Tutelo. One of the eastern Siouan tribes, formerly living
in Virginia and North Carolina, but now extinct. Hale (Proc. 'Am. Philos.
Soc., Mar. 2, 1883) first made it known that the Tutelo language pertained
to the Siouan stock, a discovery which, followed by the investigations of
Gatschet, Mooney, and J. O. Dorsey, brought to light the fact that a
considerable group of Siouan tribes formerly inhabited the piedmont region
of Virginia and the Carolinas. The relation of the Tutelo appears to have
been most intimate with the Saponi, the language of the two tribes being
substantially the same. Their intimate association with the Occaneechi and
their allied tribes indicates ethnic relationship. The history of the
Tutelo is virtually the same as that of the
Saponi. The name Tutelo, although by the English commonly used to
designate a particular tribe, was by the Iroquois applied as a generic
term for all the Siouan tribes of Virginia and Carolina, being applied
more particularly to the allied tribes gathered at Ft Christanna (see
Christanna Indians). They are first mentioned by Capt. John Smith in 1609
under the names of Monacan and Mannahoac, with many subtribes, occupying the upper waters of James and Rappahannock
rivers, Va., and described by him as very barbarous, subsisting chiefly on
the products of the chase and wild fruits. They were at constant war with
the Powhatan Indians and in mortal
dread of the Iroquois. Lederer, in his exploration from Virginia into
North Carolina in 1670, passed through their territory and mentions the
names of Nahyssan (Monahassanough) and Sapon (Saponi). In their frontier
position at the base of the mountains the Saponi and Tutelo were directly
in the path of the Iroquois.
Unable to with stand the constant attacks of these
northern enemies, they abandoned this location some time between 1671 and
1701, and removed to the junction of Staunton and Dan rivers, where they
established themselves near their friends and kinsmen, the Occaneechi,
occupying two of the islands in the Roanoke immediately below the forks,
the Tutelo settling on the upper one. How long they remained here is
unknown; it is certain, however, that in 1701 Lawson found the Saponi on
Yadkin river, N. C., and says that the Tutelo were living in the
neighboring mountains toward the west, probably about the headwaters of
the Yadkin. At this time, according to Lawson, the 5 Siouan tribes, the
Tutelo, Saponi, Keyauwee, Occaneechi, and Shakori, numbered together only
about 750 souls. Soon after Lawson's visit they all moved in toward the
white settlements, and, crossing the Roanoke, occupied a village called
Sapona town, a short distance east of the river, about 15 miles west of
the present Windsor, Bertie county, N. C. Soon after this they removed and
settled near Ft Christanna (see Christanna Indians, Totero).
In 1722, through the efforts of the Colonial
governments, peace was finally made between the Iroquois and the Virginia
tribes. In consequence the Saponi and Tutelo some years later moved to the
north and settled on the Susquehanna at Shamokin, Pa., under Iroquois
protection, later moving up the river to Skogari. Their chiefs were
allowed to sit in the great council of the Six Nations. In 1763 the two
tribes, together with the
Nanticoke and Conoy, numbered,
according to Sir Wm. Johnson, 200 men, possibly 1,000 souls. In 1771 the
Tutelo were settled on the east side of Cayuga inlet, about 3 miles from
the south end of the lake, in a town called Coreorgonel, which was
destroyed in 1779 by Gen. Sullivan.
The last surviving full-blood Tutelo known was Nikonha,
from whom Hale obtained the linguistic material by which he determined the
relation of the tribe to the Siouan stock. He died in 1871. It is believed
there are still a few mixed-bloods in Canada, but the last one who could
speak the language was John Key, or Gostango ('Below the Rock'), whose
Tutelo name was Nastabon ('One Step'), and who died in 1898, aged about 80
years (Chadwick, People of the Longhouse, 19, 1897; Boyle in Ann. Archmol.
Rep. Ontario, 55, pl. xviii, b, 1898). Lawson describes the Tutelo as
"tall, likely men, having great plenty of buffaloes, elks, and bears, with
every sort of deer amongst them, which strong food makes large, robust
bodies." Nevertheless the evidence is clear that they were cultivators of
the soil and relied thereon to a large extent for subsistence. The
photograph of Nikonha, given by Hale, shows a face full oval in outline
and large features of an almost European cast, 'evidently," says Hale,
"not individual or family traits, as they reappear in the Tutelo
half-breeds on the Reserve, who do not claim a near relationship to
Nikonha." On the other hand Zeisberger, who visited the remnant of the
tribe while settled at Shamokin, speaks of the village as "the only town
on the continent inhabited by Tuteloes, a degenerate remnant of thieves
and drunkards." Lederer describes the Nahyssan chief as an absolute
monarch, and the people as tall, warlike, and rich. In their temples, or
medicine lodges, they had large quantities of pearls, which they had taken
in war from more southern tribes. Their tribal ensign consisted of three
arrows.
Consult Hale in Proc. Am. Philos. Soc.,
xxi, no. 114,1883; Mooney, Siouan Tribes of the East, 1894.
