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History does not make clear the policy of the North Carolina
colony in dealing with the Indians in regard to their lands; in
truth, it does not appear that any official policy was adopted until
near the close of its colonial existence.
As a general rule, which had but few interruptions, the relations
existing between the settlers and natives were friendly and peaceful
up to the year 1711. The editor of the Colonial Records expresses
some doubt on this point in his "prefatory notes," but the evidence
appears to sustain the statement of historians. After the conquest
of the Tuskarora there was no other tribe, except the Cherokee, on
their western frontier which the colonists deemed worthy of
consideration. It may also be added that during the first half of
its existence the colony was without any stable government, its
political affairs being interrupted more than once by rebellion, and
once or twice reduced almost to a chaotic condition. Add to these
considerations the fact that the Albemarle or first settlement was
made on territory claimed to be within the jurisdiction of Virginia,
and the reason why no settled policy was adopted by the North
Carolina colony in regard to its dealings with Indians for their
lands will readily be understood.
Notwithstanding these serious drawbacks, individual enterprise,
energy, and patriotism were sufficient for the emergencies, and
succeeded at length in bringing order and system out of misrule. As
might be expected, the transactions with the natives in regard to
lands during this period were chiefly by individuals, the only
exceptions being where attempts were made to found separate
colonies.
As above stated, the first settlement within the bounds of the state
was about Albemarle sound, a region believed to be within the limits
of the Virginia charter, and was made by emigrants from that colony,
who were in search of rich and unoccupied lands. The first purchase
of land made from the Indians of this region, of which history makes
any mention, appears to have been by Francis Yeardly, son of Sir
George Yeardly. The only mention of this is in a letter by the
younger Yeardly to John Ferrar, Esq. The paragraphs referred to are
as follows:1
| In September last, a
young man, a trader for beavers, being bound out to the
adjacent parts to trade, by accident his sloop left him;
and he, supposing she had been gone to Roanoke, hired a
small boat, and, with one of his company left with him,
came to crave my license to go to look after his sloop,
and sought some relief of provisions of me; the which
granting, he set forth with three more in company, one
being of my family, the others were my neighbors. They
entered in at Caratoke, ten leagues to the soutbward of
Cape Henry, and so went to Rhoanoko Island; where, or
near thereabouts they found the great Commander of those
parts kith his Indians a hunting, who received them
civilly, and showed them the ruins of Sir Walter
Raleigh's fort, from whence I received a sure token of
their being there. Immediately I dispatched away a boat
with six hands, one being a carpenter, to build the Ding
an English house, my promise, at his coming first, being
to comply in that matter. I sent £200 sterling; in trust
to purchase and pay for what land they should like, the
which in little time they effected and purchased, and
paid for three great rivers, and also all such others as
they should like of, southerly; and in solemn manner
took possession of the country, in the name, and on the
behalf of the Commonwealth of England; and actual
possession was solemnly given to them by the great
Commander, and all the great men of the rest of the
provinces, in delivering them a turf of the earth with
an arrow shot into it; and so the Indians totally left
the lands and rivers to us, retiring to a new
habitation, where our people built the great Commander a
fair house, the which I am to furnish with English
utensils and chattels. |
Although no boundaries are mentioned, the territory embraced must
have been of considerable extent, as it is said "they purchased and
paid for three great rivers, and also such others as they should
like of, southerly."
The next purchase mentioned, and the earliest one of which a record
has been preserved, was from the chief of the Yeopim (Weopemeoc)
Indians. This grant was made March 1, 1661, to George Durant for a
tract of land then called Wecocomicke, lying on Perquimans river and
Roanoke sound. The place is now known as " Durant's Neck." This, as
given in the Colonial Records and purporting to be a copy of the
record in Perquimans county, is as follows:
Know All men y these
presents that I, Kileaccnen, Bing of Yeopim have for a
valuable consideration of satisfaction received with the
consent of my people sold, and made over and to George
Durant a parcel of land lying and being on Roneoke Sound
and ou a River called by the name of Perquimans which.
Issueth out of the North Side of the aforesaid Sound
which Land at present bears the name of Wecocomicke,
begining at a marked Oak Tree, which divides this land
from the land I formily sold to Saml Pricklove and
extending, westerly up the, said Sound to a Point or
Turning of the aforesaid Perquimans River and so up the
eastward side of tine said River to a creek called by
the name of Awoscake, to-wit; All the Land betwixt the
aforesaid Bounds of Samuel Pricklove and the said Creek;
thence to the Head thereof. And thence through the Woods
to the first Bounds.2
To have and to hold the quiet possession of the same to
him and his heirs forever, with All Rights and
Priviledges thereunto forever from me or any Person or
Persons whatsoever. As witness my hand this first day of
March 1661.3 |
It must be confessed that the orthography and language have a
rather modern look, indicating, if genuine, that it is given in
substance rather than as an exact copy. There is, however, an,
additional item of evidence tending to confirm the correctness of
this record. It appears from the same record book that one Catchmang
or Catchmany, having received a grant from the governor of Virginia,
including this tract, conceded Durant's right thereto and
transferred to him all claim derived from the governor's patent.
It appears from the reference in Durant's deed to a previous sale
that a former grant had been obtained from the Indians, though no
record of it has been preserved.
These appear, however, to be only the :first of a series of like
individual purchases. As early as 1662 purchases made directly from
the Indians had become such an evil in the sight of the government
that it was resolved to recognize them no longer. The "instructions"
to Sir William Berkeley (1663), relating to the settlement of 14 The
Province of Carolina," contains the following passage:
| If those men which have
purchased shall for the better moddelling and securing
the plantations party with there Interest bought of the
Indians which they must doe the next possessor ought to
pay him what he leyed out with some small advantage for
his disburse, and if the party in possession have
cleaned and planted (or either) more than his proportion
of ground in bredth he ought to be compounded with for
his charge of which the Governor and Council to be
Judge.4 |
The following statement occurs in a letter to the same person,
dated September 8,1663:
| By our instructions and
proposals you will see what proportions of land we
intend for each master and servant and in what manner to
be allotted, but we understand that the people that are
there have bought great tracts of land from the Indians,
which if they shall enjoy will weaken the plantation.5 |
The Lords Proprietors more than once recognized the fact that
lands had been purchased from the Indians before the date of their
charter.
The settlements made on lower Cape Fear river were based on
purchases. It is expressly stated that the New Englanders, who were
the first to attempt a settlement here, "purchased of the Indian
chiefs a title to the soil."
The Barbadoes colony, which, encouraged and directed by Sir John
Yeamans, began a settlement a few years later (1665) near the
locality the New Englanders had abandoned, did so upon lands first
purchased from the Indians. The planters who wished to remove
thither, first dispatched an agent to find a suitable locality. This
was found on Cape Fear river, not far from the locality the New
England settlers had occupied, and a purchase of 32 miles square
made, or, as the agent reported, "We made a purchase of the river
and land of Cape Fair of Watcoosa and such other Indians as appeared
to us to be the chief of those parts."
Although none of the Carolina charters refer to the rights of the
natives or concede in any manner their claims to the lands, yet, as
we have seen, the "instructions" to Governor Berkeley indicate
considerable opposition to the indiscriminate individual purchases.
On the other hand, the same Lords Proprietors seemed to be content
with allowing these individual transactions, provided the land was
first obtained from them. In "An Answer to certain Demands and
proposals made by several Gentlemen" of Barbadoes they say in reply
to the third request: "To the 3d demand wee consent that the
Governor and Counsel steal be amply and fully empowered from us to
grant such proportions of land to all that shall come to plant in
quantity and according to the Meth-hood and under that
acknowledgement and no more, as in our declarations and proposals is
set forth for which they may contract and compound with the Indians;
if they see fitt."
It would seem from this that the Indian title was considered of
little importance by the Lords Proprietors. However, it is a slight
acknowledgment of that title, but its extinguishment was left to the
individual grantees an ill-advised policy, which, as has been shown,
prevailed to some extent in New York during the early history of
that colony.
The following clauses in the "Fundamental Constitutions," drawn up
by John Locke, are the only ones therein bearing on this subject:
50th. The grand council,
etc., shall have power to male peace and war, leagues,
treaties, etc., with any of the neighbor Indians.
112th. No person whatever shall hold, or claim any land
in Carolina by purchase, or gift, or otherwise from the
natives or any other whatsoever; but merely from and
under the Lords Proprietors, upon pain of forfeiture of
all his estate, moveable or immoveable, and perpetual
banishment. |
But the "Fundamental Constitutions" were in truth a dead letter
from the first., Although adopted in 1669 they were never
practically in force.
It may be added here that Graffenried, in his manuscript account of
the incidents attending the settlement of his colony at Newbern,
asserts that lie paid the Indians for the lands where he first
settled, on which Newbern was built.
For forty years subsequent to the date given above the records of
North Carolina, so far as the subject now under consideration is
concerned, present a complete blank. In fact, as Doyle ("English
Colonies in America") has truly remarked, "For the next forty years
the annals of North Carolina became more meager than those of any
[other one] of our American colonies."
In 1711 the bloody Indian war broke out, which, but for the timely
aid of South Carolina, would have resulted in the destruction of the
northern settlement. This was carried on chiefly by the Tuskarora,
who, at this time, as it is stated, numbered 1,200 warriors, the
other neighboring tribes having migrated or dwindled, through
contact with civilization, until they were no longer a source of
alarm to the colonists. The real cause of this outbreak does not
appear to be clearly stated that mentioned by Graffenried not
furnishing a full explanation. hitherto, as a general rule, the
relations between the settlers and the natives had been peaceful,
and for the greater part friendly. It appears that as early as 1703
there had been some petty disputes concerning lands and trade, and
it is probable that the war grew out of some dissatisfaction on this
account, as intimated by Graftenried. This seems apparent from the
wording of an act passed by the general assembly in 1715, "For
restraining the Indians from molesting or injuring the inhabitants
of this government and for securing to the Indians the right and
property of their own lands." The fourth section of this act is as
follows:
| And whereas there is
great reason to believe that disputes concerning land
has already been of fatal consequence to the peace and
welfare of this colony, Be it further enacted, by the
authority aforesaid, That no white man shall, for
any consideration whatsoever, purchase or buy any tract
or parcel of land claimed, or actually in possession of
any Indian, without special liberty for so doing from
the Governor and Council first had and obtained, under
the penalty of twenty pounds for every hundred acres of
land so bargained for and purchased, one half to the
informer and other half to him or them that shall sue
for the same : to be recovered by bill, plaint, or
information, in any court of record within this
government; wherein no cession protection, injunction,
or wager of law, shall be allowed or admitted of.6 |
After this the only natives of any consequence with whom the
colonists' had to contend were the Cherokee, who dwelt on their
western frontier. The Tuskarora, who had remained at peace during
the conflict, were removed in 1717 to a reservation on the northern
bank of Roanoke river, in what is now Bertie county; the remnant of
the hostiles abandoned the country and joined the Iroquois. There is
another fact which should not be overlooked in this connection,
namely, that a considerable portion of the state was absolutely
uninhabited. This will be apparent to anyone who will follow Lawson7
closely in his travels through the two Carolinas. He also remarks
that "it must be confessed that the most noble and sweetest part of
this country is not inhabited by any but savages; and a great deal
of the richest part thereof, has no inhabitants but the beasts of
the wilderness; for the Indians are not inclinable to settle on the
richest land because the timbers are too large for them to cut down,
and too much burdened with wood for their laborers to make
plantations of."
In 1748 an act was passed "for ascertaining the bounds of a certain
tract of land formerly laid out by treaty to the use of the
Tuskarora. Indians, so long as they, or any of them, shall occupy
and live upon the same; and to prevent any person or persons taking
up lands, or settling within the said bounds." As parts of this act
are of historical importance in this connection, they are quoted
here:
Whereas complaints are
made y the Tuskarora Indians, of divers incroachments
made y the English on their lands, and it being but just
that the ancient inhabitants of this province shall have
and enjoy a quiet and convenient dwelling place in this
their native country; wherefore,
II. We pray that it may be enacted, and be it enacted,
by his Excellency Governor Gabriel Johnston, Esq;
Governor, by and with the advice and consent of his
Majesty's Council and General Assembly of this province,
and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same,
That the lands formerly allotted the Tuskerora Indians,
by solemn treaty, lying on Morattock river, in Bertie
county, being the same whereon they now dwell, butted
and bounded as follows, viz, beginning at the mouth of
Quitsnoy swamp, running up the said swamp four hundred
and thirty pole, to a scrubby oak near the head of said
swamp, by a great spring; then North ten degrees east,
eight hundred and fifty pole to a persimmon tree on
Raquis swamp; then along the swamp and Pocosion main
course, North fifty-seven degrees West, two thousand six
hundred and forty pole, to a hickory on the east side of
the falling run or deep creek, and clown the various
courses of the said run to Morattock river, then down
the river to the first station; shall be confirmed and
assured, and by virtue, of this act is confirmed and
assured, unto James Blonnt, chief of the Tuskarora
nation, and the people under his charge, their heirs and
successors, for ever; any law, usage, custom or grant to
the contrary notwithstanding.
And be it further enacted by the authority
aforesaid, That no person, for any consideration
whatsoever, shall purchase or buy any tract or parcel of
land, claimed, or in possession of any Indian or
Indians, but all such bargains and sale shall be, and
hereby are declared to be null and void, and of none
effect; and the person or persons so purchasing or
buying any land of any Indian or Indians, shall further
forfeit the sum often pounds proclaimation money, for
every hundred acres by him purchased and bought; one
half to the use of the public, the other half to him or
them that shall sue for the same; to be recovered by
action of debt, bill plaint or information, in any court
of record within this government wherein no cession,
protection, injunction or wager of law, shall be allowed
or admitted of.8 |
In 1761 the British government issued instructions to the
governors of the several American colonies, including North
Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, and "the agent for Indian
affairs in the southern department" (given above under New York),
forbidding purchases of land from the Indians without first having
obtained license to this effect.
As the only other dealings of importance by North Carolina with the
Indians were with the Cherokee, which have been set forth by Mr
Royce in his paper in the Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of
Ethnology, it is only necessary to mention the more important and
refer the reader to the memoir cited.
In 1730 Sir Alexander Cumming was commissioned by the authorities of
North Carolina to conclude a treaty with these Indians. Although it
included no cession of lands, the tribe agreed to submit to the
sovereignty of the King and his successors, and to permit no whites
except the English to build forts or cabins or plant corn among
them.
In 1762 a grant to one Captain Patrick Jack was signed by Governor
Dobbs and Little Carpenter for certain lands in eastern Tennessee,
which it seems had been purchased by Jack of the Cherokee in 1757.
Lands on Watauga and Nolachucky rivers (at that time, 1772-1775 in
North Carolina, now in Tennessee) were purchased of the Indians by
the pioneers who had pushed their way over the mountains into the
valleys of these streams.
In 1777 a treaty was concluded between Virginia and North Carolina
on the one part, and the Cherokee on the other, by which the
boundary and prohibitions as set forth in the act of the legislature
of North Carolina are as follows:
| No person shall enter or
survey any lands within the Indian hunting grounds, or
without the limits heretofore ceded y them, which limits
westward are declared to be as follows : Begin at a
point on the dividing line which hath been agreed upon
between the Cherokees and the colony of Virginia, where
the line between that Commonwealth and this State
(hereafter to be extended) shall intersect the same;
running thence a right line to the mouth of Cloud's
Creek, being the second creek below the Warrior's Ford,
at the mouth of Carter's Valley; thence a right line to
the highest point of Chimney Top Mountain or High Rock;
thence a right line to the mouth of Camp or McNamee's
Creek, on south bank of Nolichucky, about ten miles
below the mouth of Big Limestone; from the mouth of Camp
Creek a southeast course to the top of Great Iron
Mountain, being the same which divides the hunting
grounds of the Overhill Cherokees from the hunting
grounds of the middle settlements ; and from the top of
Iron Mountain a south course to the dividing ridge
between the waters of French Broad, and Nolichucky
Rivers; thence a south-westerly course along the ridge
to the great ridge of the Appalachian Mountains, which
divide the eastern and western waters; thence with said
dividing ridge to the line that divides the State of
South Carolina from this State.9 |
The subsequent treaties with these Indians were made by the
United States and are given in Mr Royce's schedule.
It would seem from these. records, though incomplete and
fragmentary, that but a comparatively small portion of the territory
of North Carolina was purchased from the :Indians, and, as above
stated, that until near the close of the colonial era the province
had adopted no fixed policy in regard to this subject. There were,
in fact, no tribes in the middle portions that were deemed worthy of
the attention of the colonists when the demand for their lands
arose. Mr James Mooney, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, who has
made a careful study of the natives of this section, remarks.10
The tribes between the mountains and the sea were of but small
importance politically; no sustained mission work was ever attempted
among them, and there were but few literary men to take an interest
in them. War, pestilence, whisky and systematic slave hunts had
nearly exterminated the aboriginal occupants of the Carolinas before
anybody had thought them of sufficient importance to ask who they
were, how they lived, or what were their beliefs and opinions.
1 Colonial Records, vol. i, p.18.
2 Ibid., p.19.
3 Did., p.19.
4 Colonial Records, vol. i, p. 51.
5 Ibid., p. 53.
6 Laws of Colonial and state Governments Relating to
Indian Affairs (1832), p. 162.
7 John Lawson, History of Upper south Carolina.
8 Public Acts, General Assembly N. C., y James
Iredell (1804), pp. 2345.
9 Fifth Annual Report Bureau of Ethnology, 1883-84,
p. 150
10 The Siouan Tribes of the East (1894), p. 6
This site includes some historical
materials that may imply negative stereotypes reflecting the culture
or language of a particular period or place. These items are
presented as part of the historical record and should not be
interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in any way endorse the
stereotypes implied
First annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology,
1879-80
Indian
Land Cessions in the United States
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