The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1900-03-08
SIR WALTERS
''N " A' ! lost fII 5 COLONY"
Found in North Carolina.
THE CRoATANS IN RoBESoN.

Did YOU know that III Robson cOun-
ty, North Carolina, there is a settle
ment OF fully five thousand Indians
Few people know this, and yet they are
descendants OF that lest colony OF Sir
Walter Ralelg gh, about VIII .ch there have
teen so many sad reflections for three
hundred years or more.
It is the last tribe left lingering on
the Atlantic slope. They are known
as the Croatans, or Hatteras Indians,
and they haye beeo overlooked, per-
haps, on account OF never having claim
ed the attention of the national gov
ernment unlike, to be sure, those
tribes of the western plains, among
whom government agents are scattered
here and there to educate and ciyilIza
and make them useful.
The North Caroliaa Indians are IN
the district OF Representative Bellamy,
Of Wilmington. Many OF them are
good citizens and are among his most
worthy constituents. It is through
him that the benefcence of the Amer
lean people has been asked for them.
There is lack of education and en-
i lightenment among them that is ap-
pailing. In speaking of them, Mr.
Bellamy says:
'They are remarkable people. It
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
mum Der of our oldest inhabitants can
testify. From the earliest times up to
year 1885 they went to school with the
| whites, voted and shared in the priy-
ileges OF citizenship. But in that year
the constitution of North Carolina was
amended, and thereafter, for period
OF thirty-three years, they were depriv-
Ell, not only oil the rlghs to vote, but
even OF the privileges Of education, un-
til the constitution of 1868 was passed
whereby they became restored TO clti-
zenship and to school privileges OF the
most meager character, but such as 9th
er citizens enjoyed.
"They we're not permitted to attend
the schools for whites, and therefore
were forced, if they received any eiu.
cation, to attend the negro schools.
They refused to very great degree, on
account OF the intense antipathy they
now have for the negro, the education
in The negro schools unt til, through the
inslrumental,ty OF Hamilton Nc MILAN,
Esq, the legislature of North Carolin,
in 1887, gave them separate schools of
their own.
"At the breaking out of hostilties
between the north and the south in
1861, these people, grown up in lgnor-
ance, but quietly cultlvating their lit
tie farms, were rudely awakened by the
Confederate authorities conscrip,inq
them and using them to bui'd the i'm
mense sand Notifications at New inlet,
on the Cape Fear river, known as Fort
Fisher the same Notifications so ce!e-
brated as having been the scene of the
greatest naval bombardment of the
worlds history, as compare5 with |
which an officer who was at Sebastopol |
said: The siege of Sebastopol as COM
pared with the siege Of Fort Fisher was
but childts piay.'
"The work was hard and the Croatsn |
mufmured he then deserted and fle1 |
to the swamps OF his native heath. |
The conscriptlng officers pursued him.
Arrestlng an old Indian. they asked |
him why he deserted. He told them
that he did not want to work or fight I
Tor people who treated him SO unjust
ly, that before 1885 he voted he went |
to school, but eince then he had be- n
deprived of both, and that he would
neither work nor fight for the Con ed
eracy. And thus it was they were ar
rested and deserted. When at the
close of the war mary Of them were in
hiding, they committee: acts Of deprt-
dalton, for which they we're properly
ou,lawed, and then arose the the band
known as the Henry Berry. Lowery
gang. For years they became a terror
to the the country, and in tho early
seventies this band of Indians slot
down and killed u white men from
first to last among the wealthiest, the
brayest, and best men OF that county.
The leader, Henry Berry Lowery, was
finally killed, peace and quiet was again
restored, and under the benign lnf1u-
ence and rule of our people, inaugrated
in the year 1887, they are becoming
good citizens"
All Indians. as rule. are true friends,
USE DR.. BULLS COUGH SYRUP
at once for bronchitis and grippe. It
has stood the test and is positively
reliable remedy. Life Is to short to ex-