The Meherrin, or Kauwets’a:ka ("People of the Water"), are a nation of American Indians who, at the turn of the 18th century, lived along the NC-VA border in the area of present-day Halifax County, NC, and Mecklenburg, Brunswick, and Greensville County, VA. The Meherrin allied with the nearby Tuscarora people during the Tuscarora War (1711-1715) in an attempt to stop further encroachment by European colonists but were ultimately defeated. In 1726, the North Carolina Colonial Assembly granted some Meherrin people a protected tract in the colony near the Chowan River, which they then expanded slightly after a resurvey in 1729.

Despite having their own lands, encroachment by white colonists and diseases such as smallpox continued to affect the Meherrin, and by 1755, a report estimated that there were only 7-8 warriors remaining. The Meherrin, along with their neighbors the Tuscarora, allied with the British during the French and Indian War, and by 1761 Governor Arthur Dobbs estimated that there were 20 Meherrin warriors. Some Meherrin people may have chosen to follow their neighbors the Tuscarora and join the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois League, but others remained in the area. Beginning in 1766, several Meherrin people took out leases on Tuscarora reservation land in nearby Bertie County, but as whites continued to encroach, the Meherrins separated and spread further out into less-desirable portions of present-day Northampton, Hertford, and Gates counties as well.

Today, the Meherrin Indian Nation is recognized by the State of North Carolina and is based in Ahoskie, NC.

For more information and links to resources, please see our editorial statement on American Indian terminology.