The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-06-04

iourneyed southwest by land. his
statement is corroborated by tradi-
tons still extant among the Croatans
which assert that they used TO be
called "Hatterask Indians" and that
they migrated southwest from Roam
oke.
This theory that the colonists ANAL
gamated with the Hatteras Indians
and that the united people journeyed
southwest until they reached their
present homes in Robson County can
never be substantiated by the testi-
mony of an eye witness but the sym
boil carved on the tree, the failure OF
relief expeditions to find any trace of
the colonists and Hatteras Indians.
the statement of Wyanoke corrobor-
ated by Croatan traditions, and the
peculiar characteristics of the present
Croatan Indians form a chain of cir
cumstantial evidence that is practi-
, cally indisputable.
That the colonists found an asylum
and not graves among the natives of
America was the firm conviction of
Raleigh. White, Captain John Smith
and many other of the earlier set
tiers: and that the present Croatans
are the descendants Of these tive
races is the belief Of these Indians
themselves and of a large per cent of
Today these Croatans are just what
we would wish people of our blood to
be. They are not model citizens; they
possess many bad traits of character;
they have often had too little rever-
ence for law; they have done many
things which they should not have
done and they have left undone count
less things which we wish they had
done; they do not stand as high NOR
oil IN a afa1I pf,t1 fl, an
we should not condemn them too
harshly, for they were the victims of
an unjust political move on the part
OF our State which closed to them for
more than q generation the schools of
their county, thus dwarfing their
moral and intellectual development.
BY an ordinance of the Convention
of 1885 all free persons of color"
were DISTINGUISHED; soon after this
these Indians were classed as "free
persons of color" thereby being dis
franchised, and prohibited to attend
the white schools of the county. Be
fore this they had ben brave, loyal
and progressive citizens; after this
their loyalty was somewhat dampened
and their progress materially check
ed (for be it said to their credit. the
vast majority positively refused to
patronize the negro schOols) but their
bravery has never abated.
A generation of ignorance and in
justice made a deep impression on
their development. They were natur-
ally more ignorant and less eatriotic
than their fathers had been; they
We're not enthusiastic to defend a
government which had treated them
so unjustly. The Southern Cause"
had no allurements for them-they
preferred to remain quietly at home
cultivating their farms and attending
to their business. But the Civil War
was not a time for inaction; the
conscripting officers of the Confed-
eracy invaded their quiet settlement
and carried the men off to work on
the Notifications of Fort Fisher.
The work was over-taXing and the
Croatans deserted and fled to their
native swamps, where many of them
were still hiding at the close of the
war. Not having any means of support
these fugitives naturally committed
many acts of depreciation for which
they We're promptly outlawed. In this
way arose the band of desperadoeS
known as the Henry Berry Lowry
gang"
The convention of 1868 again en-
franchised them, but it was not until
1887 that they were again allowed to
attend schools other than those pro-
vided for negroes. Then it was that
the Legislature, through the lnStfu-
mentality of Hon. Hamilton McMil-
lam classed thin as "Croatan In
dams" and provided separate schools
for the education of their children
Since 1887 the Croatans have made
marked progress. Today we find them
brave, honest industrious, and in
tensely religiuos people; capable of
high moral and intellectual growth. If
their development is not again
checked, perhaps there will yet arise
among them some gifted writer who
will weave in fnperishable fiction the
story of his people, the descendants of
Manteo, the first and only Indian ever
knighted, and of Virginia Dare, the
first English child born on American
soil.