Tuscarora War
| Tuscarora War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the American Indian Wars | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Colonial militia of North Carolina Colonial militia of South Carolina Yamasee Northern Tuscarora Apalachee Catawba Cherokee |
Southern Tuscarora Pamlico Cothechney Coree Mattamuskeet Matchepungo |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Edward Hyde Col. John Barnwell Col. James Moore Chief Tom Blunt |
Chief Hancock | ||||||
Colonial government victory
The Tuscarora War was fought in North Carolina during the autumn of 1714 until 11 February 1715 between the British, Dutch, and German settlers and the Tuscarora Native Americans. The Europeans enlisted the Yamasee and Cherokee as Indian allies against the Tuscarora, who had amassed several allies themselves. This was considered the bloodiest colonial war in North Carolina. Defeated, the Tuscarora signed a treaty with colonial officials in 1718 and settled on a reserved tract of land in what became Bertie County.
The first successful and permanent settlement of North Carolina by Europeans began in earnest in 1653. The Tuscarora lived in peace with the European settlers who arrived in North Carolina for over 50 years at a time when nearly every other colony in America was actively involved in some form of conflict with Native Americans. However, the settlers increasingly encroached on Tuscarora land, raided villages to take slaves, and introduced epidemic diseases. After their defeat, most of the Tuscarora migrated north to New York where they joined their Iroquoian cousins, the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. They were accepted as the sixth nation. Their chief said that Tuscarora remaining in the South after 1722 were no longer members of the tribe.
The Tuscarora were an Iroquoian language-speaking people who had migrated from the Great Lakes area into the Piedmont centuries before European encounter. Related peoples made up the Iroquois Confederacy based in present-day New York.
In the early 18th century, there were two groups in North Carolina: a Northern group led by Chief Tom Blount (pronounced Blunt) and a Southern group led by Chief Hancock. Chief Blount occupied the area around what is present-day Bertie County on the Roanoke River; Chief Hancock was closer to New Bern, North Carolina, occupying the area south of the Pamplico River (now the Pamlico River). Chief Blount became close friends with the influential Blount family of the Bertie region. But Chief Hancock and his people suffered raids and kidnappings by slave traders, who sold the Tuscarora into slavery. Both groups were adversely affected by the introduction of European diseases, to which they had no immunity and suffered high fatalities. They were also resented colonial encroachment on their lands.
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