BULL. 30] 



TUSCARoRA. 



843 



1709 and publislied in 1718, contains 

 nothing in regard to the Tusn-arora during 

 the most eventful ]»eriod of their history, 

 namely, that covering the years 1711 to 

 1713. During this time they fought two 

 wars Avith the colonists of North Caro- 

 hna, who were effectively aided by those 

 of South Carohna and Virginia, reenforced 

 by their tributary Indian allies. The 

 first war began with the capture of Lawson 

 and the Baron De Graffenried by about 

 60 Tuscarora and the condeuniation to 

 death of the former in Sept. 1711. Im- 

 mediately following, a portion of the Tus- 

 carora under Hencock, the Coree, Pam- 

 lico, Matamuskeet, Bear Eivers, and 

 ]\lachapungo, conspired to cut off the 

 whites, each one of the tribes agreeing to 

 operate in its own district whence they 

 were being driven by the steady encroach- 

 ment of tlie colonists. This compact 

 resulted in the massacre of aljout 130 of 

 the colonists on Sept. 22, 1711, on Trent 

 and Pamlico rs., by the tribes mentioned. 

 Col. Barnwell was sent l)y South Caro- 

 lina to aid the hard-pressed colonists of 

 North Carolina, and succee<led in driving 

 the Tuscarora into one of their palisaded 

 towns about 20 m. above Newbern, N. C, 

 where he defeated them and later in- 

 duced them to accej^t terms of peace; but 

 Barnwell violated this treaty by seizing 

 some of the Indians and sending them 

 away into slavery. This was the be- 

 ginning of the second war between the 

 Tuscarora and their allies and the people 

 of North Carolina. Again an appeal was 

 made to South Carolina for aid, -which 

 responded by sending Col. James Moore 

 with a small militia force and about 900 

 tributary Indians. 



Of the Tuscarora, Lawson said that they 

 possessed many amiable cjualities; that, 

 in fact, they were "really better to us 

 than we have been to them, as they al- 

 waj's freely give us of their victuals at 

 their quarters, while we let them walk by 

 our doors hungry, and do not often relieve 

 them. We look upon them with disdain 

 and scorn, and think them little better 

 than beasts in human form; while with 

 all our religion and education, we possess 

 more moral deformities and vices than 

 these people do." This attitude of the 

 whites toward the Indians naturally led 

 to the troubles later, which en<led in much 

 ])loodshe<l and cruelty on both sides. Al- 

 though the Tuscarora were regarded as 

 mild, kind, peaceal)le, ingenious, and in- 

 dustrious, they were speedily brutalized 

 by the vices of the colonists with whom 

 they came in contact; their women were 

 debauched bj' the whites, and both men 

 and women were kidnapped to be sold 

 into slavery. The colonists of North Car- 

 olina, like their Puritan brethren of New 

 England, did not recognize in the Indian 

 anv right to the soil, hence the lands of 



the Tuscarora and of their Inditm neigh- 

 bors and allies were appropriated without 

 thought of purchase. It is not strange, 

 therefore, that such conduct on the part 

 of the whites should eventuallj' have 

 awakened distrust and jealousy in the 

 minds of the erstwhile amiable Tusca- 

 rora, which, fomented by these and other 

 grievances, finally ripened into a hatred 

 which led to resistance and reprisal. 



Perhaps the most lucid and condensed 

 statement of the wrongs suffered l)y the 

 Tuscarora before vainly attemi)ting to 

 right them is contained in a petition made 

 to the Provincial Government of Pennsyl- 

 vania in 1710. More than a year before 

 the massacre of 1711 the Tuscarora had 

 officially formulated a number of propo- 

 sals embodying their grievances and their 

 desire to have these adjusted or removed 

 by the conclusion of peace, and to this end 

 they sent, through the Conestoga (Sus- 

 quehanna), an embassy with these pacific 

 overtures to the people and government 

 of Pennsylvania. The governor and pro- 

 vincial council dispatched two commis- 

 sioners to meet this embassy at Cones- 

 toga on June 8, 1710, where, in addition 

 to the Tuscarora emissaries, they found 

 Civility and four other Conestoga chiefs, 

 and Opessa, the head chief of the Shaw- 

 nee. In the presence of these officials the 

 Tuscarora ambassadors delivered their 

 proposals, attested by eight w-ampuin 

 belts, at the same time informing the 

 Pennsylvania commissioners that these 

 were sent as an overture for the imrpose 

 of asking for a cessation of hostilities un- 

 til the following spring, when their chiefs 

 and headmen would come in person "to 

 sue for the peace they so much desired." 

 By the first belt, the elder women and 

 the mothers besought tlie friendship of 

 the Christian jieople, the Indians and 

 the government of Pennsylvania, so they 

 might fetch wood and water without risk 

 or danger. By the second, the children 

 born and those about 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 of the people, asked for the 

 consummation of a lasting peace, so that 

 the forest (the paths to other tribes) be 

 as safe for them as their jjalisaded towns. 

 By the fifth, the entire tribe asked for a 

 firm peace. 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 from "those fearful 

 apprehensions they have these several 

 years felt." By the seventh, the Tusca- 

 rora begged for a "cessation from mur- 



