The Tuscarora Indians were a Native American tribe located in New York, North Carolina, and Ontario. They joined the Iroquois League of Nations in 1722 and historically consisted of three tribes. They were known as “hemp gatherers” and spoke the Skarure language. The Tuscarora War was fought between the tribe and European settlers, leading to a permanent division of the tribe. Most Southern Tuscarora migrated north and settled in New York, while a small population remains in North Carolina.
The Tuscarora Indians are a Native American tribe traditionally located in New York, North Carolina and Ontario, Canada. The Tuscarora joined the Iroquois League of Nations, “The League of Peace and Power,” in 1722 as the sixth nation of the Iroquois League, which was located in the area that is now New York. Historically, the Tuscarora Indians consisted of three tribes: the Kautanohakau, “People of the Sunken Pine”; the Kauwetseka, which has an indeterminate meaning; and the Tuscarora, “hemp gatherers”. Hemp was used for many purposes by the Tuscarora Indians who lived in the region that would become North Carolina and consequently came to be known as the “hemp gatherers.” The official Tuscaroran language was Skarure, one of the languages of the northern group of Iroquois languages.
Very little is known about the history of the Tuscarora before the arrival of European settlers in North America. The Tuscarora are believed to have originally united as a people in the Great Lakes region around the same time that the Iroquois united into the Five Nations. Well before the arrival of European settlers, the Tuscarora had moved into the eastern region of present-day North Carolina, in which they were the most populous group of Native Americans, numbering between 1,200 and 5,000. European settlers first encountered the Tuscarora in what is now North Carolina and Virginia around 1653.
The Tuscarora War between the Tuscarora Indians and the British, Dutch, and German colonists was fought primarily between 1711 and 1713. During this period, the Tuscarora were divided into southern and northern regions, which ultimately led to a permanent division of the tribe. With Chief Tom Blunt as their leader, the group in the Northern Region befriended the Blount family of the Bertie Region of North Carolina – for whom it got its name – and would side with the settlers against the southern Tuscarora, led by Chief Hancock.
European settlers often raided Chief Hancock’s villages and took captives whom they sold into slavery. The southern Tuscarora had no choice but to fight, which started the Tuscarora War. With the assistance of Cape Blunt’s Northern Tuscarora, who had been promised leadership of the entire Tuscarora nation in exchange for their allegiance, the Southern Tuscarora were defeated. Most of the Southern Tuscarora began migrating north where, over the next 80 years, nearly all settled in New York and joined the Iroquois Nation, settling on what became the Tuscarora Reservation. Northern Tuscarora Indians would also side with American settlers in the American Revolutionary War.
The Southern Tuscarora Indians remained in North Carolina on the Bertie Reservation where they were treated poorly. The majority, dissatisfied with Chief Blunt’s leadership, emigrated without reforming as a people. The Tuscaroras eventually lost the Bertie County reservation, but a small population still remains in North Carolina.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
