Cape Fear Indians
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Extinct | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Originally from Cape Fear River, North Carolina | |
| Languages | |
| unknown, possibly Siouan | |
| Religion | |
| unknown | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| possibly Waccamaw,Winyaw |
The Cape Fear Indians were a small, coastal tribe of Native American who lived on the Cape Fear River in North Carolina (now Carolina Beach State Park).
The autonym of the Cape Fear Indians may have been Daw-hee, as recorded in 1717. Their name for the area was Chicora. Of their villages, only one, Necoes, is known by name. The colonists noted Necoes as located about 20 miles from the mouth of the Cape Fear River, in present-day Brunswick County. Their language is unknown and may have been a Siouan language.
Smallpox spread from Spanish colonies in Florida to the Carolinas in the 16th century. The population of the Cape Fear Indians was estimated to be 1,000 in 1600. A colonial census in 1715 recorded that they numbered 206.
British colonist William Hilton observed 100 Indians at Cape Fear in 1662. One Indian individual sold Hilton Cape Fear river and adjacent lands. In 1664 the settlement called Charles Towne was founded but abandoned in 1667 after war broke out between the Cape Fear Indians and the settlers over British slavery of Indians. The second Charles Towne was founded near Cape Fear lands in 1670
Some Cape Fear Indians fought with their Catawba allies under Colonel John Barnwell against the Tuscarora in 1712. When the Tuscarora War broke out in North Carolina in 1711, South Carolina tribes joined in the fighting. In 1712, Cape Fear warriors and the Saraw, Saxapahaw, Winyaw, and Pedee, served in British Captain John Bull's company to fight alongside the British against the Tuscarora and helped defeat them. As a result, most of the Tuscarora left the area and migrated north, reaching present-day New York and Ontario to join the related Haudenosaunee Confederacy of Iroquois tribes.
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Wikipedia