'Fort Neoheroka' (or just 'Neoheroka') is the name of a stronghold constructed in what is now modern day
Greene County,
North Carolina by the
Tuscarora tribe during the
Tuscarora War of 1711-1715. In
March of
1713, the fort was besieged and ultimately attacked by a colonial force consisting of an army from neighboring
South Carolina, under the command of Col. James Moore and made up mainly of Indians including
Yamasee,
Apalachee,
Catawba,
Cherokee, and many others. The 1713 siege lasted for more than three weeks, from around March 1, 1713 to March 22. Hundreds of men women and children were burned to death in a fire that destroyed the fort. Approximately 170 more were killed outside the fort while approximately 400 were taken to South Carolina where they were sold into
slavery. The defeat of the Tuscaroras, once the most powerful Indigenous nation in the
North Carolina Territory, opened up North Carolina’s interior to further expansion by European settlers. The supremacy of the Tuscaroras in the state was broken forever. Most moved north to live among the
Iroquois.
Sources
★ Lee, Enoch Lawrence. Carolina Charter Tercentenary Commission,Raleigh, NC. Indian Wars in North Carolina, 1663-1763,1963.
★ http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/nc/ncsites/tusca2.htm
★ http://www.arch.dcr.state.nc.us/amonth/neheroka.htm
★ http://tuscaroras.com/fortneoheroka/
★ http://www.indiancountrynews.com/fullstory.cfm?ID=511