NCBERTIE-L Archives

From: Crilley <>
Subject: [NCBERTIE] Indian Woods Land
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 16:55:29 -0500

Thank you, Trudy Swain, for typing this article for us.

Bertie County 250th Anniversary Edition, Section B, Page 9 - September 28,
1972

INDIAN WOODS-Settlers in this rich corner of Bertie County are uneasy
this week...the Tuscarora Indians are threatening to attack.
Not exactly, but the leaders of the Tuscarora Indian Nation of New York
think that their ancestors didn't get a square deal when they left here in
1828.
And they are suing the federal government under the Indian Claims Act to
collect damages.
The claim, first filed in 1951, is now being readied for action.
Attorneys for the Indian Bureau recently requested information from the North
Carolina Attorney General's office in order to prepare their side of the
case. Assistant Attorney General Claude Love sent along a big brochure of
information.
The brief history shows that:
After the bloody Tuscarora War of 1712, a remnant of the Indians
under Chief Tom Blunt were in 1718 granted the Indian Woods reservation in
western Bertie County along the Roanoke River.
Even before they got in the reserve, they were having trouble with
white settlers who thought they could better use the rich farming land.
For the next 100 years, the Indians battled vainly against the
encroachments...various state legislatures renewed the 1718 treaty. The
boundary of the reservation was never definitely drawn.
By the turn of the 19th century, only a handful remained. Several
hundred had migrated to New York state to join members of the "Six Nations"
on reservations of Niagara County.
In 1828 the remaining Indians gave up. By then most of the Indian Woods
was settled by whites who had signed leases for, or simply seized, the rich
acres.
A deed, first executed in New York state, was drawn between Indian chiefs
of the Tuscarora Nation and for $3,250 the title to Indian Woods was
transferred to the state of North Carolia. The figure represented the price
for about 8,000 acres.
The deed is on record in the office of the Bertie County Register of
Deeds. A copy was entered on March 30, 1911.
In it seven Indian chiefs of the Tuscarora Nation signed over Indian
Woods. The date is November 1831. The chiefs include William Chew, Nicholas
Casie, George Warchief, Jonathan Printup, Matthew Jack, William Johnson and
Isaac Miller.
But the present-day Tuscarora still living on their New York state
reservation near scenic Niagara Falls yearn for a look at the deep green
forests along the Morratuck (their name for the Roanoke).
According to Second District Congressman L. H. Fountain, who helped
uncover the Indian plot at the request of Bertie Folks, federal attorneys are
going to seek further information from local sources.
They will find that Indian Woods has changed little since the days when
the Tuscarora roamed its forests. A few more acres have been cleared for
cultivation but the area is still a top hunting ground for modern deerslayers.
Much of the land is still owned in great lots by descendeants of early
families who, to put it mildly, did the Tuscarora out of their heritage.
The area abounds in names which go back to the days of the Indians.
There are Roquist Creek, Choowatic Creek, Coniott Creek, Chiska Creek, and
there are Cahaba and Quitsna (now crossroad-once Indian villages).
Most of today's inhabitants are Negro tenants. Smack in the middle of
Indian Woods, they are building a large church sanctuary. It is "Indian
Woods Captist Church."
According to Washington sources, the present claim is asking reasonable
damages, based on the actual value of present-day Indian Woods. The claim
says that the state of North Carolina did not adequately protect the interest
of the Tuscarora after the treaty of 1718, that the Indians were forced from
the land which was granted them.
Those who described them during the 18th century said as much.
Bishop Spangenburg wrote after a visit to Indian Woods in 1752 that the
Tuscarora are "treated with great contempt; they will probably soon be
exterminated."
He said their condition was "deplorable" and colonial governors reported
about the same thing.

(Excerpted from the Bertie Ledger-Advance, July 19, 1956)
Virginia

This thread:

• [NCBERTIE] Indian Woods Land by Crilley <>