Tuscarora War was a major war between Native Americans and colonists in North Carolina. The Tuscarora War began on September 22, 1711, when Tuscarora and Algonquin militants attacked colonial settlements on the Neuse River and the Pamlico River. The uprising, proprietary North Carolina’s largest and costliest native war was the result of the colonists’ falsified trading practices, land seizures, and forced native enslavement. When peace returned in 1713, political, religious, and economic reforms fueled North Carolina’s growth.
The defeat of the Tuscarora war also removed the last barrier blocking European expansion in the colony. The Iroquois-speaking Tuscaroras, the largest tribe in North Carolina’s central coastal plain, occupied several towns along the 786 Tuscarora War Pamlico, Neuse, and Trent rivers. Resentment toward Europeans started when Baron Christoph von Graffenried occupied a vacated Tuscarora town. Other colonists followed suit, establishing communities on or adjoining tribal lands.
Although colonial expansion improved trade between natives and Europeans, mistreatment, cultural prejudice, and fraud engendered hard feelings. The prohibition of hunting in newly settled areas also enraged the Tuscaroras. The enslavement of children, however, produced the greatest outcry. Although the colony’s lord proprietors forbade the practice, native slavery flourished throughout the Carolinas.
The Tuscaroras discovered, however, that their children, entrusted to neighboring colonists for apprenticeships, were often enslaved. By 1710, the Tuscaroras sought to escape the abuses and encroachments by moving north. Pennsylvania’s leaders, however, rejected the tribal diplomats’ petition to relocate. Hancock, chief of the southern Tuscaroras, responded with force. On September 22, 1711, some 250 Bear River, Pamlico, Neusiok, Coree, Machapunga, and Tuscarora warriors visited unsuspecting homes.
Once welcomed into the colonists’ abodes, the natives brandished weapons and killed the inhabitants. Nearly 130 men, women, and children perished during the attacks. Many others, including Baron von Graffenried, were captured. News of the onslaught shocked colonial leaders.
Political instability, civil unrest, disease, and drought initially prevented Gov. Edward Hyde from organizing a military response or providing relief to those in need. Thomas Pollock, president of the provincial council, immediately marched militia to the war zone. Problems resulted, however, when soldiers from Bath Town refused to cross the Pamlico River to join troops from New Bern.
As a result, New Bern’s forces were stranded without reinforcements in hostile territory. Governor Hyde, meanwhile, appealed to neighboring colonies for assistance. Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood of Virginia responded by securing the neutrality of several tribes with promises of trade, bounties for enemies, recognition of tribal boundaries, and protection.
He also dispatched Peter Poythres, a veteran scout and interpreter, to neutral Tuscarora settlements. His diplomacy produced treaties with the eight upper towns, thereby halving the Tuscaroras’ fighting power and diminishing the hostiles’ chance of victory.
Spotswood also secured the safe release of Baron von Graffenried and other prisoners, while ratifying treaties with the Nottoways, the Saponis, and the Meherrins, thereby further isolating the militant Tuscaroras. In 1712 Spotswood dispatched blankets and clothing to assist ease the plight of war refugees. He also readied Virginia’s militia, bolstered by 100 native allies, to march against the hostiles. Plans for the expedition fell through, however, when North Carolina’s leaders failed to provision Spotswood’s army.
South Carolina officials act in response to Hyde’s pleas by employing Catawba and Yamasee warriors to march against their traditional enemies. A lot of volunteers saw the campaign as an opportunity to secure native slaves, a line of reasoning encouraged by Governor Hyde. Colonel John Barnwell, a South Carolina trader, and experienced soldier commanded an army of 495 natives and 30 colonists. On reaching New Bern in February 1712, Barnwell’s force encountered violent resistance.
A short time later the colonel learned that two-thirds of his force had deserted, taking a large supply of slaves and goods with them. However, the 67 locals bolstered what remained of Barnwell’s force in a campaign against Fort Hancock, a fortified Tuscarora town along the Neuse River. Although Barnwell’s first assault was unsuccessful, his use of cannon ultimately produced a negotiated settlement. The truce did not last long.
Shortly after negotiating the agreement, Barnwell imprisoned those who had accepted his terms. Not surprisingly, the colonel’s treachery sparked a series of Tuscarora raids during the summer of 1712, a situation exacerbated by food shortages, Quaker politicians’ refusal to support the war, and Governor Hyde’s death in September 1712.
Once again, South Carolinians responded with military force. In March 1713, Colonel James Moore Jr. led 50 colonists and 1,000 native allies against Nehucke, a Tuscarora town protected by pal Tuscarora War 787 sides, blockhouses, and escape tunnels. Moore obtained the victory only after setting fire to the town’s palisades. He later estimated that 558 natives had perished in the fight. Nearly 400 others were captured. Following the victory all but 180 of Moore’s soldiers deserted him, taking their slaves and plunder with them back to South Carolina.
Moore’s battle signaled the end of the Tuscarora War. By 1713 both the natives and North Carolina officials lacked the resources needed to prolong the conflict. News of Nehucke’s destruction also provoked residents of other lower Tuscarora settlements to escape the same fate by fleeing west to the headwaters of the Roanoke River. Therefore, on April 14, 1713, Thomas Pollock concluded peace with the remaining Tuscaroras.
Tom Blunt, declared “king” of all Tuscaroras, accepted a reservation established for the tribe between the Neuse River and the Pamlico River. Although the treaty did not end hostilities, it marked the end of Tuscarora’s dominance. Peaceful Tuscaroras, now the targets of frequent enemy raids, depended on their colonial neighbors for supplies and protection.
North Carolina officials approved relocation to a new reservation along the Roanoke River following the Catawba attacks during the 1720s. Later removals to New York to join the Iroquois Confederacy, which had adopted the Tuscarora war around 1722, finally brought the promise of revitalization to a defeated people.
Start Date: September 22, 1711
End Date: April 14, 1713
Read More – The Treaty of Paris 1763
