The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1897-11-12
BILL ARP'S LETTER

py Indians. The other night as
! came from Macon to Atlanta IN,
friend, Judge Hall, introduced IN,
to DR.. Peterson, OF st, Louis, a very
learned and cultured gentleman VIII,
was connected with tho chronological
department. Of the government, ant
was engaged in eNsn,iaing lntaiar
mounds anu in writing Up the history
OF the Indian trSho> especially of tb,
the five tribes &nowu aS eiviiist>i
viz, the Chen>Ss<S, Greeks, Chicka,
SIMS ChcctswS Hld Seminolt> As
these were our Indians | htHam,
much Interested in his aiScnurSt> tor
he had been careful and GiliSrent in
his rNSearch. ana what he knew. he
know we'll. We talked shout De.
Soto snd how. with = handful ot brave
soldiers, he overrsn this country and
took captive ~ many iuiiaN girls rs
his men wanted,
"Whv iii not these luiiauS over
whrlm DeSoto and his hsnitul u
followers and extinEuiSh them"
asked "Etrau$A" said the doctor,
"tAry were psrsly2ed with teSr ~
this new and aggressive race u }>n>,
Nle--just as the reruvianS We're para,
lyzed by Pizarr,. who ovcrrau ana
conquered Peru with less than $
hundred men,"
The doctor has been to eastern
North Carolina Investigating the
tribe Of 1000 Crostoans over there,
They wero originally cal led Hatteras
Indians, but about three hundred
years ago Sir Walter Raleigh planted
q colony of English and Portuguese
on Roanoke island and put them in
charge Of Governor John White a
very practical and accomplished
gentleman. \ few days after land
ing, Governor Whites daughter Ell
oanor, who had married q Mr.. Dare,
gave birth to n child and she was
named Virginia, and 50 Virginia
Dare was the first English child born
on American soil. Let the boys and
girls remember that But no man
knows anything moro about her.
Governor White and Sir Walter won't
back to England for supplies and
farming tools for the colony and on
their return trip got into fight with
some Spanish cruisers and lost their
cargo and many of their men and
had TO go back to England, and it
was several years before they made
another venture, and when they ar.
rived at the island the colony was no
where to be found and little Virginia
has never been heard Of. The colony
left some marks or a tree pointing to
an Indian town called Croanoan, but
the town was deserted. The doc
tors Investigations have satisfied
him that the colony did not perish
nor were they killed, but that tho
men wanted wives and went into the
interior and co habited with the
Croatoaus-for it was found hun
dred years after that these Indians
were OF mixed colors and many of
them spoke broken or mixed English
and Portuguese, although they had
no intercourse with white people un-
til the colony came nor hundred
years after He believes that Vir
glnia Dare probably grow up with
those Indians and her descend.
ants are now of mixed blood.
1t seems that these Croatoans were
never Americanized until tho last
civil war, when many of them came
to the front with their guns and said
they wanted to fight some. They
were accepted and enrolled and die
fight for tho confedoracy. During
the war there was an election helC
in u county where some Of thom liv
ed. and they wero persuaded by NJ
ambitious candidate to 90 to tn,
polls and vote for him. Their vote.
were challenged by tho other follow
upon tho ground that they had som,
negro blood in thoir veins. Tho,
wero very indignant and said
"Whon you want us to fight for you
we arc samo as white folks; whom W,
want to vote you say wo are nagurs'
And SO committee of four doctor.
was appointed to examine thom anG