Necoes

Necoes was a village of the Cape Fear Indians, about twenty miles from the mouth of the river of that name. Of five villages reported in 1715, it is the only one whose name was recorded. The people lived along the lower river, in a country of wetlands and forests close to the Atlantic coast.

In 1663 the English captain William Hilton met Watcoosa, described as a chief of the Cape Fear Indians, on an island in the river. The following year, after settlers seized Indigenous children and sent them away, the Indians drove the settlers out. As European settlement increased, the Cape Fear Indians sought protection from Governor John Archdale in 1695. Some later accompanied John Barnwell as scouts during the Tuscarora War of 1711–1712.