Tuscarora
History & Culture
The Tuscarora, or “People of the Shirt”, are a Native American tribe belonging to the League of Six Nations (“Tuscarora”). Originally from North Carolina, they had to flee North after the end of the Tuscarora War in 1713, which saw thousands of their people killed or enslaved by the British colonists (North Carolina
History Project). Once settled in the North, they became the sixth and final tribe to join the Iroquois League (North Carolina History Project). While they were skilled hunters, they primarily relied upon maize (corn), and used indigenous hemp for fiber and medicine (“Tuscarora”). They would end up supplementing their economy by trading rum to the surrounding tribes in the area (“Tuscarora”). Their primary living structures were round lodges made of poles which were then roofed with bark (“Tuscarora”).
Source: New York State Museum
Source: National Archives
The Revolutionary War
The American Revolution was actually not the first time the Tuscarora people had fought for the rebelling colonists (George Washington Papers). Nearly 30 years prior during the French and Indian War, the Tuscarora Chiefs sided with the British colonists in fighting the French and their Native allies (George Washington Papers). Later during the Revolutionary War, they would again side with the colonists, along with the Oneida tribe (North Carolina History Project). This decision would prove disastrous for the Tuscarora People, as when the Treaty of Paris was signed, their American allies specifically left them out of the treaty, and refused to give them all they had been promised in siding with the Americans (U.S. National Park Service). They would eventually be given a tiny two square mile reservation near Niagara Falls, along with plows, oxen, wools cards and spinning wheels, nowhere near enough to make up for the massive land and resource loses they endured during the Revolutionary War (Dearborn).