The Indian Slave Trade. Part 2
There is an implication that
the Westo might have been of Iroquan stock. (1) Gallay states, “The
Iroquois . . . frequently travelled South, and the assembly believed
that they were allied with the remaining Westo.” It is
interesting that the Yamassee were also thought to be Iroquoan. (2)
Anderson and Lewis say, “Yamassee speak the same language as the
Lower Cherokee, but they picked up a different language when driven
out of the Caarolinas.” The
Tuscarora were also of the same family, the Iroquian.
The above
is interesting because you don't just 'pick up another language' that
easily. What if their language was always a Siouan language, from the
Carolinas? He also speaks of the Savannah selling captired Cherokee
as slaves on the markets of Charleston.
Gallay
states that carolina began to use Indians to catch runaway slaves.
“Escaped slaves who lived outside government authorities,
known as maroons, had the potential to incite free Indians and
enslaved Indians and Africans to destroy the colony.”
One
more item on this page is of interest. Indians who lived near the
English settlers were called “Settlement Indians”. These Indians
were to provide wildlife for the settlers. (3) Punishment for those
who refused to labor for the colony was a severe whipping, and
“nations” who refused compliance were to be placed
“outside the protection of the government, which invariably meant
they would be subject to enslavement.”
Now
most tribes were in actuality a confederation of many nations, with a
similar language and ethnc origin. These various ethnicities would
often (not always) go to war together, and unite at times of trouble.
But theywould also on occasion, maybe go to war with one another. But
for the most part, they allied themselves together. Gallay touches on
this a little. (4). “The equation of ethnicity with
nationhood is a modern construct used by people to lay claim to land.
The deprivation of land by the later United States government forced
Indians to give greater weight to a tribal identity than that
identity otherwise deserved. Those who could not show specific
identity in a tribal group were denied land and status as Indians.”
Gallay
adds (5) that thousands of Indians had been “killed,
enlaved or displaced” from the
Carolina's to the Mississippi in the American Southeastern states, by
about the year of 1700.
The
Golden Age of the American Indian Slave Trade
I
hate calling this a “Golden Age”, but it is accurate. This also
resulted in the end of the slave trade. Not because people decided it
just wasn't moral, but rather because they ran out of Indians to
enslave. It als resulted in the Indians feeling disperate, resulting
in both the Tuscarora and Yamassee Wars of @ 1711-1717.
Per
Gallay (6.), In the first decade of the 18th
century, slavers stepped up their attacks by organizing
both large armies and small raiding parties that scoured the
countryside in search of prey. Thomas
Nairne participated in at least one of these raids, and left a record
of it. He went with thirty three Yammassee Indians to Florida“to
go a slave catching.” At a
place south of Orlando, they captured some Indian slaves, were
attacked by a large body of poorly armed Indians, repulsed the
attack. (7) They speak of most of the Indians they attacked were
allies of the French or Spanish, but adds “Not all of the
Indians enslaved were allied with either the french or the Spanish.”
That leaves only the allies of
the English themselves. They enslaved some of their own allies as
well. Indian slaves were sold in the West Indes.
Both the
Chickasaw and the Yamassee had been used for years as their slave
catchers. For years, the traders had abused their Indian allies,
especially the Tuscarora and Yamassee. However as the Savanna and the
Westo had once been the lsave traders to the English and had become
expendable, the same was becoming true with the Yammassee.
Another
well known slave trader was James Moore, Governor of South Carolina
from eptember 1700 until March 1703. (7) Per Gallay, Moore was “one
of the colony's largest slave traders. He proposeda conquest of
Spanish Florida, largely because he wanted to enslave the Indian
population of Florida. Moore invaded Florida, and laid siege to St.
Augustine, his troops ariving in September 1702. Spanish
reinforcements from Havana arrived, forcing the English to back off.
Many Carolinians signed a petition to the effect that Moore was so
obsessed with enslaving Florida's Indians, that he scared off local
Indians from any desire to trade furs and other items to the
Carolinians. Gallay states (8) “Moore granted commissions to whites
to capture Indians for the slave trade . . . noone promoted and
pursued the capture and sale of Indians more that Moore. . . . He
embarked on a campaign to enslave thousands more . . .
The
Wars Against the Appalachee, and Other Florida Indians 1702-1706
The
next tribe to be destroyed and enslaved was the Apalachee. (9) After
Moore's term as governor was over, he was still allowed to gather the
colony's “friendly Indians” to accompany him on a mission to
again enter Florida for plunder.. The governor refused to fund his
campaign, saying that the plunder they took was to be their payment.
Of course most of their plunder was in the form of Indian slaves.
Moore's troops fell on the Appalachee of Northwestern Florida,
raiding the missions the Spanish had set up for them in January of
1704. Many of the Appalachee ere enslaved, and others forced to
resettle on the Savannah River, near their captors, the Yammassee. So
Moore's reputation was recouped. (10) It is difficult to know just
how many were enslaved in this War. It appears to be between one and
four thousand. In September 1704 a second raid of the Apalachee by
the Creek Indians resulted in a further lessening of their numbers.
Two thousand were said to have to been forced into exile, presumably
deeper into the swamps of Florida. Reports smply say an undetermined
number were enslaved. The English had armed the Creeks that attacked
the Appalachee, however the Spanish had refused to arm their
Apalachee allies, resulting in their completely distruction, and ruin
as a people.
'(11) It
was said about 2,000 Apalachee were forced into exile, however a
census in 1708 of the Apalachee living on the Savannah River listed
only 638. Per Gallay, the remainder were most likely sold into
slavery. But remember the second expedition, the Lower Creek
expedition, against the Apalachee. Gallay suspects there might have
been as many as 4,000 Appalachee taken in both expeditions. He also
says Gallay points out there were additional expeditions into
Northern Florida against the Appalachee and others, in 1705 and 1706.
In 1705, the Timucuan Missions in Florida were wiped out by the
Carolinians and their Indian allies. This opened the way for the
Carolinians and their Indian allies to destroy the Calusa, near Tampa
Bay, and there are records of raids as far south as the Florida Keys.
Spanish Florida was reduced to the areas around St. Augustine and
Pensacola.
Both the
French and Spanish became alarmed at the agression of the
Carolinians, and in late August, 1706 a combined french and Spanish
expedition came against the Carolinians. While they awaited the
arrival of a french warship 'La Brilliante', the Carolinians attacked
them, with several killed and others captured. The remainder fled. A
few days after this, the French reinforcements arrived. They were
several days late because they mistakenly landed north of Carleston.
On their second attempt they landed south of Charleston. The English
defeated them as well. At the end of this battle, the English had
captured 320 Franco-Spanish prisoners. These were taken to Virginia
and transported back to England. There were about 100 Americans also
captured. They were kept, and sold as slaves.
From the
years 1702-1706, the American Southeast had changed for ever. Most
of Florida's Indian population was either dead or enslaved. Although
there were still American Indians in Florida, their power was never
again a bother to anyone. A combined French and Spanish had attempted
to conquer Carolina, but had failed miserably. The French retreated
to Louisiana, and there were really only two Spanish strongholds left
in Florida, St. Augustine and Pensacola.
A
Little About The Catawba and Associated Bands
The only
reason I am conducting this research is because of the Eastern Souan
Peoples, the Catawba and Associated bands. First, the Catawba are
allied, in most occasions, with several other bands.
In 1708 the
colony of South Carolina took a census of Whites, Negroes, and
enslaved Indians. The result was 9, 580. The colony said
thepopulation was evenly divided between Whites and Blacks, who made
up 42.5% of the population ecah. Enslaved American Indians made up
the remaininf 15%. That adds up to 1,437. Most Indian slaves it was
said, were shipped to the West Indes. There would have been about
4,100 Whites and the same number of Blacks. This census does not
include FREE Indians. As a result of two more wars, the number of
FREE Indians was to decline rgeatly, and more Elglish were constantly
arriving.
In
the same report in 1708 that includes the 1708 census, we have the
following; (13) “The report explained the growth of the
colony's Indian slave population as a result of 'our late late
conquest over the French and Spaniards and the success of ou forces
over the Appalaskye and othr Indian engagements.' But it noted as a
mattr of course the colony's export of Indian slaves, as part of its
ordinary trade.” Gallay
continued, “We have also commerce with Boston, Rhode
Island, Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia, to which places we
export Indian slaves.”
Several
Indian communities are mentioned as upon the Savannah River; the
Yamassee, Apalachee, Apalachicola, Shawnee, and others. These are
simply remnants of once greater nations.
Throughout
Gallay's accounts, he mentions others Indians engaged in the slave
trade, particularly the Chickasaw. However since my interest is
primarily on the effects of slave trading on the Indians of the
Carolinas, I have omitted these accounts from my report.
A census
from 1715 by Barnwell (14) gives an interesting picture of the total
numbers of Piedmont Indians, whom I usually refer to as “Catawba
and Assocuated Bands.”
Catawba –
1470 in 7 villages
Saraw –
510 in 1 village
Waccamaw – 610 in 4 villages
Cape Fear – 206 in 5
villages
Santee – 103 in 2 villages
Congaree – 22 (women and
children not included, total maybe 60?), in 1 village
Wereaw, 106 in 1 village
Sewee, – 57 in 1 village
Itwan – 240 in 1 village
Corsaboy – 295 in 5 villages
The last two are what they
called “Settlement Indians”. However they were probably Eastern
Siouan, as that was part of their homeland. Notice in 1708 they had
over 1,400 settlement Indians. Many of these numbers at best, are
approxomations. Perhaps these are the numbers added, but some were on
hunting parties, or simply not available to be counted. Some are not
mentioned at all, the Eno, the Saxapahaw, and others. Maybe they
didn't want the English to know their exact numbers. Also there is no
mention of the Saponi and associated bands who lived in southeastern
Virginia at the time. The numbers of the eastern Siouans listed above
adds up to 3,657. If you add those in Virginia and those not
mentioned at all, the total is only about 4,500 perhaps or 5,000
tops, and that's stretching it a bit. When I speak of the “Catawba
and Associated Bands”, these ar ethe people to whom I am referring.
Gallay confirms some of the Piedmont Indians could have been
miscounted. He states (15) ; “The Piedmont and Low country
Indians had a distinct talent for “lying low” and avoided contact
with Europeans when it suited them. Lying low was a strategy
practiced by the Indians for the next 150 years., and it played a
role in their survival . . . Europeans rarely knew where these
Indians were.”
Many of the Savannah (Shawnee)
Indians from the Savannah River went north to life in Pennsylvania.
Now the author Gallay never mentions a band of the Chickasaw, who
were the buggest of the Indian slave traders, that moved to be closer
to the the slave buyers, on the Savannah River.
Gallay mentions a war between
the Catawba and Associated Bands and the Savannah, whose modern
counterpatrts are the Shawnee. He tells of the Governor of
Pennsylvania speaking to some of the Shawnee who migrated up north,
leaving the Savannah River behind them. Per Gallay, one of the
Shawnee told the governor (16), “450 Catawba had beseiged them.
The Catawba was the name the English used to describe many of the
Piedmont Indian groups of both South and North Carolina. A trader who
acted as interpreter added that the Savannah had killed some
Christians, which lead the Carolina government which set the catawba
upon them under the leadership of 'some Christians.” Continuing,
“The Catawba, under Carolina beconing, had preyed on the Savannah
[Shawnee], as its colony had [previously] done to its erstwhile ally,
the Westo. . . the Savannah, probably in revenge, then attacked . . .
the Catawba, and other Indians of the Piedmont, and they also carried
many of our Indian slaves away with them.”
So
the Carolinians are finally in a position to go on the offensive
against their Indian neighbors. They had fought off the french and
Spanish, and won. They had wiped out the most powerful Indian allies
of the Spanish. They had enslaved many Indians, and several tribes
had dissapeared – the Westo, the Apalachee, and the Shawnee had
fled northwards. The Florida Indians were no more a threat. The only
threats remaining were the Tuscarora, the Catawba and Piedmont
Indians, and the Yamassee and assorted groups of remnant tribes along
the Savannah River. Further inland were the Creek in Georgia and the
Cherokee to the north of the Creek.
Since
this is about the Catawba and Associated Bands, I'll quote Gallay.
(17) “With so many high government officials involved in
the Indian trade and illegal activities, and with carolina officials
history of arresting opponents, under dubious, false and sometimes
illegal pretenses (which continued through the next decade), . . .
traders had every reason to demand protection. Bull [A trader]
appeared in September of 1707 and reported that he had learned from
the Shuteree, a Piedmont group, that 130 Indians, calling themselves
Savannas, and Sen'atuees
[Vance's note:Gallay suggests these to be Santees, but I suspect he
is referring to Seneca].”fell on them.”
Per Gallay, “Their bows and arrows on their backs were
pointed with brass and iron.” Although
the Savannah and Seneca were usually enemies of one another, they
both had also been enemies of the Catawba, for generations. “The
foprce caried away fourty-five, women and children, but mostly
children. A Cheraw Indian . . . informed Bull [the trader] that the
attackers traded with the White men at their own homes and that they
lived but thirty days journey from us.” So
a thirty days journey, per Gallay, puts these White men in Virginia,
maryland or Pennsylvania.
Gallay
continues to say that for the first time, 50 flintock guns were sent
to the Piedmont Indians. But what value can you place on a mere 50 of
such weapons? He says these Indians continued to make raids on the
Piedmot Indians. It appears raids started about 1707, but it is hard
to say. After all the other neighboring Indians had been anihillated,
they are finally thinking about getting rid of the tribes closest to
them. About this times the Northern Piedmont tribes, the Saponi,
Monacan, Tutelo and others, come fleeing out of the words to the
Virginia coastline, asking for refuge. They are moved to Fort
Christanna, where they become referred to as simply “Saponi”.
This helps clear the regions of Western Virginia as suitable fr White
settlement, but there are still the Piedmont Indians of the
Carolinas, the Tuscarora of Eastern North Carolina, and the Yammasse
Indians and remnants of once more powerful nations living along the
Savannah River, as obsticals to White Settlement in the Carolinas.
Gallay says about a third of the Savannah remained on the Savannah
River, but adds, those who left [the Shawnee who fled to
Pennsylvania] “Those who left would continue their
attacks on the Piedmont peoples.”
Throughout this entire time,
the Indians were also raviged by small pox, and traders or settlers
occasionally simply took Indians illegally as slaves. Indians were
constantly complaining to government officials about traders cheating
them, or lying to them, and nothing was done to protect them.
Even in this era, Indians were
still being sent out to gather other Indians as slaves, by the
traders. Gallay comments on this, saying (18), “. . .the evils
he noted he noted in this and other letters concerning the
enslavement of peaceful Indians . . . threatened the harmony of the
province . . . I hear that our confederate Indians”are now sent to
war by our by our traders to get slaves.” This
basically means the Indians owed so much money to the traders, that
the traders told them if they gathered other slaves, their debts
would be lowered. So Indians were sent to gather other Indian slaves,
pitting village against village. I suspect most of the time, they
went against enemy tribes, ut still, you know ALL American Indians
must have lived in fear of being either killed or captured for their
value as slaves.
The next
few years saw abuse after abuse of the American Indians, a gore of
slave catching pitting tribe abainist tribe, until finally one tribe,
the Tuscarora simply broke, and refused to continue. This resulted in
the Tuscarora War.
The
Tuscarora and Yammassee Wars 1711-1717
South Carolinians simply went
wild in their attempts to make money catching and making slaves of
Indian. Some Carolinians tried to make reforms in the government, but
othrs sabatauged those attempts. Per Gallay (19) , “Those who
fell victm to the slavers were usually shipped to distant colonies.
To spend their days laboring for others with no hope of returning to
their families and homes. Not that they passively accepted their
condition: in several of the colonies the variously termed “Southern”
or “Spanish” or “Carolina” Indians earned a reputation as
troublemakers and instigators, leading several provential governments
to bar their importation. Not that it mattered: in a few years South
Carolina so alienated its allies that they banned together in a
pan-Indian movement that ended the large-scale slaving of Native
Peoples.”
The Tuscarora, who lived very
near the settlers, simply had taken so much abuse, and couldn't hold
it in, anymore. The Tuscarora at Hancock's town rebelled against
their English neighbors, and most of the other Tuscarora came to
Hancock's side. Gallay says that at the time of the first attacks,
twelve Seneca were visiting the Tuscarora. The Seneca were allies of
the Tuscarora. In the early days of the War, the Tuscarora and their
allies killed many English setttlers and farmers, many of who had
perhaps had not participaated in cheating and enslaving the Indians.
The role of the Seneca is
evidence from the record of theBoston News Letter (20), “The
Boston News Letter reported that the Tuscarora were put upon that
bloody action (their attack upon North Carolina) by the Sinnecke
Indians, one of out Five Nations”. The
Tuscarora had put out feelers the previous year, letting the seneca
and Five Nations known of their desire to return to the North, saying
life in North Carolina was becoming impossible. In the end, only
Blunt's Town was to remain.
South
Carolina's reaction was to come to the aid of their neighbors, the
North Carolinians. Under Barnwell, an army made up of many of the
Piedmont Indians, together with those remnant peoples along the
Savannah River, and an assortment of White South Carolinians, went
under Barnwell to attack the Tuscarora. To make a long story short,
they defeated the Tuscarora. The Carolinians were hoping to gather in
many Tuscarora slaves, but to their displeasure, the Catawban peoples
of the Piedmont gathered in most of the slaves, and sold them
themselves to the Charlestown slave traders. This tells me they were
most likely after revenge for slaves taken from their own people by
the Tuscarora. In a second expedition in the following year, the
power of the Tuscarora was broke, with many of their people fleeing
northwards to join the Five Nations, making them now The Six Nations.
They would remember the role played by the Piedmont Indians in their
distruction. A small band of Tuscarora would remain in the South, but
they were msall weak, and soon nearly forgotten by history. A tragic
result of this war was the end of the Coree. They had allied
themselves with the Tuscarora. The remaining Tuscarora as a sign
they'd ceased their hostilities, went to their Coree allies, and
delivered them all over to the Carolina government as slaves. The
Yamassee and others had also gathered many Tuscarora slaves, and sold
them to the Charleston Indian slave traders. The eastern part of
North carolina now contained a hole in it, where the Tuscarora and
Coree had once lived, To their immediate west in North Carolina were
the Piedmont Indians, allies of the Catawba. These Indians were now
the last obstical to settlers invading the region. Although these
Indians had helped the Carolinians defeat the Tuscarora who had
murdered many of hteir number, all the Carolinians could think of was
once these Indians were gone, that land would be theirs. A peace was
signed in 1715, and the issue was settled.
The
Yamassee War
Shortly after this slaughter,
the last enemies of the settlers were to vanish from the scene.
Although it was called the Yamassee War, the Piedmont Indians were to
vanish at the same time, with only small remnants to remain, here and
there. After this war, we see only a few pockets here and there, of
these tribes. One band or pocket, was to result in the peoples that
later became known to be the Melungeons. This is the sole reason I
have written these papers. I was so upset at the stupid writings you
see abut the origins of the “Melungeons” – I was SCREAMING for
the truth to be told, and not these IDIOTIC tales that they were a
bunch of “Portuguese Adventurerists” or a “Lost African Tribe”
or even lost Welshmen, lost Turks – I needed to show another, more
realistic story. We are almost there. Finally!!
Gallay estimates, and his
estimates are based on his research, the following (21);”All the
evidence points to widespread enslavement from the 1670s through
1700. . . . It seems clear that, excluding the Creek, Savannah
[Shawnee], Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Piedmont Indians, approximately
25 to 40 thousand southern Amerindians were enslaved. If we include
the excluded people . . . we can include several thousand more. All
told, thirty to fifty thousand is the likely range of Amerindians . .
. enslaved BEFORE 1715. When speaking of Charleston, Gallay adds,
“There may not have been a single year before 1715 (except 1714)
when the number of slaves imported exceeded the number of Indians
exported.” He calls
Charlestown the “Ellis Island” for slaves entering America.
Many
provinces (colonies) quit accepting slaves from the Carolona Indians,
unfortunately too late to help them. Rhode Island and Connecticut
passed laws in 1715 to prevent Carolina Indians taken captive as a
result of the Yammassee War.
All
of the Indians had been treated poorly. As in 1711 the Tuscarora
could take no more, the Yammassee upon the Savannah had reached the
same opinion on April 15th,
1715. There is a story of a Yammassee warrior that went to England in
1713 as told by Gallay (22), “The Society for Propogation
of the Gospel had hoped that “Prince George”, as he was called in
England, would become the means by which other Yamassee would be
converted and Anglicized. By January, 1715 he had learned to read and
write, been baptized by the Bishop of London, and met King George.
The 'prince' returned to South Carolina during the war to find that
his family had fled south. Later his family was captured and sold as
slaves. The fate of the 'prince', left 'extremely sunk and dejected',
is unknown.”
Not all historians agree that
abuse is the reason the Yamassee went to war. They point to the
census taken, and say they think the Indians thught they were about
to be sold as slaves. However anyone afraid of being sold as a slave
would only have that fear had they been mistreated, so the reason is
mute.
The next paragraph from Gallay
is EXTREMELY important with regards to the Catawba and Associated
Bands. Gallay says (same page), “The smaller Indian groups of
the South Carolina Costal Plain were too small and weak to attack
their Carolina neighbors without the assistance of the Savannah River
People – the Yamassee, the Apalachicola and the Apalachee. The last
two and the . . . Piedmont peoples would not also have attacked
Carolina without Yamassee asistance. These Piedmont Indians had just
witnessed the power of the colony with its Yamassee allies against
the Tuscarora and were also certainly aware of the power of Virginia.
Many of these groups were coalescing with the Catawba, and in any war
with the colony, they also had to fear the Europeans would call on
the Catawba's ancient enemy, the Iroquois, and they could also face
attacks from the Cherokee “
Continuing
with the next paragraph (23), Gallay mentions a Virginia trader who
told his story of why he thinks the Piedmont Indians went to war with
the colony of South Carolina. He says, “What motivations
would the Piedmont Indians have for joining the Yamassee? David
Crowley, a Virginia trader among the [Piedmont] Indians and the
Cherokee, addressed this question in an analysis he prepared for
William Byrdto deliver to the Board of Trade and Plantations in
London, before which they both appeared to discuss the war. . . .
Crawley claimed that the Carolina traders did what they pleased among
the Indians. Arrogantly lording over them by taking their animals and
corn and physically abusing them.” He
goes on to say the Carolina traders humiliated the Indians, forced
them to bear loads in trade, without any compensation.
Gallay
says, throughout his book, the oldest writings from South Carolina
call the Piedmont Indians by the name of “Northern” or
“Northwards” Indians. I know later documents from the next
century they are referring to the Indians from New York, Pennsylvania
and Ohio as the “Northwards” Indians. Perhaps since most of the
Piedmont Indians are from North Carolina they are “North” of
Charleston. Using his definition, we have (25); “. . .The
[Piedmont Indians] with the Yamassee had attacked settlers and
plantations whereas the Creek had only attacked traders. . . . the
Yamassee War gradually ended as Carolinia made peace with most of the
Indian groups by 1717, though the Yamassee and some of the Piedmont
Peoples refused. Many of the Indians who had lived near Carolina
moved away,
The Indian
slave trade abruptly came to an end. I think though, that Gallay
misses the point. Those Indians didn't just “move away” from
Carolina. Their Piedmont bands simply no longer existed as viable
bands of Indians, bands of the Catawba. Their numbers had dwindled to
just a few dozen families, each. By 1720 there were few Indians still
left in the Carolinas. You also hear very little about the remnant
bands upon the Savannah River. Both Carolinas were now open to White
Settlement.
About this
time we also hear of the Saponi and remnant bands associated with
them. These were in Southren Virginia, but occasionally moved in with
the Catawba, as they were the same people.
Map of the Region Before the Tuscarora and Yamassee Wars
Map of the Region Before the Tuscarora and Yamassee Wars
Indian Tribes of the Carolina's After the Tuscarora and Yamassee Wars
.
'(1.) p. 94, Gallay
'(2.) 269, Anderson and Lewis
'(3.) p. 95, Gallay
'(4.) p. 112, 113, Gallay
'(5.) p. 126, Gallay
'(6.) p. 127, Gallay
'(7.) p. 135-6, Gallay
'(8.) p. 137, Gallay
'(9.') p. 144, Gallay
'(10.) p. 145-147, Gallay
'(11.) p. 148, Gallay
'(12.) p. 152-152, Gallay
'(13) p. 200-201, Gallay
'(14) p. 206, Gallay
'(15) p. 15, Gallay
'(16.) p. 210-211, Gallay
'(17.) p. 211, Gallay
'(18.) p. 239, Gallay
'(19.) p. 257-258, Gallay
'(20.) p. 265, Gallay
'(21.) p. 298-9, Gallay
'(22.) p. 328, Gallay
'(23.) p. 331, Gallay
'(24.) p. 338), Gallay
