Tartola Prince was an enslaved man of color owned by William Bryan of Craven County, North Carolina. Based on his name, Tartola may have come from Tortola, now a part of the British Virgin Islands, but any other documentation regarding his enslavement has not been located. Whatever his origin, Tartola Prince escaped from Bryan's enslavement sometime prior to December 1781 and made his way to Core Creek in Carteret County, where he met several other formerly enslaved people. Suspecting that Tartola Prince and the other people of color were planning a rebellion, the white residents of the area killed Tartola Prince while trying to capture him. The state of North Carolina later compensated William Bryan for Tartola Prince's death.