Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 5 (of 8): The English and French in North America 1689-1763
History
Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 5 (of 8): The English and French in North America 1689-1763
America -- Discovery and exploration; America -- History; United States -- History
According to the latest history,—that of Rev. Dr. Hawks,—another
result of this acrimonious contest was the deplorable massacre of
hundreds of defenceless white settlers, men, women, and children,
by the Tuscarora Indians. This is doubtless merely _post hoc ergo
propter hoc_. We must ascribe hostilities solely to encroachments on
the lands of the natives; to ill treatment by traders and others; and
to the killing of one of their number, which called for revenge. The
Tuscaroras, it was thought, could muster 1,200 warriors. They suddenly
made their onslaught at daybreak, September 22, 1711. Their special
task in the diabolical conspiracy was to murder all the whites along
the Roanoke, while other tribes conducted a simultaneous attack upon
other sections. The wielding of the blood-dripping knife and tomahawk,
the conflagration of dwellings and barns, the murderous rush upon the
victims who, here and there, had hidden themselves and who ran out from
the blazing fires to a fate scarcely less dreadful, with other horrors
we are unwilling to relate, continued for three days. One hundred and
fifty were slain on the Roanoke, more than sixty at Newbern, an unknown
number near Bath; and the carnage was stopped only by the exhaustion
and besotted drunkenness of the bloodstained savages. Governor Hyde was
powerless to confront the foe. He could not raise half the number of
men the enemy had. The Quakers were non-combatants; and with them were
affiliated many others who opposed the government. Governor Hyde was
compelled to resort to arbitrary measures in impressing vessels and in
procuring provisions for such troops as he could muster; and these were
so inadequate, and so wide-spread was the Indian combination, that he
called for assistance from Virginia and South Carolina. Both responded
with alacrity. While Spotswood could not supply troops, he checked the
further combination of tribes in his direction. South Carolina sent
troops onward through the forests, under Colonel Barnwell, who defeated
the Tuscaroras and put an end to the war for the time being. But after
he retired to South Carolina, suffering with wounds, the Indians
treacherously renewed hostilities; and it was believed they would soon
be joined by more powerful northward tribes. To add to the calamities
of the people, an epidemic (said to be yellow fever) broke out. The
mortality was fearful, and among the victims was the governor of the
colony. The council elected Colonel Pollock as their president and to
act as commander-in-chief. The following mournful picture is given us
from manuscripts left by Colonel Pollock: “The government was bankrupt,
the people impoverished, faction abundant, the settlements on Neuse and
Pamlico destroyed, houses and property burned, plantations abandoned,
trade in ruins, no cargoes for the few small vessels that came, the
Indian war renewed, not men enough for soldiers, no means to pay them,
the whole available force under arms but one hundred and thirty or
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