USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina V. I, Pt. 1 > Part 18
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Many incidents of the butchery were heart-rending, and some of the escapes heroic. At the house of John Porter, Jr., his wife, Sarah Lillington, seeing an Indian in the act of dashing her infant's brains out against a tree, rushed upon him and rescued her child from his clutches. Captain Maule being present, he and Colonel Porter seized their guns and covering the flight of the females, successfully beat off the savages until they had reached the landing, where taking a boat they pushed out into the broad river and escaped, be- holding in the distance their home enveloped in flames.
For two days the murderous bands glutted themselves C. R., I, 826 with blood and revelled in spoil, but on the third day, the plantations being deserted, laden with booty and carrying eighty women and children preserved as captives, they re- turned to their fort on the Cotechney. The dead lay un- buried in that hot September sun, food for the vultures, the dogs and wolves. Many bodies were shockingly muti- lated, and others fancifully arranged by the savages in their wild and merry glee. Mr. Nevill. an old gentleman, was laid on his floor with a clean pillow beneath his head, which was ornamented with his wife's head-dress, and his body de- cently covered with new linen; while Mrs. Nevill was set upon her knees in the chimney corner, her hands lifted up as if in prayer ; and a son was laid out in the yard with a pillow under his head and a bunch of rosemary at his nose.
Fugitives from their homes, with their butchered friends unburied, the air polluted from their decomposing remains, the survivors of Bath County kept watch and ward at the asylums they had gained, in momentary dread of the reap- pearance of the foe, while the other settlements were paral- yzed with fear lest the whole colony should be destroyed.
Although a blow so sudden and unexpected, so terrible and shocking, at first staggered even the most resolute, Gov- ernor Hyde and the leaders in Albemarle speedily took such measures of safety as were open to them. Since the Quakers would not bear arms, but little aid could be expected from them, while the inhabitants west of the Chowan being them- selves apprehensive of attack, assembled in strongholds for
Effects of the massacre
--
184
THE TUSCARORA WAR
C. R., I, 815
Oct. 15, 1711
171 their own protection. But factions were hushed and former opponents vied with each other in patriotic efforts for the common weal. Information was hurriedly despatched to Governor Spotswood, who caused some of the Virginia militia to collect near the Tuscarora towns bordering on the Virginia line, and sought to enlist the upper Tuscaroras in the suppression of the hostile Indians. As an inducement to engage their assistance, he offered six blankets for the head of every enemy they would bring him and "the usual price for the women and children as slaves." These towns, however, asked for a month to consider the proposal, and then determined to remain neutral ; but fearful of their defec- tion, the hostile tribes sent their women and children toward the Cape Fear, leaving only the warriors in their own terri- tory; and then they again began to roam throughout the Pamlico region, and collisions between their bands and the inhabitants were of frequent occurrence.
Active war C. R., I, 828
Indeed, with the opening of October, companies having been organized and equipped, active warfare was inaugu- rated ; and scouting parties sent out from the forts were am- bushed and often sustained heavy losses. A company of fifty C. R., I, 826 men approached one of the Indian strongholds and was re- pulsed by three hundred braves. Early in that month Cap- tain Brice. who commanded at Bath, sent off some fifty men for special service, and the Indians fell upon them in the woods. and for three days a desultory battle was maintained, the whites eventually being driven in with considerable loss.
Taking advantage of the absence of this detachment, the garrison then being reduced to only a hundred men. another force of Indians attacked it, while a number of Indian prisoners within the fort rose and took the whites in the rear. The males of the latter. however, were quickly de- spatched and the women and children secured, and then the assault was successfully repulsed. Of the captives within the fort, thirty-nine women and children were then sent abroad and sold as slaves.
Gale's mission successful C. R., 1, 828
Christopher Gale, the receiver-general, having been sent to Charleston by sea to solicit aid, the South Carolina Assembly promptly responded with assistance. Colonel Hugh Grange, with others, was elected to secure the neces-
185
SOUTH CAROLINA SENDS AID
sary supplies, and Colonel John Barnwell was appointed to the command. Gale hastened back on his return voyage from Charleston, bringing a considerable supply of ammu- nition, but he was taken prisoner by the French and was detained for several months. In the interval during his absence, the North Carolina government receiving no infor- mation from him relative to the result of his mission, again sent a despatch boat to Charleston asking aid, and Barn- well's force, largely drawn from friendly Indians, was hur- ried forward.
North Carolina was the dividing ground between the northern and southern Indians, and there was no affinity between the Indians of South Carolina, who had originally come from beyond the Mississippi River, and those of east- ern North Carolina, who had at some previous time migrated from the northward; and the southern Indians were not averse to availing themselves of this opportunity of attack- ing the Tuscaroras and the neighboring tribes, expecting to make profit from the sale of their prisoners as slaves.
Barnwell, his troops consisting of fifty whites and some Cherokees and Creeks, passed along the Santee to the Con- garees, then up the Wateree River to the vicinity of the Catawbas, near where Charlotte is, embodying detachments of all these tribes in his force. He then came east to the Yadkin and crossed the Cape Fear below the junction of the Haw and Deep and then pursued a northeast course, striking the Cotechney at an Indian town called Torhunte, eventually arriving on the lower Neuse on January 28th .* He seemed to have followed a trading path used by the Indians and traders leading from Torhunte to the Catawbas, a shorter course than that generally taken by the Virginia traders, who, crossing the Roanoke higher up, came by a route near Oxford and Hillsboro to the trading ford near Salisbury and then down to the Catawbas. But his progress through the wilderness was difficult and attended with much delay and suffering for the want of provisions.
*He had 218 Cherokees under Captains Harford and Turstons. 79 Creeks under Captain Hastings, 41 Catawbas under Cautey, and 28 Yamassees under Captain Pierce.
1711
McCrady's South Carolina, I, 499 1712
186
THE TUSCARORA WAR
1712
Barnwell acts vigorously
C. R., I, 839 On reaching New Bern. Barnwell acted with great vigor, and immediately fell upon the hostiles some twenty miles above New Bern, killing three hundred and taking more than a hundred prisoners. But as soon as this victory was Hawks, II, 537 won, half of his force, satisfied with their booty, deserted him and returned to South Carolina, carrying their prison- ers, who were shipped to the West Indies to be sold into slavery. Notwithstanding his force was now much reduced. Barnwell pursued the enemy until they retired, into a stronghold which they had fortified on a high and inacces- sible bluff overlooking the river, which could not be attacked with advantage. Withdrawing from that section, he led his Indians some thirty miles to the east of New Bern, where he encountered the Cores and drove them from their towns, and pursued them with such fury that a great many were slain. On his return he was reinforced by two hundred and fifty whites, under Captains Brice, Boyd, and Mit- chell, and together they assaulted Fort Cotechney, or Han- cock's Fort. near the site of Snow Hill, but were driven off. Nevertheless, the people felt so relieved by his pres- ence, and were so elated from their former despondency by the result of his movements, that when the Assembly met it adopted an address to the Lords Proprietors in high praise of him.
Fort Cotechney
War measures
C. R., I, 837-839
April, 1712
Assembly dissolved, May 10, 1712
To carry on the war heavy duties had been laid on both exportations and importations, and now the legislature authorized the issue of £4,000 of paper currency, the first of such currency issued by the colony ; and urgent applica- tion was made to Virginia for two hundred white soldiers from that province. Governor Spotswood undertook to raise such a force, but ascertaining that the North Carolina authorities had made no provision either for their pay or their maintenance, and meeting with obstacles because of opposition in the Virginia Assembly, he found it imprac- ticable to proceed. Under the circumstances, as the expendi- ture would be for the Lords Proprietors, he suggested that the territory north of the Albemarle should be mortgaged to secure the repayment of the money that would have to be advanced for the purpose, but since the Assembly had no
187
A CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES
authority to enter into such an agreement, those terms could not be accepted by it, and the desired assistance was not fur- nished by Virginia.
In April, Barnwell proposed to make another attack on Fort Cotechney, and at the suggestion of De Graffenried, who, having been released, was now again in the settlement, some cannon were carried through the forest, borne on long shafts with a horse in front and one behind, and these were well placed to bombard the stronghold. When all was in readiness for the assault the cannon were discharged and hand grenades were thrown into the fort; and these unac- customed instruments of warfare so terrified the Indians that they begged for a truce. A council of war was held by Barnwell and his officers, and since it was feared that the large number of women and children held prisoners by the Indians would be massacred in the melee if the fort were carried by assault, a truce was granted upon the condition that all the white prisoners should be immediately released, and with the expectation that it would eventually be fol- lowed by a lasting peace.
This failure to press the Indians to an extremity at that favorable time created dissatisfaction on the part of the governor and his council with Barnwell, who nevertheless justified it by in turn complaining that his troops were not furnished with provision and that a cessation of the siege was desirable on that account.
Deplorable indeed was the condition of the unfortunate captives- now restored to freedom, being bereft of husbands and fathers and their homes destroyed by the barbarous savages ; widows and orphans. they were helpless depen- dents upon the charity of people whose own necessities were great, but for the moment they were transported with joy at their happy deliverance from impending death, and with grateful hearts blessed those who had rescued them from a fearful fate.
Barnwell's Indians were disappointed at the truce and ces- sation of operations, as they had hoped to take more prison- ers and to profit by their sale ; but he withdrew to New Bern, where provisions could be had : and after a few weeks, under the pretence of a good peace, he lured the eastern Indians
1712
Barnwell makes a truce
Hyde dissatisfied with Barnwell
Barnwell's Indians return to South Carolina
188
THE TUSCARORA W.R
1712
to the vicinity of Core village, where his savages fell upon them unawares and took prisoners many women and children.
Barnwell leaves North Carolina C. R., I 904
The South Carolina Indians now hurried home with their captives, leaving Barnwell and the companies raised in Albemarle to carry on the hostilities which this breach of faith naturally engendered. On July 5th Barnwell himself was wounded, and taking shipping, he returned to Charles- ton, promising, however, to use his best endeavors to have other assistance sent.
Hostilities renewed
Summer of 1712
As long as Barnwell's force was on the Pamlico the enemy had been held in check, but now that the country was clear, furious at the treacherous breach of the truce, the hostile Indians became very active, and again was the region south of the Albemarle a scene of bitter warfare. The farms were deserted, the crops abandoned, and the inhabitants again assembled in their garrisons for mutual protection; while around those places of refuge hostile bands incessantly prowled, scalping all who fell into their hands. A small number of Yamassees, however, had remained, and under Captain Mackay did good service near Bath; but the sav- ages roamed at will throughout the country at large, devas- tating the plantations and confining the people to their forts ; and so another summer was passed with no crops made and the Pamlico and new settlements in a state of siege.
A call to arms ex masse C. R., I, 877
Forts erected
Fully aroused to the necessity of decisive action, the Assembly now made a draft of the entire fighting population to subdue the enemy, and all who would not enroll them- selves as soldiers were to forfeit £5 for the maintenance of the struggle. In addition to the garrisoned plantations, two considerable forts were now erected, one at Core Point, on the sound, in the vicinity of the Core Indians, and one at Reading's plantation, on the Tar River, in the section open to the Cotechneys. But although the emergency was so great, many were discontented at the strenuous measures of the administration, and some of the inhabitants left their homes and fled to Virginia.
189
THE WAR PROSECUTED
In the midst of these difficulties the yellow fever broke out in the colony, and Colonel Hyde, who had received his com- mission as governor only that May, was taken with a violent fever and died on September 8th, after a week's illness. Fortunately, Colonel Pollock was ready to continue the administration as president of the council. for he had large experience and great ability, and could command the confi- dence not only of the inhabitants, but of the authorities in Virginia and of South Carolina. A packet ship liad been employed to ply between the province and Charleston, and Governor Craven had already agreed to send an additional force of friendly Indians, the charges to be paid in North Carolina bills, and President Pollock sought to infuse into the people confidence and hope, although at the moment affairs seemed desperate. Captain Byrd, who had been sent on an expedition, fell into an ambuscade, and he himself was killed and many of his men slain; and in September Colonel Mitchell and Colonel Mackay, who had with them one hundred and forty men, were defeated and compelled to abandon the enterprise they had undertaken.
There was unexpected delay in starting the expedition from South Carolina, but Governor Craven hurried on some barrels of powder and shot and twenty guns, which were supplied to the forces then at Coretown Fort, who were awaiting the arrival of reinforcements before again pro- ceeding to assault Fort Cotechney. In the meanwhile the Indians had attacked Fort Reading, on the Tar, and also had made an assault on the garrison at Colonel Jones's plantation, near the mouth of the Pamlico, but were successfully re- pulsed in both instances.
Pollock's truce with King Blount
But while preparing for a protracted struggle, Colonel Pollock had wisely renewed negotiations with Tom Blount, the king of the Upper Tuscaroras, and toward the end of September succeeded in arranging with him to seize Han- cock, the chief of the Cotechney Indians, and bring him in alive with a view to making peace. Indeed, the hostiles themselves were in distress for the want of food; and at length, through King Blount, a truce was agreed on to last
1712
The death of Hyde, Sept 8 C. R., I, 869
Pollock succeeds
Losses
Sept., 1712
C. R., I, 882
C. R., I, 880, 88 3
190
THE TUSCARORA WAR
1712
until January Ist, and in the interval the Tuscaroras were to cut off all those who had participated in the massacre and were to surrender a number of the chief men from each of the six Indian forts as hostages for the good behavior of the hostile tribes.
James Moore arrives Dec. 1, 1712
C. R., I, 892
Before the truce had expired, the new army from South Carolina, consisting of thirty-three whites and a thousand friendly Indians under Colonel James Moore arrived on the Neuse, and moved to the Chowan for convenience in obtain- ing needed provisions until it was seen whether the Indians would surrender the hostages as agreed on. This they faile.1 to do, and preparations were made to strike a blow that would break their power.
1713
The facilities for reaching the Pamlico and Neuse and even Core Fort by water transportation had been of great ad- vantage during the war, and now the necessary supplies were sent forward by boat, and on January 17th Colonel Moore marched from Chowan, but a heavy snow falling, he was obliged to remain inactive at Fort Reading on the Tar until February. In the meantime, the Indians had fortified them- selves in two strongholds, one, Cohunche, which was Han- cock's fort on the Cotechney, and the other called Fort Nohoroco.
Indian forts
He takes Fort Nohoroco
March 23, 1713
C. R., II, 19, 27-29
At length, all being in readiness and his army being rein- forced by a considerable number of whites raised in the colony, among them a company under Captain Maule, on March 20th Colonel Moore invested Fort Nohoroco, and after three days' hot fighting took it. His loss was 46 whites and 91 friendly Indians, while he took 392 prisoners and 192 "scalps," and reported 200 others killed and burned within the fort and 166 killed and taken outside of the fort in a scout. In all, the Indian loss was about Soo. This was per- haps the severest battle ever fought with the Indians up to that time. It broke the power of the Tuscaroras, and al- though there were emissaries from the New York Indians, urging them to persist in hostilities, they now made peace, surrendering all of their prisoners and delivering up twenty of their chief men to Colonel Moore.
Indian power broken
The Tuscaroras move north
Soon afterward, the greater part of this powerful tribe, including those in Fort Cohunche, retired up the Roanoke
19I
THE INDIAN POWER BROKEN
and removed to New York and became the sixth nation there. Hardly had the fort been taken, before many of the South Carolina Indians hurried home to sell their prisoners ; so that Colonel Moore was left with only one hundred and eighty of those who came with him. These scouted the woods, seeking other prisoners until June, when Colonel Moore collected them and marched against the Mattamus- keets, who had fallen on the inhabitants of Croatan and of Roanoke Island. and on the planters of Alligator River and had butchered forty-five of them. On the approach of- Colonel Moore, these savages quickly dispersed in the swamps of Hyde, but Moore pursued them with vigor and broke them up.
In the meantime another detachment of friendly Indians, under Major Maurice Moore, hoping to take more prison- ers, had started from South Carolina; but Colonel Pol- lock stopped them and sent them back; and in September Colonel Moore himself returned home, having won high praise for his bravery and wisdom, and leaving many grate- ful hearts among those he had rescued from captivity and saved from death. His brother Maurice, however, remained, and having married Mrs. Swann, the widow of Colonel Swann, became the brother-in-law of Edward Moseley, and being allied with the strongest family connection in the province, for a generation exerted a large influence in its affairs.
During these perilous times many of the Huguenots who had established themselves on the exposed frontier accom- panied their pastor, Philippe de Richebourg, and joined their brethren on the Santee: while De Graffenried, who after a six weeks' detention with the Indians had been released through the efforts of Governor Spotswood, but who had for himself and his colonists made a treaty of neutrality with the hostile Indians, now sought to protect his colonists, and later intended to remove them to the Potomac; but a series of misfortunes interfered. and after mortgaging the land he had obtained from the Lords Proprietors to Colonel Pollock to secure the advances made for his people. in the spring of 1713 he sailed from New York for England. His Swiss and Palatines remained, and, indeed, the pacification of
1713
C. R., II, 30
C. R., II, 39, 45
Maurice Moore arrives
De Graffen- ried returns to England
192
THE TUSCARORA WAR
1713
MSS. Records L'arteret County
the hostile Indians was followed by a quick expansion of the settlements to the southward. On Core Sound and North River lands patented "during Cary's usurpation" were now occupied; and in October, 1713, the town of Beaufort was laid off into lots, which were sold to pur- chasers. The following February tracts of land were taken up on Bogue Sound. To the northward, in November. 1713. a grant was issued to John Porter for 7000 acres between Drum Inlet and Topsail Inlet, including Point Lookout. It was recited that this land had been surveyed before the in- structions prohibiting such grants.
Harmony in the colony C. R., II, 145 De Graffen- ried's Narra- tive
All the inhabitants being concerned in the common de- fence a spirit of harmony and co-operation was fostered, and Colonel Pollock bore testimony that the Quakers had con- tributed more aid than he had expected from them : but he never became reconciled to Moseley, attributing to his in- fluence the previous internecine trouble of the colony, and ascribing to him a purpose to cause Barnwell to be ap- pointed governor in place of Hyde, and alleging that Barn- well's truce with the Indians was a movement to that end. This appears, however, to be only another illustration of the distorted views which personal antagonisms and animosi- ties were responsible for in that period of our history; and indeed Governor Spotswood took occasion to recommend to Pollock that he should abate somewhat his enmity to Moseley.
After Colonel Hyde was established in the government, the proceedings of the Cary courts were declared void, and doubtless the justices were superseded by other appoint- ments. William Glover, who would naturally have been des- ignated as the presiding justice, was dead in October, 1711, and the court was then presided over by Nathaniel Chevin. one of the oldest of the councillors. On the return of Christopher Gale to the province after his capture by the French on his way from his mission to South Carolina for aid, he was appointed colonel of the militia of Bath County, and in July, 1712, he began to execute the office of chief justice, and in March, 1713, used that title. In Janu- ary, 1716, he received his commission as chief justice from
March, 1713
8. Morely
1. ST. THOMAS'S CHURCH, BATH
2. PHILIP LUDWELL
3. CHRISTOPHER GALE
4. BOOK- PLATE AND AUTOGRAPH OF EDWARD MOSELEY
193
EDEN BECOMES GOVERNOR
the Lords Proprietors. As far as appears, he was the first chief justice of the province .*
1714
Charles Eden governor
On learning of the death of Governor Hyde, the Lords Proprietors appointed Charles Eden to succeed him, and the new governor arrived in the colony and took the oath of office in May, 1714. Although all was quiet at that time, shortly thereafter about thirty braves of the Cores and other neighboring tribes, who had suffered so heavily during the war, in revenge for their losses, began a systematic course of irregular warfare. One day they would massacre in one vicinity, and a few days later they would appear many miles away and cut off unsuspecting families. And soon their numbers increased until they were estimated at two hundred
*Dr. Hawks mentions that Edward Moseley was chief justice from 1707 to 1711. The writer has been unable to find that there was any chief justice in the province before 1713. Major Sam Swann was the senior justice of the general court, after the governor ceased presiding over the court, from 1697 until his retirement in 1703. Then William Glover. who was next in commission, was the senior justice until 1706, when, on the departure of Governor Cary from the colony. Glover became president of the Council, and Christopher Gale, who had been a justice of the court from 1703, became the presiding justice. He presided during the year 1707, and perhaps until the overthrow of the Glover government in the summer of 1708, when with Pollock and Glover he probably left the colony. On the accession to power of the Cary faction. in 1708. all court proceedings for nine months were annulled and declared void : and on the incoming of Hyde, three years later. the court proceedings for the two years of Cary's administration were likewise annulled. Moseley may have been chief justice during Cary's administration, but the writer has found nothing to indicate it. He was not licensed to practise until 1714. In I711 the court was held by Nathaniel Clevin, Francis de la Mere, and Jonathan Jacocks. At the general court held July 29, 1712. the justices were Christopher Gale, William de la Mere, Thomas Relfe, and Thomas Garrett. There was no chief justice. At the general court, March, 1713, Gale presided under the title of chief justice. Somewhat earlier, perhaps, the receiver-general had instructions from England to pay £6o for the support of the chief justice, and in April. 1713. the council resolved that Gale was entitled to this compensation. "as he had executed that office from July 1. 1712." He executed the office, but probably held no appointment as chief justice. It seems that because of this provision of fo for the support of the chief justice, Gale was appointed to that office in the spring of 1713. In 1715 the Lords Proprietors commissioned him as chief justice, and he was sworn in January 21, 1716.
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