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RESOLUTION OF SUPPORT
<br />FOR
<br />STATE AND FEDERAL RECOGNITION
<br />WHEREAS, the ancestors of the Occaneechi - Saponi were an ancient people who
<br />collectively called themselves Yesah or the people who originally came from
<br />lands to the west, over the Appalachian and Blue Ridge mountains in an area
<br />known today as the Ohio River Valley, and
<br />WHEREAS, nearly one thousand years ago, the Yesah came under attack from a
<br />powerful enemy and were forced to migrate over the mountains to their east
<br />and settle in what is now the piedmont of Virginia and North Carolina, and
<br />WHEREAS, as a result of their power, the influence of the Occaneechi and
<br />of the Yesah peoples were spread far and wide and both the general language
<br />of trade and the rituals of the Indigenous religion of the region were
<br />spoken in the Occaneechi dialect, and
<br />WHEREAS, in May of the year 1676, the independence of the Occaneechi and of
<br />the Yesah peoples came to an abrupt end, when Nathaniel Bacon led his
<br />Militia into the land of the Occaneechi in the spring of the year and
<br />forced a fight which ultimately broke the power of the tribe and scattered
<br />the Yesah people, and
<br />WHEREAS, after being attacked by Bacon's militia, the Occaneechi were
<br />forced south and settled along the Eno River near present day Hillsborough,
<br />North Carolina, and
<br />WHEREAS, in 1713, the colony of Virginia and Great Britain signed a treaty
<br />of peace with the Yesah and the Occaneechi returned to Virginia where they
<br />were joined by their cousins the Saponi, Tutelo, Stuckanocks, and
<br />Meiponsky, and
<br />WHEREAS, all the tribes joined together and adopted the name of the Saponi
<br />and were thereafter known as the Saponi Nation, and
<br />WHEREAS, by the mid 1700's the tribe had resettled in what is now
<br />Greensville, Brunswick, Mecklenburg and Northampton counties on the
<br />Virginia /North Caroilna border, and
<br />WHEREAS, they stayed there until the 1780's when in response to increasing
<br />pressure from neighboring whites, the community began moving back to the
<br />area near the Eno River where they had once lived, settling in the
<br />northeast section of Alamance County and adjoining Orange County and
<br />WHEREAS, since that time, some of the people moved to Ohio and Indiana but
<br />the bulk of the Saponi people remained in "Little Texas" forming an
<br />independent Indian community which was based on small scale farming, and
<br />WHEREAS, the Saponi people formally reorganized in 1984 as the Eno -
<br />Occaneechi Indian Association, Inc. with a Tribal Board of Directors which
<br />represents the tribe at the Local, State and National level and which deals
<br />with problems facing the community, and
<br />WHEREAS, in February of 1995, the Tribal Board of Directors voted to amend
<br />the name of the tribe to the OCCANEECHI BAND OF THE SAPONI NATION
<br />to more accurately reflect the ancestry of the tribe.
<br />NOW, THEREFORE, THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS does hereby
<br />recognize the OCCANEECHI BAND OF THE SAPONI NATION as a Native American
<br />tribe indigenous to Orange County and
<br />FURTHERMORE, THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS does hereby support
<br />the OCCANEECHI BAND OF THE SAPONI NATION in their request for State and
<br />Federal recognition.
<br />This the 4th day of December, 1995.
<br />Moses Carey, dr., C
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