Privateer6

Taken from the Wilson DailyTimes of Wilson, NC

http://www.wilsondaily.com/

A groups of about 25 Indians, some in traditional garb, gathered near the site of the fort off N.C. 58 Monday to call for a return of not only the land where the fort was, but also Tuscarora artifacts and remains excavated off the site by East Carolina University archaeologists in 1990. The artifacts and remains are being studied in a lab at ECU.

Timothy Jacobs, a Tuscarora who gained notoriety in 1988 when he and another man took 21 hostages at a Lumberton newspaper to call attention to alleged police corruption, said the call for the return of the artifacts is about justice.

"People don't want to be reminded there were mass killings here," Jacobs said. "The state is afraid of what that would mean to its economy."

The Tuscarora group made several demands:

* Stop farming the land at Neoheroka.

* Transfer ownership of the land back to the Tuscarora.

* Compensate the current landowners for their loss of land.

* Establish a repatriation site at Neoheroka where all remains found at the site can be properly buried.

Chris Hardison said the Tuscarora of North Carolina would continue their demands.

"If there's not a peaceful resolution to this, then we'll have no choice but to seek an injunction in federal court," Hardison said.

This isn't the first time the groups has called for these demands. In October the Tuscarora pitched camp at the site, but they were ordered off the land by the Greene County sheriff. The group has also established a camp site near Elm City.

Noted Indian activist Vernon Bellecourt, co-founder of the American Indian Movement, joined the protesta and said returning the land is the least the state could do since the Tuscarora and other Indian tribes were harshly treated by the government of both the state and the United States.

Bellecourt said the hopes of having the land returned to the Tuscaroras would be to protect land they say is sacred and to create an on-site museum.

Fort Neoheroka was built by Tuscarora Indians during the Tuscarora War. Colonists and allied Indians laid siege to the fort in March 1713. More than 900 people were killed, captured or sold into slavery during three weeks of fighting.

Bellecourt referred to the attack at Fort Neoheroka and other attacks against Native Americans as an "American holocaust."

In an earlier interview, Charles Ewen, professor of anthropology at East Carolina University, told the Daily Times that he receives petitions from competing groups in eastern North Carolina claiming to be Tuscarora.

But the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act requires him to only negotiate with the federally recognized Tuscarora in New York. The New York group has directed Ewen to hold onto the remains until a suitable burial place can be found. That may be at Fort Neoheroka, but that's a decision the New York Tuscarora will have to make, he said.

Blackbear

Just so you all know... this groups says that their interview did not go the way this article makes it sound. And the intention was not to go in and sound like a bunch of demanding lunatics... but rather it was expressed that they wish for these things to happen and the reporter left out the part about how the Mewborns have already had it in the works that the fort area is being put into federal protection as a historic site.

__________________
Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear... just sing, sing a song.


http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Video002-1.flv

Blackbear

found out the reporter did'nt leave that part out.. they did

__________________
Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear... just sing, sing a song.


http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Video002-1.flv

Privateer6

Thanks for keeping us posted. Yeah I remember the family has been working with ECU and the Tuscarora in NY for several years now.

Blackbear

Found this one a little while ago...

http://www.wilsontimes.com/Opinion/E...6573727896.php


Saturday, May 5, 2007


Law isn't on Tuscaroras' side



The Tuscarora Indians who make their periodic pilgrimages to Greene County say they might file a lawsuit to reclaim artifacts, remains and land at the site of a horrific battle fought almost 300 years ago.



The law, however, does not appear to be on their side.

Timothy Jacobs, who first gained fame in an armed takeover of a newspaper in 1988, was joined by Vernon Bellecourt, founder of the American Indian Movement, and others this week to again lay claim to Fort Neoheroka between Stantonsburg and Snow Hill. When Jacobs and some colleagues set up camp on the site last year, they were evicted as trespassers at the request of the property owners.

Jacobs has also made claims that much of eastern North Carolina should be ceded to the Tuscaroras.

Fort Neoheroka was the final battle of a two-year war between the Colonists, who had some Indian allies, and the Tuscaroras, who had attacked the settlers encroaching on their land. A two-week battle in March 1713 ended with the Colonists and their Indian allies overrunning the well-fortified stronghold of hundreds of Tuscarora warriors, women and children. An estimated 900 Tuscaroras were killed or taken captive.


Although a state historical marker along N.C. 58 marks the location of the battle, the land itself is not preserved and is being farmed by its owners. Jacobs and his fellow protesters want the disturbance of the land by farming stopped. They also want the property returned to Tuscarora ownership and artifacts and remains found at the site returned for exhibit and proper burial.

But federal law recognizes the Tuscarora tribe of New York, who are descended from Tuscaroras who emigrated from North Carolina in the 1600s and 1700s. The law requires archaeologists to deal with the N.Y. Tuscaroras in deciding upon the disposition of artifacts from Fort Neoheroka.

As the 300th anniversary of the 1713 battle approaches, however, North Carolina should recognize the historical significance of this battle and educate the citizenry about this important event. If the current owners are interested in selling the Neoheroka land to the state, a historic site with exhibits, educational programs and ongoing research would be of great benefit. This historic site could even be a tourist attraction and a means of teaching about Indian wars in the state.

But the site is private property and should not be obtained by the state without the owner's willing consent.

__________________
Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear... just sing, sing a song.


http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Video002-1.flv