A Partial History of the Eastern Siouans

A Partial History of the Eastern Siouan People

I am indebted to so many people who have helped me with this research project. The people at the www.saponitown.com/forum were very helpful. Without their help I would never have even started researching the Eastern Siouan Peoples. Despite their words, I always remained skeptical. I will always believe that to find the truth you HAVE TO BE skeptical of everything.  Dr. Thomas Blumer made me believe that I really might be part Catawba. Forest Hazel's research was of great help. Dr. Richard Allen Carlson's research proved the Melungeons were of Saponi ancestry. And there are so many others to whom I want to say thank you, too many to name. Even people I have argued with constantly, have been a great help. I thank you all.

Please know to look at the maps just click on them, and they will get larger.

Map 1.

The map above (map 1) was taken from page 7 of “The Juan Pardo Expeditions”, by Charles Hudson, University of Alabama Press, (c) 1990, originally published by the Smithsonian Institution Press.

Please notice the location of Chicora. On the previous page (6), Hudson says: . . . another colonial venture was set in potion in 1521 when two ships dropped anchor off the Atlantic coast of the Lower South. One of these ships was owned by Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, an official of Santo Domingo. The Spaniards went ashore, where they had a friendly encounter with the Indians, some of whom they persuaded to come out and visit their ships. But when the Indians canoed out and climbed aboard, the Spaniards promptly enslaved about sixty of them and sailed for Santo Domingo (Frances Lopez de Gomara, Historia general de los Indias, Madrid, 1932, vol. 1, pp. 89-90, translated in New American World: A Documentary History of North America to 1612, ed. David B. Quinn, New York, : Arno Press, 1979, vol. 1, p. 248.). One of the ships sank en route, and most of the Indians on the other ships died, but at least one of the Indians on the other ships survived, to be baptized Francisco de Chicora. (Peter Martyr, De Orbe Novo, ed. And trans. F. A. MacNutt (New York, 1912, vol. 2, pp. 254-271.).

Francisco later was taught Spanish, and returned to the Carolina coast with a future expedition to colonize the lands for the Spanish. Of course he escaped, went home, and there is no further mention of the Chicora. But we do have a band of Eastern Siouan called the Shakora. Are these the same as Chicora? Perhaps the Chicora fled the coast after the Spanish enslaved some of their warriors, feeling it was safer in the interior.

From viewing map 6, it appears they fled upstream 150 or 200 miles, where they are called Shakori by 1650. By 1700, per map 7, they are in relatively the same location still called Shakori. We will hear more about them later.

Map 2.

Above is a map from 'The Juan Pardo Expedition, Hudson, page 24. It shows the route taken by De Soto, earlier. East and North of the line from Hymahi to Cofitachequi to Xuala to Guasili, we have the Eastern Siouan peoples. To the west of Cofaqui in the south to Chiaha to the north, we have the Muscogeean speaking peoples. The Cherokees will enter later and conquer the northern parts of the Creek (Muscogeean) territory, from Chiaha to Coosa. The word 'Coosa' is of Creek origin – these communities either are not Cherokee, or non-Cherokees provided the names of these communities.

There are some interesting Eastern Siouan towns mentioned by both De Soto and Pardo. We have Xuala, the origin of the Saura, and Cofitachiqui, a town that awed the Spaniards. What the Spaniards called Xuala and later Joara on the map of the Juan Pardo expedition below, turns out to be one of the main bands of the Eastern Siouan tribes, and is later called Saura/Cheraw. The Guaquiri/Guateree later move nearer the Catawba and become known as Wateree.

Map 3.

Above map, from The Juan Pardo Expedition, Hudson, page 24. It shows the route of his expedition. The line from Juara to Olamico. The 'mico' ending indicates a Muscogeean (Creek) origin to the name. Joara of Pardo's (1566-1567) expedition is the equivalent of Xuala from De Soto's (1539-1540) day. The English called these people Saura, which later became Cheraw. Pardo only went as far as just beyond Juara. Moyano made the advance further to the northwest, to Olamico.

Map 7 shows the Cheraw's/Saura's on the Upper Dan about 1700. Unfortunately, they are not shown on map 6, dated about 1650. Map 8 shows some of the Indian movements Tuscarora War, It shows the Saura/Cheraw south and east of the main Catawba cities. They had left their cities on the Dan River in 1703.

Map 4.

Below is another map found in 'The Expeditions of Juan Pardo, Hudson'. Many towns listed are from the Spanish era, but the rivers were named later. The caption to the map below is self explanatory. The towns on the far western and far southern parts of the above map are Creek/Muscogeean in origin. Something to ponder – most of both the Siouan and Muscogeean towns the Spaniards listed had disappeared before English chroniclers rediscovered them. What had happened to them? Be thinking about that.

Guatari is also of interest. In Spanish, 'Gua' is pronounced as the English 'wa', and the Spanish 'i' is pronounced like the English long 'e'. So Guateri should be pronounced 'Wa-ta-ree'. Map 13 also shows the movements of the Guateree/Wateree from/to 1670 when they flee to live near the Catawba,where they remained until they vanished.

Also notice the towns of Yssa and Yssa the lesser. This is identical to Esaw, Issa, Iswa, Yesa, Yesah, and perhaps more spellings can be found. The Yssa and the Catawba are the same people. Esaws are shown on maps 7 and 9. Map 10 show the Esaw between the Catawba and Waxhaw. This map dates to about 1715, after the Tuscarora War, yet before the Yamassee War.

Notice Gueca. Almost straight south of Guateri. Is Gueca, with the 'c' having a mark under it. This would be pronounced sort of like an 's' sound. The Spanish 'e' is pronounced like the English long 'a' sound. Remember “Gu' is pronounced like a 'w'. So 'Guaca' would be pronounced something similar to 'Wa-sa'. Later in the same location we will find the Waxhaw Indian town. Likewise, Guiomae might be pronounced Wimae.

Many of these Bands of these Eastern Siouan Indians did not move for a hundred or more years, while others did. It appears as though those moving, were escaping some threat. The Northern bands as we shall see later, fled Eastwards to receive the protection from the English. Others fled to be nearer the main body of the Catawba for the same reason. At some point the Cherokee moved into some of the lands where the Spaniards had first discovered Creek Indians. This movement by the Cherokee was one reason the Saura fled eastward

Map 5.

Below is a map compiled from data dating to about 1650. It was taken from page 10, 'The Catawba Nation', by Charles Hudson. Notice the Wateree have moved further south. Notice to the South of the Wateree are the Congaree Indians. It was said of the Wateree and the Congaree, that they couldn't understand each other. I have thought about that. How could this be? But when we see that the Wateree were originally further north, and the Congaree were one of the furthest south of the Siouans, were they Siouan at all? Unfortunately, Hudson says of the Congaree and others in 'The Southeastern Indians; For some of these cultures, such as [Hudson names several cultures in the Southeast, including the Congaree of South Carolina] we know little more than their names. They were on the border between the Muscogeeans and Siouans. It is known that the Yuchi/Euchee had a language that seemed like a Siouan/Muscogeean hybrid. Perhaps so was the language of the Congeree. Maybe their language was more closely associated with the Muscogeean peoples, and for some reason politically, they chose to associate more closely with the Siouans. I like this map because it shows all the Eastern Sioans, from the Manahoac in the North to the Sewee in the South. This is one of the few maps I have seen that also contains the Northern Siouan Bands.

Map 6a.

Below is the John Oglesby/James Joseph Moxon map Commissioned by order of the Lords Proprietor of [South] Carolina in 1673. I don't know how well this will print out. It shows Monacan, and Mahook (also called Manahoak) in the North. To their south is Sapon Nahison, Akenatzy (Occoneechi), and Enock (Eno), and Sabor (?Shakori?). To the east of these cities and across a river are the Tuscarora. To the west near the mountains are the Saunae (?Shawnee?). West of the mountains are the Rickohockans, a mysterious people of unknown origin So we have several nations wedged together in a narrow space. In the south are Watery, Sara, Wisack (Waxhaw).

Map 6b.

Map 7.
The map below is compiled from information dating to about 1700 (map taken from The Indians New World, by James H. Merrell. It is captioned 'Carolina and Virginia. Colonial settlement distribution adapted by Herman R. Friis, A series of population maps of the Carolinas and the United States, 1625-1790, rev. ed., New York 1968. Drawn by Linda Merrell'). Notice most of the bands have not moved a great deal. Other that the Shakori having gone inland since Spanish times, and we see the Saponi have moved further south, most of the rest as in virtually the same place.

In “The Indians of North Carolina and their Relations with the Settlers” by James Hall Rand, the author names the sixteen Tuscarora cities before the Tuscarora War. On page 8, he says of the Tuscarora; They had the following sixteen important villages: Haruta, Waqni, Contahnah, Anna Oaka, Conaugh Kari, Herooka, Una Nauhan, Kentanuska, Chunaneets, Kenta, Eno, Naurheghne, Oonossura, Tosneoc, Nanawharitse, Nursurooka.” Were the Eno originally a band of the Tuscarora? They appear on the 1650 map in the same location as they are living in 1700. Where the Eno are concerned, Rand was wrong, they were a Siouan people, not Tuscaroran. But we see we must test what we read, and not simply accept what is written.

The Shakori lived in close proxemity to the Eno, Keeauwee, Occoneechi, and Saxapahaw, between 1650 and 1700. By 1715 they are called the 'Chickanee' and have moved westward closer to the Catawba. Map 13 shows this movement closer to the Catawba, and calls them 'Shoccoree'. They could be the 'Sutterie' of map14, about 1725. I haven't found them after that date. That means little, I haven't checked very hard. Note the Saras and Tutelo have changed places, and the Cherokee are where the Chiaha civilization was located in Spanish days, one or two hundred years earlier..

The Saxapahaw are also found with the Eno and Shakori on Map 7 (c. 1700), but they are not found on map 6 (abt. 1657). According to this map, they are living very close to the Tuscarora. According to map 8, Saxapahaw is a Tuscarora village passed through by Barnwell and his Eastern Siouan allies in the Tuscarora War of 1711. It was also passed through in the second Tuscarora War according to map 9. Were Saxapahaw and Eno actually Tuscarora towns? Map makers and historians and writers, well – make mistakes. You just have to work through these things, and maybe make mistakes, yourself. If (or more accurately 'when' ) I make mistakes, I hope others will correct me. That's life. Map 12 shows the former Tuscarora lands, and they are empty of inhabitants by 1725. Even the Eastern Siouan Bands that were nearby, are no longer living in the area. This opened the land up for White settlements. The Eno, the Saxapahaw, the Shakori, have all moved or vanished. In attampting to find the Saxapahaw, we find them on map 16, the deer skin drawing by an Indian chief dated about 1725. It has a small circle, smaller than the others, where the Saxapahaw are mentioned living with the Catawba. No map of a later time frame that I have found, mentions them after this date. I suspect these Saxapahaw might be the people mentioned by Carlson  as being at the headwaters of the Flatt River by 1732, which is very close to the location of several state recognized Saponi Bands, today.

The Keyauewee are on a map dated 1650 map near the Tuscarora. On the 1700 map (map 7) they have moved westwards and are near the Saponi, to the north of the Catawba. Map 12, dated about 1720, has the Keeauwee on the Pee Dee River with the Cheraw. As with the other Siouan bands from this region, they disappear after that date. The Saponi were near Salisbury, NC before moving to Fort Christanna, and returned there about 1729. But the settlers were now pouring into the area, and it wasn't the same upon their return.

Map 8. Tuscarora War

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

There is another 'Middle Band' of the Yesah Nation – the Saura. The Spaniards found them living in Western North Carolina, and called them the Xualla (De Soto), or Joara (Pardo). Map 7 has the Saura on the upper Dan River by 1700. They were said to have left the Upper Dan in 1703. By the time of the Tuscarora Wars of 1711-1713, they are on the Pee Dee River (map 8) South and East of the main Catawba towns, and they took part in the first, but not the second Tuscarora War (map 9). Map 12 still has the Cheraw on the Pee Dee River in 1720. Many researchers say that the modern Lumbee Indians are actually the last remnants of the Old Cheraw. Map 14 shows the actual locations of Upper and Lower Saura Towns on the Dan River before they were abandoned about 1703. About this time frame many Eastern Siouan cities in the western parts of Carolina and northern Virginia were abandoned as they removed themselves eastwards and southwards. Why the decline? We will try to answer this question, later.

On the deer skin map (map 15) dated 1725 the Charra are one the bands living near the Catawba. On the 1756 map (map 17) there it is, Charrow Town next to the Catawba. There is no Charrow Town on map 16, dated about 1750. They seem to have maintained an existence longer than many other bands. As I said, many speculate that the Lumbee Indians are their descendants.

Map 9. Between the Tuscarora and Yamassee Wars

The above map shows the locations of the Southern Bands of the Carolina Siouans about the year 1715. This would be just after the massacre of the Tuscarora and Coree Indians, yet just before the Yamassee War, a war during which many Siouan bands would disappear, or or be so reduced in number they would be soon forgotten. It is taken from page 186 of 'The Juan Pardo Expedition', Charles Hudson.

Map 10

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

Map 11.

The map below is also about the same timeframe, about 1715. Notice the Cherokees are near where the Coosa Indians (Creek) had been 100 years earlier, according to Spanish records. The lands of the Siouans are shrinking and they aren't realizing it, it seems. It was taken from 'The Catawba Indians, The People of the River', by Douglas Summers Brown, between pages 32 and 33.

Map 12.
From 'The Indians New World', by James H. Merrell, page 86, we have the map below. The historic time when the map was accurate is about 1720. Where the Yamassee once were are now 'the Settlement Indians'. From the Catawba 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 been is now vacant of people, and thus is opened up for White settlement. Most of the eastern Siouans had abandoned central and western Virginia, and this region as well, was opened up for White settlement.

Map 13.

Below is a map showinig movements of most of the Eastern Siouan groups between the times of De Soto and Pardo Pardo to the middle of the 18^th century, when many groups disappear from most historical records. It is taken from 'Catawba and Neighboring Groups', by Blair A. Rudes, Thomas J. Blumer, and J. Alan May, p. 302. This map does not show the movements of the Northern branch of these Eastern Siouan groups.

These groups were moving i.] towards the Catawba; or ii.] to be nearer Charleston. Both moves appear to be for safety. They were afraid of something in the interior. Was it just enemy Indians, or was it something more sinister? Then during the Yamassee many turned on the English near Charleston. Why? They were already very weak before the Yamassee war. After the war they were broken, and were more like a few refugee families scattered near their former homes. They would linger for a few decades as separate bands, but after a time they would have to assimilate, and lose their separate identites, to a large degree. Only the Catawba would remain un-assimilated, but their numbers too, would continue to decline.

Map 14.
Below we have another map from 'The Catawba Indians' by Brown. It is dated about 1725. It too, is between pages 32 and 33. The map isn't geographically accurate. At the southern end of the map is the city of Charleston. At the Northeastern end is Virginia. The northwestern end has the Cherokee, and beyond them the Chickasaw. Thee is a direct route from both Virginia and Charleston, South carolina to Nasaw, which is cited as being the Catawba. They are at the center of the map, so perhaps the map was made by a Catawba.

Between the Catawba and Virginia is only one settlement – Saxapaha. It is dated 1725 and seems be the same location as the Indians said to be on Flatt River, in 1732. See my previous blog entry. The Succa are between the Saxapaha and the Catawba. They have to be the Sugaree. The Suteree are far closer to the Catawba, due east of them. They must be the Shackori. To the south and much closer to Charleston is Charra. To their north is Youchine. What is that? Without the 'n' this becomes 'Youchie' – was there a small Yuchi/Euchee settlement there? Wiapie is next closest to the Catawba. Is this Wiamea?

There are four more communities to the South and west of the Catawba. There is the easily recognized Wateree. Then we have the Wasnisa, Casuie, and Nustie. Notice the 'Nisa' ending for Wasnisa. It is similar to Nasaw. Is this the Waxhaw? The others, I can't figure out. Maybe Congeree or Saponi? We know a band of the Saponi would move North of the Catawba near Salisbury in 1729. They were said to have been called Nasaw at times, too. Without further knowledge, I might never figure them out.

Map 15.
The map below I had earlier missed. There are several maps between pages 32 and 33 in  "The Catawba Indians" by Douglass Summers Brown. This is one that I had earlier missed, so I am adding it now, two weeks after I put up this blog post. This map, dated 1733, does show the locations of several bands at this time. It has the Keawee just to the north of the Saraw, who are on the north side of the Pedee River. Downstream from them are the Pedee. The Congaree are still on the map. To their north, in succession, are to the north the Watarees, to their east the Sugaus, to their northwest the Waxaus, then following northwards, the Sataree, and Catapaw. So we see more Catawba communities than we previously had seen, and henc his map needs to be included. Also notice there are still some Yamassee around, in the southeastern portion of the map. Please note the shrinking land base of these Indians.

Map. 16.

The map below is from 'The Catawba Indians', by Brown, between pages 32-33. It shows several Eastern Siouan communities and is dated to 1750.

Starting in the north, we have 'Cuttaboes, or Nasaue Towne' and it says 'The gate to Virginia Road'. Upstream is 'Sugar Towne', meaning the Sugaree. Just below is 'Wateree Towne'. Just beneath these are 'Wateree, Chicasaw, Sugar Ditto, and Waxahaw Towne'. There are a couple of places that look abandoned, Old Wateree Town and something that looks like a fort at the mouth of Congeree Creek.

Map 17.

In the year 1756, the following map represents the Catawba Indians. The map is from 'The Indians of the New World', by James H. Merrell, page 163.

We have Nasaw and Weyapee close together. To the south is Noostie Town. To the east we have three more towns. From north to south, they are Charrow Town, Weyane Town or ye King's Town., and Sucah Town. We have Nustie and Weyapee from the Deer skin map in the 1725. We are missing Wateree and Waxhaw towns from the 1750 map, but they are replaced by Weyane. So in only 6 years the map has changed drastically. Also the Chickasaw in their communities have gone, probably back home to Alabama and Mississippi.

All these things are background material to help understand the Saponi to their north, and what became of them. It is my hope that understanding all this background material will help us understand them, as well, and the Melungeon communities that they spawned.

Why the Decline?

I have wondered why various bands moved around so much. Why did their numbers decline so rapidly? After sme study, I think I have found four reasons -- War, slavery, disease, and assimilation. And the English settlers brought about all these things.

Wars of Conquest

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manahoac

The Manahoac, also recorded as Mahock, were a small group of Siouan-language American Indians in northern Virginia at the time of European contact.

The Manahoac, also recorded as Mahock, were a small group of Siouan-language American Indians in northern Virginia at the time of European contact. They numbered approximately 1,000 and lived primarily along the Rappahannock River west of modern Fredericksburg and the fall line, and east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. They united with the Monacan, the Occaneechi, the Saponi and the Tutelo. They disappeared from the historical record after 1728.[1]By the 1669 census, because of raids by enemy Iroquois tribes from the north and probably infectious disease from European contact, the Manahoac were reduced to only fifty bowmen in their former area. Their surviving people apparently joined their Monacan allies to the south immediately afterward. John Lederer recorded the "Mahock" along the James River in 1670. In 1671 Lederer passed directly through their former territory and made no mention of any inhabitants. Around the same time, the Seneca nation of the Iroquois began to claim the land as their hunting grounds by right of conquest, though they did not occupy it. [2][3][4]

1. Johnson, M.; Hook, R. (1992), The Native Tribes of North America, Compendium Publishing, ISBN 1-872004-03-2, OCLC 29182373 
   
2. Swanton, John R. (1952), The Indian Tribes of North America, Smithsonian Institution, pp. 61–62, ISBN 0-8063-1730-2, OCLC 52230544 
   
3. Egloff, Keith; Woodward, Deborah (2006), First People: The Early Indians of Virginia, University of Virginia Press, p. 59, ISBN 978-0-8139-2548-6, OCLC 63807988 
   
4. Fairfax Harrison, 1924, Landmarks of Old Prince William, p. 25, 33.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xualae

The Xualae were a Native American people who lived along the banks of the Great Kanawha River in what is today West Virginia, and in the westernmost counties of Virginia. The Cherokee, expanding from the south, seized these regions from them during the years 1671 to 1685.[1]

Luther Addison, 1988, The Story of Wise County, p. 6.

Eckert, Allan W., That Dark and Bloody River. (New York: Bantam Books, 1995) p. Xviii

So it appears the Six Nations forced the Eastern Siouans to abandon their lands in Northern Virginia, and the Cherokee forced the Xualla (also called Joara) to abandon their lands in Western Carolina. In fact the 'Qualla” boundary, the place where the Eastern Cherokee live today, was taken from the name “Xualla”, the people who inhabited those lands before the arrival of the Cherokee.

But there is another reason for the decline in numbers of the Eastern Siouan peoples – Slavery.

The Slave Trade

Here are a few excerpts about capturing Indian slaves from “The Indian Slave Trade” by Alan Gallay. Every serious researcher of the indians in the American Southeast should read this book. I should also warn you that it might make you cry. One reason there was so much warfare is that slave traders demanded this trade in slaves as a means for the Indians to pay off their debts. In a tyial slave raid, the men would be killed, and the women and children taken to the traders, who in turn sold these women and children on the slave markets of Charleston.

p. 60. The proprietors rhetorically asked governor Joseph Morton (September 1682-August 1684; October 1685-November 1686) why the colony had no wars with Indians when it was first founded and weak and then had warred with the Westo “while they were in treaty with that government . . . The proprietors astutely recognized the Carolinians turned them [the Westo] into enslaving Indians.” Reprehensibly then, the colony began a war with the Waniah, a group of Indians who lived along the Winyah River, “under pretense they had cut off a boat of runaways.” The Savannah [Shawnee] then captured [the] Waniah and sold them to an Indian trader who shipped them to Antigua. . . . [The proprietors] learned that the Savanah were at first not going to sell the Waniah but had been intimidated by slave traders into doing so.

p. 61. The proprietors also received word that the surviving Westo had wanted peace with Carolina . . . but the messengers were sent away to be sold. The same fate befell the messengers of the Waniah. Sarcastically the proprietors rued, “but if there be peace with the Westohs and Waniahs, where shall the Savanahs get Indians to sell the Dealers in Indians”? The proprietors were sure that the cause of both the Westo and Waniah wars, and the reason for their continuance, lay in the colonists desire to sell Indians into slavery. . . .

Even some of the Indian dealers wrote privately to the proprietor of the greed that had led to the enslavement of friendly Indians. . . . You have repaid their kindness by setting them to do all these horid wicked things to get slaves to sell to the dealers in Indians and then call it humanity to buy them and thereby keep them from being murdered. The proprietors questioned the morality of attacking all the Waneah for the crimes of a few . . .

p. 62. In 1680, they [the proprietors] limited enslavemet of Native Americans to those who lived more than 200 miles from Carolina, though they left the door open to abuse by stipulating this applied only to Indians in league or friendly to the colony. This law might explain why the Saura moved from the Dan River to the Pedee. It would have been harder for the slave raiding Shawnee and Seneca to get to them. And being nearer Charleston, they were within he 200 mile range spoken of in this law.

p. 210-211. The Catawba was a name the English used to describe many of the Piedmont Indian groups of both North and South Carolina (20).. . . .The Catawba, under Carolinian beckoning, official or otherwise, had prayed on the Savannah (Shawnee) . . . The Savannah, probably in revenge, then attacked some of the Northward Indians, a designation the colony used to describe the Catawba and other Indians of the Piedmont.. They also carried away several of our Indian slaves away with them (21) (about 1703). Bull appeared in October 1707 and reported that he had learned from the Shutteree, a Piedmont group, that 130 Indians calling themselves Savannah and Senatuees (Santees?) [Vance's note: The author is wrong – has to be Seneca's. The Santees were allied to the Piedmont Indians whereas the Seneca were their enemies] fell on them. . . . The force carried away 45 women and children, but mostly children. A Cheraw Indian (from a group then in the Piedmont) informed Bull that the attackers traded with the white men at their own homes and that they lived but 30 days journey from us. Apparently, if this report was correct, the Savannah were selling their captives in Virginia, Maryland, or Pennsylvania. . . . (26) as for the Savannah, not all of them would leave the colony. About a third of the population remained I their settlements along the Savannah River. (27-28) Those who left would continue their attacks on the Piedmont Peoples.

p 239. One of the evils he noted in this and other letters concerned the enslavement of peaceful Indians, which threatened the harmony of the province. One can almost hear him sigh with resignation when he recorded: “I hear that our confederate Indians are now sent to war by our traders to get slaves.” (55)

p. 242-3. The commission of the Indian trade met first on September 20, 1710 in Charles Town. . . . The commission undertook a flurry of business, mostly hearing complaints against traders for illegal enslavement of free Indians . . . The establishment of the commission opened a floodgate of grievances against the traders for crimes against the traders for crimes ranging from assault and battery to kidnapping, rape and the enslavement of free people.

Heard enough yet? Well I have. Now to the statistics Gallay brings out. He goes on to say after the Yamasee war, Indian slavery gradually died out by 1720. I suspect the reason is that there just were no more easily obtained Indians to enslave. At one point in the book the traders boast that there are no more Indians in Florida, as they have all been taken as slaves. When Gallay speaks of Piedmont or low country Indians, he is talking of the Eastern Siouan peoples, the Catawba and members of the Catawba Confederation. He continues;

p. 298-299. There is no telling how many Piedmont and low country Indians . . . were enslaved . . . and there is evidence all members of these groups were enslaved, but there are no numbers . . . The Lord Propritors frequently complained of illegal enslavement . . . all told, 30,000 to 50,000 is the likely range of Amerindians captured directly by the British, or by Native Americans for sale to the British., and enslaved before 1715.

Gallay says the numbers enslaved ranged from a low range of 24,000 to 32,000, to a high range of 51,000. He also ads that excluding the Creek, Cherokee, Savannah, and Piedmont Indians, 25,000 to 40,000 were enslaved. Doing the math, knowing there were few Creek and Cherokee enslaved, we have a low range of between 5,000-7,000, to an upper range of 10,000-11,000 of these Piedmont Indians were enslaved, from the period of 1670-1715. Various Indian tribes went to war to capture enemy Indians, and sell them to the English, who in turn exported them to the Caribbean, exchanging them for African slaves. American Indians would just run away the first chance they got, living off the land until they arrived back home. But the Africans were afraid to run away, not knowing the landscape very well, and being afraid of the American Indians they might run across.

He continues on page 299, to say “What is surprising about these figures is that Carolina exported more slaves than it imported before 1715.”

Disease

p 90. The Catawba Indians, by Douglas Sommers Brown; The Congarees were a “comely sort of Indian”, who had already been much reduced in numbers by small-pox. Date is about 1718.

p 154 The Catawbas however, were greatly dissatisfied with the Charles Town traffic, (May 1718),. . . but most of all, the Catawbas were tired of serving as burdeners, the cause of their losing so many men” Brown says, quoting Wiggan, “the burdeners were quickly sent back to the Nation because of their getting the small pox in our settlements.”

p 180; The Catawba Nation had interittenly been attacked by an enemy even more formidable than either the white settlers or their northern enemies. The other assailant was small pox. Brown goes on to say it had appeared as early as 1697.Lawson says the disease had been among the Catawba shortly before his visit. In 1738 spallpox spread throughout Catawba country, according to Adair.

p. 181. The South Carolina Gazette in 1759 reported that it is pretty ecrtain that the small pox has lately raged with great violenceamong the Catawba Indians,, and that it has carried off near one half of that nation. . . The Warriors returned from Fort Duquense had brought small pox back with them.

Per Brown (same page) Maurice Moore wrote, “Their numbers were reduced to less than one half . . . by the small pox. The tradition that I heard in my boyhood was that it was introduced through the avarice of some of the White men. There is a citation and a note saying “It is not inconcieveable that such an atrocity was perpetrated. When Jeffrey Amherst, England's commander in chief in North America, heard of the outbreak of Pontiac's War, he instructed Col. Henry Bouquet, saying, I wish to hear of no prisoners . . . could it not be contrived to send the small pox among these disaffected tribes of Indians?” (see Van Every, “Forth to the Wilderness”, p. 10).

Assimilation

There is only one band of the Eastern Siouan tribes that is federally recognized – the Catawba. Some Tutelo descendants are part of the Six Nations. It is known that some federally recognized tribes adopted known Catawba (Creek, Cherokee and Choctaw). The Lumbee have been fighting for recognition for 150 years, longer than probably any other tribe. There are several state recognized bands – Occoneechi Band of the Saponi, the Sapony, Haliwa, Monacan, Waccamaw. The Melungeons can prove a Saponi heritage, but to my knowledge, have never considered trying for federal recognition. But for the most part, the federal government has decided that these descendants have already been totally assimilated into American Culture, have a minimal amount of American Indian blood and DNA, and therefore do not deserve the right to be considered American Indian, with the status that goes along with it.

Conclusion

The Eastern Siouans, at the time of first contact with Europeans, were a strong people, from West Virginia in the north, through the Southern Appalachians, Virginia and the Carolinas to the Atlantic coast of South Carolina. Through periodic small pox epidemics, constant warfare, the slave trade and finally assimilation through cultural contact and intermarriage, the culture has virtually died. Were it not for the English settlers, none of these things would have happened. Granted, they were perpetually at war with their neighbors, but it was not a war to extinction. The English traders demanded war, and they demanded the capture of slaves to settle their debts to the traders. This caused both the Tuscarora and the Yamassee Wars, that spelled the end of several Eastern Siouan Bands. Only a few Indians remained, scattered wherever they could live.

These things are a prerequisite to understanding mixed race peoples, such as the Melungeons, or others similar to them.