[Sidenote: Massacre in North Carolina by the Indians.]
In the year 1712, the Indians in North Carolina, alarmed, as their countrymen had been in the other colonies, by the increasing population and regular encroachments of the whites, formed with their accustomed secrecy, the plan of exterminating in one night these formidable neighbours. No indication of their design was given until they broke into the houses of the planters. The slaughter on Roanoke was immense. In that settlement alone, one hundred and thirty-seven persons were murdered. A few escaped by concealing themselves in the woods, who, the next day, gave the alarm. The remaining whites were collected together in a place of safety, and guarded by the militia until assistance could be received from South Carolina.
This was prompt and effectual. The assembly at Charleston voted four thousand pounds for the service; and colonel Barnwell was detached with six hundred militia, and three hundred and sixty Indians, to the relief of the afflicted North Carolinians. With the utmost celerity he passed through the difficult and dangerous wilderness which then separated the northern from the southern settlements; and, attacking the savages with unexpected fury, killed three hundred of them, and made one hundred prisoners. The survivors retreated to the Tuscorora town, and took refuge within a wooden breast-work, in which they were surrounded by the whites.
After sustaining considerable loss, they sued for peace and obtained it; but soon afterwards abandoned their country, and united themselves with the Iroquois, or Five nations.
The expense of this expedition greatly transcended the scanty means of South Carolina. To supply the exigencies of government, and to promote the convenience of commerce, the legislature determined to issue forty-eight thousand pounds in bills of credit, to be denominated bank bills. This money was to be lent out, at interest, on security, and to be redeemed gradually by the annual payment of one-twelfth part of the sum loaned. The bills were made a legal tender; and the creditor who should refuse them, lost his debt.
After the emission of these bills, exchange rose, the first year, to one hundred and fifty, and in the second to two hundred per centum, above par. The effect of this depreciation, and of the tender laws which accompanied it, on creditors, and on morals, was obvious and certain.