pLp ^o' 2^5T JOHN H. KERR RESERVOIR BASIN — MILLER 11 



good, for the ever invading Iroquois compelled them to evacuate their 

 strong position, causing them to migrate southward into North Caro- 

 lina. The Occaneechi, as a group, settled on the Eno River, while the 

 combined other groups settled on the Yadkin River where they were 

 located by Lawson in 1701 (Lawson, 1714) . 



Sometime between 1701 and 1714 Governor Spotswood, of Virginia, 

 moved all of them up to Fort Christamia, near where the present 

 town of Gholsonville, Va., now stands (Bushnell, 1919, p. 28), to act 

 as a buffer for the Tidewater Colonies against outside marauding 

 groups. 



After the treaty of peace was signed in 1722 between the Virginia 

 tribes and the Iroquois most of the combined Tutelo, Saponi, and 

 Occaneechi moved north v/ard and joined the Iroquois. 



William Byrd (1901, p. 245) reported that the Occaneechi, Mana- 

 hoac, Saponi, Nahyssan, and Tutelo united in 1728 and adopted the 

 name of Saponi, by which they were henceforth known. 



Before 1744 they were reported to have settled at Shamokin, Pa. 

 From there on their history is closely affiliated with that of the Iro- 

 quois and they no longer appeared as mdividual gi-oups nor are they 

 of any interest to this study. 



Lederer stated that the Indians living in the southern part of 

 Virginia, as he found them, were not the original occupants, who, he 

 claimed, were the Tacci, alias Dogi, who became extinct, having been 

 replaced by the later groups. These Tacci were a rude, simple folk 

 with a hunting-food-gathering economy, ignorant of agriculture, who 

 lived on raw flesh, fish, and the fruits and nuts which they could easily 

 gather. 



Later a group came in, presumably in a peaceful manner, and 

 taught them how to plant and prepare corn. What the contributing 

 factors were that led to the extermination of the Tacci cannot be 

 stated, for these Indians were gone and the later groups were fairly 

 well established by the time the white man had come to this country. 



The Occaneech.i, at the time of Lederer, Batts, and others, were a 

 small group. This tribe, at oue time, must have been large and wide- 

 spread. This may be inferred from the fact that their language, as 

 has been stated by Hale ( 1883, p. 12 ; Beverley, 1705) — 



became the general medium of commimication for the people of different 

 nationalities in their neighborhood. That they had some ceremonial observ- 

 ances of a peculiar and impressive cast seemed evident from the circumstances 

 that the intrusive tribes adopted their language, and probably with it some of 

 these observances, in performing their own religious rites. . . . The displace- 

 ment was a gradual process, and the relations between the natives and the en- 

 croaching tribes were not always hostile as may be inferred not only from the 

 adoption of the aboriginal speech as the general means of intercourse, but also 

 from the terms of amity on which these tribes of diverse origin were found 

 living together. 



