..before the Tuscarora nation requested and received asylum with the Iroquois in 1722, they lived along the Roanoke and Pamlico rivers in the Carolinas. When the English invaded, their peaceful existence changed forever more. In 1710, the Tuscarora had the Susquehanans to deliver a formal petition of peace to the English Government of Pennsylvania. As a result, two peace commissioners from Pennsylvania met with the Tuscarora chiefs as well as Opessa, the Shawnee head chief at Conestoga.
The Tuscarora chiefs delivered eight wampum belts to the English. The first belt was from the women who asked that they might be able to fetch wood and water without danger. The second belt was from the children, including those not yet born, asking for room to play without the fear of slavery. The third belt was from the young men who asked to be able to hunt without the fear of death or slavery. The rest of the belts asked for a lasting peace and for a way of communicating with Pennsylvania. The English refused the offer and continued their violent behavior. The Swiss decided they too would disrespect the Tuscarora in 1711 when they founded the colony of New Bern on Tuscarora land in North Carolina without obtaining Tuscarora consent or paying them for it. The Tuscarora, angered by the greed and disrespect of European land developers, killed one of the surveyors and then attacked the New Bern colony killing 200 adult settlers and 80 of their children. By 1712 the war had expanded to include the English as well. photo: Jonathan Coharie/Goodman - 1916 is Tuscarora - originally from North Carolina, now a part of the Iroquoian Nation.