I was researching an acquaintance's ancestors for her to help her find evidence of the family story that a couple born in the 1890's were Cherokee and Wampanoag. I traced the man back a couple of generations, and on the 1860 census in Massachusetts he lists himself as Mulatto. I understand that to be some mix of African-American and European-American, but it wouldn't refer to any mix of European and Native American, would it?
I just found another clue: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=52809480
I found elsewhere that the mother's name was Sally Harris. I suspect that a descendant may have fudged the story a bit about their racial background.