Monday, March 25, 2013

North Carolina's Tuscaroran Indians-- Part 1

Yesterday, I went to a presentation video about the Tuscaroran War in North Carolina as we commemorate its 300th anniversary of it this year.  The final blow to the Indians came with the fall of Fort Neoheroka, about 25 miles from Goldsboro.

G.M. Smith produced the video and was on hand to show it.  He said he wasn't a historian, but would try to answer questions afterwards.  It was based mostly on the "Onkwehonweh: The First People" by Marilyn Mejorado-Livingston.

'The Tuscarora War, 1711-1713, was a series of battles that ended the Tuscarora Confederacy.  The end brought about the destruction, through death or slavery, of 900 or more Tuscarora during the final battle at Fort Neoheroka.  The site of the fort is in present day Greene County, North Carolina."  Near Snow Hill.

The Tuscarora Indians were a democracy and controlled essentially the eastern third of North Carolina.  They were an advanced people, with towns and advanced medicine derived often from native trees in the area.

English settlers from South Carolina often attacked them with intentions of taking slaves for the lucrative trade of them with Barbados, where the expected life expectancy of Indians was about a year after arrival.  In 1713, and Indian slave was worth 10 English pounds, about $1,913 in today's money.  A definite fortune back then.

More to Come.  --Cooter

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