Presentation on the Lumbee Indians At Fort Fisher

From the January 9, 2019, Wilmington (NC) Star-News  "Lumbees to be part of Fort Fisher anniversary observation" by Ben Steelman.

The role of Native Americans, the Lumbees, will be spotlighted at Fort Fisher on Saturday, January 12, at the ruins of the old fort when the 154th anniversary of its fall will be observed.

Malinda Maynor Lowery, associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will present "The War Within the War:  Lumbee Indians at Fort Fisher."  She is  director of the Center  for the Study of the American South at the school and author of the book  "Lumbee Indians:  An American Struggle."

The Lumbees were mostly from North Carolina's Robeson County, and were not allowed to enlist in Confederate  regiments during the war.  Many, however, were conscripted as unpaid labor to work on the massive earthworks at Fort Fisher, guarding New Inlet channel to the Cape Fear River, a favorite entrance of blockade runners.

Many Lumbees resisted this conscription, , notably the outlaw Henry Berry Lowry.

Harvey Goodman, Jr., chairman  of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, will introduce Lowery at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the auditorium of the Fort Fisher Visitors Center.

--Old B-Runner