MY DEAR MR. MCPHERSON: Upon the receipt of these instructions, or as soon thereafter as practicable, you will proceed to North Carolina for the purpose of investigating the affairs of the Croatan Indians of Robeson and adjoining counties of that State, as provided for by Senate resolution 410.

This resolution reads:

Extreme care should be exercised by you in obtaining all pertinent facts relative to the condition and tribal rights of these Indians in order that this office may be prepared to submit to the next Congress, through the department, full information responsive to said resolution.

The undersigned, your petitioners, a part of the Croatan Indians, living in the county and State aforesaid, their residence for a hundred years or more, respectfully petition your honorable body for such aid as you may see fit to extend to them, the amount to be appropriated to be used for the sole and exclusive purpose of assisting your petitioners and other Croatans in said county and State to educate their children and fit them for the duties of American citizenship.

Your petitioners would show that there are in said county, of legal school age, of the Croatan race, eleven hundred and sixty-five (1,165 in December, 1887) children. That the Croatans in said county and State are industrious citizens, engaged for the most part in agricultural pursuits, and are unable to give to their children the benefits of proper educational training, and would, as aforesaid, most respectfully petition your honorable body to assist them.

Your petitioners are a remnant of White's lost colony and during the long years that have passed since the disappearance of said colony have been struggling unaided and alone to fit themselves and their children for the exalted privileges and duties of American freemen, and now for the first time ask your honorable body to come to their assistance.

And your petitioners as in duty bound, etc.

James Oxendine, Ashbury Oxendine, Zackriors Oxendine, J. J. Oxendine, Billey Locklear, Malakiah Locklear, Preston Locklear, John Ballard, Crolly Locklear, G. W. Locklear, Patrick Locklear, Luther Deas, Marcus Dial, Joseph Locklear, Alex Locklear, Frank Locklear, W. W. Locklear, J. E. Lovit, Beni Locklear, John Locklear, Joseph Locklear, jr., Soleomon Oxendine, A. J. Lowrie, John A. Locklear, Soleomon Locklear, Anguish A. Locklear, Silas Deas, Olline Oxendine, Isad Braboy, James Lowrie, John A. Lockler, Marcus Dial, Josep Lockler, Eliach Lockler, Frank Locklar, W. W. Lockler, J. E. Lovet, Buey Lockler, John Lockler, Jorge Brayboy, Pink Lockler, John E. Oxendine, William Sampson, Steven Carter, Evert Sampson, Wues Sampson, John Sampson, Rober Carter, Quin Gordan, Jordan Oxendine, James R. Sanderson, Peater Dyall, Willey Jacobs, Murdock Chavons.

DEAR SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith copy of a communication signed with 54 names of persons who claim to be “Croatan Indians” and descendants of “White's lost colony,” in Robeson County, N. C.

There is no record in this office of any such Indians or any such a colony, and I can find no reference to them in any history at my command.

Can you kindly furnish me with any information on the subject and much oblige,

SIR: In reply to your letter of the 7th instant with inclosure requesting information in regard to the Croatan Indians, I beg leave to say that Croatan was in 1585 and thereabouts the name of an island and Indian village just north of Cape Hatteras, N. C. White's colony of 120 men and women was landed on Roanoke Island just to the north in 1587, and in 1590, when White returned to revisit the colony, he found no trace of it on Roanoke Island save the name “Croatoan,” carved upon a tree, which, according to a previous understanding, was interpreted to mean that the colonists had left Roanoke Island for Croatan. No actual trace of the missing colonists was ever found, but more than 100 years afterwards Lawson obtained traditional information from the Hatteras Indians which led him to believe that the colonists had been incorporated with the Indians. It was thought that traces of white blood could be discovered among the Indians, some among them having gray eyes. It is probable that the greater number of the colonists were killed; but it was quite in keeping with Indian usages that a greater or less number, especially women and children, should have been made captive and subsequently incorporated into the tribe. The best authority to be consulted with regard to the above colony is Hawks' History of North Carolina, Fayetteville, N. C., 1859, Volume I, pages 211, 225, 228. The book may be obtained from the Congressional Library. Bancroft (History of U. S., Vol. I, p. 77, treated at great length in his early edition) and other authors mention the main facts, but their accounts rest upon Hawks'. It is understood that Mr. Hamilton McMillan, of Fayetteville, N. C., will soon publish a book attempting to show that Raleigh's colony was carried off by the Indians and that their descendants are now living in Robeson County, N. C.

SIR: I have received a petition from parties in Robeson County, N. C., in which the claim is made that they are “Croatan” Indians, descendants of “White's lost colony,” and asking Government aid for the education of their children, numbering about 1,100.

I am informed that you are familiar with the history of these people, and if so, I will thank you for any information you will furnish me. Are they citizens of the United States, and are they entitled to the educational advantages furnished by the State of North Carolina?

Please answer at your earliest convenience and oblige,

DEAR SIR: Answering your letter of 7th ultimo will say that the people in whose behalf we wrote are not the Eastern Cherokees, but the Croatan Indians. Therefore they receive nothing appropriated for the Cherokees. The people for which I am officially interested have as a general thing grown up without so much as the rudiments of education, yet the youth who have had (to some degree) better opportunities for educating themselves show that the moral, intellectual, and social aptitudes in them are real. Can not something be obtained to assist them in a normal school for them? If so, please direct me how to proceed.

There are 1,100 children between the ages of 6 and 21 years who need continual instruction.

Please reply at the earliest convenience.

SIR: On the 29th of January, 1889, a report from the Bureau of Ethnology in regard to the Croatan Indians was mailed to you with the request that information be forwarded to this office in regard to these people. Inclosed find copy of the letter. No communication has been received from you in response to the office letter mentioned. The subject is again brought to the attention of the Indian Office by Mr. W. L. Moore, of Osborne, N. C., in a letter dated July 2, copy of which is also inclosed herewith.

I trust that you will promptly respond to this communication and return the document mailed to you January 29 with such information as you can give.

MY DEAR SIR: Your letter of July 14 ultimo just to hand. The communication and report from the Bureau of Ethnology to which you refer were never received, and your letter just received conveys the first intimation of their having been sent. Had they been received I would have responded with pleasure.

I inclose to you to-day a copy of a pamphlet containing much of interest in this connection. The pamphlet was written very hastily nearly two years ago in order to give the North Carolina Legislature some information, as the Croatans were asking some legislation in their behalf.

The Croatan Tribe lives principally in Robeson County, N. C., though there are quite a number of them settled in counties adjoining in North and South Carolina. In Sumter County, S. C., there is a branch of the tribe and also in East Tennessee. In Lincoln County, N. C., there is another branch, settled there long ago. Those living in East Tennessee are called “Melungeans,” a name also retained by them here, which is a corruption of Melange, a name given them by early settlers (French), which means mixed. The pamphlet sent you will outline their history as far as it can be discovered from their traditions. In regard to their exodus from Roanoke Island their traditions are confirmed by maps recently discovered in Europe by Prof. Alexander Brown, member of the Royal Historical Society of England. These maps are dated in 1608 and 1610, and give the reports of the Croatans to Raleigh's ships, which visited our coast in those years. These maps will be lithographed and published in a book, now being prepared by Prof. Brown. The particulars of the exodus preserved by tradition here are strangely and strongly corroborated by these maps. There can be little doubt of the fact that the Croatans in Robeson County and elsewhere are the descendants of the Croatans of Raleigh's day. In 1885 I got the North Carolina Legislature to recognize them as Croatans and give them separate public schools. In 1887 I got $500 a year from the State for a normal school for them for two years. In 1889 the appropriation was extended two years longer.

Their normal school needs help—at least $500 more is needed. The appropriation to the public schools amounts to less than a dollar a head per annum.

If you can aid them in the way desired we would be glad. They are citizens of the United States and entitled to the educational privileges enjoyed by other citizens, but those advanatges are not much.

SIR: Referring to your letter of July 2 and office response thereto of the 16th, I have received a communication from Hamilton McMillan, of Red Springs, N. C., setting forth the situation of the Croatan Indians very fully. It appears from his statement that this band is recognized by the State of North Carolina, has been admitted to citizenship, and the State has undertaken the work of their education.

While I regret exceedingly that the provisions made by the State of North Carolina seem to be entirely inadequate, I find it quite impracticable to render any assistance at this time. The Government is responsible for the education of something like 36,000 Indian children and has provisions for less than half this number. So long as the immediate wards of the Government are so insufficiently provided for, I do not see how I can consistently render any assistance to the Croatans or any other civilized tribes.

I am obliged to you for calling my attention to the matter, and have been very much interested in the information furnished by Mr. McMillan regarding this very interesting tribe.

In 1583, “Elizabeth, by the Grace of God, of England, France, and Ireland, Queen, defender of the faith,” granted to Sir Walter Raleigh, his heirs and assigns forever, letters patent “to discover, search, find, and view such remote heathen and barbarous lands, countries, and territories, not actually possessed of any Christian Prince, nor inhabited by Christian people, as to him, his heirs and assigns, to every or any of them shall seem good, and the same to have, hold, and occupy and enjoy, to him, his heirs, and assigns forever.”

It was provided further that a settlement should be made in the territory granted within six years next succeeding the date of the letters patent.

This grant was made during one of the most critical periods of British history. The Protestant Elizabeth had espoused the cause of the Netherlands and had given high offense to Spain by rejecting the proposed matrimonial alliance with Philip, the reigning monarch of that country. The Armada, consisting of 140 ships of war and carrying fully 30,000 men, threatened an early attack upon England. Powerful allies stood ready to assist King Philip. The length of time necessary to complete this powerful armament had afforded to Elizabeth opportunity to prepare for the impending danger. Sir Walter Raleigh then enjoyed high favor at court. The Queen early discovered his soldierly qualities and intellectual ability, and in addition to high rank which she bestowed upon him, readily granted him and his heirs extensive territory in North America. Raleigh was one of the most skillful generals of his times, and while actively engaged in the preparation for the threatened invasion of England, found opportunity to fit out an expedition to the coast of America to make discoveries and to locate a colony in compliance with the terms of his grant. The commanders of the expedition were Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, who sailed with two barks from the coast of England on the 15th day of April, 1584, O. S., and reached the coast of America in July of the same year. They sailed along the coast for 120 miles before they found any entrance or river issuing into the sea. These navigators probably entered at Hatteras Inlet, on the coast of what is now North Carolina, and having anchored “within the haven's mouth on the left hand of the same,” they went in boats “to view the land adjoining and to take possession of the same in right of the Queen's most excellent majesty as rightful Queen and Princess of the same.” The land thus taken into possession was Roanoke Island, about 7 leagues distant from the anchorage.

After a stay of nearly two months, the expedition returned to England, carrying two of the natives, Manteo and Wanchese. The disposition of the natives toward the Englishmen was friendly, and though no reason is given for carrying the two Indians to England, it was probably understood that a second expedition would soon follow, and that they could return to their own country at an early day. There was good policy in impressing them, as prominent men of their own land, with the greatness of England. Manteo and Wanchese returned in another expedition to Roanoke, the former to become Lord of Roanoke, the latter to become the determined enemy of the English.

A second expedition, under Sir Richard Greenville, the cousin of Sir Walter Raleigh, sailed from England on the 9th of April, 1585. This expedition consisted of seven vessels, and arrived at Roanoke during the following July. In August following Sir Richard Greenville returned to England, after leaving a colony on Roanoke Island under Master Ralf Lane.

Lane explored the surrounding country, making many valuable discoveries, and finally, despairing of aid expected, embarked, with his entire colony, on the fleet of Sir Francis Drake, which stopped at Roanoke, and sailed for England.

The departure of Lane's colony left no Englishmen on the shores of North America.

In less than one month from the departure of Lane Sir Richard Greenville arrived at Roanoke with supplies, and after a fruitless search for the colonists, he left 15 men on the island to hold possession of the country. After the departure of Greenville these men were seen no more by Englishmen.

Not discouraged by repeated failures, Sir Walter Raleigh fitted out another expedition under John White as governor, who, with others of the colonists, were incorporated as “The Governor and Assistants of the City of Raleigh in Virginia.” The city of Raleigh was designed to be built on the shores of Chesapeake Bay.

Gov. White was instructed to call at Roanoke Island to ascertain the fate of the 15 men left there by Sir Richard Greenville. The commanders of the ships seemed to have been independent of the authority of Gov. White, and fully aware that a voyage to Chesapeake Bay would delay their expected cruise in the West Indies, refused to transport the colony to its destination, and thus compelled Gov. White to stop at Roanoke Island. The vessels departed soon after in search of Spanish prizes.

After reciting many incidents, Gov. White relates that “on the 13th of August, our savage Manteo, by the commandment of Sir Walter Raleigh, was christened in Roanoke and called Lord thereof, and of Dasamonguepeuk, in reward of his faithful service.” “The 18th, Eleanor, daughter of Gov. White and wife to Ananias Dare, one of the colonists, was delivered of a daughter in Roanoke, and the same was christened there the Sunday following, and because this child was the first Christian born in Virginia, she was named Virginia.”

Gov. White relates that a violent tempest arose on the 21st of August, which lasted for six days and threatened the destruction of one of the vessels then ready to sail for England. Gov. White was sent back to England by the planters, to act there as factor for the colony.

The Croatan Indians, who visited Roanoke Island, invited the colonists to reside with them, and the latter, prior to the departure of the governor, expressed to him their intention to accept the invitation and to remove 50 miles “up into the main.” It was understood that if they went to Croatoan they were to carve the word Croatoan on the bark of a tree in some conspicuous place, that the governor might know where to find them on his return. It was further understood that if they left the island in distress they were to carve the Christian cross above the word Croatoan.

On the 27th of August, White sailed for England, and the colonists were seen no more by white men.

On his arrival in England, Gov. White found all things in commotion. The long-threatened storm of war had burst upon England, and the services of Sir Walter Raleigh and others who were interested in the distant colony were enlisted in the national defense. It was a critical period of British history. Queen Elizabeth relied upon the skill of Raleigh, under whose guidance the Armada was defeated, and “liberty of person and liberty of conscience were once more free.”

On the 22d of April, 1588, Gov. White, by aid of Sir Walter Raleigh, sailed from England with two barques to visit the colony at Roanoke. These vessels, disabled in fighting ships encountered during the voyage, were compelled to return to England. No further attempt to reach the colony was made till the 20th of March, 1590, when White again sailed for Virginia with three vessels. Nearly six months passed before the vessels reached Roanoke in the following August:

In his account of this voyage, as published by Hakluyt, Gov. White says that—

Omitting some unimportant details, we extract from White's narrative the following:

Foul weather compelled Gov. White to return to the fleet, and on the following day with a favorable wind they prepared to sail to Croatan, but owing to the loss of all their anchors save one and the approaching foul weather it was determined to sail to St. John or some other island southward for fresh water, and after obtaining victuals and necessaries in the West Indies and spending the winter there to return in the spring to seek the colonists at Croatan. One of the vessels being in a leaky condition was compelled to sail for England. The other vessels after cruising for a while in search of Spanish prizes finally sailed for England and arrived at Plymouth on the 24th day of October, 1590.

From the story of Gov. White it is evident that Croatoan was sitated southward from Roanoke Island and upon the coast, for the voyagers attempted to sail to it upon the open sea. It is probable that the island mentioned was one of the long islands curtaining the coast and embraced within the present county of Carteret. It is so located on one of the oldest maps, bearing date of 1666. On a map published by order of the Lords Proprietors in 1671 the peninsula embracing the present county of Dare is called Croatan. Lawson's map of the year 1709 also locates Croatan in the same region. The sound immediately west of Roanoke Island still bears the name of Croatan. The name of the island belonging to the tribe was probably Croatoan, while the name of the tribe inhabiting it may have been Croatan. The name Croatan was given to the tribe by the English from the name of a locality within their territory. That part of their territory lying west of Roanoke Island was called Dasamonguepeuk by some of the natives. Manteo, by order of Sir Walter Raleigh, was made “Lord of Roanoke and Dasamonguepeuk,” the first instance of a title of nobility being conferred on an American. There can be little doubt that the territory now embraced within the counties of Hyde, Tyrrell, and Dare was claimed and occupied by the friendly tribe of Manteo at one time, and was designated as Croatan, and at another time occupied by a different tribe of hostile Indians, who called it Dasamonquepeuk. Croatoan, the principal seat of Manteo and his tribe, lay to the southward. The name carved upon the tree according to a secret understanding between Gov. White and the planters prior to the departure of the former, was Croatoan, and was understood by him to mean an island southward from Roanoke, “for there,” he relates, “Manteo was born and the savages of the island our friends.”

For nearly 300 years after the departure of White no trace of the lost colony had been discovered, with the exception of the following related by Lawson, an early historian, who wrote in 1714: “The Hatteras Indians who lived on Roanoke Island, or much frequented it, tell us that several of their ancestors were white people and could talk in a book, as we do; the truth of which is confirmed by gray eyes being frequently found amongst these Indians, and no others. They value themselves extremely for their affinity to the English, and are ready to do them all friendly offices.”

Purchas tells us that several subsequent voyages were made at the expense of Sir Walter Raleigh, to discover his lost countrymen, but without success. Commanders of ships in those days were more anxious to capture Spanish vessels than to find lost Englishmen, and it is doubtful if a single ship touched at Croatan or Roanoke to make inquiries after the departure of White in 1590.

Who were the Croatans? The term Croatan or Croatoan was applied by the English to the friendly tribe of Manteo whose chief abode was on an island on the coast southward from Roanoke. The name Croatan seems to indicate a locality in the territory claimed by Manteo and his tribe. Dr. Hawks speaks of this tribe as Hatteras Indians, and from an incident to be related hereafter this title seems to have been recognized by these Indians. From the first appearance of Amadas and Barlowe to the departure of Gov. White, in 1587 relations of the most friendly character are known to have existed between this tribe and the English colonists. Their chief, Manteo, in reward of his faithful services to the English, was, by command of Sir Walter Raleigh, baptized as a member of the Church of England and was made Lord of Roanoke and of Dasamonguepeuk. For reasons given in the succeeding pages we believe the term Roanoke, then applied to the island, was afterwards given to a large extent of territory contiguous to Pamlico Sound, in fact to all the territory claimed by Manteo. The tribes at that early day seemed to have had no settled boundaries to the territories claimed by them and occupied the land adjacent to their principal seats, alternately with other tribes, as hunting grounds.

The history of this tribe, as connected with the early attempts to colonize our eastern coast, is of peculiar interest and is worthy of extended notice.

After the departure of Gov. White from the coast of Virginia in 1590 five expeditions were fitted out at the expense of Sir Walter Raleigh for the relief of his distressed countrymen at Roanoke. These expeditions returned with no tidings of the planters and it became the settled conviction of those interested in the colony that it perished from starvation or savage cruelty.

After the settlement at Jamestown in 1607, Capt. John Smith sent a hardy woodsman to the Chowanoke Indians, who lived near the head of Albemarle Sound, under the pretense of sending presents to their king, but his object was to make inquiries concerning the Roanoke colony. Capt. Smith sent two other men to the Mangoaks, on the river Nottoway, but they returned as the other had done, without any information except that the white people were all dead. (Vide Williamson's His. of N. C., vol. 1, p. 73.)

It is evident from the story of Gov. White, as given on a preceding page, that the colonists went southward along the coast to Croatoan Island, now a part of Carteret County, in North Carolina, and distant about 100 miles in a direct line from Albemarle Sound. The Mangoacks were seated northwest from Albemarle and it is not surprising that the messengers returned without definite information. The statement of Lawson as to the tradition of the Hatteras Indians may throw some light on the fate of the English colonists, but it is a matter of surprise to us at this time that a historian would not pursue the investigation of that tradition far enough to ascertain who those ancestors were who could “talk in a book.” Europeans had been upon the coast even before the arrival of Amidas and Barlowe in 1584. Persons were noticed among the natives with auburn and chestnut colored hair, and traditions existed concerning wrecked vessels. Iron implements were found among the Croatan Indians made of spikes and nails obtained from a wreck on their coast, which occurred about 20 years before the arrival of the English colony. A previous wreck in 1558 was mentioned; some of the crew were saved and were supposed to have been lost in their attempt to leave in the frail boats of the natives, Lawson wrote in 1714, 127 years after the colonists were last seen on Roanoke Island. Sixty-nine years after the settlement on that island and sixty years before the event related by Lawson, Roanoke was visited by an Englishman, Francis Yeardly, who, in a letter to John Farrar, Esq., dated May 8, 1654, relates a visit made to Roanoke Island by himself and others—

So that at that early day the island was occupied by Indians who knew nothing of the lost Englishmen and who pointed out Raleigh's fort as an object of curiosity, without any tradition as to the fate of those who built it.

Rev. Mr. Blair, who was a missionary to the settlements on Pamlico Sound, after describing the difficulties of his situation, writes to his patron, Lord Weymouth, as follows:

This letter was written in 1703. Mr. Blair speaks of a desert of 50 miles in extent to be crossed in reaching the place. At the time in which he writes the descendants of the missing colonists must have held only a tradition respecting the events attending the attempt at colonization on Roanoke Island. The number mentioned by Mr. Blair is evidently an exaggeration and the location of the tribe is indefinite. There is reason to believe that descendants of the colonists were living in a region of country southwest of Pamlico at the time in which he writes and that they emigrated westward toward the interior, where a large body of Croatan Indians and descendants of the lost colonists had previously located. It is probable that the civilized Indians mentioned were a portion of the Croatan tribe, as there was no other tribe to which the reference could apply. At that early day very little was known of the region to southwest of Pamlico Sound, and the missionary may have traveled 100 miles in reaching the place of his labor, which seemed to be at a great distance from other precincts visited by him.

At the time in which he writes (1703) there were no settlements of white men known to exist beyond the region around Pamlico Sound. Subsequent to that date white emigrants penetrated the wilderness, and in 1729 there was a settlement made on Hearts Creek, a tributary of the Cape Fear, and near the site of the present town of Fayetteville. Scotchmen arrived in what is now Richmond County in North Carolina as early as 1730. French Huguenots in large numbers emigrated to South Carolina after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and some of them had penetrated as far north as the present northern boundary of that State in the early part of the eighteenth century.

At the coming of white settlers there was found located on the waters of Lumber River a large tribe of Indians, speaking English, tilling the soil, owning slaves, and practicing many of the arts of civilized life. They occupied the country as far west as the Pee Dee, but their principal seat was on the Lumber, extending along that river for 20 miles. They held their lands in common, and land titles only became known on the approach of white men. The first grant of land to any of this tribe of which there is written evidence in existence was made by King George II in 1732 to Henry Berry and James Lowrie, two leading men of the tribe, and was located on the Lowrie Swamp, east of Lumber River in present county of Robeson, in North Carolina. A subsequent grant was made to James Lowrie in 1738. According to tradition, there were deeds of land of older date, described as “White” deeds and “Smith” deeds, but no trace of their existence can be found at this date.

Many of these people at a later period purchased their lands from persons who obtained large patents from the king.

Occasional bands of immigrants arrived on the Lumber River from ancient settlements toward the east, while others moved west toward the Pee Dee, Catawba and French Broad Rivers. These people were hospitable, and friendly relations were established between them and their white neighbors. Subsequent to the coming of white settlers a portion of the tribe went north toward the Great Lakes and some of their descendants can be found at this time in Canada, west of Lake Ontario. Another emigration occurred at a later date and the emigrants became incorporated with a tribe then located near Lake Michigan. Many families, described as white people, emigrated toward the Allegheny Mountains and there are many families in western North Carolina at this time, who are claimed by the tribe in Robeson County, as descendants of the lost English colonists, who had preserved their purity of blood to that degree that they could not be distinguished from white people. These Indians built great roads connecting the distant settlements with their principal seat on the Lumbee, as the Lumber River was then called. One of the great roads constructed by them can be traced from a point on Lumber River for 20 miles to an old settlement near the mouth of Hearts Creek, now Cross Creek. Another great highway still bearing the name of the “Lowrie Road” and used at this day as a public road, extends from the town of Fayetteville, through Cumberland and Robeson Counties, in a southwest direction toward an ancient Croatan settlement on the Pee Dee.

James Lowrie, previously mentioned as one of the grantees in the deed made by George the Second, and recognized as a chief man of his tribe, is described as an Indian who married Priscilla Berry, a sister of Henry Berry, the other grantee mentioned. James Lowrie was a descendant of James Lowrie, of Chesapeake, who married a Croatan woman in Virginia (as eastern North Carolina is still designated by the tribe) and became the progenitor of all the Lowries belonging to this tribe. According to the prevalent tradition respecting this family, the men were intellectual and ambitious, and, as a chronicler of the tribe described them, became “leaders among men.” Many persons distinguished in the annals of North Carolina are claimed as descended from the original James Lowrie, of Chesapeake. “You will find the name of James Lowrie,” remarked the chronicler, “wherever you find a Lowrie family.”

Henry Berry, the grantee previously mentioned, was a lineal descendant of the English colonist, Henry Berry, who was left on Roanoke Island in 1587. (See list of names of lost colony.)

Many of this tribe served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and enjoyed pensions within the memory of persons yet living. A considerable number served during the War of 1812, some of whom received pensions within the recollection of the writer. From the close of the Revolution to the year 1835 they exercised the elective franchise equally with white men, performed militia duties, encouraged schools and built churches, owned slaves, and lived in comfortable circumstances. By an ordinance of the North Carolina State convention of 1835, the elective franchise was denied to all “free persons of color.” To effect a political purpose, it was contended that these citizens were “free persons of color,” and afterwards they were debarred from voting till the year 1868, when a new constitution was adopted. After the adoption of the new State constitution, they were allowed the benefit of public schools, but having been classed for a long period as “free persons of color,” they were compelled to patronize schools provided for the negro race. Owing to a bitter prejudice against negroes, but few availed themselves of the privilege, the greater part preferring that their children should grow up in ignorance, rather than that they should be forced to association with a race which they hold in utter contempt. Separate schools have since been provided for their race by the Legislature of North Carolina, which, by special act, recognized them as Croatan Indians.

During the late war between the States an incident occurred which caused the writer to investigate the traditions of this tribe. Three young men of the Lowrie family were drafted, according to military law, to work on the fortifications at Fort Fisher, in eastern North Carolina, and while on the road to the nearest depot in Robeson County they were killed, it is supposed, by a white man who had them in custody. An inquest was held, and at its conclusion, an old Indian named George Lowrie addressed the people assembled in substance as follows:

The incident above related occurred in the latter part of 1864, and owing to the troubled state of the country at that time and for several years afterwards, no investigation could be made till the year 1875, when the writer became a citizen and had opportunity of interviewing leading persons of the tribe.

After the year 1835 these Indians, who murmured greatly at the injustice done them in being classed as “mulattoes” or “free persons of color,” became suspicious of white men, and at first we found difficulty in eliciting any facts relating to their past history. After years of patient investigation, gathering here and there, we present the following summary of traditions prevalent among them:

In investigating the traditions prevalent among this singular people we found many family names identical with those of the lost colony of 1587. For the information of the reader we give a list of the names of all the men, women, and children of Raleigh's colony, which arrived in Virginia and remained to inhabit there. This list is found in first volume of Hawks' History of North Carolina and copied from Hakluyt, Volume III, page 280.

It has long been a settled conviction that the lost colonists perished from starvation or savage cruelty.

This conviction has arisen from the fact that they were seen no more by white men.

The particulars given by Gov. White of the understanding which existed between him and the colonists prior to his departure for England in 1587, and his finding the word “Croatoan” on a tree, in a conspicuous place, on his return in 1590, seem to prove conclusively that the English had accepted the invitation of Manteo's tribe and had gone to Croatan Island. The fact that they were seen no more by white men does not prove that they perished. The same fact exists in regard to the Croatans and the same argument would prove their destruction also.

MY LORDS, As Debts of Gratitude ought most punctually to be paid, so, where the Debtor is uncapable of Payment, Acknowledgments ought, at least, to be made. I cannot, in the least, pretend to retaliate Your Lordships Favours to me, but must farther intrude on that Goodness of which I have already had so good Experience, by laying these Sheets at Your Lordships Feet, where they beg Protection, as having nothing to recommend them, but Truth; a Gift which every Author may be Master of, if he will.

I here present Your Lordships with a Description of your own Country, for the most part, in her Natural Dress, and therefore less vitiated with Fraud and Luxury. A Country, whose Inhabitants may enjoy a Life of the greatest Ease and Satisfaction, and pass away their Hours in solid Contentment.

Those Charms of Liberty and Right, the Darlings of an English Nature, which Your Lordships grant and maintain, make you appear Noble Patrons in the Eyes of all Men, and we a happy People in a Foreign Country; which nothing less than Ingratitude and Baseness can make us disown.

As Heaven has been liberal in its Gifts, so are Your Lordships favourable Promoters of whatever may make us an easy People; which, I hope, Your Lordships will continue to us and our Posterity; and that we and they may always acknowledge such Favours, by banishing from among us every Principle which renders Men factious and unjust, which is the hearty Prayer of,

'TIS a great Misfortune, that most of our Travellers, who go to this vast Continent in America, are Persons of the meaner Sort, and generally of a very slender Education; who being hir'd by the Merchants, to trade amongst the Indians, in which Voyages they often spend several Years, are yet, at their Return, uncapable of giving any reasonable Account of what they met withal in those remote Parts; tho' the Country abounds with Curiosities worthy a nice Observation. In this Point, I think, the French outstrip us.

First, By their Numerous Clergy, their Missionaries being obedient to their Superiors in the highest Degree, and that Obedience being one great Article of their Vow, and strictly observ'd amongst all their Orders.

Secondly, They always send abroad some of their Gentlemen in Company of the Missionaries, who, upon their Arrival, are order'd out into the Wilderness, to make Discoveries, and to acquaint themselves with the Savages of America; and are oblig'd to keep a strict Journal of all the Passages they meet withal, in order to present the same not only to their Governors and Fathers, but likewise to their Friends and Relations in France; which is industriously spread about that Kingdom, to their Advantage. For their Monarch being a very good Judge of Mens Deserts, does not often let Money or Interest make men of Parts give Place to others of less Worth. This breeds an Honourable Emulation amongst them, to outdo one another, even in Fatigues, and Dangers whereby they gain a good Correspondence with the Indians, and acquaint themselves with their Speech and Customs; and so make considerable Discoveries in a short time. Witness, their Journals from Canada, to the Missisipi, and its several Branches, where they have effected great Matters, in a few Years.

Having spent most of my time, during my eight Years Abode in Carolina, in travelling; I not only survey'd the Sea-Coast and those Parts which are already inhabited by the Christians, but likewise view'd a spatious Tract of Land, lying betwixt the Inhabitants and the Ledges of Mountains, from whence our noblest Rivers have their Rise, running towards the Ocean, where they water as pleasant a Country as any in Europe; the Discovery of which being never yet made publick, I have, in the following Sheets, given you a faithful Account thereof, wherein I have laid down every thing with Impartiality, and Truth, which is indeed, the Duty of every Author, and preferable to a smooth stile, accompany'd with Falsities and Hyperboles.

Great Part of this pleasant and healthful Country is inhabited by none but Savages, who covet a Christian Neighborhood, for the Advantage of Trade, and enjoy all the Comforts of Life, free from Care and Want.

But not to amuse my Readers any longer with the Encomium of Carolina, I refer 'em to my Journal, and other more particular Description of that Country and its Inhabitants, which they will find after the Natural History thereof, in which I have been very exact, and for Method's sake, rang'd each Species under its distinct and proper Head.

THE Indians, which were the Inhabitants of America, when the Spaniards and other Europeans discover'd the several Parts of that Country, are the People which we reckon the Natives thereof; as indeed they were, when we first found out those Parts, and appear'd therein. Yet this has not wrought in me a full Satisfaction, to allow these People to have been the Ancient Dwellers of the New-World, or Tract of Land we call America. The Reasons that I have to think otherwise, are too many to set down here; but I shall give the Reader a few, before I proceed; and some others he will find scatter'd in my Writings elsewhere.

We are of the opinion that they were originally a part of the great Cherokee Tribe of Indians which inhabited the western and central portions of Carolina before the advance of the white man.

Indeed, Mr. McMillan, in his account before referred to, takes the position that they are of Cherokee descent, though we confess that we can not reconcile this contention with his main contention that they are descendants of Gov. White's or Sir Walter Raleigh's lost colony.

Long before historians began to study the origin of these people they claimed to be of Cherokee descent. In fact, they have always claimed that they were originally a part of the Cherokee Tribe and that they gave up their tribal relation after they had participated with the white man in the war against the Tuscaroras. These Indians had great roads or trails connecting their settlements with the principal seat of the Cherokee Tribe in the Allegheny Mountains. There is a well-authenticated tradition among them, handed down through several generations, that this small remnant, after participating with the whites in the war against the Tuscaroras, took up many of the habits and customs of the white man, and therefore refused to remove west with the great Cherokee Tribe. It is also certain that in this they were influenced by the admixture of Anglo-Saxon blood, which had taken place to some extent even in that remote period.

On a map (being map No. 1) of the transactions of the American Ethnological Society the Yemassees are assigned to the region bordering on the Savannah River; the Cherokees to the mountain region; the Cheraws from the Yemassees along the coastal region to the Pamlicos on Pamlico Sound; the Tuscaroras along the Roanoke River, and just south of them, on the Nuese, the Woocons; and the Catawbas in central North and South Carolina.

It appears from Gregg's History of The Old Cheraws that originally the Cherokees occupied the territory assigned on the map to the Catawbas. According to their tradition, the Catawbas, about the time of the settlement of North America by the whites, occupied a region far to the northward, from whence they removed to the South. Being a numerous and warlike race, they vanquished the tribes with whom they came in conflict on the way, until they met the Cherokees on the banks of the river now called the Catawba. Here a sanguinary battle ensued, the loss on both sides being heavy, though neither party gained a victory. Terms of peace were agreed on, the Cherokees moving to the west and the Catawbas taking their country. This tradition is said to be confirmed by ethnological research. The Cheraws embraced all the small tribes of the Santee, Congaree, Wateree, Waccamaw, and Pedee. The Cheraws appear to have been a branch of the Cherokees. In the language of the Cherokees “chera” means fire. From the terminals of names Gregg connects the two tribes. He says: “If, about the period of their distinctive existence as a tribe, being possibly an offshoot from the Cherokees, at the era of some internal struggle and partial dismembership of that once powerful and widely extended nation,” etc. And, otherwise, he suggests that the Cheraws once belonged to the Cherokees.

In the early days of the settlement he says that there were 28 small tribes in South Carolina, and, in 1700, William Gale, of Albermarle, mentioned that he “was just setting out on a four months' voyage to the Cape Fear, where he had sent a shallop's load of goods to trade with the Indians.” Apparently he intended to pass up that river and go as far west as the mountains to trade with the Indians. He said that there were 13 different tribes with which he was well acquainted and had free commerce.

There were many small tribes of Indians from the Neuse to the Savannah, those on the Cape Fear being Congarees, who were really “Cheraws,” and the Cheraws, as Gregg indicates, were doubtless an offshoot of the original Cherokees who remained in their several localities at the time of the settlement by the Catawbas and the removal of the great bulk of the Cherokees to the mountains.

These circumstances are corroborative of the opinion of Giles Leitch that the Indians of Robeson County possessed the characteristics of the Cherokees.

The first permanent settlement on the Cape Fear, at old Brunswick, was about 1725. At that time there were many small Indian tribes throughout that region. Some ten years later settlers had penetrated well into the interior and found on the upper Cape Fear a community who had some European characteristics, evidently having mingled to some extent with some of the European races. Such is the first known reference to this settlement. Later, in 1752, there is a reference to them as occupying the territory which they now hold in what is now Robeson County, and it was then reported that they shot at a surveyor who went among them to survey land against their claims.

At that time the remnants of small Indian tribes still existed throughout that region.

The last battle with the Indians in making the original settlements near the seacoast was, according to tradition, at the Sugar Loaf, a few miles north of the site of Fort Fisher, in 1725, when the whites took possession of the lower part of the Cape Fear River. The royal governor eight years later estimated the Indians who were considered a part of the population for their friendly associations as numbering 800. On the outskirts of the settlements there were various small tribes of Indians inhabiting the wilderness in lower North Carolina and in South Carolina. In 1740 a Mr. Vaughn appropriated a large tract of land in Duplin County, together with a hundred slaves, to the purpose of Christianizing five Indian tribes in that vicinity. As the country became settled these remnants disappeared, and doubtless many of the Indians of that region went to live with that nucleus in the territory now confined in Robeson County. This seems to be the most probable account of the origin of this peculiar people, many of whom throughout all the generations appear to have been full-blood Indians, having, as Leitch says, the characteristics of the Cherokees, with whom, in the previous century, they were closely allied. By their traditions some Indians from that region accompanied Col. Barnwell to the Albemarle in January, 1712, and it appears that Barnwell passed close by their settlements.

While they have the ordinary common schools and a small normal school, as they can not attend the high institutions provided on the one hand for the whites and on the other hand for the negroes, their educational facilities are limited.

It is very desirable, therefore, that additional educational facilities should be afforded them, especially in the way of higher academic and industrial education.

It appears that they have capacity for agriculture and the mechanic arts, and readily become skilled in them when trained. A mechanical and industrial school would be of great benefit to them.

In like manner the training of the girls in the domestic arts and economics would be of great benefit.

These people never had a reservation set apart for them, as the Catawbas had not far to the west of them.

The bill under consideration, which has passed the Senate, provides for an appropriation of $50,000 to erect buildings for a school for these Indians at or near Pembroke, in Robeson County.

According to the census of 1910, the number of these Indians in Robeson County was 5,895. There are also about 1,500 to 2,000 in adjoining counties in North and South Carolina, making a settlement in all of about 8,000 persons. In 1909 there were enrolled in the ordinary common free schools provided by the State 1,594 of these Indian children. The average length of the term of their school districts was 82 days. The only school facilities enjoyed by them other than the ordinary common school above mentioned is a normal school for the training of teachers, provided for by the State at an annual cost of $2,250. Under the laws of North Carolina, which provide for the absolute separation of the races, they are not entitled to attend the university for men, the State normal and industrial college for women, or the agricultural and mechanical college for either the white or negro races. They are therefore entirely without the facilities for industrial or higher academic education. There has always been a feeling among these people and their white neighbors that the Federal Government should make some provision for them, for the reason that the Government does expend large sums of money every year in providing schools for other nonreservation Indians in all sections of the country. The present Indian appropriation bill provides for more than a million dollars for this purpose, some provisions in that bill being as follows:

It appears from a letter from the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, that there are 22 nonreservation Indian schools in various parts of the United States now supported by the Government, none of these being situated in the Southern States.

It appears that these schools are not connected with reservations or agencies, but are maintained especially for Indians of any tribe coming usually from that part of the country in which the school is situated, and pupils are admitted whose parents are entirely free from governmental control or guardianship, and who in some cases hold their lands without restriction, the only condition of admittance being that they would otherwise be deprived of an opportunity to obtain an education, academic or industrial. It is submitted that the condition of the Indians in question fully meets these requirements, because they are debarred by the laws of the State of North Carolina from attending the colleges and schools of higher education, both academic and industrial.

DEAR SIR: I promised Mr. O. M. McPherson, special Indian agent, who recently spent some time in Lumberton investigating the Cherokee Indians of Robeson County, that I would probably send him some further information in connection with these Indians which he might be able to use in making his report.

I have made a very careful study of the history of these Indians for a number of years. In a hearing before the Committee on Indian Affairs of the House of Representatives on Friday, February 14, 1913, I submitted an historical sketch of these Indians, a copy of which I furnished to Mr. McPherson. Supplementing that sketch, I desire to submit the following as bearing upon their contention that they are of Cherokee origin:

My opinion is, from a very exhaustive examination made before and after the hearing above mentioned, that these Indians are not only descendants of Sir Walter Raleigh's lost colony, as contended by Mr. Hamilton McMillan in his statement, a copy of which Mr. McPherson has in his possession, but that they are also mixed with the Cherokee Indians. In the first place, these Indians have contended from time immemorial that they were of Cherokee descent, and they further have had a tradition among them that their ancestors, or some of them, came from “Roanoke and Virginia.” Roanoke and Virginia, of course, originally comprised all of eastern North Carolina, including Roanoke Island, the settlement of Sir Walter Raleigh's lost colony.

In the great war with the Tuscaroras in eastern North Carolina Barnwell's army was made up largely of Indians, and especially Cherokee Indians. The only serious contention made against the claim that they are Cherokees is that the Cherokees live farther west. In view of their tradition that upon their return from eastern North Carolina with Barnwell's army some of them stopped and settled in Robeson County, there seems to be nothing in this contention. This tradition is borne out by the fact that the great road traveled by Barnwell in his expedition to eastern North Carolina was along the Lowrie Road, which passes immediately through the present settlement of these Indians. (See Williamson's History of North Carolina, Vol. I, pp. 194, etc. See also History of the Old Cheraws, by Gregg, pp. 1 to 31. See especially map between pp. 2 and 3, which shows that the Cheraws were located in all that section between the Cape Fear River and the Catawba River. See also on page 7 reference to Lederer's journey, in which it is stated that he made his journey entering the State of North Carolina somewhere in Robeson County, crossing in a southwestern line, and passing through Robeson County into South Carolina. His road was along the Great Lowrie Road, which was originally an Indian trail, and which passes directly through the heart of the Indian settlement in Robeson County. See also Hawks's History of North Carolina.)

As will be noted from the historical sketch given by me at the committee hearing hereinbefore mentioned, John Lowrie signed a treaty on the part of the Cherokee Indians with the United States Government in 1806. This John Lowrie was the ancestor of some of the Lowrie Indians now living in Robeson County. His brother, James Lowrie, was one of the most prominent Indians in the county in the year 1810.

Several of these Indians served in the Revolutionary War. John Brooks was granted a pension by the United States Government for services in the Revolutionary War. (See warrant No. 80030, issued to John Brooks for 160 acres of bounty land for his services in the Revolutionary War. See also Revolutionary War pension file No. 6732, pension order.) In Volume XXII of the North Carolina State Records, pages 56 and 57, it appears that the following Indians of Robeson County received a pension from the Government for service in the Revolutionary War: John Brooks, James Brooks, Berry Hunt, Thomas Jacobs, Michael Revells, Richard Bell, Samuel Bell, Primas Jacobs, Thomas Cummings, and John Hammond, these pensions having been granted under the Federal acts of 1818 and 1832.

In 1871, while Congress was investigating the operations of the Ku-Klux, the Hon. Giles Leach, then a prominent lawyer residing at Lumberton, Robeson County, was summoned to appear before a congressional committee in Washington to testify in regard to the condition of affairs in Robeson County. He was naturally very unfriendly to the Indians, because he admitted in his testimony that he was employed by the State of North Carolina to prosecute some of them. Notwithstanding his prejudice, when asked the question as to what race the Lowries and the other Indians belonged to, he said:

When asked the question as to what blood there was in the Lowrie family, he said:

I regard this testimony of the Hon. Giles Leach as very important as bearing upon the fact that these Indians are of Cherokee descent, because, as stated, he was strongly prejudiced against them and evidently gave no testimony favorable to them except where he felt obliged to do so.

It is inconceivable that these Indians should have had a tradition in their families which can be traced for more than a hundred years to the effect that they were of Cherokee origin unless there was something in the statement. It will be noted in the pamphlet published by the Hon. Hamilton McMillan that they always claimed to him that they were of Cherokee origin. The investigation I have made of them for the last 20 or 25 years has elicited the universal tradition and history that their Indian blood was Cherokee. It is entirely possible, of course, that there may have been a mixture of some other Indian blood. In fact, it is generally believed that the Cheraws and a number of other native Indian tribes who originally lived on the border line of North and South Carolina were mixed more or less with the Cherokee Indians.

The fact that such reliable historians as Capt. S. A. Ashe, the author of a history of North Carolina, Hon. Hamilton McMillan, a man now over 80 years of age, who has lived in this section all his life and who has made a special study of these Indians, and the Hon. Giles Leach, who was one of the most noted local historians who ever lived in this section—the very fact, I say, that they have all stated that it is their positive opinion from their investigations that these people have Cherokee blood in them is, when coupled with their own universal tradition to that effect, conclusive proof that they have Cherokee blood in their veins. Indeed, it would be practically impossible to prove the family or tribal relation of any people by stronger or more convincing proof.

I inclose statement of Wash Lowrie, a very old Indian, which is practically the same as the others with whom I have talked for the last 25 years.

The Cherokee were the mountaineers of the South, holding the entire Allegheny region from the interlocking head-streams of the Kanawha and the Tennessee southward almost to the site of Atlanta, and from the Blue Ridge on the east to the Cumberland Range on the west, a territory comprising an area of about 40,000 square miles, now included in the States of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Their principal towns were upon the headwaters of the Savannah, Hiwassee, and Tuckasegee, and along the whole length of the Little Tennessee to its junction with the main stream. Itsâtĭ, or Echota, on the south bank of the Little Tennessee, a few miles above the mouth of Tellico River, in Tennessee, was commonly considered the capital of the nation. As the advancing whites pressed upon them from the east and northeast the more exposed towns were destroyed or abandoned and new settlements were formed lower down the Tennessee and on the upper branches of the Chattahoochee and the Coosa.

As is always the case with tribal geography, there were no fixed boundaries, and on every side the Cherokee frontiers were contested by rival claimants. In Virginia, there is reason to believe, the tribe was held in check in early days by the Powhatan and the Monacan. On the east and southeast the Tuscarora and Catawba were their inveterate enemies, with hardly even a momentary truce within the historic period; and evidence goes to show that the Sara or Cheraw were fully as hostile. On the south there was hereditary war with the Creeks, who claimed nearly the whole of upper Georgia as theirs by original possession, but who were being gradually pressed down toward the Gulf until, through the mediation of the United States, a treaty was finally made fixing the boundary between the two tribes along a line running about due west from the mouth of Broad River on the Savannah. Toward the west, the Chickasaw on the lower Tennessee and the Shawano on the Cumberland repeatedly turned back the tide of Cherokee invasion from the rich central valleys, while the powerful Iroquois in the far north set up an almost unchallenged claim of paramount lordship from the Ottawa River of Canada southward at least to the Kentucky River.

On the other hand, by their defeat of the Creeks and expulsion of the Shawano, the Cherokee made good the claim which they asserted to all the lands from upper Georgia to the Ohio River, including the rich hunting grounds of Kentucky. Holding as they did the great mountain barrier between the English settlements on the coast and the French or Spanish garrisons along the Mississippi and the Ohio, their geographic position, no less than their superior number, would have given them the balance of power in the South but for a looseness of tribal organization in striking contrast to the compactness of the Iroquois league, by which for more than a century the French power was held in check in the north. The English, indeed, found it convenient to recognize certain chiefs as supreme in the tribe, but the only real attempt to weld the whole Cherokee Nation into a political unit was that made by the French agent, Priber, about 1736, which failed from its premature discovery by the English. We frequently find their kingdom divided against itself, their very number preventing unity of action, while still giving them an importance above that of neighboring tribes.

The proper name by which the Cherokee call themselves is Yûñ'wiyă', or Ani'-Yûñ'wiyă' in the third person, signifying “real people,” or “principal people,” a word closely related to Oñwe-hoñwe, the name by which the cognate Iroquois know themselves. The word properly denotes “Indians,” as distinguished from people of other races, but in usage it is restricted to mean members of the Cherokee Tribe, those of other tribes being designated as Creek, Catawba, etc., as the case may be. On ceremonial occasions they frequently speak of themselves as Ani'-Kitu' hwagĭ, or “people of Kĭtu'hwa,” an ancient settlement on Tuckasegee River and apparently the original nucleus of the tribe. Among the western Cherokee this name has been adopted by a secret society recruited from the full-blood element and pledged to resist the advances of the white man's civilization. Under the various forms of Cuttawa, Gattochwa, Kittuwa, etc., as spelled by different authors, it was also used by several northern Algonquian tribes as a synonym for Cherokee.

Cherokee, the name by which they are commonly known, has no meaning in their own language, and seems to be of foreign origin. As used among themselves the form is Tsa'lăgĭ' or Tsa'răgĭ'. It first appears as Chalaque in the Portuguese narrative of De Soto's expedition, published originally in 1557, while we find Cheraqui in a French document of 1699, and Cherokee as an English form as early, at least, as 1708. The name has thus an authentic history of 360 years. There is evidence that it is derived from the Choctaw word choluk or chiluk, signifying a pit or cave, and comes to us through the so-called Mobilian trade language, a corrupted Choctaw jargon formerly used as the medium of communication among all the tribes of the Gulf States, as far north as the mouth of the Ohio. Within this area many of the tribes were commonly known under Choctaw names, even though of widely differing linguistic stocks, and if such a name existed for the Cherokee it must undoubtedly have been communicated to the first Spanish explorers by De Soto's interpreters. This theory is borne out by their Iroquois (Mohawk) name, Oyata’ge’ronoñ’, as given by Hewitt, signifying “inhabitants of the cave country.” the Allegheny region being peculiarly a cave country, in which “rock shelters,” containing numerous traces of Indian occupancy, are of frequent occurrence. Their Catawba name also, Mañterañ, as given by Gatschet, signifying “coming out of the ground,” seems to contain the same reference. Adair's attempt to connect the name Cherokee with their word for fire, atsila, is an error founded upon imperfect knowledge of the language.

Among other synonyms for the tribe are Rickahockan, or Rechahecrian, the ancient Powhatan name, and Tallige', or Tallige'wi, the