Pamlico

The Pamlico (or "Pomouik") were a Native American people of North Carolina, U.S.A.. They spoke an Algonquian language also known as "Pamlico" or "Carolina Algonquian".

Geography

The Pamlico Indians lived on the Pamlico River in North Carolina.

History

The Raleigh colonists referred to the Pamlico from 1585-86 by the name Pomouik. In 1696, smallpox devastated the community. In 1701 John Lawson observed their Algonquian language and vocabulary (Lawson, 1860). In 1710 they lived in a single small village. They took part in the Tuscarora War, and at its close that part of the Tuscarora under treaty with the English agreed to destroy them. A remnant of the Pamlico was probably incorporated by the Tuscarora as slaves.

The Pamlico have given their name to or shared it with Pamlico Sound, the largest sound in North Carolina, Pamlico County, North Carolina. They are one of the most southerly Algonquian tribes on the Atlantic seaboard, and the most southerly one from which a vocabulary has been collected.

The Pamlico created distinctive dugout canoes, and traveled extensively. Pamlico artifacts have been found as far away as the North Atlantic.

Disappearance

"A great Mortality," smallpox, devastated the Pamlico Indians and their neighbors in 1696. The Tuscarora war, 1711-1713, claimed more Algonquian allies of the Tuscarora than Tuscaroras themselves. By 1709 North Carolina Algonquian population was down to some 600, and by the end of the century only a handful remained. Decrease in numbers was accompanied by loss of tribal lands. Thus, the Weapemeoc Indians sold their lands on Albemarle Sound in 1660 and 1662 and started to move to the interior, but by 1697 they had to complain against the encroachments of White settlers in their new location. The reservation on Bennetts Creek assigned to the Chawanokes (Chowan) before 1700 was reduced from 12 to 6 square miles by 1707; further land was sold by that tribe in 1713. After the Tuscarora war, the Machapungas were similarly confined to a reservation, while the other groups of Pamlico Sound joined either the Machapungas or the Tuscaroras.

During the seventeenth century, the Chawanokes were in frequent--partly hostile--contact with their Virginia Algonquian neighbors. Their traditional hostilities with the Iroquoian Tuscaroras continued during that tribe's war with the Whites, when they were actively engaged in expeditions against the hostiles. The Machapungas and other tribes of Pamlico Sound, however, changed their alliances: before 1700 they were still at war with the Tuscaroras and Corees, but in 1711 they sided with them against the English. The Hatteras, Weapemeoc, Paspatank, and Poteskeit Indians were at that time the most acculturated groups and remained on the side of the English. The friendly attitude of the Hatteras may be explained by their tradition of having White men among their ancestors.

Except for the Tuscarora war, there was little open fighting between North Carolina Algonquians and Whites. Due to small numbers, trade was of little-importance. Sale of strong liquors to the Indians was probably the greatest problem created by White traders around 1700. Alcohol was banned from Indian towns in 1703, but the prohibition was never strictly enforced. Little was done for Indian education, even though native languages were being replaced by English during the eighteenth century. A small number of Indians was baptized by Anglican ministers throughout the late seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries. English names made their appearance shortly after 1700. In the absence of adequate medical care by White physicians, Indian conjurors could earn money by curing White settlers. Indian servitude and slavery were present, but their extent is not fully known.

Besides hunting and agriculture, the coastal groups still relied much on fishing and shellfish gathering, drying the products for preservation on reed hurdles over an open fire or in the sun. Sturgeon was not used as a food by the Indians along the coast. Cattle raising is documented for the Paspatanks around 1700 (Lawson 1709). The Tuscarora War disturbed the economic balance of many of the Algonquian groups: the fields of the Machapungas and their allies were destroyed by the English, while the Hatteras were prevented from planting by their enemies and in 1714-1715 had to be supplied with food by the colonial authorities.

With growing White presence in eastern Carolina, more products of European origin were introduced to the Indians. Guns were regularly used instead of bows and arrows during the eighteenth century. Iron hatchets had likewise replaced wooden clubs. English clothes were also widely used by the Indians. The Roanoke chief even had an English-style house built for himself in 1654. Yet baskets were still being made by the coastal Indians of rushes and silk grass and decorated with woven-in life motifs.

Marriage restrictions that prohibited marrying first cousins made it difficult to find mates within rapidly shrinking communities. Resulting marriages into other tribes certainly strengthened intertribal bonds. The huskenaw rite appears to have been used as an initiation for both boys and girls. It was held around Christmas and lasted for five or six weeks during which the adolescents were separated in a special building outside the village. Circumcision was practiced by only two out of 50 families among the Machapungas, but unfortunately no more details are known.

Political organization with hereditary chieftainship was obviously still functioning around 1700. Chiefs' corpses were deposited in the temples as before, but the right to be buried there now could also be bought by everyone. Shell beads served as money, for example, in compensating crimes.

ee also

Pamlico County Pamlico County, North Carolina