UNC professor to lecture on Tuscarora War

If you had been living in New Bern 300 years ago today, (Thursday) there is a good likelihood you might not have lived to see the sunset, according to a UNC history professor.

Sept. 22, 1711 is the anniversary of the first attacks in the Tuscarora War that targeted mostly planters along the Roanoke, Neuse, Trent and Pamlico rivers and the city of Bath. Hundreds of Swiss, German and British settlers were killed as the Indians retaliated against encroachment of their land and the spread of disease.

David La Vere, Ph.D, author of several Native American books and professor of history at UNC-Wilmington, will present “A Tuscarora War Trio: Core Tom, Captain Brice and the Baron” about the war that began in September 1711 in Eastern North Carolina between the Tuscarora Indians and the colonial settlers.

The event is 1 p.m. Saturday in the Cullman Performance Hall at the N.C. History Center on South Front Street. The event is free and open to the public and is hosted by the Family History Society of Eastern North Carolina.

La Vere said the talk will be on information he gleaned from his research on his next book.

He will talk about the role played in the war between the Indians and Captain Brice, who lived in what is now the Brices Creek area. During the war, he harbored settlers in his home so they could escape the killing.

He also will speak on Baron DeGraffenried’s role and that of Tom Core, an Indian king of Core Town (an area near modern-day Core Banks).

“Core Tom in many ways plays a big part in starting the war,” La Vere said. But he would say no more except his identity is a surprise he plans to talk about.

“When the war started, 500 warriors came down the Neuse River and really hit the area between the Pamlico and Neuse River,” La Vere said. “More than 130 settlers were killed and more wounded. Twenty women and children were taken captive. New Bern barely survived the attack.”

The war lasted until early 1715. A settlement was agreed on and the Native Americans who did not flee North Carolina for New York were given land near the Roanoke River.

La Vere lectures around the state on the history of North Carolina Indians. He was invited to attend the March 2006 Oxford Round Table at Oxford University, England to discuss diversity in society.

La Vere will have some of his books available for purchase and signing at the presentation. The book he is writing on the Tuscarora War and hopes to finish next year will be his seventh. To learn more about his books and projects, visit his website at www.DavidLaVere.com.

Eddie Fitzgerald can be reached at 635-5675 or at efitzgerald@freedomenc.com