Tuscarora War

As the English settled Carolina, the Tuscarora benefited from trade with the English. By acquiring weapons and metal goods from the English, they were able to develop commercial dominance over other tribes in the region. These benefits were experienced to a greater degree by Northern Tuscarora than their Southern counterparts, who became cut off from the prosperous Northern Tuscarora by increasing numbers of European settlers. Over time settlers continued to push into territory held by the Tuscarora. As the settlers moved closer to the Tuscarora and the two began interacting more frequently, conflict arose over shared hunting grounds and cultural differences.[1] The Tuscarora held John Lawson accountable for his role in the settlers' expansion into their territory. Lawson's writings emphasized the potential that the lands held for European settlement and he was also resented for his perceived role in the founding of New Bern, a settlement which encroached on Tuscarora territory.[2] Settlers found eastern North Carolina to be swampy and difficult to farm, so they pushed westward attracted by the more fertile uplands.[3] As settlement expanded, so too did the Indian slave trade in the region.[4] These factors all led to tension between the Tuscarora and the growing population of colonists.

There were two groups of Tuscarora in North Carolina in the early 18th century, a northern group led by Chief Tom Blount and a southern group was led by Chief Hancock. Blount occupied the area around Bertie County on the Roanoke River; Hancock was closer to New Bern, occupying the area south of the Pamlico River. Blount became close friends with the influential Blount family of the Bertie region, but Hancock's people had suffered raids and kidnappings by slave traders.

Hancock's tribe began to attack the settlers, but Blount's tribe did not become involved in the war at this point. Some historians including Richard White and Rebecca Seaman have suggested that the war grew out of misunderstandings between the colonists and the Tuscaroras.[5] The Southern Tuscaroras led by Hancock allied with the Bear River tribe, Coree, Cothechney, Machapunga, Mattamuskeet, Neuse, Pamlico, Senequa, and Weetock to attack the settlers in a wide range within a short time period. They attacked homesteads along the Roanoke, Neuse, and Trent rivers and in the city of Bath beginning on September 22, 1711, and killed hundreds of settlers, including several key colonial political figures, such as John Lawson of Bath, while driving off others. The Baron of Bernberg was a prisoner of the Tuscarora during the raids, and he recounted stories of women impaled on stakes, more than 80 infants slaughtered, and more than 130 settlers killed in the New Bern settlement.[6]

The Tuscarora War did not ensure lasting peace in the region. On Good Friday, April 15, 1715, a group of Native Americans attacked South Carolina. Among them were Apalachees, Savannahs, Lower Creeks, Cherokees, and Yamasees, as well as others. These were all allies of Colonels Barnwell and Moore during the Tuscarora War. This attack began what is known as the Yamasee War.[12] The Yamasee and other tribes in South Carolina learned from the Tuscarora War that colonial settlers were heavily invested in the slave trade of Native Americans. Furthermore, the Tuscarora War had drastically cut down the number of Native Americans in the area who could be enslaved. With this in mind, the tribes of South Carolina decided on a preemptive attack. As one historian put it, "[b]etter to stand together as Indians, hit the colony now before it became any stronger, kill the traders, destroy the plantations, burn Charles Town, and put an end to the slave buyers."[12] During the Yamasee War, Col. Maurice Moore, the brother of Colonel James Moore, led a regiment in the battle against the Yamasee. Among his regiment were some seventy Tuscarora warriors who were keen to fight against the Yamasee, a tribe who had fought against them during the Tuscarora War. Following the Yamasee War, these Tuscarora were asked by South Carolina officials to remain in South Carolina as their allies and to protect the colony from Spain and its Native American allies. As part of the arrangement, South Carolina would return to the Tuscarora one slave taken during the Tuscarora War for each Tuscarora killed in the line of duty and for each enemy Native American they captured. During this time, the Tuscarora came to be so well respected by the South Carolina government that they were given land in the colony.[12] The Yamasee War and other conflicts between the remaining Tuscarora and other Native American groups in the region are examples of how the Tuscarora War destabilized relationships among southern Native Americans.

The Tuscarora War and the Yamasee War were turning points in the Carolinas' slave trade. By 1717, South Carolina began to regulate its slave trade. Additionally, after two wars between colonists and Native Americans, the number of Native Americans available to be enslaved had fallen considerably. The most valuable role of Native Americans also shifted during this time from slave to ally because of the ongoing power struggle between the French and English to control North America. Because colonists sought to ally themselves with Native Americans, the enslavement of Black Americans began to proliferate.[12]

Nearly 300 years after the Tuscarora were defeated at Fort Neoheroka, the fort was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 17, 2009. A monument was constructed and commemorated there in March 2013. The ceremony was attended by Tuscarora descendants, some from New York and others from North Carolina.[9]