The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1900-03-15

Interest IN lueSS feOple brings
Them Prominently to the Front.
(James S. Hollomon In All ,nta Journal. }
WASHINGTON, ID. c., Feb. "a, 1900
Did you know that in Robeson county.
North Carolina, there is a settlement
of fully 5000 Indians? Few people
know this, and yet they are descend
ants Of that lost colony Of Sir Walter
Raleigh, about which there have been
SO many sad reflections for three hum
dred years or more.
1t is the last tribe left lingering On
the Atlantic slope. They are known
as the Croatans, or Hatteras Indians,
and they have been overlooked, per-
haps, on account of having never
claimed the attention Of the national
government; unlike, to be sure, those
tribes of the Western plains, among
whom government agents are scat
tered here and there to educate and
civilize and make them useful.
The North Carolina Indians are in
the district of Representative Bel
lamy, of Wilmington. Many Of them
oiS Soou SitiLCho auu al Y HIS
most worthy constituents. 1t is
through him that the beneticence of
the American people has been asked
for them. There is lack of educa-
tion and enlightenment among them
that is appalling. In speaking Of
them MIR. Bellamy says:
They are a remarkable people. 1t
is said by old residents that some of
these Indians were volunteers in the
Revolutionary war. That they sent
two companies to the war of 1912 is
we'll authenticated.
They made gallant soldiers, as a
number of our oldest inhabitants can
testify. From. the earliest times up
to the year 1885 they went to school
with the whites, voted and shared
in the privilege of citizenship. But in
that year the Constitution of North
Carolina was amended, and there
after, for a period of 33 years, they
were deprived, not only of the right
to vote, but even of the privileges OF
education, until the Constitution of
1868 was passed, whereby they be-
came restored to citizenship and to
school privileges Of the most meager
character, but such as other citizens
enjoyed.
They were not permitted TO at
tend the schools for whites, and there.
fore were forced, if they received any
education, to attend the negro
schools. They refused to very
great degree, on account of the in
tense antipathy they now have for
the negro, the education in the negro
schools until, through the instru-
mentality of Hamilton Mcmillan, Esq,
the Legislature of North Carolina in
1897, gave them separate schools Of
their own.
"At the breaking out of hostilities
between the North and South in 1861,
these people, grown up in ignorance,
but quietly cultivating their little
farms, were rudely awakened by the
Confederate authorities conscripting
them and using them to build the i'm
mense sand Notifications at New
Inlet, on the Cape Fear, known as
Fort Fisher; the same Notifications SO
celebrated as having been the scene
of the greatest naval bombardment
of the worlds history, as compared
with which an officer who was at
Sebastopol said: The siege of Sebas-
topol as compared with the siege of
Fort Fisher was but child's play
The work was hard and the Croa-
tan murmured; he then deserted and
fled to the swamps of his native
heath. The conscripting officers pur-
sued him. Arresting an old Indian.
they asked him why he deserted. He
told them that he did not want to
work or fight for people who treated
him SO unjustly, that before 1885 he
voted, he went to school, but since
then he had been deprived OF both,
and that he would neither work nor
fight for the Confederacy. And thus
| it was they were arrested and desert
ed. When at the close of the war
! many of them were in hiding, they
| committed acts of depreciation, for
which they were properly outlawed,
| and then arose the band known as the
Henry Berry Lowery gang. For years
, they became terror 10 the country.
! and in the early seventies this band
| of Indians shot down and killed q
white men, from first to last among
! the wcalthiest, the bravest, and best
men Of that county. The leader,
Henry Berry Lowery. was finally kill
ed. peace and quiet was again re-
stored. and under the benign in
fluence and rule of our people. in
augurated in the year 1887, they are
becoming good citizens"
! All Indians, as rule. are true
friends, but bitter and implacable
enemies. And the Croatans are no
exception to the rule, says Mr.. Bel
lamy. In describing them he says:
They are brave but reckless. They
are honest in their dealings. They
are intensely religious. they are
restless, active and energetic. In
dolcnce and sloth are not known to
them. They are eager for education.
They are capable Of intellectual and
moral development, as is attested by
some among them A number oi
them become successful merchants
One Of them filled the position oi
United States Senator from one Of oul
sister Southern States. The descend
ant of another became q member o.
Congress.
l am told that there are perhap:
two or three hundred descendants o
this Indian tribe. in the State o
Georgia, and they are scattered
Throughout the South.
4 X. DeF1uent, editor Of the Journal
DoylestOwn. Ohio, suffered for a numbe
of years from rheumatism in his righ
shoulder and side. He says: My righ
arm at times was entirely useless.