State

Indian Woods They're located in Bertie County and at one time belonged to the Tuscaroras. The white men leased the land and the Indians arc* now trying to get it hack. «1/ HARRY JUST north of the Roanoke River in southern Bertie County, in a section which still contains terri¬ tory almost impenetrable by man and is tilled with game, lies the historic Indian Wood*. This eminent domain of the warring Tnscarora* was a grant from the white man for allegi¬ ance during the great massacre of 1711-12. Today the reservation boasts somi- of the largest and richest plantation* in North Carolina. Governor Charles Eden granted the ten-mile long reservation to King Tom Rlount and his 200 warriors on Juno 7, 1717. The grant, originally supposed to contain 10,000 acres, was found to hi- much larger when it was surveyed by order of tin- council. Ac¬ cording to the siirvoyor, Colonel Edward Moseley, it contained more than 10,000 acres. The region, lying along the Roanoke lowlands, was frontier country when King Rlount and hi* followers settled upon it. Hardly had they established themselves, however, when they were pressed by the onrush of pioneering white settler*. In April 1722, accord¬ ing to tho old records, the Indians presented a plea for protection to the council sitting at Edenton, declaring that the encroaching white people did not observe the iHiundnries of the reservation. Temporary Satisfaction In reply lo their request, General William Manic was ordered to go to the Indian Woods and lay out the land* anew. There was no further complaint until 1735, when the Tusca- roras again petitioned against the further encroachment of the pale¬ faces. To assuage any animosity the Indian» may have develo]ied. Gov¬ ernor Gabriel Johnston made a visit to the reservation. In his personal in¬ vestigation of complaints, he was told that the white settlers were selling rum lo the Indians, which prevented their taking part in hunting; that the keejKTs of tho ferries were not fair Z. TUCK Fit to them, hut charged them more than the law allowed, even refusing some¬ times to transport them across the great rivers. There was much harmony between the races, however: and when King Blount .lie-1 in 17.40. he was acclaimed the greatest of the Tusearora chief¬ tains. He was renowned for his friendship toward the white people, for his faithfulness in times of war and pestilence, and for his ability to control and kcop hi* people on the reservation. Evidently he know very little English, for interpreters were always sent with those who visited the Indian Woods. Fought With Washington The patriotism of the Tuscnroras was never questioned. When the French and Indian War broke out, the warriors of the reservation, now under control of the son of King Tom Rlount, wanted to fight for the colonists. A company of braves went to Virginia to join the fight on the frontier in 1750, hut Governor Din¬ widdle, finding some of them too diffi¬ cult to discipline, sent them home. Those who fought with Washington at Fort Duquejnc made good soldiers, in their fashion, and were granted a bounty of 105 pounds. Rut furthor encroachments on the Indian Woods in Bertie County be¬ came so alarming that the young braves lu-gan to leave the reservation. It was the frequent inroads made by the while settlers upon the reserva¬ tion that filled them with discourage¬ ment, even despair, and finally caused them to deride to migrate to New York and become a part of the great alliance known n« the Six Nations. However, the old men and women refused to go. They so loved the Ivoanok.- lowground* that they cast iheir lot, for better or for worse, among the white |>eople, and stayed on. They wore unwilling to depart from the homes of their forefathers. the graves of their loved chieftains, their familiar hunting grounds. Rut to get to New York was a problem. The Tuscarorns were not a rich tribe, and they were known for their aversion to hard Inlior; but money was raised for the long jour¬ ney. Wealthy settlers of the white race had been trying to get posses¬ sion of the fertile Roanoke bottom¬ land for many years. Three of these men of wealth, learning of the eof the young warriors, came rd with well-tilled purses. These men were Robin Jones, Thomas Pugh, and William Williams, who gave the Indians $1,500 upon the con¬ firmation of an 8,000-acre lease to run for 150 years. Thus it was that tho young and vigorous people of tho Indian Woods went away, leaving behind only old men and women, who had begged the North Carolina Assembly to confirm the lease and let their son* depart in peace. The lease was ratified at New Bern in December, 1706, largely be¬ cause of the efforts made by Alex¬ ander McCulloch, to whom the august triumvirate had promised a hundred acres of Roanoke lowground for his trouble. McCulloch got the land. Stopped With tho Moravians We have record of at least one stop the warriors made on their way to New York. The Moravians of Penn¬ sylvania wrote in the Bethlehem diaiy that 75 of them stopped at the mis¬ sion. These church people thought the Indians lazy, and they recorded that the braves "refused to hear reli¬ gion.*’ When the assembly at New Bern confirmed the lease, they made pro¬ vision that the Indian Woods was to revert to the state after the expira¬ tion of the lease, if the Tuscan© ra Nation was extinct. And since 1828, like a bolt out of Heaven, descendants of the original lessees have descended upon old Bertie County, demanding the restoration of their ancient patri¬ mony. From year to year, ever with the thought of final victory, they come to the low bottomlands of the Roanoke. There is n mixture of the tragic, the brave and the futile in the claim of the many descendants of ihc orig¬ inal Tuscaroras, who conic to Caro¬ lina and camp on the hanks of the Roanoke River, claiming to be chiefs of the Tuscarora tribe. Somewhat in the nature of an anachronism, they seek to turn back tho hands of the clock and revive conditions that existed two centuries ago. Some twenty years ago Chief Mount (Continued on page twenty-one)