The Tuscarora (in

Tuscarora Tuscarora may refer to the following: First nations and Native American people and culture * Tuscarora people **''Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation'' (1960) * Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people * ...

''Skarù:ręˀ'', "hemp gatherers" or "Shirt-Wearing People") are a Native American tribe and

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

band government In Canada, an Indian band or band (french: bande indienne, link=no), sometimes referred to as a First Nation band (french: bande de la Première Nation, link=no) or simply a First Nation, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subjec ...

of the

Iroquoian The Iroquoian languages are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking. As of 2020, all surviving Iroquoian la ...

family, with members today in New York, USA, and

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. They coalesced as a people around the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

, likely about the same time as the rise of the Five Nations of the historic

Iroquois Confederacy The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

, also Iroquoian-speaking and based then in present-day New York. Well before the arrival of Europeans in North America, the Tuscarora had migrated south and settled in the region now known as Eastern Carolina. The most numerous

Indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

in the area, they lived along the Roanoke, Neuse,

Tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bit ...

(''Torhunta'' or ''Narhontes''), and

Pamlico The Pamlico (also ''Pampticough'', ''Pomouik'', ''Pomeiok'') were American Indians of North Carolina. They spoke an Algonquian language also known as ''Pamlico'' or ''Carolina Algonquian''. Geography The Pamlico Indians lived on the P ...

rivers.F.W. Hodge, "Tuscarora"
''Handbook of American Indians'', Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1906, at AccessGenealogy, accessed 28 Oct 2009 European explorers first encountered the Tuscarora people on land later incorporated into the colonies of North Carolina and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. After the 18th-century wars of 1711–1713 (known as the

Tuscarora War The Tuscarora War was fought in North Carolina from September 10, 1711 until February 11, 1715 between the Tuscarora people and their allies on one side and European American settlers, the Yamassee, and other allies on the other. This was con ...

) against English colonists and their Indian allies, most of the surviving Tuscarora left North Carolina and migrated north to

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and New York, over a period of 90 years. They aligned with the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

in New York, because of their ancestral linguistic and cultural connections. Sponsored by the Oneida, they were accepted in 1722 as the Sixth Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy, or ''

Haudenosaunee The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...

''. After the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, in which they and the Oneida allied with the colonists, the Tuscarora shared reservation land with the Oneida before gaining their own. The Tuscarora Nation of New York is federally recognized. Those Tuscarora who allied with the British in the American Revolution resettled with other Iroquois tribes in present-day

, where they are part of the

Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation Six Nations (or Six Nations of the Grand River, french: Réserve des Six Nations, see, Ye:i’ Níónöëdzage:h) is demographically the largest First Nations reserve in Canada. As of the end of 2017, it has a total of 27,276 members, 12,848 of w ...

. Only the tribes in New York and Ontario have been recognized on a government-to-government basis by the respective national governments. After the migration was completed in the early 18th century, the Tuscarora in New York no longer considered those remaining in North Carolina as members of the tribal nation. Since the late 20th century, some North Carolina persons claiming Tuscarora ancestry had formed bands in which they identify as Tuscarora. As of 2010, several bands in

Robeson County Robeson County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of North Carolina and is its largest county by land area. Its county seat is and largest city is Lumberton. The county was formed in 1787 from part of Bladen County and named in ...

have united on an interim basis as the Tuscarora Nation One Fire Council.

History

The historic nation encountered by Europeans in North Carolina had three tribes: *Kǎ'tě’nu'ā'kā', Katenuaka, Ga-te-no-wah-ga, or Kautanohakau ("People of the Submerged Pine-tree"), *Akawěñtc'ākā', Akawenteaka, Akawenchaka, Ag-wan-te-ga, Kauwetsaka, Kauwetseka or Cauwintch-AAga ("People of the Water", this was also the autonym of the ''Kauwets'a:ka'' or

Meherrin The Meherrin Nation (autonym: Kauwets'a:ka, "People of the Water") is one of seven state-recognized nations of Native Americans in North Carolina. They reside in rural northeastern North Carolina, near the river of the same name on the Virgini ...

.) *Skarū'ren', Skuarureaka or Sca-ru-re-ah-ga ("Hemp Gatherers"), today better known as Tuscarora. These affiliations continued to be active as independent groups after the tribe migrated to New York and, later, Ontario. F.W. Hodge, an early 19th-century historian, wrote that the Tuscarora in North Carolina traditionally were said to occupy the "country lying between the sea shores and the mountains, which divide the Atlantic states," in which they had 24 large towns and could muster about 6,000 warriors, probably meaning persons. In late 17th and early 18th-century North Carolina, European colonists reported two primary branches of the Tuscarora: a northern group led by Chief Tom Blunt, and a southern group led by Chief Hancock. Varying accounts c. 1708 – 1710 estimated the number of Tuscarora

warrior A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...

s as from 1200 to 2000. Historians estimate their total population may have been three to four times that number. Chief Blunt occupied the area around what is present-day

Bertie County, North Carolina Bertie County ( , with both syllables stressed) is a county located in the northeast area of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,934. Its county seat is Windsor. The county was created in 1722 as Ber ...

, on the

Roanoke River The Roanoke River ( ) runs long through southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina in the United States. A major river of the southeastern United States, it drains a largely rural area of the coastal plain from the eastern edge of the App ...

. Chief Hancock lived closer to present-day

New Bern New Bern, formerly called Newbern, is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 29,524, which had risen to an estimated 29,994 as of 2019. It is the county seat of Craven County and t ...

, occupying the area south of the

Pamlico River The Pamlico
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

. Chief Blunt became close friends with the colonial Blount family of the Bertie region and lived peacefully. By contrast, Chief Hancock had to deal with more numerous colonists encroaching on his community. They raided his villages and kidnapped people to sell into

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. The colonists transported some Tuscarora to

to sell into slavery. Both groups of Tuscarora suffered substantial population losses after exposure to

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago a ...

infectious diseases An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Europeans. Both also suffered territorial encroachment. By 1711 Chief Hancock believed he had to attack the settlers to fight back. Chief Tom Blunt did not join him in the war. The southern Tuscarora collaborated with the ''

'', the ''Cothechney'', the ''

Coree The Coree (also Connamox, Cores, Corennines, Connamocksocks, Coranine Indians, Neuse River Indians) were a very small Native American tribe, who once occupied a coastal area south of the Neuse River in southeastern North Carolina in the area no ...

'', the ''Mattamuskeet'' and the '' Matchepungoe'' nations to attack the settlers in a wide range of locations within a short time period. Their principal targets were against the planters on the Roanoke, Neuse and Trent rivers, as well as the city of Bath. They attacked on September 22, 1711, beginning the

. The allied Indian tribes killed hundreds of settlers, including several key political figures among the colonists. Governor Edward Hyde called out the North Carolina

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

and secured the assistance of

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, which provided 600 militia and 360 allied Native Americans commanded by Col. John Barnwell. In 1712, this force attacked the southern Tuscarora and other nations in

Craven County Craven County is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 100,720. Its county seat is New Bern. The county was created in 1705 as Archdale Precinct from the now-extinct Bath County. It was rename ...

at Fort Narhontes, on the banks of the Neuse River. The Tuscarora were "defeated with great slaughter; more than three hundred were killed, and one hundred made prisoners." The governor offered Chief Blunt leadership of the entire Tuscarora Nation if he would assist in defeating Chief Hancock. Blunt succeeded in capturing Hancock, who was tried and executed by North Carolina officials. In 1713 the Southern Tuscarora were defeated at their

Fort Neoheroka Fort Neoheroka (or just Neoheroka, Neyuherú·kęʼRudes, B. ''Tuscarora English Dictionary'' Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999 in Tuscarora), or Nooherooka, is the name of a stronghold constructed in what is now Greene County, North Car ...

(formerly spelled ''Neherooka''), with 900 killed or captured in the battle. Fort Neoheroka Historical Marker

After the defeat in the battle of 1713, about 1500 Tuscarora fled north to New York to join the

, while as many as 1500 additional Tuscarora sought refuge in the colony of Virginia. Although some accepted tributary status in Virginia, the majority of the surviving Tuscarora are believed to have returned to North Carolina.Bruce Trigger, ed., ''Handbook of American Indians''; Volume 15, 1978, pp. 287–288 In 1715, seventy warriors of the southern Tuscarora went to South Carolina to assist colonists against the

Yamasee The Yamasees (also spelled Yamassees or Yemassees) were a multiethnic confederation of Native Americans who lived in the coastal region of present-day northern coastal Georgia near the Savannah River and later in northeastern Florida. The Yamas ...

. Those 70 warriors later asked permission to have their wives and children join them, and settled near

Port Royal, South Carolina Port Royal is a town on Port Royal Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 14,220 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort metropolitan area. Port Royal is home to Marine Cor ...

. Under the leadership of Tom Blunt, the Tuscarora who remained in North Carolina signed a treaty with the colony in June 1718. It granted them a tract of land on the Roanoke River in what is now

Bertie County Bertie County ( , with both syllables stressed) is a county located in the northeast area of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,934. Its county seat is Windsor. The county was created in 1722 as Berti ...

. This was the area occupied by Chief Blunt and his people. The colonies of Virginia and North Carolina both recognized Tom Blunt, who had taken the last name Blount, as " King Tom Blount" of the Tuscarora. Both colonies agreed to consider as friendly only those Tuscarora who accepted Blount's leadership.Bruce Trigger, ed., ''Handbook of American Indians''; Volume 15, 1978, p. 287 The remaining Southern Tuscarora were forced to remove from their villages on the Pamlico River and relocate to the villages of ''Ooneroy'' and ''Resootskeh'' in Bertie County. In 1722, the Bertie County Reservation, which would officially become known as "Indian Woods," was chartered by the colony. As colonial settlement surrounded Indian Woods, the Tuscarora suffered discrimination and other acts: they were overcharged or denied use of ferries, restricted in hunting, and cheated in trade; their timber was illegally logged, and their lands were continuously encroached upon by herders and squatters. Over the next several decades, the colonial government continually reduced the Tuscarora tract, forcing cessions of land to the encroaching settlers. They sold off portions of the land in deals often designed to take advantage of the Tuscarora. Many Tuscarora were not satisfied with the leadership of Tom Blount, and decided to leave the reservation. In 1722 300 fighting men; along with their wives, children, and the elderly, resided at Indian Woods. By 1731 there were 200 warriors, in 1755 there were 100, with a total population at Indian Woods of 301. When in 1752 Moravian

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

visited the reservation, they had noted "many had gone north to live on the Susquehanna" and that "others are scattered as the wind scatters smoke." This refers to the Tuscarora migrating to central-western New York to live with the Oneida and other Iroquois nations. In 1763 and 1766 additional Tuscarora migrated north to settle with other Iroquoian peoples in northern and western Pennsylvania (where the

Susquehannock The Susquehannock people, also called the Conestoga by some English settlers or Andastes were Iroquoian Native Americans who lived in areas adjacent to the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, ranging from its upper reaches in the southern p ...

and

Erie people The Erie people (also Eriechronon, Riquéronon, Erielhonan, Eriez, Nation du Chat) were Indigenous people historically living on the south shore of Lake Erie. An Iroquoian group, they lived in what is now western New York, northwestern Pennsylvani ...

both had territory) and New York. By 1767 only 104 persons were residing on the reservation in Bertie County. In 1804 the last band to leave

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

went to New York. By then, only "10 to 20 Old families" remained at Indian Woods. In 1802 the last Indian Woods Tuscarora negotiated a treaty with the United States, by which land would be held for them that they could lease. As the government never ratified the treaty, the North Carolina Tuscarora viewed the treaty as null and void. In 1831 the Indian Woods Tuscarora sold the remaining rights to their lands. By this point their had been reduced to . Although without a reservation, some Tuscarora descendants remained in the southern regions of the state. They intermarried with other residents. In 1971 the Tuscarora in

sought to get an accounting of their lands and rents due them under the unratified treaty of 1803.''Skaroreh Katenuaka'' Nation
, (North Carolina) Official Website At least three bands have organized in Robeson County. In 2010 they united as one group.

Migration north

The

Five Nations of New York had penetrated as far as the Tuscarora homeland in North Carolina by 1701, and nominally controlled the entire frontier territory lying in between. Following their discovery of a linguistically related tribe living beyond Virginia, they were more than happy to accommodate their distant cousins within the

Iroquois Constitution The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

as the "Sixth Nation", and to resettle them in safer grounds to the north. (The

had driven tribes of rival Indians out of Western New York to South Carolina during the

Beaver Wars The Beaver Wars ( moh, Tsianì kayonkwere), also known as the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars (french: Guerres franco-iroquoises) were a series of conflicts fought intermittently during the 17th century in North America throughout t ...

several decades earlier, not far from where the Tuscarora resided.) Beginning about 1713 after the war, contingents of Tuscarora began leaving North Carolina for the north. They established a main village at present-day

Martinsburg, West Virginia Martinsburg is a city in and the seat of Berkeley County, West Virginia, in the tip of the state's Eastern Panhandle region in the lower Shenandoah Valley. Its population was 18,835 in the 2021 census estimate, making it the largest city in the E ...

, on what is still known as Tuscarora Creek. Another group stopped in 1719–1721 in present-day

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

along the

Monocacy River The Monocacy River () is a free-flowing left tributary to the Potomac River, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean via the Chesapeake Bay. The river is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data ...

, on the way to join the Oneida nation in western New York. After white settlers began to pour into what is now the Martinsburg area from around 1730, the Tuscarora continued northward to join those in western New York. Other Tuscarora bands sojourned in the Juniata River valley of Pennsylvania, before reaching New York. The present area from Martinsburg,

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

west to Berkeley Springs has roads, creeks, and land still named after the Tuscarora people, including a development in

Hedgesville Hedgesville is a town in Berkeley County, West Virginia, United States, in the state's Eastern Panhandle region. The population was 318 at the 2010 census. The town sits on WV 9, and is roughly 13 miles east of Berkeley Springs. In addition to ...

called "The Woods" where the street names contain reference to the Tuscarora people, and which contains a burial mound adopted by the West Virginia Division of Culture as an Archaeological Site in 1998. There is record circa 1763 that some Tuscarora had not migrated to the Iroquois, and remained in the Panhandle instead, stayed and fought under Shawnee Chief

Cornstalk Cornstalk (c. 1720? – November 10, 1777) was a Shawnee leader in the Ohio Country in the 1760s and 1770s. His name in the Shawnee language was Hokoleskwa. Little is known about his early life. He may have been born in the Province of Pennsylv ...

. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, part of the Tuscarora and Oneida nations in New York allied with the rebel colonists. Most of the warriors of the other four Iroquois nations supported

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, and many participated in battles throughout New York. They were the main forces that attacked frontier settlements of the central Mohawk and Cherry valleys. Late in the war, the pro-British Tuscarora followed Chief

Joseph Brant Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (March 1743 – November 24, 1807) was a Mohawk people, Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York (state), New York, who was closely associated with Kingdom of Great Britain, Great B ...

of the Mohawk, other British-allied tribes, and

Loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

north to

, then called Upper Canada by the British. They took part in establishing the reserve of the

in what became

, Canada. In 1803 a final contingent of southern Tuscarora migrated to New York to join the reservation of their tribe in

Niagara County Niagara County is in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 212,666. The county seat is Lockport. The county name is from the Iroquois word ''Onguiaahra''; meaning ''the strait'' or ''thunder of waters''. Niag ...

. After that, the Tuscarora in New York no longer considered southern remnants as part of their nation. Some descendants of the southern remnants have continued to identify as Tuscarora and have organized some bands. Through the generations they had intermarried with neighbors but identify culturally as Tuscarora. During the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

in the British attack on

Lewiston, New York Lewiston is a town in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 15,944 at the 2020 census. The town and its contained village are named after Morgan Lewis, a governor of New York. The Town of Lewiston is on the western bord ...

on December 19, 1813, a band of Tuscarora living in a village on an escarpment just above the town fought to save Americans fleeing the invasion force. The British were accompanied by allied

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans * Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people * Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...

and some American

Tories A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

disguised as Mohawk. The American militia fled, leaving only the Tuscarora—outnumbered 30 to one—to fight a delaying action that allowed some townspeople to escape. The Tuscarora sent a party of braves to blow horns along the escarpment and suggest a larger force, while another party attacked downhill with war whoops, to give an exaggerated impression of their numbers. The British force burned Lewiston, as well as the Tuscarora village, then undefended. The Tuscarora have continued to struggle to protect their land in New York. In the mid-20th century, New York City commissioner

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...

generated controversy by negotiating with the Tuscarora Sachem council and purchasing 550 acres of the Tuscarora reservation for the reservoir of the new hydroelectric project along the Niagara River, downriver from Niagara Falls. (At the time of first power generation in February 1962, it was the largest project in the world.) The plant continues to generate cheap electricity for households located from the Niagara area to as far away as New York City.

Language

Skarure Tuscarora, sometimes called , was the Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people, spoken in southern Ontario, Canada, North Carolina and northwestern New York around Niagara Falls, in the United States, before going into hibernation in late 2020 ...

'', the Tuscarora language, is a member of the northern branch of the

Iroquoian languages The Iroquoian languages are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking. As of 2020, all surviving Iroquoian la ...

. Linguists and historians have both tried to determine when the Iroquoian-speaking

and Nottoway tribes separated from the Tuscarora. Before initial contact (1650), the English, based on reports from Algonquian natives, thought the three tribes were one people, as the Algonquian speakers referred to them by the

exonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...

''Mangoag.'' Following encounter by the English with the Tuscarora and other tribes, the colonists noted they used the same interpreters to translate with each of the peoples, which meant their languages were closely related. Although the Nottoway language went extinct in the early 1900s, linguists have been able to determine that it was distinct, although closely related to Tuscarora. In addition, the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Tribe has been working to revitalize the Nottoway Language in recent times. In historic times, the three tribes always identified as distinct and independent peoples.

National government-recognized Tuscarora tribes

Tuscarora Nation The Tuscarora (in Tuscarora ''Skarù:ręˀ'', "hemp gatherers" or "Shirt-Wearing People") are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government of the Iroquoian family, with members today in New York, USA, and Ontario, Canada. They ...

*Tuscarora at

Six Nations of the Grand River Six Nations (or Six Nations of the Grand River, french: Réserve des Six Nations, see, Ye:i’ Níónöëdzage:h) is demographically the largest First Nations reserve in Canada. As of the end of 2017, it has a total of 27,276 members, 12,848 of w ...

, Canada

Tuscarora bands in North Carolina

Several bands, groups, and organizations with members claiming Tuscarora descent reside in North Carolina. Since the late 20th century, they have organized and reformed in various configurations. None has state or federal recognition. They have included the following: *Tuscarora Indian Nation of North Carolina, org. date: per Sec. of State, NC 05/08/1972, Robeson Co. *Southern Band Tuscarora Indian Tribe,

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

; *Tuscarora Tribe of Indians Maxton (1979) effective date per Sec. of State NC, 08/20/1990,
Tuscarora Nation One Fire Council
at

(formed in 2010 from several bands in Robeson County) *Tosneoc Tuscarora Community,

Wilson County Wilson County is the name of four counties in the United States: *Wilson County, Kansas *Wilson County, North Carolina *Wilson County, Tennessee *Wilson County, Texas Wilson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 202 ...

, original Homeland, Stantonsburg/

Contentnea Creek Contentnea Creek is a major tributary of the Neuse River in North Carolina, USA. It is part of the Neuse River Basin, and flows for 91 miles between the Buckhorn Reservoir (confluence of Moccasin and Turkey Creeks), where it begins, and Grifton, ...

area,

* Skaroreh Katenuaka Nation *Cape Fear Band of Skarure Woccon (located mainly in Brunswick, Bladen, Columbus, and Pender Counties and also

) Tuscarora tribal officials in New York dispute claims that anyone in

has continuity as a tribe with the Tuscarora.Gerald M. Sider, ''Living Indian Histories:

Lumbee The Lumbee are a Native American people primarily centered in Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland and Scotland counties in North Carolina. They also live in surrounding states and Baltimore, Maryland. The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is a state-rec ...

and Tuscarora people in North Carolina'', Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003 The Tuscarora Nation of New York, says that the great majority of the tribe moved north to New York. New York leaders consider any individuals remaining in North Carolina as no longer having tribal status, although they have Tuscarora genetic ancestry. Both the New York Tuscarora and the North Carolina Tuscarora bands claim the historical name of the tribe. As the New York tribe is federally recognized and is the longest organized as a tribal government, it is considered the legal successor to the historic tribe. Members of North Carolina bands claim descent and continuity with the ancient ''Skarure.'' Some North Carolina Tuscarora feel that the Tuscarora that left North Carolina abandoned the home lands, and that both groups should be allowed to have a relationship with the federal government. In the 1930s, the Department of Interior conducted physical examinations of 209 individuals residing in Robeson County and determined that 22 possessed at least 1/2 or more degree of Indian blood, and that 18 more were borderline or near-borderline cases. Scholars and scientists no longer consider such physical exams to be a valid method of determining biological ancestry. Each federally recognized tribe has the authority to determine membership criteria and establish its own rules. These are generally based on documented descent from a historical list of agreed-upon members or descent from known living members. In the 1960s, the surviving eight of these 22 people, with many of their descendants and approximately 2,000 other individuals in their communitiesSiders "Living Indian Histories" p. 269 organized an official Tuscarora political infrastructure in Robeson County. On November 12, 1979 the "Tuscarora Tribe of Indians Maxton" were accepted into the

National Congress of American Indians The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is an American Indian and Alaska Native rights organization. It was founded in 1944 to represent the tribes and resist federal government pressure for termination of tribal rights and assimilati ...

. Various factions of the

-based Tuscarora, who have split since their initial organization in the 1960s, have worked for state and federal recognition. A petition by the Hatteras Tuscarora, submitted to the federal government in 1978, was placed on hold. In 1989, the Solicitor of the Department of Interior ruled that the

Lumbee Act of 1956 The Lumbee are a Native American people primarily centered in Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland and Scotland counties in North Carolina. They also live in surrounding states and Baltimore, Maryland. The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is a state-reco ...

, which acknowledged the Lumbee as Native American, at the same time barred all Indians within Robeson and adjoining counties from consideration as a federally recognized tribe within the "Branch of Acknowledgement and Research" petitioning process. Leaders of the Lumbee had agreed to this provision at the time the legislation was passed. This provision was applied to the

petition of 1986 seeking federal recognition as a tribe. Gerald M. Sider states that rather than challenging this ruling, "The Lumbee subsequently removed their petition from active consideration by the BIA in a way that also prevented the Tuscarora petitions from being considered." In 2006 the Skaroreh Katenuaka Nation, "AKA: Tuscarora Nation of Indians of North Carolina", filed a federal lawsuit for recognition. Skaroreh Katenuaka Nation, the Hatteras Tuscarora, and the Tuscarora Nation of the Carolinas are all based in Robeson County. Members are closely related to one another. In May 2010 leaders and individuals from the various Tuscarora factions in the Robeson County area came together to form the Tuscarora Nation One Fire Council (TNOFC). The TNOFC is an

interim An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities. Interim may also refer to: Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept) *Provis ...

, un-incorporated government; they have based it on provisions outlined in wampum 96 of the

(Iroquois League) Great Law of Peace. The TNOFC assembles weekly. Its members are working toward developing and implementing solutions to problems that have created division among them in the past. The TNOFC maintains separate membership enrollment from, and their members are not part of, the state-recognized

Tribe of North Carolina, the largest state-recognized tribe in North Carolina and are also located in Robeson County. Between March 21st and 23rd in 2013, citizens of both the Tuscarora in New York and North Carolina reunited at the 300 year anniversary of the Fort Neoheroka massacre. In July 2018, following a year long state and federal investigation, more than 26 people of the Tuscarora Nation including its leader, were arrested for operating three casinos, an unlicensed police force and marijuana growing operations in Maxton and

Red Springs, North Carolina Red Springs is a town in Hoke and Robeson counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The population was 3,428 at the 2010 census. Geography Red Springs is located in northern Robeson County at (34.814363, -79.184281). North Carolina Highwa ...

. Local sheriff's office and police were joined by state SBI, state and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and National Guard troops in seizing vehicles, currency, marijuana, firearms and over 200 illegal gaming machines. Those arrested face drug, gambling and money laundering charges though claim sovereign citizen status and, according to a North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement official "openly expressed beliefs that neither the laws of North Carolina nor the United States applied to them"

Tuscarora descendants in Oklahoma

Some Tuscarora descendants live in

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. They are primarily descendants of Tuscarora groups absorbed in the early decades of the nineteenth century in Ohio by relocated Iroquois

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

and Cayuga bands from New York. They became known as

Mingo The Mingo people are an Iroquoian group of Native Americans, primarily Seneca and Cayuga, who migrated west from New York to the Ohio Country in the mid-18th century, and their descendants. Some Susquehannock survivors also joined them, and ...

while in the Midwest, coalescing as a group in Ohio. The Mingo were later forced in Indian Removals to Indian Territory in present-day Kansas, and lastly, in Oklahoma. In 1937 descendants reorganized and were federally recognized as the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma. The nation occupies territory in the northeast corner of the former

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

. A band of Tuscarora also moved to Oberlin, Fremont, and Elmore,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

in the mid 1800s from New Bern, North Carolina and participated in the Underground Railroad.

Notable Tuscarora

* Wallace "Mad Bear" Anderson (1927–1985), Native activist *

David Cusick David Cusick (1840) was a Tuscarora artist and the author of ''David Cusick's Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations'' (1827). This is an early (if not the first) account of Native American history and myth, written and published in Eng ...

, artist and author *

Dennis Cusick Dennis Cusick (c. 1800–1824) was a Tuscarora painter from New York and one of the founders of the Iroquois Realist Style of painting. Biography Dennis Cusick was born c. 1800 to the Tuscarora tribe, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Conf ...

, painter *

Eric Gansworth Eric Gansworth is a Haudenosaunee novelist, poet and visual artist. Early life Gansworth was born in 1965 and is an enrolled citizen of the Onondaga Nation; however, he grew up in the Tuscarora Nation as a descendant of one of two Onondaga women ...

, poet and visual artist *

John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt (December 16, 1859 – October 14, 1937) was a linguist and ethnographer who specialized in Iroquoian and other Native American languages. Hewitt was born on the Tuscarora Indian Reservation near Lewiston, New York. ...

, linguist and ethnographer *

Henry Berry Lowrie Henry Berry Lowry ( – unknown after 1872) was an American outlaw. A Lumbee Native American, he led the Lowry Gang in North Carolina during and after the American Civil War. Many local North Carolinians remember him as a Robin Hood figure. Lowry ...

, led a resistance in

during and after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. *

Frank Mount Pleasant Franklin Pierce Mount Pleasant Jr. (June 13, 1884 – April 12, 1937) was a Native American football player, track and field athlete, and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He played college football at the Carlisle Indian Industrial Sc ...

(1884–1937), athlete *

Clinton Rickard Clinton Rickard (1882–1971) was a Tuscarora chief known for founding the Indian Defense League, and for promoting Native American sovereignty. He worked for free passage of Native Americans across the US–Canada border, and to prevent the flood ...

(1882–1971), Native activist *

Alicia Elliott Alicia Elliott (born 1987 or 1988) is a Tuscarora writer and editor. Early life and education Elliott was born in the United States and moved with her family to the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve in Ontario when she was 13. Although l ...

, author

Iroquoian-speaking peoples

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

* Chonnonton *

Erie Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

Huron Huron may refer to: People * Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America * Wyandot language, spoken by them * Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec * Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...

* Nottoway *

Petun The Petun (from french: pétun), also known as the Tobacco people or Tionontati ("People Among the Hills/Mountains"), were an indigenous Iroquoian people of the woodlands of eastern North America. Their last known traditional homeland was sout ...

(See also Protohistory of West Virginia ) *

( Conestoga)

References

External links

Tuscarora and Six Nations Websites
official website
Six Nations Of The Grand River Territory
official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Tuscarora People Federally recognized tribes in the United States First Nations in Ontario Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands Iroquois Native American history of New York (state) Native American tribes in Maryland Native American tribes in New York (state) Native American tribes in North Carolina Native American tribes in West Virginia Native Americans in the American Revolution