Cape Fear Indians
The Cape Fear Indians are a tribe of North American Indians that became extinct in the 18th century . The small tribe of around 200 people was native to the mouth of the Cape Fear River in North Carolina on the southeast coast of the United States in what is now Carolina Beach State Park .
Presumably they were related to the Sioux , possibly they were a subgroup of the Waccamaw Sioux who settled in the nearby estuary of the Waccamaw River . No words have been obtained from the language of the Cape Fear Indians, it is assumed that they also used a Sioux language .
After first encounters with English settlers in 1661, the Indians chased them off their land, but later sold parts of the land to other colonists and were generally considered peaceful. After these early mentions, a description of the tribe only reappears in a letter from 1719. They were mentioned by the governor of the colony, Colonel Johnson, as a tribe of 206 members spread over 5 villages. Of these villages only the name of one village is known: Necoes on the lower section of the Cape Fear River. Presumably they took part in the Yamasee War and left their ancestral territories around 1725. The last mention is found in 1751, they are described by the Albany Conference as a friendly little tribe.
literature
- Mooney: Siouan Tribes of the East Bull. BAE, 1894.
- Frederick Webb Hodge: Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico V. 1/4 , The Smithsonian Institution (Reprint of 1912 edition), page 203. ISBN 1-58218-748-7
See also
List of North American Indian tribes