The Tuscarora tribe, meaning “hemp gatherers,” lived in North Carolina and had three sub-tribes. They fought two wars with the colony of North Carolina over land and were ultimately forced to migrate north to join the Six Nations. During the American Revolutionary War, they sided with the colonists and were attacked by other tribes. They eventually settled on the Tuscarora Reservation in upstate New York, while those who sided with the British were given lands on the Grand River Reservation in Ontario, Canada.
The Tuscarora tribe is a group of American Indians who were first recorded in history as living in what is now North Carolina. The name “Tuscarora” means “hemp gatherers”. The Tuscarora had permanent settlements on the Pamlico, Neuse, Tar, and Roanoke rivers. They were divided into three large sub-tribes, the Tuscarora; the Katenuaka, which means “people of the sunken pine”, and the Akawencaka.
History first mentions the Tuscarora tribe just a year before the first war the tribe fought with the colony of North Carolina. In 1710, a tribal delegation visited the Pennsylvania government to request permission to live there to escape the severe harassment the Tuscarora were experiencing in their home territory, including being captured and sold into slavery. Often, any Tuscarora that attempted to protect others from capture were killed. As with many other Native American tribes, they were not considered by white settlers to own the land they claimed. Therefore, they were sometimes shot for “trespassing” on their traditional tribal lands.
The Tuscarora tribe went to war over these issues in 1711. At what should have been the end of the war, a British official named John Barnwell, having profited little from his victories over the Indian tribes, violated his own treaty and seized many gods the Indians to be sold as slaves. This resulted in a second war in 1713. The weapons and resources of the British colonial governments made these wars against the Tuscarora tribe short.
After fighting and losing two wars over their territory and claim in North Carolina, the Tuscarora began moving north for refuge to the Five Nations, with whom they shared the Iroquois language and customs. They were considered related to the Iroquois, although they had moved south many years earlier. The minority of the tribe that remained in North Carolina were ultimately not recognized as part of the tribe. The northward migration continued for about 80 years, but as early as 1722, the Oneida tribe sponsored the Tuscarora into joining what is now the Six Nations.
During the American Revolutionary War, most people of the Tuscarora and Oneida tribes sided with the colonists against Great Britain. The Tuscarora, being of the smallest tribe among the Six Nations, were attacked by other tribes and scattered and scattered again. Eventually they congregated on the Seneca property on what has since become the present-day Tuscarora Reservation in upstate New York. Those members of the Tuscarora and Oneida tribes who sided with the British during the war were given lands on the Grand River Reservation in Ontario, Canada. Though few in number at that time, they joined many other members of the Six Nations of the Iroquois who supported the Crown during the Revolution.
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