290 THE INDIAN OCCUPANCY 



(that is, a cape) now Erie, and then went forward between the 

 midday and the sun-setting and travelled a great distance when 

 they came to a large river, which was named O-nah-we-yo-kaz 

 (that is, a principal stream) now the Mississippi". They wished 

 to cross but could find no better bridge than a grape vine, which 

 stretched across it. This they attempted, and some succeeded in 

 reaching the other bank, but before all had passed over the vine 

 broke. Those of the family on the western bank continued their 

 westward march and never again joined their relatives. 



Unable to cross the great river, the main body turned east 

 and south. They were led by Ta-ren-ya-wa-go across the Alle- 

 gany Mountains into the sunny plains bordering the ocean in 

 what is now North Carolina. There at last on the Neuse River 

 the wanderers stayed. 



If Mr. Jefferson ( 1 ) is right in identifying the Tuscaroras 

 with the Monacans, the first historical reference to them is by 

 Captain John Smith who mentions them as being enemies of the 

 Indian Powhatan of Virginia. 



When the first white man came to Carolina they found the 

 Tuscaroras settled in 6 towns (2) on the Neuse, Pamlico, Taw 

 and Roanoke River. They numbered some 1200 warriors or per- 

 haps 6000 persons. 



Encroachments by the white settlers led in 1711 to a war 

 with the Tuscaroras. Without warning of any kind, at dawn 

 September 22, 1711, a party of Tuscaroras, aided by other Indians, 

 fell upon the outlying settlements and massacred a hundred set- 

 tlers. The massacre was accompanied by horrible barbarities. 

 Women were impaled upon wooden stakes, infants were hung 

 upon trees, and captives were tortured, (.3). 



Upon receipt of the news of this outrage the governor ordered 

 out the militia of three counties and began a punitive war. After 

 several campains, the main body of Tuscarora warriors fortified 

 themselves in their principal town, No-ho-ro-co. The militia 

 under James Moore surrounded the town, breached the palisades 

 and carried the fort by assault. Col. Moore's report is concise. 



i. Thomas Jefferson - Notes on Virginia. 



2. E. Johnson, "The Legends, Traditions and Laws of the Iroquois", 

 P. 6i. Horatio Hale, Book or Rites, P. 15, says they had 15 towns. 



3. Col. Spottswood to Board of Trade, Oct. 15, 171.1, and Major Gale, in 

 a letter dated Charleston, Nov. 2, 171 1, in Colonial Records of North Caro- 

 lina, Vol. 1. Also in same, P. 905, Journal of De Graffenried. 



