Tuscarora people

Tuscarora

Tuscarora Portraits
Total population
75,000+
Regions with significant populations
Originally from New York, North Carolina
Languages
English, Skarure
Religion
Kai'hwi'io, Kanoh'hon'io, Kahni'kwi'io, Christianity, Longhouse, Handsome Lake, Other Indigenous religions
Related ethnic groups
Seneca Nation, Onondaga Nation, Cayuga Nation, Oneida Nation, Mohawk Nation, other Iroquoian peoples, Meherrin Nation, Nottaway (Cheroenhaka Nation), Coree Indians

The Tuscarora ("hemp gatherers") are a Native American people of the Iroquoian-language family, with members in New York, Canada, and North Carolina. They coalesced as a people in western New York, along with the five nations of the historic Iroquois tribes.

Well before the arrival of Europeans in North America, the Tuscarora had migrated south and settled in the region now known as Eastern Carolina. The most numerous indigenous people in the area, they lived along the Roanoke, Neuse, Tar (Torhunta or Narhontes), and Pamlico rivers in North Carolina. They first encountered European explorers and settlers in North Carolina and Virginia.

After the 18th century wars of 1711-1713, most of the Tuscarora left North Carolina and migrated north to Pennsylvania and New York, over a period of 90 years. They aligned with the Iroquois in New York, because of their ancestral connection. They were sponsored by the Oneida and accepted as one of the Six Nations in 1722. After the American Revolution, in which they and the Oneida allied with the colonists, they shared reservation land with the Oneida before gaining their own. The Tuscarora Nation of New York is federally recognized.

A significant minority remained in North Carolina without a formal government or reservation land. After the early 1800s, however, the Tuscarora in New York no longer considered those in North Carolina as members of the tribal nation. Some Tuscarora allied with the British in the American Revolution, and resettled in present-day Ontario, where they are part of the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation. Only the tribes in New York and Ontario have been recognized officially by the respective national governments.

History

See also: Tuscarora War

In late 17th and early 18th-century North Carolina, there were two primary branches of the Tuscarora: a northern group led by Chief Tom Blunt, and a southern group led by Chief Hancock. Varying accounts circa 1708-1710 estimated the number of Tuscarora warriors as from 1200-2000.

Chief Blunt occupied the area around what is present-day Bertie County, North Carolina, on the Roanoke River. Chief Hancock lived closer to New Bern, occupying the area south of the Pamlico River. Chief Blunt became close friends with the Blount family of the Bertie region and lived peacefully.

By contrast, Chief Hancock had to deal with more numerous colonists' encroaching on his community. They raided his villages and kidnapped the people to be sold into slavery. Some Tuscarora were transported to Pennsylvania to be sold into slavery. Both groups suffered substantial population losses after exposure to Eurasian infectious diseases carried by the Europeans. Both also suffered territorial encroachment. By 1711 Chief Hancock believed he had to attack the settlers to fight back. Chief Tom Blunt did not join him in the war.

The southern Tuscarora collaborated with the Pamlico, the Cothechney, the Coree, the Mattamuskeet and the Matchepungoe nations to attack the settlers in a wide range of locations within a short time period. Their principal targets were against the planters on the Roanoke, Neuse and Trent Rivers, as well as the city of Bath. They attacked on September 22, 1711, beginning the Tuscarora War. The allied Indian tribes killed hundreds of settlers, including several key political figures among the colonists.

Governor Edward Hyde called out the North Carolina militia and secured the assistance of South Carolina, which provided 600 militia and 360 allied Native Americans under Col. Barnwell. In 1712, this force attacked the southern Tuscarora and other nations in Craven County at Fort Narhantes on the banks of the Neuse River. The Tuscarora were "defeated with great slaughter; more than three hundred were killed, and one hundred made prisoners."

The governor offered Chief Blunt leadership of the entire Tuscarora Nation if he would assist in defeating Chief Hancock. Blunt succeeded in capturing Hancock, who was tried and executed by North Carolina. In 1713 the Southern Tuscaroras were defeated at their Fort Neoheroka (formerly spelled Neherooka), with 900 killed or captured in the battle.

Fort Neoheroka Historical Marker

After defeat in the battle of 1713, about 1500 of the Southern Tuscarora fled to New York to join the Iroquois Confederacy, while as many as 1500 additional Tuscarora sought refuge in the colony of Virginia. Although some accepted tributory status under this colony the majority of these remaining Tuscarora ultimately returned to North Carolina (1978 Handbook of American Indians; Volume 15, pg 287-288). In 1715 70 of the remaining Tuscarora went to South Carolina to assist against the Yamasee. Those 70 individuals later asked permission to have their wives and children join them and settled near Port Royal South Carolina.

Under the leadership of Tom Blunt the Tuscarora who remained in North Carolina signed a treaty with the colony in June 1718. It granted them a 56,000-acre (227 km²) tract of land on the Roanoke River in what is now Bertie County. This was the area occupied by Chief Blunt and his people. The colonies of Virginia and North Carolina both recognized Tom Blunt, who had taken the last name Blount, as "King Tom Blount" of the Tuscarora. Both colonies agreed to only look upon as friends those Tuscarora who accepted Blount's leadership (1978 Handbook of American Indians, pg 287). The remaining Southern Tuscarora were forced to remove from their villages on the Pamlico River and relocate to the villages of Ooneroy and Resootskeh in Bertie County. In 1722, the Bertie County Reservation, which would officially become known as "Indian Woods," was chartered.

As colonial settlement surrounded Indian Woods the Tuscarora residing there were overcharged or denied use of ferries, restricted in hunting, and cheated in trade; their timber was illegally logged, and their lands were continuously encrouched upon by herders and squatters (Handbook of American Indian pg 287). Over the next several decades the colonial government continually reduced the Tuscarora tract, forcing cessions of land to the encroughing settlers. They sold off portions of the land in deals often designed to take advantage of the Tuscarora.

Asside from their continuouse mistreatment by the colonists many Tuscarora weren't satisfied with the leadership of Tom Blount himself, who was merely a village chief prior to the Tuscarora War, and decided to leave the reservation. In 1722 300 fighting men; along with their wives, children, and the elderly; resided on Indian Woods. There were 200 fighting men in 1731 and 100 in 1755 with a total Indian Woods population of 301 in 1755 (Handbook of American Indians pg 288). In 1752 Moravians visited the reservation and wrote that "many had gone north to live on the Susquehanna" and that "others are scattered as the wind scatters smoke."

In 1763 and 1766 additional Tuscarora left Indian Woods and settled in Pennsylvania and New York; by 1767 only 104 individuals continued to reside on the reservation in Bertie County. In 1804 the last band to leave North Carolina went North to New York; it was last said that "10 to 20 Old families" remained.

In 1802 the remaining Indian Woods Tuscarora negotiated a treaty with the United States, by which land would be held for them which they could lease. The government never ratified the treaty, however. The North Carolina Tuscarora viewed the treaty as null and void. In 1831 the Indian Woods Tuscarora sold the remaining rights to their lands. By this point their 56,000 acres (227 km²) had already been reduced to only 2,000 acres (8 km²).

Despite no longer having a reservation, some Tuscarora remain in the southern regions of the state. In 1971 the Tuscarora In Robeson County North Carolina sought to get an accounting of their lands and rents due them under the unratified treaty of 1803.

Migration north

From about 1719-1721 the contingent of Tuscarora, who innitially left North Carolina after the loss at Fort Neoheroka, settled briefly in present-day Maryland, along the Monocacy River.. Ultimately they ended up settling near the Oneida nation in western New York. As they were originally part of a group of ancient Iroquoian-speaking nations originating in the Lake Ontario and Lake Erie regions, they were in effect returning to their ancestral homes.

During the American Revolutionary War, part of the Tuscarora and Oneida nations in New York allied with the colonists of the newly established United States government. Most of the Iroquois nations supported Great Britain, and participated in battles throughout New York. They were the main forces that attacked frontier settlements of the central Mohawk and Cherry valleys. Late in the war, the Tuscarora followed Chief Joseph Brant of the Mohawk, other British-allied tribes, and Loyalists north to Ontario. They were part of establishing the reservation of the Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario, Canada.

In 1803 a final contingent of southern Tuscarora migrated to New York to join the reservation of their tribe in Niagara County. After that, the Tuscarora in New York no longer considered southern remnants part of their nation. For this reason, the federally recognized Tuscarora of New York have rejected 20th-century claims claims by the Lumbee, a state-recognized tribe in North Carolina, of direct linkage to the Tuscarora and have opposed their federal recognition.

The Tuscarora have continued to struggle to protect their land. In the mid-20th century, New York City commissioner Robert Moses generated controversy by expropriating 550 acres (2.2 km²) of Tuscarora reservation land for a hydroelectric project in the vicinity of Niagara Falls, New York. The project was to generate electricity for the population of New York City.

Language

Skarure, the Tuscarora language, is a member of the northern branch of the Iroquoian languages.

National government-recognized Tuscarora bands

• Tuscarora Nation at Lewiston, New York
• Tuscarora at Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario, Canada

Tuscarora bands in North Carolina

Several bands, groups, and organizations are in North Carolina without state or federal recognition:

• Skaroreh Katenuaka at Tosneoc Village, Elm City, North Carolina
• Southern Band Tuscarora Indian Tribe, Windsor, North Carolina
• Hatteras Tuscarora, Cape Fear, North Carolina
• Tuscarora Nation of Indians of the Carolinas, Maxton, North Carolina
• Skaroreh Katenuaka Nation, Robeson County, North Carolina

Historians and Tuscarora officials dispute recent claims by the Lumbee, a state-recognized tribe in Robeson County, North Carolina, that they are descended from the Tuscarora. The Tuscarora Nation of Lewiston, New York, says that the great majority of the tribe moved north to New York and does not recognize the Lumbee claim of connection. New York leaders consider any individuals remaining in North Carolina as no longer having tribal status.

The Tuscarora in Lewiston are recognized by both the state of New York and the federal government. No Tuscarora band in North Carolina is officially recognized by the state. This often causes confusion, since both the New York Tuscarora and the North Carolina Tuscarora claim the name of the tribe. Members of both groups insist they are descended from the ancient Skarure, as they called themselves.

North Carolina does recognize the Lumbee as an Indian tribe. However, the Lumbee generally accept as members only Indians residing in Robeson County (and their descendants), not Indians from other parts of North Carolina.

An additional historical question is whether the Iroquoian-speaking Meherrin and Nottaway originated as bands of the Tuscarora, but acquired different names by the English. Scholars believe this is possible, but the theory has not been proven.

Some Tuscarora live in Oklahoma. They are primarily descendants of Tuscarora groups absorbed by relocated Iroquois Seneca and Cayuga bands brought into the northeast corner of the former Indian Territory in the mid-19th century official Federal Indian Removals.

Various bands of the Tuscarora have worked for state and federal recognition. A petition by the Hatteras Tuscarora in the 1970s was unsuccessful. In 2006 the Skaroreh Katenuaka Nation, "AKA: Tuscarora Nation of Indians of North Carolina", filed a federal lawsuit for recognition. They are based in Robeson County, North Carolina.

See also

• Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation
• Ramapough Mountain Indians

References

Unexpected use of template {{12}} - see Template:12 for details. Boyce, Douglas W., "Iroquoian tribes of the Virginia-North Carolina Coastal Plain", Handbook of American Indians, Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978, Volume 15}}

External links

• Tuscarora and Six Nations Websites
• Tuscarora Indian Nation
• Six Nations of the Grand River
• Six Nations Of The Grand River Territory
• Catechna and The Tuscarora War, North Carolina State Library
• "History of the Tuscarora", Bertie County, Rootsweb
• David Landy, "Tuscarora", Encyclopedia of North American Indians, Cengage Learning Website, Houghton Mifflin Company
• Skaroreh Katenuaka Nation website
• Coastal Carolina Indian Center

Further reading

• John R. Swanton, "The Indians of the Southeastern United States", Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 137 (Washington, D.C., 1946)
• Bruce G. Trigger, ed., Northeast, vol. 15 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1978)
• Anthony F. C. Wallace, "The Modal Personality Structure of the Tuscarora Indians", Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 150 (Washington, D.C., 1952)