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135 { CHAPTER SIX } King Tom Blount The Negotiator Barnwell thought he had achieved a great victory. In reality, he had left the Tuscaroras as strong as ever, though their Indian allies had certainly been hit hard by the surprise attack on Core Town. As for the Tuscaroras, Thomas Pollock calculated that Barnwell had only killed about thirty of them. They were, if anything, he believed, more confident, even to the point of raiding their old enemies the Waxhaws and Catawbas in South Carolina and hitting the Nottoway villages in Virginia. Other than being defeated at Torhunta and having some of their villages looted, they had protected their women and children while beating back Brice’s expedition and then forcing Barnwell to give up his attack not once but twice. The treaty they signed was not that onerous as it essentially brought things back to the way they had been before the war. They would continue to interact with the North Carolina government and settlers, only now these would be a little more respectful of Indian land and complaints. Had Hyde and Pollock wanted, Barnwell’s treaty could have brought peace to the region. But the treaty would not have taken revenge on the Indians or broken their power, something Pollock demanded.1 Then the attack and enslavement of the Cores, Neuse, Machapungas, and Bear River Indians upset everything. Now the Tuscaroras and their surviving allies learned some important lessons. That the English were a treacherous people who would not abide by a treaty even of their own making. They could never be trusted. They treated all Indians alike no matter if they were friends or enemies and would abuse Indians, take their lands, and enslave them whenever they could. They also learned that fortifications worked. So now, during the summer and fall of 1712, the Tuscaroras and what was left of their allies went back on the attack. 136 / King Tom Blount Though Barnwell had kept a contingent of about twenty Yamasees under the command of Maj. Alexander Mackay garrisoned along the Neuse River, the colony was still well-nigh defenseless. With its own militia seemingly incompetent, North Carolina would again turn to its neighbors . Even more, and as much as he hated to do it, Council President Pollock realized he was going to have to turn to King Tom Blount of the upper Tuscaroras for assistance as well. YGovernor Edward Hyde and Council President Thomas Pollock were outraged at “Tuscarora Jack.” Barnwell’s earlier ravings had alienated both of them. Then against their explicit orders he had made a treaty with the Tuscaroras and their allies, which essentially let them off the hook. If that were not bad enough, as they saw it, he had then violated his own treaty by attacking and enslaving the Cores and their allies. That had only started the Indian attacks all over again. Hyde and Pollock were not so much angry at his enslaving the Indians; rather they blamed him for not having utterly destroyed the Indians in the first place. Now North Carolina was paying for Barnwell’s actions.2 The enslavement of the Indians at Core Town had galvanized the Contentnea Creek Tuscaroras and their allies. As De Graffenried saw it, the Indians gave “no more confidence to the Christians. They accordingly fortified themselves still better, and made terrible raids along both rivers , News and Pamptego, and the last troubles were worse than the first.”3 Settlers and slaves living along those rivers who had survived the September 22 attacks were now hit again. Parties of warriors skulked the woods, striking when and where they could, forcing most settlers to remain close to their farms and plantations. As Rev. Giles Rainsford said about the settlers , “when they lie down in their beds (they are so often invaded) that they can’t say they shall rise [come] morning.” In July, North Carolina’s top commander in the field, Col. Thomas Boyd, was shot in the head while leading a party of militia against the Indians. “Few of his men came home but what shared in his fate and fell sacrifices to the same common misfortune ,” wrote Rainsford.4 Though initially reported dead, Boyd lived, but he never led troops again. In the early fall, about two hundred Indians attacked Reading’s fort on the Pamlico, but they were beaten back, with about five of the attackers killed. One Englishman was killed and the Indians managed to burn a sloop. At about...

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