SKARÙ:RĘʔ TUSCARORA HISTORY

The Tuscarora are Iroquoian speaking people who migrated into the coastal plains of the upper and lower parts of Virginia and North Carolina as early as A.D. 600 and during this ensuing centuries the Tuscarora became the most powerful and had a large populous group in the region with various Tuscarora Villages primarily in Eastern and Southeastern North Carolina extending all the way to the Cape Fear River into South Carolina. The total population size of all Tuscarora-speaking people in the historic time period has been documented by several historical scholars, anthropologists, academic professors, and archaeologists. 

The word Tuscarora, is closely related to a modern Tuscarora word, Skarure, likely meaning hemp gatherers in English (Hewitt 1910b:842; Rudes 1999a:417– 418), but alternative translations exist (Greene 1969). Based on oral history and documentary evidence, it is probable that Skarure was of the Coastal Plain Iroquoians who inhabited the lower Roanoke River to the Cape Fear River in the North Carolina basin during the protohistoric era. The Skarure were encountered in that specific locality and identified as the Tuskarood in 1650 (Bland 1966:3), the Tuskarorawes in 1653 (Yeardley 1911:27) or the Toskiroros in 1670 (Lederer 1966:19). As early as 1665, the first northern part of the province was described as that portion of it lying “North and East of Cape Fear” in North Carolina and the southern part as that part lying “South and West of Cape Fear,” which identifies the lower Tuscarora Villages by name in the 1733-1737 Edward Moseley Map, in addition to also confirming the Tuscarora Chief’s names with their tribal band villages who signed the 1712 Tuscarora Treaty.

The Tuscarora people of the middle Neuse River basin were later reported in Tuscarora oral histories as the Kau-tanoh/Kautanohakau (Cusick 1848:21, 33) or Katenuaka (Hewitt 1910b:842). These appellations are all variations of a modern Tuscarora word, kahtehnu (submerged loblolly pine)[Rudes 2000:6], which was anglicized by eighteenth century observers to identify specifically both the people and the place of Catechna (Hancock‘s Town) originally situated several miles above the mouth of Contentnea Creek (see Byrd and Heath 2004:Table 5.1). By 1693, "An Act concerning Indians Hoggs," indicated Thomas Blunt was an Indian interpreter for the Nottoway and Weyonoke Indians putting the location of some Tuscaroras also on the southern boundary line of Virginia and North Carolina. The Lords Proprietors authorized Governor John Archdale in August 1695 to sell land between Albemarle and Cape Fear for settlements without mentioning the Tuscarora Indians' land rights. 

On October 2, 1696, Court evidence concludes Thomas Blunt was an Indian and English Interpreter before the Virginia Colony to the Indians on the South Side of the James River in Virginia, when he petitioned the Court for his allowance for services. The South Side of James River confirms the location of the Tuscaroras and other tribes during the colonial Indian Trade. The Tuscarora was the largest tribe and the most powerful in North Carolina with over 15 Tuscarora Indian Villages. Evidence is supported by depositions in 1700 by King Tom Blunt and other tribal Indians called “Examinations of Indians,” regarding the border of Tribal and non-Tribal lands in Virginia and North Carolina. The depositions give full accounts of the Tuscarora Territory and other tribal lands which confirms various lands and paths of the Tuscarora.

The historical Tuscarora occupied the traditional Tuscarora Territory which was owned by the Six Nations from the Virginia line to the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. During the colonial times, the historic Tuscarora King Tom Blunt's village primarily lived on the Tuscarora Indian Reservations in Bertie County, North Carolina which was confirmed on the June 5, 1717 Tuscarora Reservation; however, additional Tuscaroras who didn't go with King Blunt and were neutral formed their isolated lower villages which later became known isolated Indian settlements in the traditional Tuscarora Territory hunting grounds surrounding the Cape Fear River to the Neuse, Pamlico, Roanoke Rivers in North Carolina, New York, and Canada, while other Tuscarora lived in of tribal villages in settlements with other Indian Nations. Many Tuscaroras, along with the Seneca and Mohawks during the wars against the settlers would take their elders, women, and children away from hostile military wars and would hide them for survival in the swamps in North Carolina for protection.

Historically, the Tuscarora Nations were the largest Indian Nation in North Carolina and were officially adopted by the Oneida Nation in 1722, which created the Six Nations, a democratic government that pre-dates the United States Constitution. In colonial times, it was very well known that the Tuscarora Nation was formed by different Tuscarora Band Villages which separated over a period of time during the colonial period. According to several Indian Treaties and our Tuscarora history in the United States and Canada, in 1713 some Tuscarora Chiefs and Tuscarora ancestors migrated to New York and were sponsored by the Onedia Nation and by 1722 the Tuscarora officially joined the Haudenosaunee Confederacy with the Great law of Peace, while the remaining Six Nations Longhouse People in North Carolina, under their Chiefs stayed and fought in many military wars  against the British and Confederate in North Carolina to remain on their tribal lands and to relocate to better lands away from the settler abuse. 

For generations, our Tuscarora families have always stood with the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and also migrated back and forth from Canada, New York, and North Carolina for over 100 years to the present day. Our Tribal Sovereignty and Inherent Rights as First Nations Citizens confirms our official position as Tuscaroras and that our Six Nations Longhouse People still primarily continue to live in North Carolina, New York, and Canada.

Today, the Tuscarora Band of Six Nations Indians enrolled citizens primarily reside in North Carolina, New York, and Grand River at Six Nations in Canada. The Tuscarora Band supports its citizens through traditional practices, language, and ancient teachings to keep a good mind, a good heart, and the traditional way of life in the surrounding tribal communities in North Carolina to sustain the Iroquois culture, teachings, Sovereignty, tribal food systems, and preservation efforts.