The Tuscarora War Indians, Settlers, and the Fight for the Carolina Colonies by David La Vere

Although devastating in its own right, historians have tended to discuss North Carolina’s Tuscarora War only within the context of the arguably more dangerous Yamasee War it preceded. David La Vere rectifies this tendency in The Tuscarora War: Indians, Settlers, and the Fight for the Carolina Colonies. Using the experiences of eight individuals to frame the war, he delves into critical issues such as the dangers of land speculation and Indian slave trading, the complexities of Indian diplomacy, and the difficulties of North American identity formation.

Land encroachment and Indian slavery formed the backdrop for the war, but the immediate catalyst was a 1711 expedition by Christopher de Graffenried and John Lawson to survey the Neuse River basin. The area into which they sailed was Tuscarora country, and along the way they neglected to stop at Catechna Town (on Contentnea Creek) to get permission to explore from the teethha “King Hancock.” Already wary of recent English expansion around the Pamlico, Neuse, and Trent Rivers, Hancock took offense at this oversight. A group of Tuscaroras subsequently captured the two men, and upon their return to Catechna everything went haywire. Hancock, it seemed, was politically vulnerable. He had wanted only to warn Lawson and Graffenried and send them on their way. Many of his townsmen, however, had become influenced by “Core Tom” (who could well have been a Seneca sent to encourage war) and called for the two men’s execution. Graffenried ultimately survived (Lawson was not as fortunate), but he could only watch as Contentnea Creek Tuscaroras and several allies initiated a damaging attack on the Pamlico and Neuse River settlements. Albemarle County residents in turn were horrified and descended into a state of paralysis.

The 1711 attack came just as political squabbles between North Carolina’s “old settlers,” Quakers, and “proprietary men” reached a crescendo. In desperate straits, officials such as Edward Hyde and Thomas Pollock appealed to their colonial neighbors for help. Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood in effect chose neutrality. Bacon’s Rebellion resonated powerfully in colonial memory, after all, and he understood the danger of a war rooted in Indian slavery. It was a lesson that South Carolina had not yet learned, and the possibility of acquiring slave capital convinced its assembly to get involved. In 1712 it sent Robert Barnwell along with a militia and a number of Indian allies to North Carolina. Ever dwindling in numbers, Barnwell’s army engaged in inconclusive expeditions before going home—just as another round of Tuscarora attacks began.

Fortunately for North Carolinians, Tuscaroras were no more unified than their European counterparts. They lived in three separate regions, and each town made autonomous decisions. Their lack of national identity directly affected the progress of the war. Upper towns along the Roanoke River, for example, decided that Virginia trade was more important than fighting. Towns along the Tar River decided similarly. In November 1712, moreover, five Tuscarora teethhas agreed to execute Hancock and to maintain peace with North Carolina, a development that isolated Contentnea Creek Tuscaroras and their allies. In 1713 they were finally overwhelmed at Neohoroka by a combined army of South Carolina militia, Catawbas, Yamasees, and Cherokees. Although Cores and Machapungas continued sporadic fighting until February 1715, Tuscaroras were finished with the war that bears their name.

La Vere’s narrative is both old and refreshingly new. On the one hand, his explanation of the causes and consequences of the war reinforces long-held arguments: that settler expansion and slave raiding were central issues; that North Carolina needed a lot of outside help; that success opened the floodgates for European expansion to the west and south of Albemarle County; and that the political chaos that had defined North Carolina from 1663 through Cary’s Rebellion in 1710-1711 effectively ended with the war. On the other hand, La Vere provides fresh insights that cry out for further...