9. Baron de Graffenreid was held a captive for several weeks, and was set at liberty upon application of Governor Spottswood. On his return to his settlement he found it in a condition of almost desolation. He became so disheartened at the prospect that he soon sold his interest in Carolina and returned to Switzerland.
1712.
10. The South Carolina militia and near a thousand Yemassee Indians, under Colonel John Barnwell, came as swiftly as they could to the rescue, and inflicted a stunning blow upon the savages. They were attacked in a fort near New Bern, and more than three hundred of the Indians were killed and a hundred made prisoners. Thinking the league crushed, Colonel Barnwell went home with his forces, after making a treaty with the Indians, which was quickly broken.
11. In this terrible emergency, which threatened the destruction of so many settlers, Governor Spottswood, of Virginia, did nothing to aid the colony except keep the Five Nations and Tom Blount's Tuscaroras neutral in the war. The great danger was in the possible adhesion of the New York Iroquois to the savage league. With Albemarle divided, and consequently in a measure helpless, it was seen that it would be impossible to meet the Five Nations in battle.
12. When the next spring had opened, some hundreds of men in North Carolina were joined by Colonel James Moore, from South Carolina, with another force of a hundred and fifty of his white neighbors and the Yemassees, who again were willing to make war upon their hated enemies, the Tuscaroras.
13. Another bloody attack upon a fort made of earthworks and palisades resulted in such slaughter of the Indians that Handcock, their chief, who had boldly led them before, was so disheartened at the loss of his braves that, with his tribe, he abandoned Carolina and rejoined his brethren in the lake country of New York, who were from that time known as the Six Nations. They ventured no more among the men who had so fearfully broken their strength and power as belligerents. The fort occupied by Handcock and his force was situated where the village of Snow Hill, Greene county, now stands, and was called by the Indians "Nahucke." The siege began March 20th, and in a few days the fort, with eight hundred prisoners, was taken by storm. Colonel Moore's loss was twenty white men and thirty-six Indians killed and about one hundred wounded.
14. In the midst of the danger, in this second year of the war, yellow fever was seen for the first time in Albemarle. Governor Hyde fell a victim to its virulence. He died September 8, 1712, and was succeeded by Thomas Pollock, who had long been known as one of the richest and most influential of the settlers. Pollock and Edward Moseley, who was the leading lawyer and ablest man in Albemarle, were in deadly enmity concerning the quarrels between the contending Governors.
15. During this turbulent period among their rulers the people of Albemarle were giving their principal attention to growing corn and other farm products. They were improving their settlements and reaping the full reward of industry and perseverance. In 1704 the manufacture of tar began, and it was soon discovered that this native article was destined to become a very valuable commodity, both at home and in foreign countries.
16. During the years just considered North Carolina received large accessions to her population. As early as 1690 French Protestant refugees purchased lands and began to form settlements in Pamlico. In 1707 another body of French emigrants, under the guidance of their clergymen, Phillipe de Richebourg, located in the same section. A good number of French Huguenots, also, had formed thrifty settlements in the Pamlico region and along the banks of the Neuse and Trent Rivers.