Tuscarora gather for monument dedication

SNOW HILL — Under a gray sky, colorful flags of the Tuscarora Nation fluttered in the breeze Saturday morning at what was an otherwise unremarkable fork in the road in Greene County.

Three hundred years before, the royal governor of North Carolina sought assistance from his southern neighbor, and a South Carolina militia force led by Col. James Moore, including 33 colonists and about 1,000 Native Americans, breached the Tuscarora fort. Hundreds of the Tuscarora Nation died in the assault on Fort Nooherooka, and Moore’s troops captured 392.

“This is one of the darkest and ugliest chapters in our history,” said Dan Richter, history professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

Members of the Tuscarora Nation, Greene County officials and representatives from ECU were on site at the corner of N.C. 58 North and Nooherooka Road to dedicate a monument to the dead, to their memory, and to recognize the homeland of the Southern Tuscarora.

Leo Henry, chief of the Turtle clan of the Tuscarora, helped dedicate the monument.

“It means a lot to me, because our people were here. Even though we originated in New York state, that was before the peacemaker came and gave a message to the (Iroquois) Confederacy — the Six Nations were fighting among themselves. We left and went east, down the New York area, and down the East Coast, and ended up here,” Henry said.

He continued, “We went as far as the Mississippi, some of our people went across, and there’s a story about that. But then we came and settled here, but again the English came and drove us out, and we went back north again, to our brothers.”

About 150 members of the Tuscarora Nation made the trip from New York to Greene County. Bryan Printup came with seven others as part of the 2013 Tuscarora Migration Project.

“It’s nice to see a lot of people here other than Tuscarora,” Printup said. “Kind of learn about our history. We’ve talked to quite a few people in the area who don’t know anything about Tuscarora, that they’ve been here this whole time. So, it’s nice to see.”

In addition to the dedication and blessings at the site, property owner George Mewborn, whose family owns the land and the nearby former location of the fort, presented a symbolic deed to the land the monument rests on to the Greene County Museum.

Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wes.wolfe@kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.

Breakout Box

Battle of Nooherooka

• March 23, 1713
• At Fort Nooherooka, near N.C. 58 North and Nooherooka Road, Greene County
• Colonial militia forces led by Col. James Moore breached the fort, killing Tuscarora Indians and taking 392 captive.