Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina – Legends of America
Okay, folks, let’s dive into the story of the Lumbee Tribe, a group of people with a seriously fascinating history. These guys are based in North Carolina, specifically Robeson County, and they’re a big deal. We’re talking the largest tribe in North Carolina, the biggest east of the Mississippi, and one of the top ten largest in the whole United States!
Now, the Lumbee are a mixed-race community, and they trace their roots back to various Indigenous tribes that used to call that region home. The name? It comes from the Lumber River (originally Lumbee River), which snakes its way through Robeson County.
Ancient Roots
If you dig around (literally!), you’ll find evidence that the Robeson County area has been inhabited for at least 14,000 years. The Lumbee have archaeological sites that go back to the Late Woodland period (mid-1700s), and their family stories stretch back just as far. The Lumbee’s ancestors were mainly Cheraw and other Siouan-speaking Indians. These people were first spotted in 1724 along the Lumber River.
A History of Conflict
Life wasn’t always peaceful, though. Back in 1711-1712, the Cheraw were part of an alliance that fought against the Tuscarora in a war in northeastern North Carolina. The Tuscarora got a serious beatdown, mostly thanks to the European colonists’ Indian allies. Thousands were killed or enslaved.
A few years later, in 1715, the Cheraw joined the Cofitachiqui Indian alliance in the Yamasee War, which was aimed at traders and colonists around Charleston, South Carolina. But, again, the Cofitachiqui alliance was defeated by the Europeans and their Indian buddies.
The earliest European record mentioning Indian communities in the Lumber River area is a map from 1725. It was made by John Herbert, an English commissioner of Indian trade. He identified the Saraw, Pee Dee, Scavano, and Wacoma as Siouan-speaking groups. The modern Lumbee claim a connection to these settlements, but none of those four tribes were actually located within the Robeson County of today.
Who Are the Lumbee, Really?
This is where it gets interesting. Genetic research has shown that the Lumbee community has a lot of African and European ancestry, with some Native American DNA mixed in. However, historical records often listed the Lumbee’s ancestors as Native Americans. In the American South, "free people of color" often had African, Native American, or even South Asian roots.
By 1730, English settlers were surprised to find a large Native American tribe that spoke English! Linguists think that the Lumbee’s ancestors originally spoke the Cheraw dialect of the Eastern Siouan language, but switched to English sometime before the 1700s. They encountered English-speaking Europeans early on, which led them to adopt the language faster than other tribes. Eventually, it was decided that there wasn’t a separate Lumbee language.
Land records show that in the second half of the 18th century, the Lumbee ancestors started claiming land near the Lumber River and the swamps.
"Free Persons of Color"
The first federal census and pension records for American Revolution veterans in Robeson County listed men with surnames that are now associated with Lumbee families. They were all listed as "Free Persons of Color."
After Nat Turner’s Rebellion in 1831, the state made changes to its constitution, taking away the right to vote for free people of color. This was part of a larger trend in North Carolina, where laws were passed to restrict the rights of this group. They couldn’t vote, serve on juries, carry arms without a license, or serve in the militia. Basically, they were treated as second-class citizens.
In 1853, the North Carolina Supreme Court said it was okay for the state to prevent free people of color from carrying arms without a license. A man named Noel Locklear was convicted of illegally possessing firearms. In 1857, William Chavers was arrested for carrying a shotgun without a license. He argued that the law only applied to "free negroes," not "persons of color from Indian blood." The appeals court agreed, saying that "free persons of color may be, then, for all we can see, persons colored by Indian blood."
The Civil War and the Lowry Gang
When the Civil War started in 1861, North Carolina used forced labor to build defenses. Several members of the Lowry family were forced to work on Fort Fisher near Wilmington. Henry Berry Lowry and his relatives took to the swamps to avoid being rounded up by the Home Guard. The Lowry Gang, as they were called, turned to crime, robbing and killing white Robeson County residents and fighting with the Confederate Home Guard.
Even though many in the Indian community sympathized with the Lowry Gang, nearly 150 Lumbee ancestors voluntarily joined the Confederate Infantry, including Henry Berry Lowry’s nephew-in-law.
A yellow fever epidemic in 1862-1863 killed many slaves working on Fort Fisher. The state’s owners didn’t want to send more slaves, so the Confederate Home Guard tried harder to conscript free people of color as laborers.
As the war turned against the Confederacy, the Lowry Gang got bolder. In December 1864, they killed James P. Barnes after he had drafted workers, including the Lowrys, for local defenses. They also killed James Brantley Harris, a Confederate conscription officer who had killed a Lowry relative.
In March 1865, the Home Guard searched Allen Lowry’s home and found a stash of forbidden firearms. Allen Lowry and his son William were convicted of illegally possessing firearms as men of color and were executed.
The Lowry War
After the Civil War, the Lowry Gang continued their fight into the Reconstruction Era. The authorities’ attempts to capture the gang became known as the Lowry War.
In 1869, Republican Governor William Woods Holden declared Lowry and his men outlaws and offered a $12,000 reward for their capture, dead or alive. Lowry responded with more revenge killings. The Lowry Gang gained the support of local Indian families and even some poor whites, who refused to help stop them. Records of the pursuit of the Lowry gang provide the first documentation of the local people of mixed Indian ancestry.
The Lowry Gang continued to resist even after Reconstruction ended and white Democrats regained control of the North Carolina government, imposing segregation and white supremacy.
The Mysterious Disappearance of Henry Berry Lowry
In February 1872, Henry Berry Lowry disappeared shortly after robbing the local sheriff of over $28,000. Some say he accidentally shot himself while cleaning his shotgun. But, like with many folk heroes, there are rumors that he was seen at a funeral years later. Without his leadership, most of the Lowry Gang were eventually captured or killed.
Fighting for Education
During Reconstruction, public education was established for the first time, with separate schools for white and black children. The Indian people of Robeson County didn’t want their children to go to school with the freed slaves, so they demanded separate Indian schools.
In the 1880s, Democratic State Representative Hamilton MacMillan proposed recognizing the Indian people of Robeson County as the "Croatan Indians" and creating a separate system of Croatan Indian schools.
In 1885, North Carolina recognized the Lumbee as a tribe and provided educational assistance.
In 1887, the Indians of Robeson County petitioned the state legislature to establish a normal school to train Indian teachers. They raised funds and received some state assistance, but it wasn’t enough. Tribal leaders donated money and land for schools. Robeson County’s Normal School eventually became Pembroke State University and then the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
The Long Road to Federal Recognition
The Lumbee first petitioned the federal government for recognition in 1888, but were rejected due to the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ lack of funding.
In 1899, North Carolina Congressional representatives introduced the first bill in Congress to provide federal funds for the education of Indian children in Robeson County. They introduced similar bills in 1909 and 1911.
By the end of the 19th century, the Indians of Robeson County had established schools in eleven of their main settlements.
In 1911, the North Carolina General Assembly changed the tribe’s name to "Indians of Robeson County."
The 20th Century and Beyond
The Federal Indian Reorganization Act in 1934 was aimed at Native American tribes on reservations, encouraging them to re-establish self-government. The Indians of Robeson County renewed their petition for federal recognition. The Bureau of Indian Affairs sent anthropologists to evaluate their historical continuity as an Indian community.
World War II marked a significant turning point for the Robeson Native Americans. Hundreds served alongside whites in integrated units. After the war, veterans returned home ready to fight for social and political change.
In 1952, the tribe voted to adopt the name "Lumbee." The North Carolina legislature recognized the name change in 1953, and the tribe petitioned again for federal recognition.
The Lumbee Act
The Lumbee Act, passed by Congress in 1956, designated the Lumbee as an Indian people but withheld full recognition as a "Tribe." The act stated that "nothing in this Act shall make such Indians eligible for any services performed by the United States for Indians because of their status as Indians."
Standing Up to the Klan
In 1956, Ku Klux Klan member James W. "Catfish" Cole began harassing the Lumbee, claiming they were "mongrels and half-breeds" whose "race mixing" threatened the Jim Crow South. He burned a cross in front of a Lumbee woman’s house.
Cole called for a Klan rally near Maxton on January 18, 1958. The Lumbee, led by World War II veterans, disrupted the rally in what became known as the "Battle of Hayes Pond." The Klansmen panicked and fled. Cole was arrested and tried for inciting a riot. The Lumbee celebrated by burning Klan regalia.
In 1987, the Lumbee petitioned the United States Department of the Interior for full federal recognition, but the petition was denied because of the Lumbee Act.
The Lumbee Today
The Lumbee tribal government is organized into three branches: the tribal chairperson (executive), the 21-member Tribal Council (legislative), and the Supreme Court (judicial).
The fight for federal recognition continues. In 2021, a bill to grant the Lumbee full federal recognition passed the House of Representatives, but the Senate never acted on it. Another attempt passed the House but not the Senate in December 2024.
As of January 2025, the newly appointed Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland stated that it is the policy of the United States to support the full Federal recognition, including the authority to receive full Federal benefits, of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.
The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is one of eight state-recognized Native American tribes in North Carolina.
Today, more than 55,000 members of the Lumbee Tribe live primarily in Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland, and Scotland Counties. Pembroke is the tribe’s cultural and political center.
So, there you have it – a brief look at the Lumbee Tribe, a resilient group of people with a long and complicated history.