The Robesonian., 1908-06-25
THE CROATAN INDIANS.

OA tAC AOSL NOlOlly
Strange Blending 'r<of Indian
and White Their School at
Pates - Their Characteristics
and Some Types of the Race.
Col F. A. Olds in Charlotte Observer.
[Col. F. A. Olds, of Raleigh,
attended the commencement Of
the Croatan Normal School at
Pates in May and gathered ma
terial for an interesting and val
liable contribution to the history
of the Croatan Indians of Robe
son county. Col. Olds' article
appeared in The Charlotte Obser-
yer of the 21st inst. 1t will re-
pay careful reading and will help
one to a better understanding of
this interesting people. Owing
to the length of the article it is
necessary to publish it in install
ments which will appear in sew
eral subsequent issues of The
Robesonian. Editor.
| shall never forget the very
curious sensation | experienced
as | stood in a wagon in the cen
ire of more thon a thousand of
the Croatans, at their Normal
School at Pate's, in Robesor
county, and spoke to them in
May. Just a month before | had
been at Roanake Island and al
that classic spot, Fort Raleigh
and had gone to the edge of the
bluff, and standing on the crest
of a sand-dune there, between
two wind-tossed live oaks, haC
looked out across the yellow wat
ers of the narrow sound at the
banks beyond, which separate
the sound from the sea, and look
ing further eastward yet, haC
seen the heaving water of tn
ocean, stretching three Thousand
miles away and more, towards
that England for which the de
serted, lonely and terror-strick
en- third colony of Sir Waite
Raleigh must have yearned S
long and so hopelessly, in tn
closing years of that fateful ex
pertinent at settlement whic
the great Knight made in thi
State Of ours.
A STRANGE BLENDING.
AS | looked into the faces c
one of the most attentive al
diences possible and saw tina
strange blending of Indian an
white, my mind went bac
through the mist of years an
. there came the reflection thu
there were no stranger people Q
the continent than those befol
! me.
The Croatans owe to one mai
E Hamilton Mcmillan, their statl
in North Carolina; their statl
which fOrbids inter-marriage e,
cept among themselves; whic
makes them a tribe, and in
way the wards of the State; jui
II as the Cherokees Of the Easter
E Band, in the mountain regiol
n who have about the same nur
II erical strength, are the wards {
n the Nation. The Cherokee
however, have had far mo
done for them than have RI
Croatans.
These Croatans were found I
. the earliest people who pusht
up into North Carolina mort
ward from the Charleston settl
ment to be a blend of Indian ar
English; to have extremely ne
houses though of logs; extraC
, dinarily good roads for that p
/ riod; well-kept yards, and
have many peculiarities of O
English speech. Ever since tn
time those peculiarities have e
listed, and they stand broadly 0
now. In fact the Croatans a
marked as a peculiar peopl
No white man on earth kno0
). them nearly so we'll as Hamilt
Mcmillan, of Red Springs, W
(. when in the Legislature Of 18
brought about their official !
cognition by the State, securi1
a small appropriation for the NJ
NAL school and giving them abs
lutely separate schools, under
distinct system. The first NJ
n NAL school superintendent !
7 them was Mr.. Stewart. In me-
recent times their schools he
been directly under the char
of John W. Duckett, of the I
partment of public instructi'
and, thanks to the energy
> their friend, Senator N. A. \
Lean, the appropriation for
normal school has been increa'
to 81, ,250 annually, though t
is not sufficient for the purpo
o ROUTE TO INDIAN COUNTRY
, This much by way of prefs
The route into this Indian co
= try runs through the fertile s
ton east of Laurinburg and
lands were found as fiat a
floor, with very dark soil
with streams which have all
clearness marking those WI
traverse the cypress and juni
nv region.
y That part of the State
many characteristics Of extr'
ac- eastern North Carolina and tt
" Indians, when they originally
rnnuad from the mainland