John Lawson (Explorer,Surveyor,Writer).. (Dec. 27, 1674 –Sept.16, 1711)

A gentleman by birth, John Lawson was a well educated man. During his long journey through Carolina, Lawson had kept an extensive journal. In addition to recording detailed notes on the varied and abundant flora and fauna of the region, he also started a small vocabulary of Native American language. Lawson was an explorer, a surveyor, a naturalist and a writer, Lawson kept a detailed journal about the 59 day expedition covering 550 miles of Carolina backcountry, during his exploration of the interior of Carolina in 1700 and 1701. At the time of Lawson's arrival, South Carolina was still a new colony. He found its only major city, Charleston, to be a pleasant town with "very regular and fair streets" lined with "good Buildings of Brick and Wood," and already awash in money, hut European habitation had not yet extended beyond the waterways within sixty miles of the coast. Though far removed from North Carolina, Lawson remained active in provincial affairs, representing the colony in its boundary dispute with Virginia and, more ambitiously, organizing a group of Palatine Germans to settle on the Neuse and Trent Rivers in 1710. His second visit to the colony, however, would be cut short. In September, 1711, improprieties in their trade with the settlers drove the Tuscarora Indians and cause them to lash out in revenge. Lawson and his associate Christopher von Graffenreid were captured while ascending the Neuse River, and were taken as hostages to the town of Catechna (near modern day Snow Hill). Insulting, rather than placating the Tuscaroras, Lawson was put to death, an event which engendered a fearful response. Using all their military might, the English inflicted grievous wounds on the Tuscarora nation, killing many and capturing over 1,000 Tuscarora and selling them into slavery. War weary, most of the nation's survivors left North Carolina in 1722 to take refuge among the Iroquois nations to the north, becoming the sixth nation in the Confederacy. Setting off on December 28th with a party of six Englishmen, three Indian men and one Indian woman, Lawson ventured up the Santee River by canoe and thence by foot through the interior, headed north to Virginia to survey places for new settlement. Upon arriving at the Indian village of Occaneechi (modern day Hillsborough, N.C.), however, Lawson learned that an Iroquois raiding party was scourging the region, and as a result, he veered back toward the coast for safety. On the north bank of the Pamlico River, where a few scattered Europeans had already settled, he purchased sixty acres in 1705 to incorporate the colony's first town. His second visit to the colony, however, would also be cut short. In September, 1711, improprieties in their trade with the settlers drove the Tuscarora Indians to lash out in revenge. Both where put on trial Christopher was released and Lawson was killed, Using all their military might, the English inflicted grievous wounds on the Tuscarora nation, killing many and capturing over 1,000 Tuscarora and selling them into slavery.