the same language..."


























                                                     


                                                          1669-1670
John Lederer, German explorer visits the town of Kateras(Katearas) on July 14th 1670, “ a place of great Indian trade and commerce and chief
seat of the haughty emperor of the Taskiroras, called Kaskusara, vulgarly called Kaskeous…” ( taken from Senate Doc. 677, page 12)
  •        Sacarusa is known today as a chief title.
  •        Hatteras is a later derivation of Kateras (Katearas), which was located in the vicinity of the city of Raleigh. This was one of the dozens of
    Tuscarora villages scattered throughout eastern North Carolina.
  •        The area known as "Hatteras" today, receives it's name from our people of Kateras. When the first colonists arrived on the shores of
    what's now known as North Carolina, they were met in part, by Kateras (Katearas)people while on one of many fishing, and salt making trips
    our people made yearly.
  •       John Lawson wrote, "A farther Confirmation of this we have from the Hatteras Indians, who either then lived on Ronoak-Island, or much
    frequented it. These tell us, that several of their ancestors were white People, and could talk in a Book, as we do; the Truth of which is
    confirmed by gray Eyes being found frequently amongst these Indians, and no others. They value themselves extremely for their Affinity to
    the English, and are ready to do them all friendly Offices. It is probable, that this Settlement miscarried for want of timely Supplies from
    England; or thro' the Treachery of the Natives, for we may reasonably suppose that the English were forced to cohabit with them, for Relief
    and Conversation; and that in process of Time, they conformed themselves to the Manners of their Indian Relations. And thus we see how
    apt Humane Nature is to degenerate."
  •        Chief Elton Green of New York narrates a story to F. Roy Johnson ( author of "The Tuscaroras") in 1967 stating that:
                    " In the old days, before our people came northward from North Carolina, they would get into their canoes and paddle down the
    creeks and rivers to the sounds to gather food and to fish.
    There was an island in the Neuse River which they called Roquist Island but which is now known by another name. They went to this island
    often, for that is where they found their food. There were alot of turtles on that island, and they caught those turtles and made turtle soup.
    They called that island Roquist, for that is the Tuscarora word for turtle." (F.Roy Johnson's "The Tuscaroras" Volume 2)

                                                                   1672
The French explorer Jacques Marquette met a party of Indians on the upper Mississippi who, by their language and dress, were thought to be
Tuscaroras. Finding they had guns and other European goods, Marquette asked them where such wares were obtained and was told that they came
from white men in the east who "had rosaries and pictures."
  •       This is yet another piece of evidence of Spanish being within Tuscarora territory.

                   

The encroachment and taking of Tuscarora lands, and the enslaving of Tuscarora people continued for years. Appeals and attempts to stop these
practices failed, culminating in what is known as the Tuscarora War.
  •        March 5, 1706, Pennsylvania prohibits further importation of Indian slaves from Carolina because of the talk of the 5 nations possibly
    getting involved in the matter.
  •        July 8, 1710, a Tuscarora delegation from Carolina present 8 wampum belts to Pennsylvania government at Conestoga, thus attempting
    to stop the continued slave trade, and to procure peace.
              By the first belt, the older women and mothers sought friendship of the Christian people, the Indians and the government of
Pennsylvania, that they might fetch wood and water without risk or danger By the second, the children born and those to be born, implored for
room to sport and play without the fear of death or slavery.

By the third, the young men asked for the privilege to leave their towns without the fear of death or slavery to hunt for meat for their mothers, their
children and the aged ones.

By the fourth, the old men, the elders and the people, asked for the consummation of a lasting peace so that the forests (the paths to other tribes)
be “as safe for them as their forts.”

By the fifth, the entire tribe asked for a firm peace that they might have liberty to visit their neighbors.

By the sixth, the chiefs asked for the establishment of a lasting peace with the government, people and Indians of Pennsylvania, whereby they would
be relieved of “those fearful apprehensions they have these several years felt.”

By the seventh, the Tuscaroras begged for a “cessation from murdering and taking them, that by the allowance thereof, they may not be afraid of a
mouse, or any other thing that Ruffles the Leaves.”

By the eighth, the Tuscaroras being strangers, came with blind hopes the government of Pennsylvania would “take them by the hand and lead them,
and then they will lift up their heads in the woods without danger or fear.” (Johnson 67)

In early September of 1711, John Lawson and Christopher DeGraffenried are captured while scouting for new lands. The Assembly of the Great  
determines to free DeGraffenried, but puts Lawson to death.

Four days later, on September 22, 1711, Machapunga, Bear River, Pamplico, Coree, Neusiok, Woccon, and the lower Tuscarora attacked the
town of Bath, starting what is now known as the Tuscarora War.
  •        North Carolina asked for assistance from both Virginia and South Carolina, with South Carolina sending troops under the command of
    Col. John Barnwell.
  • The northern Tuscarora towns remained neutral, yet were continually pressured to fight against the southern towns.


                                  1712

Barnwell's first engagements were against apparently only northern Tuscarora towns, who had not taken part in the War as of yet. In these villages,
he killed and or captured only women, children, and elderly. From these "battles", he is given the nickname, "Tuscarora Jack".
  •        On April 7th, Barnwell's forces began their attack on Catechnia, which was King Hancock's town. This battle lasted at least ten days, in
    which the fort was never taken. This culminated in the first treaty with the Tuscarora, which was soon broken by Barnwell after he broke the
    peace by taking slaves back to S.C. for payment of his services that N.C. refused to pay.
  •        This taking of prisoners enraged the Tuscarora and their allies, and they again attacked English villages along the Neuse and Pamplico
    rivers.
  •        Colonel James Moore, also from S.C. was hired by N.C. to lead another expedition against the Tuscarora, and by early December, he,
    along with warriors from several S.C. tribes, arrived in Bath.

Sometime in Mid November, King Hancock is captured by King Blount and subsequently executed by North Carolina Colonial officials. A James
Coheree, who was captured by Virgina Rangers and delivered to the North Carolina government, was executed with Chief Hancock. (N.C. Colonial
Records vol.1 pages 881,896; Paschal,99.)




            1713-2005

                       1713
Moore continues to attack Tuscarora villages, until March 20th, when the final battle of the war at Fort Neoheroka(Snow Hill, Greene County)
began.
  •        This battle lasts for three days, in which over 950 Tuscarora and allies are either killed or taken prisoner. DeGraffenried writes: ..."The
    Savages showed themselves unspeakably brave, so much so that when our soldiers had become masters of the fort and wanted to take out the
    women and children who were under ground, where they were hidden along with their provisions, the wounded savages who were groaning on
    the ground still continued to fight."
  •        This was to become the last "major" battle of the war, with many survivors either beginning the migration to New York, joining the Five
    Nations, or in the case of most people from Robeson, began to disperse in all directions, seeking sanctuary in the swamps south of what is now
    known as Greene County.

                              1713-1730’s
End of Tuscarora War, and beginning of forced migration of many so-called “hostile” Tuscarora from N.C. to N.Y. which lasts approx. 90 years.
Tuscarora who don’t leave state disperse in all directions. 1715, the so-called “friendly” Tuscarora are confined to reservation in Bertie County on
the Roanoke River, under Chief Tom Blount. Dissatisfaction with reservation life led to people continually leaving the reservation, for lands still
unoccupied by Europeans.
                                     1714
150 Tuscarora are given land by Colonel Barnwell at Port Royal S.C., for their fighting against the Yamasee. A few years later, Chief Foster asks to
bring their families from North Carolina.
                                     1719
In 1719 the colonial government hired Tuscarora under King Norris to travel King Gilbert of the Coosaboy as emissaries to the Spanish at Saint
Augustine. These Tuscarora were from the Roanoke River but were then living at Port Royal. The Indian expedition to Spanish Florida traveled in
seven canoes.

Locklear, Lowery( all spellings), Oxendine, Jacobs, Maynor, Brooks, Jones, Freeman, Cumbo, Kearsey(all spellings), Revels, Canady, Pugh, Blount,
Smith and many other current Tuscarora surnames, are listed on numerous tax lists, land grants, and estate wills in northeastern part of North
Carolina. Many of which were located living on, or adjacent to Bertie County reservation. (Partial resource; settlement pattern study, LRDA 1983)
                                  1739
Chief Tom Blount dies, and on the third Tuesday in June, James Blount was selected as new Head Chief at the village of "Rehorsesky", or
Rasewtokee. This may or may not have been Tom Blount's son. After 1766, James Blount is no longer signer of Tuscarora documents.
  •        
                           1740’s- 1800
Families with same surnames continue migrations from the Roanoke/Neuse areas to Bladen County area, settling along drowning creek basin and
many points in between, again holding lands in common. (Partial resource; settlement pattern study, LRDA 1983) For example;

  •        Tuscarora Chief William “Billy” Pugh is issued land grant on Saddletree swamp in northern part of Robeson County. (Issued May 9,
    1753, North Carolina Land Grant, Bladen County, File #415, Book2.)
  •        A "rogues" list is circulated in the mid 1750's, naming many ancestors of todays Tuscarora here, as being a curse to the area, and who
    don't hold a patent on the lands in which they live. There was a surveyor shot for attempting to survey lands of Ester Kersey, and others.
  •       In 1756, George Washington addresses the chiefs of the Tuscarora Nation still in North Carolina.   

TO KING BLUNT, CAPT. JACK, AND THE REST OF THE TUSCARORA CHIEFS --

Brothers, & Friends, This will be Deliverd you by our
Brother Tom, a Warrior of the Nottoways, who, with
others of that Nation, have distinguished themselves
in our service this summer, against our Cruel and
perfidious Enemys--The intent of this, is to Assure
you of our real Friendship and Love--and to confirm &
Strengthen that chain of Friendship, which has
subsisted between us for so many ages past,--a Chain
like ours, founded on Sincere Love, and Friendship,
must be strong and lasting, and will I hope endure
while Sun & Stars give Light --

Brothers, You can be no strangers to the many Murders
& Cruelties--committed on our Country Men, & Friends,
by that False & Faithless people the French, who are
constantly endeavouring to corrupt the minds of our
Friendly Indians--and have Stirr'd up the Shawnese &
Delawares, with severall other nations to take up the
hatchet against us--And at the head of many of these
Native Indians have invaded our Country, laid waste
our lands, plunder'd our plantations, Murdered
defenceless Women & Children, & Burnt & destroy'd
wherever they came--which has enraged our Friends the
Six Nations, Cherokees, Nottoways, Catawbas, and all
our Indian Allies, and prompted them to take up the
Hatchet in our deffence, against these disturbers of
the Common peace --

I hope, Brothers, you will likewise take up the
Hatchet, against the French & their Indians, as our
other Friends have done,--and Send us some of your
Young Men, to protect our Frontiers, and go to War
with us, against our restless and Ambitious Foes--And
to encourage Your brave Warriors, I promise to
furnish them wl. Arms, Amunition, Cloths, provision,
and every necessary for War,--And the Sooner you Send
them to our asistance, the greater mark will you give
us of your Friendship--& the better shall we be
enabled to take our just Revenge of their Cruelties -
-
May You Live Long, a happy & prosperous people, and
may we Act with mutual Love & Friendship--While
Rivers run, or Trees grow--is the sincere Wish, of...
Your Friend and Brother --... G In confirmation of
the above & in hopes of your Complyance w'. my
request -- I give you this String of Wampum.
  


  •       In the spring and summer of 1757 the long expected Indian allies arrived in Virginia, as many as four hundred by May-Cherokees,
    Catawbas, Tuscaroras, and Nottaways. But Dinwiddie was wholly unable to use them effectively; and in order to provide amusement for
    them, he directed that they should go "a scalping" with the whites-"a barbarous method of war,"  (Quoted from The Conquest of the Old
    Southwest, published by the Century Company, New York in 1920. Chapter V by Archibald Henderson (Ph.D.)'s)
  •       In 1760, Thomas Kersey makes a public claim for wounds received during the French and Indian Wars. He was one of 50 Tuscarora
    who were under the command of Captain Hugh Waddell.
  •       On May 4, 1769, James Blount is issued land grant of 500 acres on Flowers Swamp. (Bladen County deeds Book 20 Page 424, and
    "The Tuscaroras" vol 2, by F.Roy Johnson, LRDA Settlement Pattern Study)




                               1802-1803
Un-ratified Treaty initiated between the United States (on behalf of North Carolina) and Tuscaroras, pertaining to lands in Bertie County. These
Leases, and also previous ones initiated,  are now set to expire in the year 1916.
  •                                     ARTICLE 1.

In consideration of the agreement, on the part of the legislature of e State of North Carolina, that they will, by certain acts of the
General Assembly of said State, facilitate the collection of the rents due, or to become due the leases of said lands heretofore made:
And on the condition that an act or acts of the General Assembly of the said State shall be passed, authorizing the said Tuscarora
nation, or the chiefs thereof, in behalf of said nation, to lease, on such terms as they may deem proper, the undemised part of the
lands allotted to them in the county of Bertie, in the said State, as well as other parts thereof, now under lease, or leases, for years, so
that the term or terms of the leases made of the whole or any part thereof, may extend to the 12th day of July, which shall be in the
year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and sixteen:

                                   1835
Tuscarora, by then, known as “free persons of color” or “mulatto” are again, disenfranchised by North Carolina, with the amending of North
Carolina constitution.
  •        Specific tribal name and culture is not overtly proclaimed due to the Indian Removal Act, which would have surely forced the people
    from their present location in Robeson and surrounding Counties.


                              1840-1875
The “Lowrie Wars” take place within this time frame. Various individuals and publications write about the origin and ancestry of local Tuscarora.

For example;

  •        In her description of the people here, Mrs. Norment wrote: "... They married and intermarried with each other so often the distinctive
    features of one was representative of all. Straight black hair, high cheek bones, straight backs and great muscular power characterized the
    whole race....As a race they are remarkably superstitious. They believe in fairies, elfs, spirits, ghosts and goblins, and in conjuration. They as a
    race are very prolific. It is no uncommon occurrence to find women among them who have born a dozen of children, and some few as many
    as fifteen or sixteen...."



                             1885  
(Beginning of Historical Name “Revisionism Period”)

Hamilton McMillan, a Robeson Co. State Representative, and first of many subsequent “sheppards”, gives name “Croatan” to all Indians in
Robeson and surrounding counties.  Language of bill begins with, “ Whereas the Indians now living in Robeson County claim to be the descendants
of a friendly tribe who once resided in eastern North Carolina on the Roanoke River, known as Croatan Indians…”  , {Ratified and passed on
February 10, 1885}
  •        The only “friendly” tribe living on the Roanoke River was the Tuscarora, some of which were later called “friendly” after the Tuscarora
    War 1711-1713, in which the northern Tuscarora towns stayed neutral in the war against the southern Tuscarora towns. They