Your post has been deleted: Catawba --Saponi -- Melungeon; Ch 5: The Tuscarora Wars, The Yamassee War, and the War of Jenkins Ear

CHAPTER V -- THE TUSCARORA WARS, THE YAMASSEE WAR, AND THE WAR OF JENKINS EAR

The First Tuscarora Campaign

Per Blumer, the Tuscarora War had several causes. He says i.] The Indians objected to the settlement of New Bern, North Carolina in 1710. ii.] The Indian traders also cheated the Tuscarora Indians regularly. The last straw was iii.] The ill treatment of an intoxicated Tuscarora by a settler. This caused a major confrontation with North Carolina. Also iv.] Seneca agitation pushed the Tuscarora towards a major confrontation with North Carolina. Remember many of these Indian Traders were the scum of the earth. They would make it impossible for the Indians to pay them back. At the last minute the traders would tell them if they captured enemy Indians for sale in the slave trade, their debt would be forgiven. This happened one too many times for the Tuscarora, and they got to the point where they refused to take it anymore. They picked up the hatchet against the English. (56)

The Tuscarora attack was carefully planned. At dawn, September 22nd, 1711, over 130 settlers were killed by noon. Survivors fled to Bath and New Bern. For the next four months, the Tuscarora pillaged at will. Captives were regularly tortured, and executed.

North Carolina was a weak colony at the time. South Carolinians finally had an excuse to enslave the Tuscarora. They seized the moment. They hoped to become rich selling off the Tuscarora into slavery. South Carolinian Captain John Barnwell left Charles Town with only 30 men, but travelled inland to recruit Piedmont Indians and then pounce on the Tuscarora from the west. The Tuscarora and the Catawba were traditional enemies. They needed no convincing to go to war with the Tuscarora. The Yamassee were also recruited. The Tuscarora were no match for their combined forces. Blumer says Barnwell recruited 500 Indians, 350 of which were Catawban. He mentioned Congaree, Waxhaw, Wateree, Cheraw and others allied to these Catawban peoples. The rest were Yamasee. Thornton believes the Yamasee were of Muscogeean origin, saying the term “yama” implied they had been traders. (57) (58) Another source though, says they spoke the language of the lower Cherokee.

Gallay paraphrases Merrell. He says Barnwell’s men were a diverse bunch of Indians and a few whites. His men were divided up into four companies. The first being a company of about 30 Whites commanded by Robert Steel. The second, the Yamassee Company, was commanded by Barnwell himself and was composed of 158 men, or by his second in command, Major Alexander Mackay. About half these men were Yamassee, with most of the rest Apalachee, with about 15 Yuchi and one Cosabo Indian. A third was called “Esaw Captain Jack’s Company” and contained 155 men. These men were Waterees, Sugarees, Catawba’s, Sutterees, Waxaws, Congarees, and Sattes. Gallay says, “Captain Jack was a Catawba whose military skills were much admired by his own people and the Europeans.” The fourth was composed of Pedees, Wineaws, Cape Fear, Hoopengs, Wareperes, Saraws, Saxapahaws, and Waterees. He adds that these people lived closest to the Tuscarora and were more in fear of Tuscaroran retaliation than the rest. (59) (60) These third and forth units are composed mostly of Catawban peoples.

Blumer gives an impressive view of what a Catawba warrior looked like in those times.

He says:

“The Catawba and their allies went to war in the traditional way. The women combed their men's hair with bear grease and red root. The men's ears were decked out with feathers, copper, wampum, and even entire bird’s wings. The men painted their faces with vermillion. Often one eye was circled in black paint, and the other in white.”

War dances were performed, and the men set out looking as fierce as possible. Blumer goes on to say some had guns and others had bows and arrows. He adds;

“In full traditional battle attire, the Catawba must have been an impressive site. The name of the Catawba War Captain who led the nation on this expedition has been lost to history. None of the Indians would enter a war party without the urging of a powerful war captain who had won the right to carry snake images on his person in paint or tattoo.” (61) However remember Gallay gave the name of the war chief as “Essaw Captain Jack”.

The snake image was associated with the Occoneechi. There is no mention of the Occoneechi as being a part of this war party, so maybe something else is in play. Now Indian warfare was not as Barnwell had expected. The first battle was at the Tuscarora village of Narhantes. The Catawba took as many captives as they could get their hands on, and headed for the slave markets of Charleston to sell them. The Catawban peoples seem to have expected this to be just another slave raid. They seemed to know exactly where the slave markets were. By the end of February 1712, Barnwell's army consisted of about 90 Whites, and 148 Indians, mostly Yamassees. On March 1st, Barnwell's army entered Tuscarora King Hancock's town, which was deserted. On March 5th, King Hancock's fort was surrounded. He threatened to torture his captives in front of Barnwell's men. Both sides agreed to hold a conference on March 19th at Bachelor's Creek. The Tuscarora did not show up.

Barnwell's reputation began to slide. He was forced to return to the Catawba towns, and get them to return to the battle. On April 7th, Barnwell's reinforced army returned to Hancock's Fort. These attacks lasted 10 days. Again, his Catawba allies gathered as many captives as possible, and headed to the slave markets of Charleston.

Blumer adds;

“Disappointed but determined to turn a profit, Barnwell on the pretext of a meeting, met with the Indians Near Bern. Once inside the fort, these unfortunate souls were held captive and shipped off to Charleston. Barnwell would have his profit in Indian flesh.” (62) There is no mention that those being enslaved by Barnwell were Tuscarora, so I’m not sure.

It does go on to say that as a result of Barnwell's bloody war, all the Indians lost their confidence in the Christian Whites. The surviving Tuscarora began their exodus to Canada, to be with their Iroquoian relatives. The Five Nations were destined to become Six Nations, with the addition of the Tuscarora. They ever afterwards held a grudge against the Catawba and their allies. Because of Barnwell’s actions in obtaining his own slaves, the Catawba and the Yamassee quit trusting the Whites. It appears that Barnwell enslaved his allies. These events would lead us to both the next war with the Tuscarora, and the Yamasee War.

Here is a map of the route the John Barnwell's troops took to attack the Tuscarora. The map was from page 36 of "Catawba Nation, Treasures in History", by Thomas J. Blumer. The Tuscarora Wars lasted from 1711-1713 and ended in the utter destruction of the Tuscarora and Coree Indians.

Map 9. The First Tuscarora War

The Second Tuscarora War

As Blumer states, The Tuscarora continued to ravage the countryside, just before their exodus to the north, in the same way the Israelites spoiled the Egyptians before fleeing Egypt. Settlers remained behind palisades and fortresses, afraid to venture out, but doing little to help themselves, depending mostly of South Carolinians. Some fled the colony. In June 1712, a delegation of North Carolinians again asked South Carolina to come to their rescue. (63)

Colonel James Moore set off from Charleston in October, 1712, to gather an Indian army. Per Gallay, Moore had led many expeditions to gather Indian slaves. He led the 1704 raid into Florida to enslave most of the Apalachee Indians. Gallay records that Moore's Indian allies were Creek. They attacked and wiped out several Apalachee towns, taking hundreds of slaves. He says four Apalachee towns moved to South Carolina which promised to protect them. (64)

Blumer says; After Barnwell's deception, Moore's recruiting was rather slow. Rather than halt at Waxhaw Town (as did Barnwell), he marched further to the Catawba towns, presumably to convince the Catawba directly. His first task was to convince the Catawba War captains that a war against the Tuscarora was to their advantage . . .once the war captains agreed, they began the war ritual. They took up a pot drum and danced counterclockwise around his house, performing a call to war song. When a crowd of men gathered, the war captain recited the crimes of the Tuscarora against the Catawba. Then the war captain and their men fasted for three days. They purged their bodies of impurities with the powerful emetic button snakeroot.

Colonel Moore crossed the Cape Fear River with 500 Catawba and their Catawban allies, 300 Cherokee and 50 Yamassee; 33 Whites led the force. They joined 140 members of the North Carolina militia. (65)

Meanwhile, the Indian army gathered provisions amongst the settlers, eating their cattle and other rations. While Moore waited, the Tuscarora strengthened their fortress at Neoheroka. Their fortress consisted of five acres of man-made caves, palisaded walls, and strong buildings with a source of water inside. Tuscarora were part of the rebellion. King Blount delivered King Hancock, leader of the rebellion, up to the North Carolinians. Blount was Tuscaroran leader who opposed these wars. Hancock was then executed. Moore, rather than attack the Tuscarora, stayed in the North Carolina communities of New Bern, and Bath, and Albemarle. After a bloody battle, Fort Neoheroka fell on March 20th, 1713. 475 Tuscarora were killed and another 415 were sold into slavery. This was the end of the Tuscarora resistance. A band of the Tuscarora remained in North Carolina with King Blount, and others not sold into slavery. Most however fled north to join their Tuscaroran relatives who had already fled to live with their brothers at Six Nations. (66) Blount's band of Tuscarora fled to Virginia at the invitation of Governor Spotswood where they became close neighbors with the Saponi who were living next door to them at Fort Christanna. The Nottaway and Meherrin also lived in the area. There would be treaties between them in 1722 and 1744 which both sides adhered to until the ink they were printed with dried.

From this time forth the Six Nations and the Catawba would be at war until the power of the Catawba and their allies were completely and utterly shattered. A treaty in the 1750s finally ended long years of warfare.

The map below shows the routes taken by the warriors and soldiers during the final destruction of the Tuscarora in the second Tuscarora War.

Map 10. The Second Tuscarora War

The Northern Bands of the Catawban peoples were under the banner of the Saponi near Fort Christanna. The Central Bands were all east of the Catawba and the bands associated with them. Those East of the Catawba were mostly in central North Carolina. There were also the Settlement Indians who lived in and west Charles Town. Some of these were actually former Spanish allies from tribes wiped out in the slave raids of Moore and others, and some most certainly would have been Catawban. Some might have been freed or runaway Indian slaves whose tribes or bands no longer existed. Tribal identities were getting blurred as remnants of wasted bands, tribes and nations dwindled. Notchie (found all over the Southeast after the Natchez Nation was destroyed by the French along the Mississippi River), Apalachee, Westo, Chowan, and other would form new communities huddled together for protection.

The Yamassee War 1715-1717

Although the next conflict of the era is called “The Yamassee War” of 1715-1716, the Catawba were the largest Indian component with 570 warriors – Blumer tells us that King Whitmannetaugehehee was chief during the time of the Yamassee War. He must have been the war leader who led his people during these hard times. (67) He was one of the great war leaders in the history of the Catawba Nation. We shall talk of him again. But remember we also had “Essaw Captain Jack” mentioned as a great warrior during the Tuscarora War. Since both these men were legendary warriors and both lived during the same timeframe, it is possible they are one and the same person.

The Yamassee by comparison, supplied only 400 warriors. According to Blumer, “All the Catawban speaking groups in both of the Carolinas joined this effort to expel the Europeans from the Southeast.” (68)

Per Blumer; The Indians had many grievances against the settlers. They included abuses of a cruel and obscene nature committed by the white traders who worked among the Indians. i.] Abuses such as murder and rape were common. ii.] If needed, they would help themselves to the Indians crops and not pay for it. iii.] In addition, the traders fomented Indian wars to foster the Indian slave trade. iv.] Other grievances included white settlements that encroached on Indian lands. I strongly suspect however, the main reason the settlers wanted war was to take Indian lands. They were in the way of anyone who wanted to settle North Carolina or Georgia. Once they got rid of the Piedmont Catawba in North Carolina or the Yamassee in Eastern Georgia, there would be little to prevent the settlement of both of those provinces.

Blumer says the war was instigated by the Creek Indians, but the settlers thought it must have been instigated by the French at Mobile Bay, or the Spaniards at Saint Augustine. Blumer also speaks of the sale of free Indians into slavery by unscrupulous traders in the Indian towns. These are many of the causes and sentiments for the origins of the Yamassee War of 1715-1716. Virtually every Indian community took part in this rebellion. (69)

On April 15th, 1715, ninety percent of the traders working in the Indian towns were killed. In the process, 40 colonists were killed. South Carolina mustered an army under General George Chicken. Per Blumer, The Indians suffered a defeat at Goose Creek, and the Catawba and their allies had second thoughts about the war. On July 19th, 1715, the Catawba sued for peace. . . on October 18th, 1715, a delegation [of Catawba] went to Williamsburg, Virginia. A second conference was called on February 4th, 1716. Virginia Governor Spotswood wanted the Catawba headmen to deliver the sons of their headmen to Fort Christanna. This exchange occurred by April of 1717. The end of the war occurred when the last of the Yamassee fled to Fort Augustine, Florida. Those not lucky enough to flee were sold into slavery. It is thought some of the Yamassee took shelter with the Catawba, and some with the Creek. But their tribe is now considered extinct as a nation. An English record states “Yamassee speak the same language as the Lower Cherokee . . .” This record is dated January 24-25,1726, so there were still Yamassee speakers in 1726. It is probable that some Yamassee took refuge with the Lower Cherokee. At least two Yamassee towns, Tomatley and Tuskegee, vanish and are later found in the Cherokee Nation, and are later considered Cherokee towns. (70)

More on the Yamasee War

Here is a second account of the Yamassee War. (71)

“On Good Friday, April 15, 1715, the chaos of war invaded the lives of the European colonists, enslaved Africans, and Native Americans living in South Carolina. The Yamasee War began that day when a number of trade officials were murdered in the Yamasee town of Pocotaligo. The murders took South Carolinians completely by surprise, as the Yamasee were thought to be one of the colony's closest Indian allies. Indeed, the murdered Englishmen had only been sent to Pocotaligo in order to arrange talks with another Indian group, the Ochese Muskogeans (Creeks), who were rumored to be planning attacks against South Carolina traders and settlers. These initial murders were quickly followed by major Yamasee attacks on plantations around Port Royal, near modern day Beaufort, SC. In these attacks, the Yamasee managed to kill over 100 colonists and set the rest of the settlement's population to flight. In the following weeks, news began to filter into Charleston that the English traders in virtually every southeastern Indian village had either been killed or chased off. Adding to the fears of a pan-Indian assault, news emerged that the Catawba and a small group of Cherokees had made raids on plantations north of Charleston and even managed to capture a South Carolina militia garrison. Facing this apparent “invasion,” colonists across South Carolina fled to Charleston, where the effects of overcrowding, fear, and tension, exacerbated by the summer heat, took its toll on the physical and mental health of many residents.” (Crane 2004; Oatis 2004). (72)

Historians and archaeologists have been studying this conflict for over two centuries, yet most of the public is only vaguely aware of the Yamasee War or its significance outside of South Carolina. Historian William Ramsey (73) states that the Yamasee War (1715-1717) “easily ranks with King Philip’s War and Pontiac’s Rebellion” as a key colonial conflict; however, compared to these other wars, it remains woefully understudied. As we recognize the 300-year anniversary of the conflict, there has been an upsurge in scholarly interest in the Yamasee War. The results of these new projects will doubtless provide new insights for understanding this pivotal moment of the colonial period.

The Yamassee War included a small number of what might be called major military engagements, and these were confined to the first three months of the war. Afterward, hostilities were limited to Yamasee and Muskogean raids on trading caravans and frontier skirmishes with South Carolina militia that continued sporadically for the next two years. Peace with the last of the hostile groups, the Lower Creeks, officially ended the war in 1717. While rare, the major battles described below were nevertheless significant, for they included hundreds of combatants on each side and were fought on two separate fronts (north and south of Charleston). Furthermore, these battles were like microcosms of the colonial landscape, defining relationships among the period’s three major cultural groups – Europeans, Native Americans, and enslaved Africans. Historical accounts of these battles are clear that almost half of Carolina militia forces was comprised of enslaved Africans. Pocotaligo and Yamasee Raids on Port Royal: April 15, 1715. At daybreak on this day, a colonial delegation from Charleston was brutally tortured and murdered by Yamasees at the town of Pocotaligo near modern-day Beaufort, SC. The scene is described in detail by Charles Rodd, a Charleston merchant. In a 1715 letter to his employers in London (Rodd 1928). Describing the attack and torture of Indian agent Thomas Nairne. He writes, “But next morning at dawn their terrible war-whoop was heard and a great multitude was seen whose faces and several other parts of their bodies were painted with red and black streaks, resembling devils come out of Hell… They threw themselves first upon the Agents and on Mr. Wright, seized their houses and effects, fired on everybody without distinction, and put to death, with torture, in a most cruel manner, those who escaped the fire of their weapons… I do not know if Mr. Wright was burnt piece-meal, or not: but it is said that the criminals loaded Mr. Nairne with a great number of pieces of wood, to which they set fire, and burnt him in this manner so that he suffered horrible torture, during several days, before he was allowed to die.” Rodd goes on to describe the escape of families from their plantations around Port Royal.

You might wonder about “poor” Mr. Nairne. He seems to have been deliberately chosen to be tortured. Perhaps he was. He was one of the biggest dealers in Indian slaves around. His slave raiding took place on a grand scale. In 1715 trader Thomas Nairne boasted he had raided the Florida Keys for slaves as Indians further north in Florida had all been captured and sold on the slave markets of Charleston. The Indians finally grew tired of the South Carolina traders, and this resulted in the Yamassee War of 1715-1717. Hudson says this war saw the end of the Santee, Sewee, Pedee, Congaree, Cusabo and Waxhaw Bands although we hear of the Pedee later.

The “Sadkeche Fight” and Carolina Counter Offensive against Yamasee Towns: late April, 1715

South Carolina's military response to the Yamasee raids was swift. Only a week after the murders at Pocotaligo, Governor Craven of South Carolina personally led militia forces against the Yamasees in their own towns. He sent some of his forces to attack Pocotaligo by water, while he mustered some 250 men to attack overland. Part of this offensive is a battle now called “The Sadkeche Fight.” In this engagement, Craven was ambushed in camp while on his march to Pocotaligo somewhere on the Combahee River near Salkehatchie, SC. A weekly broadside called The Boston Newsletter, reported on the battle stating, “The Governor marched within Sixteen miles of [Pocotaligo], and encamped at night in a large Savanna or Plain, by a wood-side, and was early next morning by break of day saluted with a volley of shot from about five hundred of the enemy; that lay ambuscaded in the woods, who notwithstanding of the surprise, soon put his men in order, and engaged them so gallantly three quarters of an hour, that he soon routed the enemy; killed and wounded several of them; among whom some of their chief Commanders fell” (June 6, 1715). Meanwhile, the Carolina militia forces sent by water scored decisive victories against the Yamasee towns near Beaufort, forcing those groups to retreat southward across the Altamaha River in present-day Georgia.

Santee Raids and Captain Chicken’s Charge: mid May-early June 1715

To Carolina settlers, the scale and violence of the Yamasee attacks on Port Royal must have been frightening. These fears, however, must have quickly multiplied when news emerged that a second group of raids was taking place at plantations along the Santee River north of Charleston. The fact that these raids were conducted by the Catawba and Cherokee stoked rumors that these violent assaults were part of a pan-Indian revolt aimed at driving Europeans from the region. The first attack occurred at the plantation of John Herne (Hyrne), near present day Vance, SC. In his 1715 journal, Goose Creek missionary Francis LeJau says the Indians “killed poor Herne treacherously, after he had given them some Victuals [food], according to our usual friendly manner.” Following this attack, the Indians ambushed a group of Carolina militia sent to the area to investigate. Twenty-seven of the militia were killed in this engagement. The invading force then moved on to a fortified plantation known as Schenkingh’s Cowpen – a site now submerged under Lake Marion near Eadytown, SC. Here the group was able to trick the commanding militia officer to let them inside the palisade under the pretense of surrender. Once inside the defenses, the group pulled out their weapons, slayed 22 militiamen, and burnt the garrison. It appears that the raiding Indian force then began to move toward Goose Creek, which had largely been deserted. The culmination of engagements on the northern front happened on June 13, when militia captain George Chicken led a force out to meet the advancing Indian group. A letter from Charleston merchant Samuel Eveleigh (1715) gives great detail of the battle stating, “Capt. Chicken march'd from the Ponds [near Summerville, SC] with 120 men and understanding that they were got to a Plantation about 4 miles distant marched thither, divided his men into three parties, two of which he ordered to march in part to surround them, and in part to prevent their flight into an adjacent swamp but before the said party could arrive to the post designed them, two Indians belonging to the enemy scouting down to the place where Captain Chicken lay in ambascade [sic] he was obliged for fear of discovery to shoot them down, and immediately fell upon the body, routed them and as is supposed killed about 40 besides their wounded they carried away.” This significant engagement, sometimes known as “The Battle of the Ponds,” halted the advance of the Piedmont Indians and marked their withdrawal from the war (they sent a peace delegation to Virginia about a month later). This battle thus effectively ended the war on the Northern front. (74)

Apalachee Raid on New London (Willtown) and the Burning of St. Paul’s Parish: mid July 1715.

A few weeks after Captain Chicken’s victory, Governor Craven marched with a militia force of about 200 settlers, enslaved Africans, and allied Indians in order to launch an offensive against the Piedmont Indians who attacked the northern plantations. Shortly after crossing the Santee River, Craven received word that a large force of 500-700 Apalachee and allied groups had crossed over the Edisto River and attacked the colonial settlement called New London, located on present-day Willtown Bluff, SC. The garrison at New London prevented the force from entering the town, so the raiding force set about attacking plantations across St. Paul’s Parish all the way to the Stono River. The Indians managed to retreat across the Edisto River and destroy the bridge before Craven’s militia forces arrived. Once again, Samuel Eveleigh (1715) describes the action, “…the Apalachee and other Southern Indians came down on New London, and destroy'd all the Plantations on the way, besides my Lady Blakes, Falls, Col. Evans and several others, have also burnt Mr. Boon's plantations and the ship he was building. The crops thank God are still pretty good; the Govr. At that instant had marched the Army to Santee [sic], however he returned back on the first notice upon his approach the Indians fled over Ponpon Bridge and burnt it having killed 4 or 5 white men. We have not since heard from them.” This incursion marked the last major engagement of the Yamassee War. In August, much needed military supplies arrived in Charleston from Virginia and New England. Also, the colonial assembly passed an act that funded a 1200 man militia and the construction of ten substantial forts across the frontier. By August, the Yamassee had also began their withdrawal south to Spanish territory around to St. Augustine. (75)

There seem to have been at least two forces working together that caused this war. The first being that the Indians saw, day after day and year after year, settlers encroaching on their land, eating their deer and wild turkey, leaving little food for others. A second reason for the war was the evil of slavery. Traders demanded the people gather slaves of their neighbors, to pay their bills. They simply got tired of this.

The Aftermath of those Wars

Changes were immediate and obvious. Look at a map 8 before the Tuscarora and Yamassee Wars and then look at map 11 after the wars. Most of the Catawban Indian towns in North Carolina, and all of the Tuscaroran towns, have vanished. The same was true along the Georgia coastline where the Yamassee villages have disappeared from the maps. Settlers flowed into and settled most of North Carolina, engulfing the few Indians that remained. A new colony of Georgia also sprang up. By 1740 the landscape had changed, and the old ways were gone forever.

Map 11. Distribution of the Catawban Bands After the Wars

From 'The Indians New World', by James H. Merrell, page 86, we have the map above. The historic time when the map was accurate is about 1720. You will notice several bands no longer exist, or have incorporated with others. This is an indication that they are banding together for strength, as their numbers have drastically fallen. I strongly suspect this is due to the Small Pox, and constant warfare driven by the slave trade. Where the Yamassee once lived the map now says “Settlement Indians'. From the Catawban peoples on the Catawba River to the Atlantic coast and the Waccamaws, are several small bands of Eastern Siouan peoples. Notice the Sewees, Santee, Cores and Yamassee and others have disappeared and the Tuscarora are much smaller. The Saponi are just west of the remnant of the Tuscarora. Clearly the Tuscarora and Yamassee Wars have taken a heavy toll on the local Indian populations. A vast area where the Tuscarora had once lived is now vacant of people, and thus is opened up for White settlement. The eastern Siouan’s have abandoned central and western Virginia, and this region as well, was opened up for White settlement. White settlers poured overland leaving the remaining Indians as small pockets surrounded by Whites. (76)

Hudson contrasts the South Carolina traders with the Virginia traders. “Unlike the Virginia traders, the Charleston traders conducted a lively business in Indian slaves. This becomes so prevalent that in contemporary documents the statement that the Indians had gone to war is virtually synonymous with saying they had gone to capture slaves . . . Sometimes the traders would force their own Indian slaves to go out and capture other Indians for slaves as a means of purchasing their own freedom.” Often the traders would sell rum (illegally) to the Indians, and get them into a debt that they could not repay. The traders would then say they would forgive the debt if they would go to war against a neighboring tribe to gain slaves of them. (77) The survivors fled to either the remaining Spanish Indians near Spanish towns or the Catawba. After this war, the Catawba and Associated Bands never again acted on their own behalf in the political realm on account of their being an independent Indian Nation. All their future actions were to be determined by the desires of the South Carolinians. By the 1730s, the South Carolinians were far more worried about a Negro slave insurrection than an Indian revolt. Another account mentions that until about 1717, the colony exported more slaves than it imported. There were just so few Indians left to enslave.

In 1735, John Thompson is called a trader with the Cheraw Indians on the East bank of the Pedee River. Hudson names 3 other 'later' traders with the Cheraw – Samuel Armstrong, Christopher Gadsden, and John Crawford. Hudson says Samuel Wyley was the most important trader to the Wateree about 1751. He later became an unofficial agent for the Catawba. Another interesting trader throughout the 1730's and 1740's was George Haig. Thomas Brown set up his trading business at the Congarees about 1730. He had a son named Thomas Brown who was half-Catawba. In 1748 Haig and Thomas Brown Jr were captured by the Iroquois. Despite the 1722 and 1744 treaties, the Iroquoian and Catawban peoples remained hostile to one another. Haig was killed and the young Brown was freed after being ransomed. A small pox epidemic in 1738 devastated the Catawba. Robert Steil also became a trader at the Congarees.

Please notice that Hudson has not mentioned the Northern Piedmont Catawba tribes in quite some time. They were all rounded up by Virginia's Governor Spotswood, and sent to Fort Christanna. Their numbers had been shrinking, and they needed to band together to help them survive. They collective become known as "Saponi".

In the 1740s the government still considered the Catawba a Nation, as opposed to the Settlement Indians. Per Hudson, these settlement Indians were for the most part, composed of Indian Nations that were quickly on the road to extinction, passing first by the way of assimilation. He says; “The settlement Indians consisted of Cheraws (Sara), Uchee's (Yuchi), Pedees, Notchees (Natchez), Cape Fear and others.” (78) Governor James Glenn stated in 1746 the Catawba had about 300 warriors. In 1743 Adair estimates the Catawba had about 400 fighting men. Adair also says the Catawba Nation consists of over 20 dialects, and he lists a few of them – Katabhaw, Wateree, Eeno, Chewah, Chowan, Cangaree, Nachee (Natchez), Yamassee, Coosah, etc. The "Coosah" are Creek, and the Chowan are Algonquin. The Yamassee spoke the same language as the lower Cherokee. The Natchez came from the Mississippi River. When it was written some of these "dialects" couldn't understand each other, that was DEFINITELY true. (79)

By 1760 the Catawba were a small nation completely surrounded by White frontiersmen. Another small pox epidemic in 1759 had killed half of them. In 1763 King Haggler had been killed. In his place was elected Colonel Ayers. Hudson suggests Ayers fell out of favor with the South Carolina government, and Samuel Wyley, acting on behalf of South Carolina Governor Bull, persuaded the Catawba to get rid of Ayers, and they elected King Frow to take his place in 1765. The names of a few of his headmen exist. They were Captain Thomson, John Chestnut, and Wateree Jenny. By the turn of the Century, the Catawba no longer mattered. They were few in number, surrounded by Scots-Irish settlers who barely realized there were any Indians living in their midst.

Map 12. Deer hide Map

Above we have another map from 'The Catawba Indians” by Brown. It is dated about 1725. At the southern end of the map is the city of Charleston. At the Northeastern end is Virginia. (80).

The War of Jenkins Ear 1739-1742

Oglethorpe founded the colony of Georgia in 1733 and this upset the Spanish in Florida who claimed that land for Spain.

The South Carolina Gazette, dated June 30-July6, 1739 said “On Saturday last . . . arrived at this town (Charleston, S. C.) eleven of the chief men among the Catawba and Cheraw Indians, who came to pay a tribute to his Honor, the Lieutenant Governor and inform him that some time since a party of their people went out to war . . .” This means while eleven Catawba men went to Charleston while others had “gone to war”. What war was being fought in of June/July of 1739? War with Spain was brewing at the time. It became known as “The War of Jenkins Ear”.

The new colony of Georgia was going to war with the Spanish colony of Florida (81). English privateers had been attacking Spanish shipping for some time. This led the Spanish to, in 1731, cut off Robert Jenkins ear. Mr. Jenkins spoke before Parliament about the incident, which enraged the English public about the cruelty of the Spanish. The Spanish in their turn were just as upset when England established a colony in Georgia next door to Spanish Florida. Spain considered that territory as theirs, as they had planted colonies there in the past. The article at the link above states "Throughout the 1730s, diplomatic attempts between England and Spain occurred in Europe and America, but they only served to increase the animosity that led to war in late 1739." This is telling us that the Cheraw and I suspect many of their Catawban allies participated in this war upon the Spanish Colony of Florida. A great small pox plague hit the people about the same time. It seems that the plague of small pox almost always come about during wartime.

To make a long story short, in 1740 Oglethorpe besieged Fort Augustine, but failed to take the town. In 1742, the Spanish besieged Savannah, but failed to take it, as well. In 1743, both Spain and England attempted the invade the colony of the other, but both offensives failed. In 1748 the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed between England and Spain. There was no change in borders, and the war in America was pretty much a stalemate.

There was a small Indian tribe in the vicinity of Savannah called the Yamacraw. Its chief was named Tomochichi. “About 1728 Tomochichi created his own tribe of the Yamacraws from an assortment of Creek, Yamasee, and Catawban Indians, likely descended from the “Settlement Indians” in the vicinity of Charlestown. After the Yamassee War, there were few Yamassee Indians left alive. Small groups of a few families here and there united together. This group came together just to the south of the Catawba lands. I suspect the same occurred on Catawba lands. A few Indians here and there united under the names of some of the surviving bands (82)

The author calls Tomochichi an “aging warrior” and one is left to assume he might have taken part in the Yamassee War twenty years earlier. Interestingly, Tomochichi asked John Wesley to teach his people about Christianity. After Oglethorpe returned to Georgia in February 1736, the chief received John Wesley, minister of Savannah, his brother Charles, and their friend Benjamin Ingham. The Wesley brothers talked a lot about evangelizing the “savages”. But when the opportunity arose for them to put their money where mouths were, they walked away from the opportunity. “Tomochichi reiterated his requests for Christian education for his tribe, but John Wesley rebuffed him with complex replies. Ingham, on the other hand, assisted in creating an Indian school at Irene, which opened in September 1736 much to the delight of the elderly chieftain.” He died October 5th, 1739. His tribe vanishes from history after his death. Being a United Methodist myself, I’m ashamed at the actions (or lack thereof) of the Wesley brothers.

We see at this time groups of American Indian people, of no particular tribe, banding together trying to form new tribes as their own has become virtually extinct.

By this time the various Eastern Siouan Bands are being known as part of the “Catawban Nation”. Many of the former bands are huttled together along the North Carolina border with South Carolina to the south of Charlotte, North Carolina. Another grouping of Indians was further east along the Pedee River, who came to be called “Pedee Indians,” and another further north are still being called Saponi Indians. But the old bands are pretty much gone after these wars. We hear a little about the Pedee, the Cheraw, and the Saponi further north, but the main group is the Catawba – the others vanish from the history books.

After these wars there just weren't enough Piedmont Indians left to benefit the wealthy Charles Town merchants anymore. From about 1720 trade in Indian slaves declined, and trade in African slaves grew. With Indian numbers declining, and the number of immigrants on previous Indians lands growing, the tables have turned. There were now far more settlers than Indians. There were also more African slaves than Indians. I'd like to be able to say that with more and more people, they could no longer enslave free Indians without more and more people realizing the inhumane brutality of the practice. But the treatment of African slaves makes that argument pretty lame. We have to conclude that the Indian population simply had died off. There was no one left here to enslave.

References:

57. Ditto

58. “People From One Fire”, by Richard Thornton, as it was found online -- https://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/people-of-one-fire.htm; late in 2016, Web, Georgia, digital rights (c) 2010-2013, by Access Genealogy.com.

61. “Catawba Nation, Treasures in History”; Thomas J. Blumer; Published by The History Press, Charleston, South Carolina, 29493

62. Ditto

63. Ditto

65. Ditto

66. Ditto

67. http://www.wcu.edu/library/DigitalCollections/CherokeePhoenix/Vol2/no02/pg2col1.htm; Cherokee Phoenix and Indians' Advocate; Wednesday, March 25, 1829; Vol. II, no. 2; Page 2, col. 1a

68. “Catawba Nation, Treasures in History”; Thomas J. Blumer; Published by The History Press, Charleston, South Carolina, 29493

69. Ditto

71. http://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgiarticle=1023&context=archmonth_post

Chester B. DePratter Ph.D.; South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology University of South Carolina The Yamasee War Jon Bernard Marcoux Noreen Stonor Drexel Cultural and Historic Preservation Program Salve Regina University

73. The Yamasee War: A Study of Culture, Economy, and Conflict in the Colonial South. (Indians of the Southeast.) Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press; William Ramsey; © 2008 University of Nebraska Press.

75. Ditto

78. Ditto

80. Ditto

81. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/war-jenkins-ear

82. Http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/tomochichi-ca-1644-1739

Maps:

Map 9. The First Tuscarora War; taken from The Catawba Nation, Treasures in History; Thomas J. Blumer

Map 10. The Second Tuscarora; taken from The Catawba Nation, Treasures in History; Thomas J. Blumer

Map 11. The Carolinas and Virginia in the 1720s, from “The Indian’s New world”; James H. Merrell

Map 12. Deer hide map, painted upon a deer skin by an Indian chief, and presented to Francis Nicholson Esqr. Governor of South Carolina, 1725; from “The Catawba Indians, the People of the River; Douglas Summers Brown.

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Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Catawba --Saponi -- Melungeon; Ch 5: The Tuscarora Wars, The Yamassee War, and the War of Jenkins Ear

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