Pre-Sixteenth-Century American Indian History ca. 40,000–15,000 B.C. 10,000–8000 B.C. 8000–1000 B.C. ca. 8000 B.C. ca. 1200 B.C. 1000 B.C.–A.D. 1550 ca. 200 B.C. A.D. 700–1550 Many groups of American Indians live in the area now called North Carolina. These include the Chowanoke, Croatoan, Hatteras, Moratoc, Secotan, Weapemeoc, Machapunga, Pamlico, Coree, Neuse River, Tuscarora, Meherrin, Cherokee, Cape Fear, Catawba, Shakori, Sissipahaw, Sugeree, Waccamaw, Waxhaw, Woccon, Cheraw, Eno, Keyauwee, Occaneechi, Saponi, and Tutelo Indians. A.D. 1492 Sixteenth-Century American Indian History 1540 1566–1567 1584 1585 1586 Sir Francis Drake arrives at Roanoke Island and takes most of the colonists back to England, leaving an exploring party. Possibly Drake also leaves Africans and South American Indians that he captured from the Spanish. A relief ship arrives at Roanoke Island and, finding none of the colonists, leaves fifteen men to hold the area for England. 1587 Governor White leaves Roanoke Island for England to acquire supplies for the colonists. With England and Spain at war, White cannot make an immediate return to the colony. 1590 Seventeenth-Century American Indian History 1608 1611 1650 1653 1661 1675 1690s Eighteenth-Century American Indian History 1700 An escaped slave serves as an architect in the construction of a large Tuscarora Indian fort near the Neuse River. 1709 1710 Baron Christoph von Graffenried, a leader of Swiss and German Protestants, establishes a colony in Bath County. The town, called New Bern, is founded at the junction of the Trent and Neuse Rivers, displacing an Indian town named Chattoka. June 8: Tuscarora Indians on the Roanoke and Tar-Pamlico Rivers send a petition to the government of Pennsylvania protesting the seizure of their lands and enslavement of their people by Carolina settlers. 1711 September 22: The Tuscarora War opens when Catechna Creek Tuscaroras begin attacking colonial settlements near New Bern and Bath. Tuscarora, Neuse, Bear River, Machapunga, and other Indians kill more than 130 whites. October: Virginia refuses to send troops to help the settlers but allocates £1,000 for assistance. 1711–1715 1712 April: Barnwell's force, joined by 250 North Carolina militiamen, attacks the Tuscarora at Fort Hancock on Catechna Creek. After 10 days of battle, the Tuscarora sign a truce, agreeing to stop the war. Summer: The Tuscarora rise again to fight the Yamassee, who, unsatisfied with their plunder during earlier battles, remain in the area looting and pillaging. The Tuscarora also fight against the continued expansion of white settlement. 1713 1715 The General Assembly enacts a law denying blacks and Indians the right to vote. The king will repeal the law in 1737. Some free African Americans will continue to vote until disfranchisement in 1835. 1717 1721 1726–1739 1730 1736 1738–1739 1740 1750s 1754–1763 1755 The colonial governor approves a proposal to establish an Indian academy in present-day Sampson County. 1758 1759 A second smallpox epidemic devastates the Catawba tribe, reducing the population by half. 1760 February: Cherokee attack Fort Dobbs and white settlements near Bethabara and along the Yadkin and Dan Rivers. June: An army of British regulars and American militia under Colonel Archibald Montgomerie destroys Cherokee villages and saves the Fort Prince George garrison in South Carolina but is defeated by the Cherokee at Echoe. August: Cherokee capture Fort Loudoun in Tennessee and massacre the garrison. 1761 December: The Cherokee sign a treaty ending their war with the American colonists. 1763 February: The Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years' War in Europe and the French and Indian War in North America. 1775 1747–1776 1776 June: White settlements in Watauga and South Carolina are raided by the Cherokee, allies of the British, who have promised to protect the Indians from encroachments by colonial borders.July 29–November: General Griffith Rutherford with 2,400 men invades Cherokee country, destroying 32 towns and villages. Rutherford is joined by Colonel Andrew Williamson with South Carolina troops and Colonel William Christian with Virginians. This expedition breaks the power of the Cherokee and forces them to sue for peace. 1777 1783 1791 1798 Nineteenth-Century American Indian History 1808 1810 1814 1817 1819 1820 1821 1822 1827 1828 1830 1835 A small, unauthorized group of men signs the Cherokee Removal Treaty. The Cherokee protest the treaty, and Chief John Ross collects more than 15,000 signatures, representing nearly the entire Cherokee population, on a petition requesting the United States Senate to withhold ratification. 1836 1838 An estimated 4,000 Cherokee people die during the 1,200-mile trek. A few hundred Cherokee refuse to be rounded up and transported. They hide in the mountains and evade federal soldiers. Eventually, a deal is struck between the army and the remaining Cherokee. Tsali, a leading Cherokee brave, agrees to surrender himself to General Winfield Scott to be shot if the army will allow the rest of his people to stay in North Carolina legally. The federal government eventually establishes a reservation for the Eastern Band of Cherokee. 1839 1840 1842 1859 1861–1865 1865 1865–1874 1872 1874 1875 1882–early 1900s 1885 1887 1888 December 4: Fifty-four Croatan Indians in Robeson County petition the federal government, requesting funds for schools.The Indians of Person County construct a school on land donated by Green Martin; another school will be constructed within the next few years. 1889 Twentieth-Century American Indian History 1904 1910 1911 The Coharie receive state recognition, but this recognition is rescinded two years later.The State of North Carolina names recognizes a group of Indians descended from the Saponi, Tutelo, and Occaneechi tribes as the Indians of Person County. State recognition will be rescinded in the 1970s.New Bethel Indian School is established in New Bethel Township, Sampson County, to serve Coharie children. 1913 1917 1925 1934 1935 1938 1939 1942 1947 1950 1952–1954 1953 1955 1956 1957 1958 June: English E. Jones becomes the first Lumbee president of Pembroke State College (now the University of North Carolina at Pembroke). 1965 1970s 1971 July 2: The General Assembly establishes the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs. Bruce Jones, a Lumbee, serves as director.December 22: The Lumbee Bank is established in Pembroke. It is the first bank in the United States owned and operated by Indians. 1972 The Carolina Indian Voice, an Indian-owned newspaper, begins operation.September: Horace Locklear, a Lumbee, becomes the first Indian to practice law in North Carolina. October: Tuscarora from Robeson County join other Indians from across the nation in occupying the Bureau of Indian Affairs building in Washington, D.C., during the Trail of Broken Treaties protest. The Tuscarora steal 7,200 pounds of records from the building and bring them to Robeson County. 1973 March 19: Henry Ward Oxendine, a Lumbee from Robeson County, becomes the first American Indian to serve in the General Assembly in North Carolina.September 5: The Guilford Native American Association incorporates in Greensboro. 1976 The Waccamaw-Siouan tribe begins governing by tribal council and tribal chief. 1986 1988 1997 November: Harrah's Cherokee Casino opens on Qualla Boundary reservation, with 175,000 square feet of space and 1,800 video gambling machines. |