Tutelo (also
Totero,
Totteroy,
Tutera) was a Siouan tribe, closely related to the Monacan and
ManahoacThe Manahoac, also recorded as Mahock, were a small group of Siouan American Indians. They numbered approximately 1,000 by the time of European contact and lived in northern Virginia, primarily along the Rappahannock River west of modern Fredericksburg and the fall line and east of the Blue Ridge...
peoples, known to be living above the
Fall LineIn geomorphology, a fall line marks the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet. Technically, a fall line is an unconformity. A fall line is typically prominent when crossed by a river, for there will often be rapids or waterfalls...
in present-day
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents. The geography and climate of the state are shaped by the Blue...
. Under pressure from English settlers, they joined with the
SaponiSaponi, is the name of one of the eastern Siouan tribes related to the Tutelo, Occaneechi, Monacan, Manahoac and other eastern Siouan peoples, whose ancestral homeland is in North Carolina and Virginia....
. In 1740, they left Virginia and migrated north to seek protection from the
IroquoisThe Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an indigenous people of North America. In the 16th century or earlier, the Iroquois came together in an association known as the Iroquois League, or the "League of Peace and Power"...
, where they were adopted by the
CayugaThe Cayuga nation is a Native American tribe within the Iroquois Confederacy. Cayuga may also refer to:-United States:*Cayuga, Illinois*Cayuga, Indiana*Cayuga, New York*Cayuga, North Dakota*Cayuga, Texas...
tribe in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
History
The Tutelo homeland is purported to have included the area of the
Big Sandy RiverThe Big Sandy River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 29 mi long, in western West Virginia and northeastern Kentucky in the United States. The river forms part of the boundary between the two states along its entire course...
on the WV-KY border, once known as the "Toteroy River" in their memory; they were likely driven from this region by the Iroquois. The Tutelo first appeared in European records in 1671, when the Batts and Fallam expedition noted their visit to "Totero Town" near what is now
Salem, VirginiaSalem is an independent city in Virginia, USA, bordered by the city of Roanoke to the east but otherwise adjacent to Roanoke County. It is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 24,747 at the 2000 census...
. A few years later, the Tutelo joined the Nahyssan and Saponi to live on islands located where the
DanThe Dan River flows in both the U.S. states of North Carolina and Virginia. It originates in the state of Virginia in Patrick County and crosses the state border into Stokes County, North Carolina. It then flows into Rockingham County. From there it goes back into Virginia. It reenters North...
and Staunton rivers join to become the
Roanoke RiverThe Roanoke River is a river in southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina in the United States, 410 mi long. A major river of the southeastern United States, it drains a largely rural area of the coastal plain from the eastern edge of the Appalachian Mountains southeast across the Piedmont...
. It was just above the territory of the
OccaneechiThe Occaneechi or Occoneechee were Native Americans related to the Saponi or Sappony, Tutelo or Totero, Eno and other eastern Siouan-language peoples living in the Piedmont region of present-day North Carolina and Virginia...
.
In 1701, they were noted as living at the headwaters of the
Yadkin RiverThe Yadkin River is one of the longest rivers in North Carolina. It rises in the northwestern portion of the state near the Blue Ridge Parkway's Thunder Hill Overlook. Several parts of the river are impounded by dams for water, power, and flood control. The river becomes the Pee Dee River at the...
in
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
. After 1714, collectively known as the Saponi-Tutelo, they resided around
Fort ChristannaFort Christanna was one of the projects of Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood, who was governor of the Virginia Colony 1710-1722. The fort was designed to offer protection and schooling to the tributary Siouan and Iroquoian tribes, living to the southwest of the colonized area of Virginia. Located...
in
Brunswick County, VirginiaBrunswick County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the population was 18,419. Its county seat is Lawrenceville.- History :...
, near the border with North Carolina.
In 1740, remnants of the Saponi, Tutelo, and Occaneechi Indians moved north to
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
and sought the protection of the
IroquoisThe Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an indigenous people of North America. In the 16th century or earlier, the Iroquois came together in an association known as the Iroquois League, or the "League of Peace and Power"...
Confederacy. They were formally adopted by the
Cayuga nationThe Cayuga Nation was one of the five original constituents of the Haudenosaunee , a confederacy of American Indians in New York. The Cayuga homeland lay in the Finger Lakes region along Cayuga Lake, between their league neighbors, the Onondaga to the east and the Seneca to the west...
of New York in 1753. Their village of "Coreorgonel" was located near present-day
Ithaca, New YorkThe city of Ithaca, , sits on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, in Central New York, USA. It is best known for being home to Cornell University, an Ivy League school with almost 20,000 students...
and
Buttermilk Falls State ParkButtermilk Falls State Park is located southwest of Ithaca, New York, USA. Like Robert H. Treman State Park, the initial grant of land for the park came from Robert and Laura Treman, in 1924....
. There they lived under the protection of the Cayuga until Coreorgonel, along with many other Iroquois towns, was destroyed during the
Sullivan ExpeditionThe Sullivan Expedition, also known as the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition, was a campaign led by Major General John Sullivan and Brigadier General James Clinton against Loyalists and the four nations of the Iroquois who had sided with the British in the American Revolutionary War.The expedition...
of 1779. The Tutelo separated from the Saponi and fled to Canada. They continued to live among the Cayuga and were eventually absorbed by them; the last known Tutelo speaker died in 1898.