THE EXPANSI ON
of
so UTH CAROLINA
1729-1765
ROBERT L. MERIWETHER
Professor of History
University of South Carolina
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE
FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
SOUTHERN PUBLISHERS, Inc.
KINGSPORT, TENNESSEE
1940
THE EX PAN S I O N
0
f
S O UTH CAROLI NA
1729-1765
By
ROBERT L. MERIWETHER
Professor of History
University of South Carolina
ROBERT LEE MERIl'.'ETKER
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE
FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
SOUTHERN PUBLISHERS, Inc
KINGSPORT, TENNESSEE
1940
Copyright, 1940, by
SOUTHERN PUBLISHERS, Ikc.
Printing and Binding by
KINGSPORT PRESS, Inc., Kingsport, Tennessee
To
J. G. M.
Jnd
H. O. M.
PREFACE
The peoples who settled in the uplands bordering the southern Blue
Ridge and in corresponding areas of the northern colonies established a new
and distinct American frontier. There was an essential unity in this "Old
West," as F. J. Turner pointed out in 1908, but while similarity of industry
and society bound its settlers together, other forces and factors split the
section into segments. The first advance into the back country was by rivers
and land routes from the nearest seaboard communities; colonial boundaries
paralleled these natural transportation lines and cut across the piedmont.
Thus provincial expansion and political authority established ties with the
coast which were strengthened as trade increased. At the same time strong
sectional feeling was developing, the South Carolina phase of which is ef-
fectively traced in W. A. Schaper's "Sectionalism and Representation."
The process which filled the back country with small farmers was not
the only colonial expansion. An older and more spectacular movement, long
before the settlement of the piedmont, carried English trade and influence
into the heart of the continent. The earlier chapters of this story have been
written with rare skill by Verner W. Crane in his Southern Frontier. The
progress of the South Carolina back country, as in the case of several other
colonies, was at times profoundly affected by the Indian trade and its ac-
companying alliances, and a subordinate but important part of my work
has been to set forth, from a superabundance of material, the later stages of
imperial development.
For the actual processes of South Carolina settlement — the primary con-
cern of this book — there are, in comparison with other states, enormous and
surprisingly complete records. Of material for some of the most important
phases of intellectual life and daily routine, however, there is little or none.
It is partly to compensate for the incompleteness of the picture, partly for
their own inherent interest, that I have devoted so much attention to the
prosaic yet eloquent records of individual settlers in their eager quest of land.
This volume began with settlement and frontier studies under Profes-
sors M. W. Jernegan and W. E. Dodd of the University of Chicago. It
has been completed under the supervision of Professor E. B. Greene of Co-
lumbia University, to whom grateful thanks are tendered for counsel and
assistance. Professors G. P. Voigt of Wittenberg College, Ohio, and J. H.
Easterby of the College of Charleston, and Miss Leah Townsend of Flor-
ence, South Carolina, have read portions of the manuscript and have given
aid on difficult problems. Professor D. D. Wallace of WofiFord College
offered helpful criticisms on the draft of the first nine chapters which he had
V
vi Preface
in hand while writing the first volume of his History of South Carolina, and
suggested additional material. Professor J. A. Krout of Columbia Univer-
sity, Miss Anne King Gregorie of Columbia, South Carolina, and Mr. C. L.
Epting of Clemson College, have likewise read portions of the manuscript
and made suggestions. The Social Science Research Council assisted by a
grant covering a summer's work. My chief debt, however, is to my wife,
Margaret Babcock Meriwether, for invaluable aid in the task of revision
and in reading proof.
Among curators and librarians I am most of all obliged to Mr. A. S.
Salley, Secretary of the Historical Commission of South Carolina, who gave
every facility for use of the records in his custody, secured duplicates from
the British Public Record Office when this research disclosed gaps in series,
and constantly assisted in identification of material. To Miss Harriet J.
Clarkson and Mr. F. M. Hutson of the Historical Commission staff, to the
staff of the office of the Secretary of State, and to Miss Mabel L. Webber,
Secretary of the South Carolina Historical Society, are due likewise cordial
appreciation and thanks. The gracious aid of Miss Ellen M. Fitzsimons,
Librarian of the Charleston Library Society, and the help of her assistants,
made the use of the files of newspapers there a pleasure. I am also indebted
to the custodians of other libraries and offices noted in the bibliography and
footnotes.
This list of acknowledgements would not be complete without grateful
mention of the fine courtesy and helpfulness of farmers, tenants and field
laborers who discussed with me soil problems and helped to identify forgot-
ten roads and sites of the old back country.
Robert L. Meriwether.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
THE BACKGROUND OF EXPANSION
I. South Carolina in 1729 3
II. Governor Johnson's Township Scheme 17
THE SETTLEMENT OF THE MIDDLE COUNTRY
—THE WESTERN TOWNSHIPS
III. PURRYSBURG 34
IV. Amelia and Orangeburg 42
V. Saxe Goth a and the Congarees 53
VI. New Windsor and the Salkehatchie Forks .... 66
THE SETTLEMENT OF THE MIDDLE COUNTRY
—THE EASTERN TOWNSHIPS
VII. Williamsburg and Kingston 79
VIII. Queensboro and the Welsh Tract 89
IX. Fredericksburg and the Waterees 99
THE SETTLEMENT OF THE BACK COUNTRY
X. The Northwest Frontier 117
XI. The Waxhaws AND the Upper Wateree 136
XII. The Dutch Fork and Upper Broad River .... 147
BACK COUNTRY AND FRONTIER
XIII. The Back Country IN 1759 160
XIV. The Southern Indians and Their Trade .... 185
XV. The Cherokee War 213
XVI. The Growth OF THE Back Country, 1760-1765 . . . 241
vii
MAPS
PAGE
1. South Carolina In 1729 2
2. The Western Townships 32
3. The Congarees 52
4. The Eastern Townships 78
5. The Back Country 112
6. The Northwest Frontier 116
7. The Back Country in the Cherokee War 212
vm
ABBREVIATIONS
CSCHS: Collections of the South Carolina Historical Society
JC: Journal of the Council
JCHA: Journal of the Commons House of Assembly
JUHA: Journal of the Upper House of Assembly
P: Plats
PR: Public Records of South Carolina
SCAGG: South Carolina and American General Gazette
SCG: South Carolina Gazette
SCGCJ : South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal
SCHGM : South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine
Stats: Statutes at Large of South Carolina
THE BACKGROUND OF EXPANSION
CHAPTER I
South Carolina in 1729
It was in the year 1719 that the impatient South Carolinians overthrew
the rule of the Lords Proprietors, but ten years passed before the leisurely
negotiations were completed which transferred the great realm to the
crown. The southern colony was at that time a squat triangle of settle-
ment the base of which was the coast between Winyah Bay and Port Royal
Sound, its apex the great bend of the Santee fifty miles inland, its white
population ten thousand, its slaves twice that number. Two generations of
Carolinians had laid the foundations of an English society and had brought
their institutions to such maturity that they were to continue unchanged
and dominant to 1776. Now, under the immediate protection of the
British government and with a more liberal colonial administration. South
Carolina was in position to receive its full share of the great German and
Scotch-Irish migration which -was already filling up the colonies to the
north. An even more important result of the ending of Proprietary rule
was the setting free of forces within the province to exploit its resources
and to grapple with its peculiar problems.
The area of the present state of South Carolina is divided by the sand
hills and the "fall line" into two sections, the low country or coastal plain,
and the "up country" or piedmont. The former, nearly two-thirds of the
whole, was until comparatively recent geologic ages covered by the sea,
and the sand hills, veritable little mountains near the rivers but practically
disappearing at points between, mark the former sea coast. The low
country is itself composed of the upper and lower pine belts. The tide-
water portion of the lower pine belt is a strip about thirty miles wide in
the south narrowing to ten or fifteen beyond the Santee. It is traversed
by a dozen considerable rivers and along the coast is cut into a fringe of
islands by salt creeks and inlets which were navigable for the small boats of
the eighteenth century.^
^ See H. H. Bennett, Soils and Agriculture of the Southern States (New York,
1921), pp. 54—62; United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Soils, Field
Operations of the Bureau of Soils, 1904, 1911, 1918 (Washington, 1905, 1914, 1924),
Surveys of Charleston Area, Georgetown County, Horry County. Compare early
descriptions, m\. S. Salley, Jr., ed., Narratives of Early Carolina (New York,
1911), pp. S8-93, 101-104, 130, 170-171, 290; B. R. Carroll, ed., Historical Col-
lections of South Carolina (2 vols., New York, 1836), I, 75-77, II, 467-468;
American Husbandry (2 vols., London, 1775), I, 384-387; William Bartram,
Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and fVest Florida
(London, 1794), pp. 28-32.
3
4 The Expansion of South Carolina
The swamp or marsh, sometimes several miles wide, bordering all these
streams is interrupted from time to time by low bluffs abutting squarely
upon the water. Among the islands and for a short distance above, the
water is salt and is flanked by marsh grass only, but beyond this the tides
are fresh and flow through jungles of cypress, bay and gum. Above the
tide level in either portion are also to be found small creeks and lakes
similarly wooded, or even meadow-like savannas.
Scattered about in this half-drowned coast country lie high and dry
areas, sometimes of large extent, originally covered with forests. Along the
sea islands great live oaks overlooked the shining stretches of bay and
sound, while farther back long-leaf pines made a grave and spacious con-
trast to the dense growth bordering the clean dark streams. In the colonial
period these dry portions were yielding good crops of corn, large amounts of
naval stores, and pasturage for stocks of cattle and hogs. This soil was
likewise used for the first experiments in growing rice, but the discovery
was soon made that the wet black mold of the swamps was ideal for its
production, and the new crop speedily became the staple of the province.
The constant need of rice for water caused some planters before the
middle of the century to dam the small streams for reservoirs from which
they periodically watered the fields. By the end of the colonial period
attempts had been made to control the growth of plant and weeds by
alternately flooding and draining the fields. This method, transferred to
the freshwater portion of the tide lands after the Revolution, was developed
into the famous water culture. But in 1729 the planters for the most part
merely selected the swamps of those streams, small or large, which were
out of reach of the tides and depended on the hoe for cultivation.^
Most of the swamp area was a dead loss even for rice growing because
of standing water or sheer inaccessibility, and an adequate amount of high
land and desirable swamp was hard to secure except by taking up large
tracts. Rice was an extremely heavy crop, and the planter sought to have
his plantation front on navigable water whence he had ready access to the
sea. Through the streams that fell into Charleston harbor, or through the
inland passage from Charleston to the Savannah, boats from half the tide-
water area could reach the town without touching the ocean.
The work of clearing the ground, cultivating the plant, and cleaning
the grain from the husk was arduous in the extreme, and in the hot wet
swamp land only negroes could well endure it. Therefore the importation
of slaves kept pace with the increase of the crop and early made South
Carolina a region of large plantations, though the total acreage tended to
2 Letter of Agricola, South Carolina Gazette (cited as SCG), Oct. 8, 1744;
Carroll, Collections, II, 201-202; South Carolina Historical and Genealogical
Magazine (cited as SCHGM), XXXII, 85-86; Lionel Chalmers, Account of the
Weather and Diseases of South Carolina (2 vols., London, 1776), I, 3-41; Amer-
ican Husbandry, I, 391-394; U. B. Phillips, Life and Labor in the Old South
(Boston, 1929), pp. 116-117. See also below, p. 109.
The Background of Expansion 5
remain within moderate limits. By quit rents, sales, taxes, and settlement
requirements, the Proprietors and the assembly restricted landholding.
Furthermore, for the twenty years preceding 1731, the land office was
practically closed, although from time to time the Proprietors made in-
dividual grants of great tracts for little or nothing. However, the pro-
vincial taxes fell heavily on land, and the grantees were often in no hurry
to assume their obligations by fixing upon a site and surveying it.^
In 1720 there were 1,163,239 acres on the tax books, between five and
six percent of which was in the parish of St. Philip, Charleston. Thus
for the rural districts the acreage per capita was 71.* Estimating the pos-
sible number of rural laborers at 7,000 or 7,500,^ the average amount of
land to each was about 150 acres. In 1731 the taxed lands were 1,453,-
875 acres, but the slave population had increased nearly seventy percent,
and the white about fifty,® so that the acreage for each possible rural
laborer had fallen to about 110. Large stretches of pine barren, marsh
and irreclaimable swamp were included in these holdings. For a new
country the amount was not excessive.^
^ Edward McCrady, History of South Carolina under the Proprietary Gov-
ernment. 1670-1719 (New York, 1897), pp. 190, 279, 284, 554, n. 1, 557, n. 3, 580-
581, 718-719; Statutes at Large of South Carolina, ed. by Thomas Cooper and
D. J. McCord (9 vols., Columbia, 1836-1841— cited as Stats.), Ill, 34-38, 69-84, 257-
265; Public Records of South Carolina, MS (bound copies of records in British
Public Record Office; the accompanying identification will serve for reference to
these papers, whether in the original or in print — cited as PR), XIII, 422
(Governor Robert Johnson to Board of Trade, Dec. 19, 1729).
■'PR, IX, 23 (James Moore, Mar. 21, 1721). The white population in 1719 was
about 6,400, the slave 11,828. Charleston had about 1,400 whites and 1,400
slaves — see ibid, and Edward McCrady, History of South Carolina under the
Royal Government, 1719-1776 (New York, 1899), p. 807. The tax returns appear
to be a fair indication of the holdings of land. For instance in 1770 Lieutenant-
Governor Bull, the younger, said that "several hundred thousand" acres granted
were not taxed, "owned, perhaps chiefly, by non-residents" (PR, XXXII, 400 —
Representation, Nov. 30). A single tract doubtless accounted for nearly 200,000
acres of this — the Hamilton survey in the back country (below, pp. 125-127, SCG,
June 12, 1762, advertisement of Miles Brewton et. al.). For difficulties in the way
of collecting taxes on lands of non-residents see Stats., Ill, 439, IV, 270-271.
^ That is, white males and slaves able to work. Using the basis later given
by Lieutenant-Governor Bull for calculation (see PR XXVIII, 352 — to Board,
May 29, 1760), there were in South Carolina outside of Charleston in 1720 5,300
slaves and 1,000 white males over sixteen. However, the number of negro
laborers was much larger than the number from sixteen to sixty. The number of
slaves between seven and sixty necessary to make up the South Carolina tax of
1724 {Stats., Ill, 207) after deducting a land tax based on the provincial and
St. Philip's acreage (PR, XXI, 346 — Benjamin W^hitaker, Observations [etc.]
enclosed with his letter to Board, June 25, 1744), was about 9,200, or about two-
thirds the slave population.
^See PR, XV, 213 (Benjamin V^^hitaker, Sept. 21, 1732, received by Board
Dec. 1, 1732), 87, 229 (Johnson to Board, received Jan. 26, Dec. 22, 1732), 163
(James St. John to Board, received Sept. 6, 1732).
"^ In 1733 Governor Burrington estimated the North Carolina population at
thirty thousand whites and six thousand negroes — a larger population than that of
South Carolina at that time, but perhaps a smaller labor force {Colonial Records of
North Carolina— 10 vols., Raleigh, 1886-1890— III, 433), and in 1736 put the
amount of land held at three million acres {ibid., IV, 158).
6 The Expansion of South Carolina
The rice production doubled during this decade; Charleston became a
flourishing town of 3,000 souls, and the total exports amounted to £100,-
000.^ With the rice market good and the supply of negroes increasing,
the possibilities for wealth in the region between Cape Fear and the Al-
tamaha River seemed almost unlimited. The white population however
increased slowly, and in 1729 was less than a third of the total of 30,000.
What visions of expansion and greater wealth the planters had were
clouded by the danger of insurrection by the new and half-savage slaves.
Formerly the problems of defense had been largely external, represented by
the Spaniard and the Indian, but by 1729 there had come about a funda-
mental change. Letters and papers of the time are full of allusions to the
peril, and for forty years it remained perhaps the strongest influence in the
province on public policy.^
South Carolina was thus a comparatively small community with inter-
ests nearly uniform and it is not surprising that its local government was so
little developed. The vestries, church wardens and rectors of the parishes
were elected ; the parish government, besides providing for the church, had
the care of the poor and conduct of elections.^" The militia officers and the
justices of the peace were appointed by the governor, and the road com-
missioners by the assembly. These oflices carried no salaries, however, and
the appointees were necessarily of the community. As long as the popula-
tion was small and the province compact this system made for efficiency and
good government.
Charleston and its flourishing trade presented the only serious threat
to this unity. The merchants were creditors of the planters, and the in-
terests of the two occasionally came into violent conflict. But after all
Charleston was the planters' rather than the merchants' city. It was to a
surprising extent the gathering point for all the resources and forces of the
province, and the center from which practically all social influence and
political control were exercised. Here in the late autumn met the General
Assembly, the elective branch of which — the Commons House — was made
up chiefly of planters, although the Charleston lawyers were an important
factor.^^ By an act of 1721 the Commons was made a body of thirty-six
8 PR, XIV, 32 (below, p. 19, n, 7), XV, 66-68 (Johnson to Board, Dec. 16, 1731),
229 (above, n. 6).
" For instances, see PR, VIII, 67 (Joseph Boone . . . , received by Board
Aug. 23, 1720), XIII, 24 (Representation ... St. Paul's and St. Bartholomew's,
received by Board Apr. S, 1728), XVI, 398-399, XVII, 300 (below, p. 22, n. 14),
XVIII, 172-173 (below, p. 27, n. 28) ; Journal of the Upper House of Assembly,
MS (cited as JUHA), Feb. 26, 1734; Journal of the Council, MS (cited as JC),
July 12, 1751; Collections of the South Carolina Historical Society (5 vols.,
Charleston, 1857-1897— cited as CSCHS), I, 252; Col. Recs. of N. C, II, 421;
Letter on Jamaica slave insurrection, SCG, July 1, 1732; Essay on Currency, pp. 4
and 17.
^° Stats., II, 287-291, 594, III, 51.
^^ Compare the list of lawyers with that of the speakers of the Commons —
McCrady, S. C. under the Royal Go'vernment, pp. 475, 802.
The Background of Expansion 7
members from eleven parishes, the representation varying from two to five.
In the royal as in the Proprietary period the House was the chief power in
the province. Individually and as a body its members had the political
skill that came from long experience and careful attention to the affairs of
government. Equally great was their self-confidence, the result of success-
ful struggles with the Proprietors and constant grappling with the dangers
that beset the isolated colony. French, Spanish and pirate attacks they
had weathered or even signally defeated, and to their brilliant defense in
the great Yamasee war of 1715 they looked back as to an heroic age.
Finally in 1719 the Proprietors themselves, for years regarded as enemies,
had been overthrown by the Commons.^"
The governor's title was the highest in the colony, and he still had
much authority. He was commander-in-chief of the militia and appointed
its officers as well as the justices of the peace. He could call or dissolve
the assembly and veto its acts. But his authority was closely restricted by
the Commons' control of taxes and appropriations from which were paid
three-fourths of the expenses of the government, including the salaries of
the governor and chief justice and the pay of the garrisons and troops.^^
The transfer to royal government materially strengthened the position of
the executive without altering these powers, for the cumbersome and in-
efficient machinery of the British colonial system had little more than
negative means of enforcing its orders. The crown like its governor had
the rights of veto, appointment and removal, and as important were the
favors that might be granted by the British government — bounties for
products, relief from some pinch of the navigation acts, and defense for the
province by ships of war or troops.
Between the governor and the Commons House — between the province
and the crown, in fact — stood the council, in a position anomalous but
strategic. It advised the governor in all administrative matters and was
likewise the upper house of assembly; its members were appointed by the
crown, but were themselves well-to-do planters or merchants and drew no
pay. They were therefore dependent upon neither governor nor Commons,
and during the next thirty years rendered the province a service so generally
excellent as to command almost unfailing respect. But the high honor of
the position and the natural tendency of a body to increase its power caused
the council to support the crown rather than the Commons where the
prerogative or executive control was concerned.
The usual point at issue between executive and Commons was, of
course, the amount of taxes and appropriations. The governor, having
the responsibility for the government, called for liberal expenditures, while
the Commons, representing the taxpayers and themselves paying large
^^ Stats., Ill, 137, JC, June 27, 1744, below, p. 234, SCG, June 2, 1766.
^^ See, for instance, Stats., Ill, 186-188; W. R. Smith, South Carolina as a
Royal Province, 1719-1776 (New York, 1903), p. 334.
8 The Expansion of South Carolina
amounts, were careful to the point of stinginess. Bound up with this issue
was the problem of a medium of exchange. The province exported food-
stuffs and raw material and imported manufactured goods and slaves; the
balance of trade was therefore heavily against it, and the planters were al-
most invariably in debt. Even in good times the currency was often in-
sufficient for ordinary expenses of making or moving the crops, and, when
business depression or an emergency entailing extraordinary government
expense came upon the province, the planter bore a crushing burden of
debt and taxes.^*
The natural resort at such times was to issues of legal tender notes,
with or without adequate provision for redemption. Thus the crisis was
tided over without additional taxes, conduct of business was made easier
by the increase of money in circulation, and last but hardly least the prompt
depreciation of the currency resulted in a fifteen to thirty percent decrease
in debts. When the Proprietary government was overthrown in 1719 the
paper money in circulation had a face value of about eighty thousand
pounds, but in sterling was worth only one-fifth that amount. Through-
out the following decade the Commons fought to prevent the retiring of
this money and even attempted to increase it. In 1723 when the desperate
Charleston merchants protested against a new attack upon the debts due
them, by a bill to increase the paper money by fifty percent, they were put
under arrest for slander and contempt. During the dissension, the worst in
the province since the fight over the establishment of the Anglican Church
twenty years before, the council rather than the governor sided with the
merchants. In this case, however, both yielded to pressure and the measure
passed.^^
The act was promptly repealed by the crown, and the London mer-
chants petitioning for the removal of the too sympathetic Governor Nichol-
son, he was recalled two years later. Meanwhile he had, as ordered by
the crown, secured from the assembly a law for retiring practically half
the entire paper money of the province. This was to be done in annual
installments as it was paid in for customs duties. The Commons almost
immediately repented its action, which would in effect double all debts.
The continued attacks by the Indians or escaped slaves, instigated by the
Spanish, added to the expenses of the government, and made the planters
fear complete ruin if the law of 1724 were to run its full course.^® Their
representatives were amazingly fertile during the next six years in ex-
pedients for staving off the evil day. The council and its senior member,
^* See H. L. Osgood, The American Colonies in the Eighteenth Century (4 vols.,
New York, 1924), II, 373-375, Stats., Ill, 105-106, 188, IX, 759.
^^ Stats., Ill, 188-193, IX, 770-776, Smith, S. C. as a Royal Province, pp. 235-
240, PR, XIII, 270-335 (Representation of S. C. Council, Dec. 19, 1728).
i«PR, XI, 231-23 5 (Petition of merchants to crown, Oct. 16, 1724), Osgood,
Colonies in the Eighteenth Century, II, 376, Stats., Ill, 219-221. See also PR,
XIII, 61-70 (President Arthur Middleton, June 13, 1728).
The Background of Expansion 9
Arthur Middleton, who now presided in the absence of the governor, were
equally determined on enforcement and the contest culminated in rioting
and a complete deadlock that lasted from 1727 to the end of 1730. At that
time the paper money amounted to £106,500, and its value was one-seventh
that of sterling." Meanwhile some of the more moderate spirits were
working earnestly on this as well as on the greater problem of the slave
population. In 1730 a solution of the two was presented in the shape of
the new expansion policy.
The ten or fifteen mile stretch of the lower pine belt adjoining the
tidewater enjoyed advantages of transportation that made it practically a
part of that more favored section, but beyond there was little to redeem the
region. It was monotonously level and a fine compact sand prevailed;
save for occasional gentle slopes near the streams and elsewhere the soil
was poor and the drainage bad. Everywhere except in the swamps grew
the long-leaf pine, often to the exclusion of other trees. These splendid
but solemn vistas early gained for these districts the name of "pine bar-
rens".^'
The upper pine belt was far better suited to the purposes of the early
settler. It ojFfered broad areas of nearly level or gently rolling land
covered with pine or oak and the soil, a sandy loam, was easily worked and
fertile though not rich. Bordering the streams or shallow lakes were
cypress and gum swamps varying in width from a few yards to several
miles. These swamps might tempt the rice planter, but neither in soil nor
advantages of transportation could they compare with the tidewater.^®
Northwest of this section the sand hills — wastes of coarse sand covered
with scrub oak or pine — partially blocked the river valleys, the natural
lines of communication between low country and piedmont, and for genera-
tions served as barrier as well as dividing line between them. Further-
^^ Stats., IX, 776, 779. This ratio continued with few fluctuations until the
Revolution — see for instance ibid., p. 780, III, 482, D. D. Wallace, The History of
South Carolina (4 vols., New York, 1934), I, 315 — and was the standard for
salaries and payments in the province. In this work all figures are given in
sterling at this rate unless otherwise stated, fractions of pounds being usually
disregarded. The "proclamation money" often referred to in the records was not
a real money, but an attempted standard for valuation of foreign coins set by royal
proclamation. "Four pounds proclamation money" was about three pounds
sterling. See Osgood, Colonies in the Eighteenth Century, I, 225; Stats., II, 563-
565, III, 701; JC, Mar. 3, 1732.
i^PR, XIV, 30 (Johnson to Board, Jan. 2, 1729), 261-262 (Thomas Lowndes
to Board, Aug. 26, 1730), XXI, 101 (below, p. 81, n. 6). The lower pine belt in
fact extends quite to the coast, but in the eighteenth century the problem of
transportation alone made of the tidewater portion of it a separate section.
For descriptions see Bennett, Soils of the Southern States, pp. 54-57, and Bureau of
Soils, Field Operations, 1915, 1916, 1910, 1914 (Washington, 1919, 1921, 1912,
1919), Hampton, Dorchester, Berkeley, Clarendon, Florence.
^® See Bennett, Soils of the Southern States, pp. 60-62; Bureau of Soils,
Field Operations, 1912, 1913, 1904, 1907, 1902, 1917, (Washington, 1915, 1916,
1905, 1909, 1903, 1923), Barnwell, Bamberg, Orangeburg, Orangeburg Area,
Sumter, Darlington Area, Marlboro.
10 The Expansion of South Carolina
more, navigation of rivers was halted at the upper edge of the sand hills by
outcrops of rock which formed the shoals and low falls of the "fall
line". The pine belts, between the tidewater and the sand hills, seemed
designed by nature to form a distinct section, a transition from the tide-
water to the piedmont — the middle country as it was occasionally called
in later times.
The first occupation of this middle country was military, and before
1720 a line of garrisons marked off the territory that the province was
forty years in settling. In the Yamasee War of 1715 South Carolina nar-
rowly escaped destruction, and the continuation of Indian attacks for sev-
eral years thereafter caused the assembly to establish four garrisons for the
defense of the frontier; the first two, provided for in 1716, were placed
at Port Royal and Savannah Town. Fort Moore, for the second garrison,
was built on a high bluff on the east bank of the Savannah River, about six
miles below the later town of Augusta.^" For trade with the Indians and
defense against them it was the chief gateway to the South Carolina tide-
water, as it was on the regular route from the Creeks, Chickasaws,
Choctaws and part of the Cherokees. Between Charleston and Fort
Moore freight seems to have gone almost entirely by water, using the river
and the inland passage through the islands. There was likewise a path
overland which ran through Dorchester, crossed the Edisto immediately
below the mouth of Four Hole Swamp, then followed the South Fork for
about thirty miles before striking across to the Savannah at Silver Bluff
or Town Creek.^^
The only other entry from the southwest was by the Pallachuccolas, a
crossing of the Savannah about sixty miles from its mouth. Here in 1717
the assembly stationed a company of rangers, and in 1722 ordered the con-
struction of "a small Pallisado Fort, and convenient huts to lodge in."
This garrison was maintained until 1735, although its work was partly
done by a fort built later on the Altamaha.^^
20 See CSCHS, II, 231-232, 235, Stats., II, 691, III, 8. Fort Moore was on the
site of the chief town of the Savannahs, a branch of the Shawnees, who abandoned
it a few years later, probably about 1720. The bluff is immediately below the
mouth of Horse Creek. See John R. Swanton, Early History of the Creek Indians
and Their Neighbors (Washington, 1922), pp. 317-318; Col. Recs. of N. C, II, 422;
Henry Mouzon, Map of North and South Carolina (London, 1775).
^^ The loaded boats drew three or four feet of water and carried forty
barrels of rice. See Journal of the Commons House of Assembly, MS (cited as
JCHA), Jan. 27, 1733; Feb. 10, 1737, and V. W. Crane, The Southern Frontier,
1670-1732 (Durham, 1928), p. 128. For the land route see entries in Thomas
Bosomworth's journal (Indian Books, MS, III, 23-149), pp. 23-24, 115; Year Book,
City of Charleston, 1894, pp. 325-326; Swanton, Creek Indians, Plate 3; Plats,
MS (cited as P), III, 176, VI, 245, 299; "Tobler Manuscripts" (see below,
p. 67, n. 3), pp. 89-91, 94—95. For identification of the streams see maps of
Barnwell and Colleton Districts in Robert Mills, Atlas of the State of South
Carolina (Philadelphia, 1825).
22 Stats., Ill, 24, 180, Smith, S. C. as a Royal Province, p. 209,
The Background of Expansion 11
The garrison at Fort Moore early became a nucleus for the most impor-
tant Indian trading town that provincial South Carolina developed. Most
of the men who came there were transients, Indian traders who received
goods for the trade and brought back the deerskins, A few were em-
ployed in keeping the stores or raising cattle. The assembly, wishing to
build up a permanent settlement — doubtless in the hope of shifting to it the
burden of defending this gateway — in 1721 enacted a law forbidding the
execution of any civil writ of thirty pounds or less upon any person residing
beyond the Three Runs, about twenty miles south of Fort Moore ; property
of these persons was exempted from taxation, and their cattle when driven
to the settlements could not be seized for debt. For the frontiersmen seek-
ing these privileges a town was ordered laid out about Fort Moore to
consist of three hundred half-acre lots with one thousand acres for a
common ; this provision was not carried out, however, because of the re-
fusal of the Proprietors to grant any land after the Revolution of 1719.^^
Seventy miles east of Fort Moore the sand hill barrier was pierced by
the Congaree River. Along its west bank ran the Cherokee path, soon to
become the most noted of the South Carolina routes to the Indian country
and eventually the chief highway of the province and state. However, the
Catawabas were a small tribe, the Cherokee trade was not well developed —
"they being but ordinary Hunters & less Warriors", Governor Nathaniel
Johnson explained in 1708 — and Virginia sent traders to both nations.
Consequently the northern Carolina traffic was small in comparison with
that of the southwest. Goods and traders came up the Cooper River to
Strawberry, about thirty miles from Charleston, or by pack train along the
road to the west of the river. Thence the path led across to Eutaw
Springs on the Santee, but presently turned northwest skirting Halfway
Swamp and kept the high ground a few miles from the river until it neared
Congaree Creek. There was some navigation of the Santee, but land
transportation was more important.^"*
On the west side of the Congaree a petty tribe lived and hunted until
the Yamasee War, when they retired to their kinsmen the Catawbas. Not
only was their name given to the river itself and to a fine bold creek run-
ning into it three miles below the shoals, but the northern part of the valley
was known till the Revolution as "the Congarees". In 1717 the assembly
provided that one of the four frontier garrisons — a captain and a dozen
23JCHA Mar. 17, 1731, Stats., Ill, 122-124. This was repeated in an act of
the next year (pp. 176-178). The exemption was for seven years. For the
"town" see PR XII, 42 (Enclosure No. 4, Middleton to Gov. Nicholson, May
1726) ; the same privileges were given the Pallachuccola garrison {Stats., Ill,
182), but no settlement appears to have resulted.
2* PR, V, 209 (to Board, Sept. 17, 1708); JCHA May 23, 1734; The Colonial
Records of the State of Georgia (26 vols., Atlanta, 1904-1916) IV, 666; Crane,
Southern Frontier, p. 129; A. S. Salley, Jr., George Hunter's Map of the Cherokee
Country . . . (Columbia, 1917).
12 The Expansion of South Carolina
men — should be placed on the north side of the creek near its mouth.
From this point the Cherokee path ran northwest along the high ground
a few miles west of the Saluda to Ninety Six, while the Catawba path
crossed the Congaree and ran north toward the Catawba towns a few
miles south of the later North Carolina line. The resolution of the as-
sembly in 1722 which directed the discharge of the Congaree garrison gave
the provisions, with ten pounds of powder and twenty-five pounds of shot,
to "the people that remain there", and these settlers, attracted chiefly by
the possibilities of the Indian trade, were doubtless the beginning of a
permanent white population.^^
There were other inhabitants of the middle country, but these too,
whether white or Indian, were chiefly on its borders. Generally adjoining
the tidewater, but at times on the frontier, were the cowpens, as the larger
cattle-raising establishments were called. The cattle ranged for miles
and were brought to the enclosures at regular intervals for branding. The
cowpens were of course owned by men of considerable capital, but the
following description of one of their employees is probably typical: "This
North is a very mean and inconsiderable person one of those who in this
country are called Cattle Hunters These sort of people from their con-
tinual ranging the Woods are better acquainted with the land than any
other set of men". Negroes were also used for this work.^*^
Since the expulsion of the Yamasees in 1715 there was no large tribe
of Indians left within the middle country, but it still boasted some rem-
nants of red peoples who at times played a part in the affairs of the
province. Indeed the tidewater itself had fragments of the Ittewans,
Cussoes, Winyaws, "Cape Fairs", St. Helenas, and others. They were
quite inoffensive, and were valued for their services in hunting runaway
negroes. In the Stono insurrection of 1739 they killed three of the re-
bellious slaves and aided in the capture of others. They were allowed
complete freedom in the settlements, but were subject to control by the
justices of the peace, who could have them whipped for misbehavior.^^
On the borders of the middle country were other small tribes living under
the same regulations and similarly valued though not so well behaved — the
Uchees on the Savannah below Fort Moore, a few Creeks about the Pal-
lachuccolas, the Waccamaws beyond the Santee, and the Peedees on the
river of that name. The Tuscaroras were still further northeast, in North
25 James Mooney, Siouan Tribes of the East (Washington, 1894), p. 80, Stats.,
Ill, 24. For location of the post see William Faden, Map of South Carolina . . .
(London, 1780) ; George Haig, Map of the Townships and of the Cherokee
Country, MS; JCHA, June 14, 1722; below, p. 53.
2«See JCHA, June 14, 1722; JUHA, Dec. 15, 1732; SCG. Feb. 15, 1735; P, III,
21; Col. Recs, of Ga., IV, 314-315; PR, XV, 210 (Benjamin Whitaker, Sept. 21,
1732, received by Board Dec. 1, 1732).
2^JC, Mar. 1, Dec. 16, 1743, July 6, 1750, May 20, 1751; JCHA May 12,
1731, Feb. 4, 1734, Nov. 29, 1739; Stats., Ill, 327, 332.
The Background of Expansion 13
Carolina, and were consistently enemies of the southern province and its
Indians.^*
Ninety miles north of the Congarees dwelt the Catawbas who were, to
all intents, another frontier garrison. They were the bitter enemies of the
Iroquois of New York and almost as hostile to their neighbors the Chero-
kees, who were of Iroquoian stock. From the South Carolina standpoint
their position was almost ideal, for invaders from the north must pass near
them. In 1729 they numbered, including the Waterees, about four hundred
warriors. Soon afterwards the Cheraws and some of the Peedees joined
them, but liquor, smallpox, the advance of South Carolina settlement and
the ceaseless attacks of the Iroquois thinned them in a single generation to
a beggarly band of four score that often depended on the charity of the
South Carolina government. The presence on the northern border of the
faithful and courageous warriors was itself more than recompense for these
doles, but the Catawbas further served the colony by coming down from
time to time to hunt negroes out of the swamps and were counted as part
of the available military force of the province.^
Two hundred miles from the Congarees and four hundred from Fort
Moore lay the country of the greater Indian nations of the southwest, and
the outermost circle of South Carolina interest. The three thousand war-
riors and the fifty or sixty towns of the Cherokee tribe were settled in four
divisions in the southern mountains. On the Keowee and other waters of
the Savannah River were the Lower Towns; across the Blue Ridge were
the Middle Settlements, the most important division, holding the upper
branches of the Little Tennessee; fifty miles below them were the Over-
hills, while farther west on the Hiwassee were the Valley Towns. The
Lower Towns were practically in the Carolina piedmont; the others were
reached only by passes through the lofty mountains that were dangerous
even for pack trains. The Cherokees were the most intelligent and civilized
of the southern tribes, but not the most warlike. They were dominated
by the Iroquois and bullied by other northern Indians. Their confederacy
was a very loose union over which an Overhills chief presided, but neither he
nor the headmen of the individual towns had any real control. From an
early date the South Carolinians considered the Cherokee country an open
door to their province, a threat to their safety second only to the slave prob-
lem. From the Mississippi valley the French could attack the Cherokees
with ease; with even greater facility the Cherokees could devastate South
28 JC, Mar. 19, 1731, May 26, Aug. 27, 1742, Aug. 17, 1743; JUHA, Mar. 20,
May 29, 1735, May 25, 29, 1742; JCHA, Apr. 18, 1733, Nov. 13, 1734, May 27,
1742; Stats., Ill, 142; below, pp. 73-74, 93.
2^ Mooney, Siouan Tribes, p. 73, James Adair, History of the American Indians
(London, 1775), pp. 223-224; below, p. 93; JC, Apr. 14, Dec. 14, 1743; JCHA,
Mar. 1, 1743, June 8, 1748, Nov. 25, 1755; PR, XX, 180, XXVIII, 352 (below, p.
26, n. 26, above, p. 5, n. 5); SCG, Aug. 9, 1760; JUHA, May 29, 1735, July 8,
1742.
14 The Expansion of South Carolina
Carolina, while a counter-attack across the mountain wall was all but im-
possible. For the present, however, the French were far away and the
Cherokees, dependent upon the Virginia and South Carolina trade, were
the least troublesome of the larger tribes.^**
The Creeks were about fifteen hundred warriors at this time. The
Lower Creeks (often called the Cowetas), the less numerous portion of the
tribe, had their towns on the Chattahoochee River. The Upper Creeks or
Coosas lived on the Alabama and its branches. The Creek position was
peculiar, for their lands touched those of the three white peoples of the
continent and those of three important red nations. They wisely chose to
be neutral where the whites were concerned, but played their part with
such boldness and success that they appeared as dictators rather than suitors.
The French had forts at Mobile and on the Alabama and Tombigbee
Rivers but were too weak to control the tribe, while the English were at
too great a distance. Furthermore the Creeks were rapidly increasing in
numbers — doubling in thirty years — and long before the Revolution were
spoiling for the great fight that did not come until 1812.^^
West of the Upper Creeks, in the east central part of the present state
of Mississippi, were the Choctaws, about five thousand men. They were
not great fighters, and hemmed in as they were by the French on the
Mississippi and the Gulf they could not maintain neutrality. But the
French were not able fully to supply them with goods, and the Carolina
merchants longed for their trade.^^
North of the Choctaws, between the branches of the Mississippi and the
Tombigbee, was the small tribe of the Chickasaws. They were the boldest
of the southern Indians, surpassing the Catawbas in courage and fighting
skill. Their position partly commanded the French line along the Missis-
sippi, and they used it for constant attacks upon passing cargoes and ex-
peditions. The French in turn, with their allies the Choctaws, made such
incessant attacks upon the hated Chickasaws as to reduce their fighting men
from about six hundred in 1730 to less than half that number twenty-five
years later. But in the face of annihilation they held to their beloved
ground and to the English alliance. The South Carolinians cherished
them for their invaluable service as they did the Catawbas, and the traders
loved the "cheerful brave Chikkasah" as they did no other tribe.^^
The alliances and enmities of these ten thousand southwestern warriors
^° Crane, Southern Frontier, pp. 130-131; Adair, American Indians, p. 227.
"whereas, the safety of this Province does, under God, depend on the friendship
of the Charokees to this Government" {Stats., Ill, 39) ; see also JCHA, Dec. IS,
1736.
^^JCHA, Mar. 6, 1734; Adair, American Indians, p. 259 (apparently on the
authority of Lachlan McGillivray — see p. 279).
^^Ibid., pp. 282-283; JCHA, Mar. 6, 1734.
^^ Adair, American Indians, pp. 3, n., 340-341, 352-358, and map; Swanton,
Creek Indians, pp. 417, 449; JCHA, July 23, 1740; JC, June 18, 1755; Indian
Books, III, 196-202.
The Background of Expansion 15
were a source of infinite perplexity to their English, French and Spanish
neighbors. Various factors helped to determine these relations, but all,
even the great question of available planting or hunting land, gave place
to the overmastering influence of the Indian trade. To the Indians, w^ho
had almost completely forgotten how to make hatchets, knives and bows,
the trade in arms, ammunition and blankets was a matter of life and death.
To the Charleston merchants the deerskins meant nearly a fourth of the
total exports of South Carolina, one of the most profitable but most haz-
ardous investments in the province.^*
The three hundred men known as Indian traders, the agents of the
merchants in getting these skins, were officially divided into two classes.^^
The principal trader was often a man of education and standing, attracted
to this dangerous business by love of adventure and hope of fortune, or
perhaps driven to the woods by threat of imprisonment for debt. These
men, whether solvent or not, made their arrangements with the Charleston
merchants, hired the many packhorsemen necessary — sometimes employing
other responsible traders — and maintained trading stores at Savannah
Town, Augusta, the Congarees, or Ninety Six. The term Indian trader,
however, was also applied to the hundreds of packhorsemen, whose stand-
ing in regard to the white community was nearer that of outcast than
exile. Illiterate, irresponsible, often fugitives from justice, and as a class
lacking in any sense of decency or morality, they were, more than any
others, objects of scorn and wrath to the orderly members of society. Yet
their reckless courage on other occasions, their skill and endurance, some-
times won for them well deserved tributes of admiration and gratitude.
The packhorseman was seldom prominent save by reason of his mis-
deeds, but the principal trader was more than the owner or manager of a
large commercial enterprise — he was the ambassador of the provincial
government to his particular Indian nation. He regularly corresponded
with the governor about the trade, the prevailing sentiment of the Indians,
and the schemes of the French. He was constantly charged by the provin-
cial government with diplomatic missions, some of them involving great
difficulty and danger. Self-interest and patriotism impelled him to the
faithful performance of these tasks, and British imperialism had no more
aggressive nor more ardent agent. The trader's life and goods were com-
pletely at the mercy of the Indians, and were likely to be forfeit for his
own misconduct or any blunder of his government. He was in turn pro-
tected by the Indians' fear of losing the trade, by the pressure of the
Charleston merchants on the government, and by his own more or less
permanent matrimonial connection with some Indian woman. When war
came it was the faithfulness of these women and their halfbreed children to
^ See Carroll, Collections, II, 237-238, Crane, Southern Frontier, p. 330.
25 PR, XVII, 412^21 (below, p. 187, n. 8); Crane, Southern Frontier, pp.
124—125. Adair, American Indians, pp. 412-415, describes the life of the principal
trader among the Indians.
16 The Expansion of South Carolina
which most of the traders, both employers and packhorsemen, owed their
lives.
The Spaniards sometimes complicated relations with the Indians, but
the real rivals of the Carolinians were the French. The crown, however,
refused to build forts in the Indian country, and the planter-controlled
Commons House cared to guard only the immediate entrances to the prov-
ince at Fort Moore and the Pallachuccolas. It was left therefore to the
governor and the council to push English interests in the southwest. In
this work they had the assistance of the Charleston merchants and of the
daring and astute traders, and above all the aid of the English woolens —
better, cheaper and more plentiful than those of the French. The very
isolation of the province was an advantage, for it made the Indians de-
pendent upon the Carolina merchants and traders.
An impartial observer of the province in 1729 might have doubted
whether the situation held more of promise or threat. For the planters
the possibilities of rice production in the abundant swamp lands were of?-
set by the slave problem, while easy financing of their industry was blocked
by the relentless opposition of the merchants and the crown to paper
money. For the merchant the returns from rice and slaves were con-
stantly threatened by paper money issues and the Indian trade menaced by
French interference, or the desire of the Commons to restrict rather than
defend it. Nor was it easy to appraise the political situation. The planters
controlled the government and their skill and vigor were beyond dispute ;
but the influence of the merchants on the governor was strong, and they had
the ear of the crown. Either party could completely block the government,
and such a deadlock had existed since 1727. It was high time for a gov-
ernor with a real program.
CHAPTER II
Governor Johnson's Township Scheme
In the same year that South Carolina passed to the crown Robert John-
son was appointed governor. It would have been hard to improve upon
this choice, for, aside from his abilities, Johnson's connections and record
were such as to give him prestige and inspire confidence. He was the son
of a former governor and had himself held that office from 1717 to 1719.
In the warfare with the pirates he had behaved with courage and decision,
and in the Revolution of 1719, despite the former ill treatment of him by
the Proprietors, he had done his full duty by them. Finally, as a Carolina
planter he was acceptable to the dominant group of the province. For
years he had been seeking his old office, and now at the age of forty-seven
he was ready to add new honors to an already successful career. He sold
his estate in England and cast his lot wholly with his people.^
Governor Johnson's name will always be associated with what he called
his "Township scheam" for the settlement of the South Carolina slave
problem. There were several sources upon which to draw for such a plan.
Both Proprietors and assembly had tried to increase the white population
by the occasional or indirect methods of encouragement characteristic of
the other colonies. The Proprietors in 1716 had vaguely promised the
Yamasee lands to settlers, and the assembly had accordingly passed an act
for settling that frontier with Protestants from Great Britain, Ireland, or
the American colonies. It offered three hundred acres to each free male of
military age, with fees paid, and the promise of exemption for four years
from taxes and from the regular purchase price of Proprietary lands. This
encouragement was published in Ireland and a number of Protestants came
over, but in 1718 the Proprietors repealed the act and the plan collapsed.
The acts for establishing settlements about the frontier forts have been
mentioned." The favorite measure of the Proprietary period, however,
was forced employment of indentured servants on the plantations, and in
1716, after the Yamasee war, an act was passed requiring planters to keep
one male white servant for each ten slaves, and providing aid for importing
them. This measure, though soon repealed, was in effect reenacted in
1 CSCHS, I, 250, SCG. May 10, 1735.
^CSCHS, I, 164, Stats., H, 641-646; PR, XVH, 125-126 (Affidavit of Andrew
Hogg, enclosed with Port Royal Petition, Oct. 23, 1734) ; above, p. 11. For other
colonies compare F. J. Turner, The Frontier in American History (New York,
1920), pp. 86-92; S. A. Ashe, History of North Carolina, I (Greensboro, 1908), p.
254.
17
18 The Expansion of South Carolina
1726. Another law in 1725 directed the planter to maintain a male white
servant to each two thousand acres of land. Later records indicate that
these measures were irregularly enforced, although there were many white
servants in the province.^
Another mode of encouraging settlement which found much favor was
the granting of large tracts of land to adventurers who would undertake
to import Protestants from Europe to settle upon them. These projects
were common after the Revolution of 1719, but could not be put into
effect because of failure to agree upon terms.* A plan of this sort for a
settlement of poor people from England between the Savannah and the
Altamaha finally evolved into the colony of Georgia. Other promoters re-
lied mainly on Switzers and Palatines, whom they hoped to turn from
the beaten track to Pennsylvania. In this group was the Swiss land agent.
Colonel Jean Pierre Purry, whose proposals antedated Johnson's settlement
scheme and had their part in its formation.^
Besides the South Carolina experiments and the proposals of the pro-
moters, there were other possible sources for a general settlement policy.
Francis Nicholson, governor of South Carolina from 1721 to 1724, was
governor of Virginia in 1701 when a frontier settlement plan was con-
ceived which bears a close resemblance to that later adopted for the south-
ern province. The New England town method of settlement was well
known, nor were there lacking New Englanders in South Carolina to ex-
plain its advantages. In a real sense, however, the forerunner of Johnson's
plan was the project of an earlier South Carolina leader. Colonel John
Barnwell. In 1720 and 1722, following the Yamasee conflict and the
War of the Spanish Succession, he had proposed the establishment of
forts on the Savannah and Altamaha Rivers, with townships to be settled
about them, for defense against the French, Spaniards and Indians.^ But
before this plan could be put into effect eight years had passed, eight
thousand new negroes had been set down in South Carolina, and it was
necessary for a planter governor to revise and elaborate the project to make
it fit a newer and now more pressing need.
It was a master stroke that evolved from these inherited materials the
plan which made peace between planter and merchant, financed settlement
^Stats., II, 646-649 (see also VII, 363), III, 14-15, 255-257, 272; VII, 363; see
SCG, Nov. 8, 1742, Jan. 14, 1764.
*See CSCHS, II, 123, 232-233; PR, XIII, 39, XIV, 12-13, 25-27 (Board of
Trade Journal, Sept. 10, 1728, June 11, Dec. 3, 1730), 48-53 (Thomas Lowndes to
Board, received Mar. 5, 1730). Compare Crane, Southern Frontier, pp. 281-
294.
5 See ibid., pp. 251, 294, 303-325; PR, XII, 190 (John Vat to crown, about
January 1727), 390 (Thomas Lowndes, Oct. 11, 1729, received Oct. 31, 1729).
" See Turner, Frontier, pp. 85-86, and the admirable treatment of the external
defense problem and the place of this plan in it in Crane, Southern Frontier,
pp. 228-234, 282-283.
The Background of Expansion 19
of townships from the sinking fund, and projected a ring of settlements
which were to strengthen the province against internal as well as external
dangers. In February 1730, at the instance of Governor Johnson, twenty-
one men signing themselves merchants of London laid before the Board of
Trade a memorial which, for merchants, exhibited a new and surprising
tenderness to problems that were really the planters' own/ The memorial
stated that the province was under a heavy debt from the Indian war and
from large yearly expenses for frontier defense, and that its exports were a
hundred thousand pounds sterling, although its currency was equal to only
fifteen thousand. Therefore they requested that the receipts from customs
reserved by the existing law for the retirement of the currency be ap-
propriated to furnishing tools and provisions for poor Protestant settlers.
Some of these merchants had plantations in the province, but even with
their champions thus compromised the affair was a signal victory for the
planters. The memorial was followed by Governor Johnson's "Scheem . . .
for Settling Townships", which was given to the Board March 7th and
further explained later. The governor proposed that the crown grant ten
townships on the frontier of twenty thousand acres each. The settlers in
them should have lots in the town and lands in the township. There
should be extra lots for churches and schools, and when the population of
any township reached a hundred householders, it should send one or two
members to the assembly.^
In June 1730 the Board completed the one hundred and twenty-four
articles of Johnson's instructions, including sections which made a com-
plete land and settlement system as far as the crown could provide it. The
twentieth instruction authorized the governor to assent to the suspension of
the act of 1724 for retiring the currency, and to the application of the duties
for seven years "to the charge of Surveying and laying out Townships, &
to the purchasing of Tools, provisions and other necessaries for any poor
Protestants that shall be desirous to settle in Our Said Province." This
was on the condition, however, that the suspending clause be a part of "an
effectual Law" for registering grants and regulating quit rents. The
forty-second instruction directed the governor to urge the assembly to enact
a law for annulling excessive grants of land which remained uncultivated,
^PR, XIV, 32-33 (Representation to Board, received Feb. 4, 1730), XVII, 333-
335 (William Wood, received by Board July 3, 1735). July 28, 1729, Governor Bur-
rington of North Carolina befriended his neighbors by stating to the Board his
opinion that the expenses of their government had been four times as great
as those of any other continental colony, and that they must be allowed to sink
their currency by degrees (PR, XIII, 373). See also Johnson's letter of Dec. 19,
1729 to the Board (pp. 421-426).
«PR, XIII, 339-342 (Stephen Godin to Board, July 25, 1729), XIV, 54-60,
71-74, 89-91 (Johnson to Board, received Mar. 7, 18, Apr. 30, 1730). Note error
on p. 60 corrected by Wallace, History of S. C, I, 334. Johnson proposed that the
funds be devoted to "paying the passage and buying of Provisions and tools for
poor protestant people that will go over. . . ." (PR, XIV, 57).
20 The Expansion of South Carolina
and ordered him to give no more than fifty acres for each person, white or
black, in the grantee's household. No grant might have a river front of
more than one-fourth its depth.^
The preamble to the forty-third instruction recited the proved success
of townships in the settlement of New England. Johnson was directed to
lay out eleven of them "on the Banks of Rivers at Sixty Miles distance
from Charles Town": two each on the Altamaha, Savannah, and Santee,
and one each on the Pon Pon, Wateree, Black, Peedee and Waccamaw.
Each grantee was to have a lot and for each head in his family was to
receive fifty acres in the township. The instruction further reserved the
land within six miles of the township for the future use of the inhabitants.
The forty-fourth directed that each township be later erected into a parish ;
when the parish with the six mile reservation had one hundred house-
holders it should send two members to the assembly. The forty-fifth re-
served three hundred acres near the town for a common. The forty-sixth,
after referring to the need for whites, ordered the governor to "recommend
in the Strongest Terms to the Assembly" encouragement for white servants,
and offered them, when their terms expired, the full grant of land and ten
years' exemption from quit rents. The forty-seventh extended this ex-
emption to the township settlers.
By providing for two townships on the Altamaha, far beyond the
present area of Carolina settlement, the crown was extending the frontier
into the land claimed by Spain, and toward the French territories. Had
this instruction stood, and had the territory not been alienated from South
Carolina an interesting process in frontier defense might have been de-
veloped. Instead, the two Altamaha townships were taken for a new
colony designed to protect the Carolina rice plantations as well as to be an
outpost of the British empire. To prevent the recurrence of the South
Carolina problems on this new frontier slavery was prohibited by the
Georgia Trustees and landholdings were limited to five hundred acres,
with provision for descent in the male line. But these peculiar devices
kept whites out of the colony almost as effectively as they did negroes, and
to maintain the outpost Parliament spent a hundred and thirty thousand
pounds in twenty years. ^° It is as interesting as it is idle to reflect on the
possible results of extension of settlement to the Altamaha under the South
Carolina government ; a subsidy of half that amount from Parliament
^ PR, XIV, 147-214 (Instructions to Johnson; in 1755 the instruction for
granting land was changed to allow 100 acres to the head of the family — XXVI,
315, instructions to Lyttelton). The instructions for encouragement of settlers,
and the provincial acts putting them in effect did not preclude giving aid to im-
migrants from other American colonies, but Johnson had specified Protestants from
Europe (XIV, 57), and it is clear that this was likewise the intention of the crown
and of the assembly.
^° Crane, Southern Frontier, p. 294, C. C. Jones, Jr., History of Georgia (2 vols.,
Boston, 1883), I, 106-112, Osgood, Colonics in the Eighteenth Century, III, 46,
54-64.
The Background of Expansion 21
would have provided for frontier forts and garrisons and larger aid and
adequate protection for tovi^nship settlers. The British government would
thus have strengthened its southern frontier by utilizing and directing the
economic forces of the time instead of flying in their face.
With the completion of Johnson's instructions the chief work of the
imperial government was done, and the program went with the governor
to South Carolina to be enacted into law and administered. Johnson ar-
rived in Charleston in December 1730 and called the assembly to meet in
January. The provincial debts had remained unpaid for four years, and
no taxes except customs duties had been collected since 1727. The back
claims were £15,000 and the needs of the current year amounted to about
£4,000 more. The latter sum was provided for by a tax on land and
negroes; for the former there was available in the treasury nearly £6,000,
the accumulation from the duty law.^^
To pay the remaining £9,000 without a further tax upon a people who
had recently endured a prolonged period of distress, the assembly, in equal
disregard of the instructions of the crown and the larger interests of the
province, invaded the settlement fund. The instructions to the governor
allowed the suspension of the act of 1724 on the condition that the entire
fund for retiring the currency be applied to settlement. "The appropria-
tion law", as it came to be known, estimated the annual receipts from the
duty act at £1,857, £1,214 of it from negroes imported. The £9,000 of
the provincial debt was paid in orders bearing interest at five percent, and
for the retirement of these the negro duty was pledged for seven years.
The remainder of the customs receipts was appropriated to the laying off of
townships, paying the passage of poor Protestants, and buying provisions
and tools for them.^^ The other pressing problem of the day, the question
of land titles under the Proprietary grants, was attacked in the quit rent
law. In this act the assembly, after providing an inadequate system for
collection of the rents, boldly legalized these titles provided that some part
of the land had been, or should be in two j-ears, surveyed by a sworn
surveyor. The clauses of the appropriation bill for suspending the sinking
fund act and for the appropriation of duties were tacked on to this bill.^^
The wisdom of this procedure was doubtful in the extreme. It unduly
aided the land speculators and threatened to cripple the settlement fund ;
it must inevitably offend the Board of Trade, which had advised the con-
cession so needed by the province, and strengthen the position of those
"JC, Dec. 17, 1730; PR, XIV, 220-222 (Alexander Cuming's Memorial to
Newcastle, July 11, 1730), XV, 37 (Johnson to Board, Nov. 14, 1731); Stats., Ill,
308-317, 334.
'^~ Stats., Ill, 334-341. The duty was 11:8^ on negroes over 10 years of age,
and half that amount for children under 10 {ibid., p. 160). Note that according to
the preamble only £643 would be available for settlement purposes. The estimate
in the quit rent act is £714 (ibid., p. 301).
^^ Stats., Ill, 289-304, B. W. Bond, Jr., Quit Rent System in the American
Colonies (New Haven, 1919), pp. 318-326.
22 The Expansion of South Carolina
interests, both colonial and British, which were utterly opposed to paper
money and to taxes on importations of negroes. However, those holding
Proprietary grants were entitled to some consideration ; the crown, by im-
posing the very heavy quit rent of four shillings proclamation money per
hundred acres instead of the former one shilling, put strong pressure upon
the colony to evade this burden ; and a planter assembly was prone to be
generous with public land. On the 20th of August Governor Johnson as-
sented to both laws, and they were laid on the knees of the home govern-
ment.
The Board of Trade recommended the repeal of both the quit rent and
appropriation laws, but Peregrine Furye, the provincial agent, and Francis
Yonge, a member of the council who was at that time in London, defended
them with skill and address. Yonge advised the approval of the quit rent
law lest the assembly pass a worse one. Furye showed that the Bristol
and London slave merchants who were urging repeal of the appropriation
law were aiming at repeal of the negro duties rather than application of
them to settlement, and at retirement of all of the currency, which would
ruin the province. On April 9, 1734, the governor, council and Commons
House completed an elaborate representation to the king on the state of the
province, which dwelt eloquently on the danger from the French, Spanish
and slaves." This was shrewd playing on British imperial fears, for the
crown could ill afford to weaken or antagonize its bulwark against French
aggression in the southwest. The quit rent law was finally allowed to
stand, and in 1735, when the appropriation law had nearly run its course,
the Board of Trade proposed a new instruction to Johnson to secure a law
assigning the whole negro duty to settlement — a measure already adopted
by the assembly a month before.^^
Meanwhile in the province the settlement fund, having run the gaunt-
let of the legislature, was sustaining with almost equal damage the as-
saults of colonial officialdom. The first serious difficulty arose over the
fees for surveying the townships. The logical one to do this work was
Surveyor-General James St. John, appointed by the crown in March 1731.
i*PR, XV, 239-246 (Treasury Board to Board and Board to crown, Oct. 6,
Nov. 1, 1732), XVI, 228, 230 (Board of Trade Journal, Feb. 20, Mar. 22, 1734),
366-386 (Council Committee to Board, July 23, 1734 and enclosures), XVII,
32-77 (William Wood et al, to Board, Sept. 10, 1734), 196-231 (Peregrine
Furye to Board, Dec. 3, 1734), 262-266 (Board of Trade Journal, June 24, July
3, 4, 1735), 286-295 (Francis Yonge to Board, Feb. 18, 1734), 300-301 (Furye and
Yonge to Board, Mar. 8, 1735). Furye declared that: "such was the Scarcity
and necessity of Paper Currency in Carolina that several Merchants there issued
no less than 50,000 in Notes depending on their own private Creditt bearing
an Interest at 10 p Cent . . . which notes they stamped with the Emblems of
Liberty charity mercy and Justice and yet they complain against the Publick for
makeing and issuing orders on a Fund and bearing" five percent interest
(XVII, 212). For the representation see PR, XVI, 388-401 or JCHA, Mar. 6, 1734.
i^PR, XVII, 266-267 (above, n. 14), 347-349 (Board to Council Committee,
July 11, 1735), 372-373 (William Wood to Board, Sept. 3, 1735), 388-389 (Order
in Council, Oct. 13, 1735) ; Stats., Ill, 409^11.
The Background of Expansion 23
However, his large though vague designs upon the township fund led him
to reject the offer of the governor and council of seventy-one pounds for
surveying the lines of each township, even though this would have left
intact the fees for each settler's tract as it came to be surveyed. Members
of the council were thereupon assigned to the task, and by November 1732
six of the townships had been "laid out", although the failure of some of
the councillors to mark the line circumscribing the reserved areas made it
easy for outsiders to encroach upon them.^^
But the real enemy of St. John was the Commons, which had so
phrased the quit rent law as to make inroads upon his fees. Furthermore,
after a committee report that he was collecting the fees twice on the same
survey, an act was passed strictly regulating his ofEce. In turn St. John
made what trouble he could for his accusers, and in this he was aided by
one with far more brains than he — Benjamin Whitaker, later chief justice,
conspicious for his legal attainments and capacity for public service.
Recently ousted from the office of attorney-general, he just now filled no
higher post than that of deputy surveyor-general, and for his partisan at-
tacks in some measure deserved Johnson's sour characterization of him as
"the Craftsman amongst us". In separate letters to the officials of the
home government and in representations to Johnson himself St. John and
Whitaker charged the governor and the assembly with being the principals
in a huge land grab.^^ They declared the governor had interpreted his in-
structions to grant no more than fifty acres per head as allowing him to
give the planters fifty acres for every slave they had, regardless of the
amount of land they already held.^^ The quit rent act had added to estates
already too large for the owners to cultivate.
Governor Johnson hotly refuted the charges made against him, and
another investigation resulted in imprisonment by the House of some of
St. John's deputies for making surveys in violation of the quit rent act, and
in his own arrest for insulting remarks about the Commons. After various
petitions and court hearings all were released save the arch-offender, St.
John. His complaints reached the Board of Trade which severely criti-
cised the House and instructed Johnson to do what he could to secure the
surveyor-general's release. But St. John after being under arrest for three
months had petitioned the Commons for his freedom and had been granted
it, with a reprimand and a warning that "this House expects that you'l
offer to them no such future indignity." He held his office for ten years
^^PR, XV, 198-202 (Memorial of St. John, received by Board Sept. 6, 1732,
and enclosures) ; JC, Nov. 18, 19, 1731, Mar. 10, Nov. 9, 1732.
" JCHA, Jan. 26, 1732; Stats., Ill, 343-347; PR, XV, 163-165 (Observations of
St. John, to Board, received Sept. 6, 1732), 219-222 (Benjamin Whitaker to
Johnson, Sept. 21, 1732), 264 (Johnson to Newcastle, Dec. 15, 1732), JC, Nov. 10,
1732. For the later status of the surveying fees see JCHA, Apr. 7, 1759.
^* St. John's successor in 1743 repeated this charge; he also declared that
St. John's fees at the time were a thousand pounds a year (PR, XXI, 174 — George
Hunter to the Board, Oct. 31, 1743).
24 The Expansion of South Carolina
more, but appears to have offered the strong-willed Commons neither in-
... * * 19
dignity nor opposition.
These charges and counter-charges were incidents in a spectacular in-
crease in the holdings of land and slaves in the South Carolina tidewater.
By 1738 a million acres had been put on the tax books. From 1729 to
1732 there were imported 5,153 slaves, and in the next four years 10,447
more. "Neffroes may be said to be the Bait proper for catching a Carolina
Planter, as certain as Beef to catch a Shark," noted a native critic on ob-
serving the ominous figures which marked the undoing of the white settle-
ment plan almost before it could get under way. Judged by standards of
eighteenth century economy this expansion of slave and land holdings was
in part a normal increase in a young and vigorous commonwealth — witness
Lieutenant-Governor Bull's statement in 1738 that the colony sent an-
nually to Great Britain products amounting to near £150,000, employing
over two hundred vessels. It was in part, however, a speculation which
far overestimated the immediate possibilities of the rice industry.^"
St. John and Whitaker declared Johnson had by September 1732 issued
warrants for 600,000 acres of land; on warrants apparently issued before
that time there were surveyed in 1731 and 1732 about 300,000 acres, a
fifth of the amount in tracts larger than 2,000 acres."^ The slave importa-
tion since the acquisition of the province by the crown would have provided
headrights for four-fifths of the amount of the surveys. If the headrights
of these slaves and of the considerable number of white immigrants to the
coast country were used in 1731 and 1732, the land taken up under Pro-
prietary and other irregular warrants or surveys was no great proportion
of the total acquired during the 'thirties. Most of the surveys were in
tracts which made ordinary plantation units, or convenient additions to
existing plantations. Whatever the method used for distributing this tide-
water land the result must have been the same for the province as a whole.
There was scant room in the industry or climate of the tidewater area for
small farmers.
Governor Johnson's death in May 1735 brought to a sudden end the
most popular and most successful of the royal administrations. His was
the chief part in making and maintaining that peace between crown and
assembly, between merchant and planter, which restored the government
to efficiency and, in some measure, the province to prosperity. The town-
"PR, XV, 267-268 (Johnson to Hutcheson, Dec. 21, 1732), XVII, 185-189
(from Johnson's letter— pp. 174-193— to Board, Nov. 9, 1734), XVI, 146 (Board to
Johnson, June 7, 1733), 202-212 (Council Committee to Board, Dec. 6, 1733), XXI,
153 (William Bull to Newcastle, May 6, 1743); JC, Apr. 28, 1733; JCHA, Feb. 3,
9, 10, May 9, 10, June 7, 1733. See Bond, Quit Rent System, pp. 322-326, Wallace,
History of S. C, I, 325-329; Smith, S. C. as a Royal Province, pp. 34-48, for
different interpretations of this controversy.
-'^SCG, Apr. 2, 1737, Mar. 9, 1738; PR, XIX, 119 (Bull to Board, May 25,
1738), XXIV, 314 (Governor James Glen, received by Board Aug. 10, 1751).
21 PR, XV, 219-222 (above, n. 17) ; see also vols. I and II of Plats.
The Background of Expansion 25
ship scheme, a vital part of the process of white settlement that was to
transform South Carolina, he had originated and started fairly on its way.
Himself one of the planters, he had, from appreciation of their needs and
problems or from political necessity, acted as their friend rather than as
champion of the merchant and the crown. Very well might the assembly,
representing the grieving province, appropriate a hundred and eleven
pounds for a tablet to him in St. Philip's Church "as a mark of peculiar
esteem and gratitude".^^
During Johnson's administration there was little to mar relations be-
tween the executive and the Commons. Early in 1735, however, the settle-
ment fund faced a deficit, and as the Commons moved to tardy repair of
the damage it had done in 1731 by diversion of the negro duty to pay off
the provincial debt, the situation was complicated by the demands of the
attorney-general and the secretary for their fees on the lands granted to the
settlers. The House now appropriated the whole negro duty to settlement,
but considering the fees excessive so worded the act as to restrict their
payment to the proceeds of other duties; a tax was laid to retire the remain-
ing bills of 1731. In the course of an intermittent contest of four years
the executive made good its claim to authority to order payments — includ-
ing those for officers' fees — out of any part of the settlement fund, while
the House made the further concession of sending all its orders to the
executive for concurrence.^^
The proportion of the fee charges to the total is indicated by a com-
mittee report covering the period from May 1745 to January 1750. Dur-
ing this time 579 new settlers got £1,632 in bounties of tools and provi-
sions, and £551 in indirect aids — payments for defense, salaries to ministers,
and the like. The public officers received £778 in fees and commissions,
the most deserving of them, the deputy surveyors who surveyed the lands,
getting less than a fifth of the amount."*
The ten townships founded under Governor Johnson's program be-
tween 1733 and 1759 went through three stages of development: an initial
period of rapid settlement under the active encouragement of the provincial
government, ten years of slow growth during which the government con-
tinued its policy of liberal aids, and finally a decade of renewed expansion
as immigrants from Europe and the north came in larger numbers than at
any time before.
Throughout the second of these periods the settlement policy of the
province was undergoing a slow and painful transformation. In March
^^ Stats., Ill, 448, Year Book, Charleston, 1880, p. 270.
22 JUHA. Feb. 13, Mar. 26, Apr. 25, 1735, Oct. 8, 1737; JCHA, Feb. 15, Mar. 6,
1735, Dec. 3, 1736, Jan. 11, Feb. 1, 10, Mar. 4, 1737, Feb. 4, Mar. 6, 11, 23, 1738; JC,
Aug. 19, 1735, Dec. 14, 1738, Feb. 9, 1739; Stats., Ill, 409^11, 414-423; PR, XIX,
259 (John Hammerton, received by Board Aug. 19, 1738).
-*JCHA, Jan. 31, 1750. For the fees see Stats., II, 144-148, III, 343-347, 415-
421. See also JC, May 14, 1752, JCHA, Apr. 7, 1759, May 8, 9, 1760.
26 The Expansion of South Carolina
1737 Lieutenant-Governor Broughton announced in the South Carolina
Gazette that the settlement fund was insufficient for the demands upon it,
and that the act creating it would soon expire. He therefore warned
future comers not to expect the bounty. The chief sin of the provincial
government against the township program was thus visited upon the
province. The non-resident grants in Purrysburg and Williamsburg did
not prevent those townships serving their purpose, but for lack of a thou-
sand pounds of the money diverted to the sinking of the 1731 orders the
movement of the poor Protestants from Europe had to be momentarily dis-
couraged. Immigration from Europe fell off sharply, and though money
for the bounty again became available, few Germans and no Scotch-Irish
came until after 1748. There were several reasons for this decline besides
Broughton's proclamation. A reaction after the high hopes for ventures
like that of Purry was inevitable. The quarrels of the settlers at Purrys-
burg and Williamsburg with the colonial government must likewise have
been bad advertising for the province, while the sickness that Purrysburg
and New Windsor suffered was warning of the trial which the immigrant
from a cooler climate to the low country must expect. Finally the renewal
of hostilities in Europe — England's wars first with Spain and then with
France — made the sea unsafe for immigrant ships."^
The settlement of Georgia intensified the feud between the English and
Spanish on the southern frontier. In 1738 the governor at St. Augustine
published the order of the Spanish crown that all slaves coming from the
English colonies should be freed and protected. Parties of slaves fled from
South Carolina, one body of twenty-four escaping from Port Royal. They
were received at St. Augustine and employed for wages. In September
1739 about fifty negroes rose at Stono, twenty miles below Charleston,
armed themselves from a store, killed twenty-one whites, and began their
march southward. Their leisurely progress enabled the militia to overtake
them and nearly all were killed or executed. There was smallpox and an
"Epidemical Fever" to plague the province in 1738 and 1739, and a de-
structive fire in Charleston in 1740.^®
In October 1739 war between England and Spain was declared which
in 1744 widened into the War of the Austrian Succession. Already in
1742 the assembly had petitioned the crown for three companies of troops
of a hundred men each, which were needed to garrison two forts on the
coast and two on the frontier. The petition was granted, but the first of
the troops did not arrive until January 1746 and a later report of a Com-
2^ PR, XIX, 54 (Sebastian Zouberbuhler to Board, Mar. 14, 1738); see below,
pp. 36, 67, 81-82; JC, Jan. 26, 1743, Mar. 25, 1745.
^^CSCHS, IV, 17-18; JUHA, Jan. 18, 1739; JCHA, Jan. 18, 19, 1739; PR, XX,
179-183, 192 (Bull to Board, Oct. 5, Nov. 20, 1739), 326-330 (Petition of South
Carolina council and House to king, Nov. 21, 1740). Two other slave plots were
discovered shortly afterwards (PR, XX, 300-301 — Representation, enclosed with
letter of Bull July 28, 1740).
The Background of Expansion
27
mons committee declared that most of them were raised in the province
and therefore made "no augmentation of men or strength". The rice in-
dustry, depressed by the low price which had resulted from overproduction,
was burdened anew by high freights and insurance.^^ The climax of this
series of misfortunes, however, was the Stono insurrection. The report
of a committee of the Commons House in 1741 expressed the feeling of
the planters who had so energetically conferred on the savage Africans
and themselves the dubious blessings of American negro slavery: "With
Regret we bewailed our peculiar case that we could not Enjoy the Benefits
of peace like the Rest of mankind, and that our Industry Should be the
means of taking from us all the Sweets of life and of Rendering us Liable
to the Loss of our Lives and Fortunes." ^^
The regular session of the assembly began soon after the insurrection
and with it an eager effort to abate the negro problem. The danger was
too pressing to allow dependence on the now small bounty immigration
alone; furthermore most of the townships were at a considerable distance
from the districts of heaviest slave population. The committee on methods
of defense therefore felt it necessary to resort to the unpopular plan of
forcing the planters to employ white servants on their plantations; for "by
the late unhappy accident at Stono it appears to be absolutely necessary to
get a Sufficient number of white Persons into this Province". Its pro-
posed bill to increase the number of white men required on plantations by
the law of 1726 was rejected by the council,^ but the two houses were a
unit on the restriction of slave importation. The general duty law of 1731
was now, in April 1740, reenacted with few changes save in the rate on
slaves which was set at a little more than fourteen pounds for those four
feet two inches or more in height. This duty which was to go into effect in
fifteen months and to last three years was so high that it constituted a
prohibition. Before and after the three year period the duty was to be one
2^ PR, XX, 577-579 (Petition of assembly to crown, June 3, 1742), 598-611
(Representation of lieutenant-governor and council, Sept. 3, 1742) ; JCHA, June 2,
1742, Jan. 23, 1746, Feb. 10, 11, 1747. On the suggestion of the crown, when these
companies were discharged in the summer of 1749, the governor and council offered
the men land with fees paid from the township fund, and for those who had en-
listed outside the province half the regular bounty (JC, June 16, July 4, Aug. 2,
1749). A score of South Carolinians and about thirty outsiders took advantage of
this offer, two-thirds of the warrants being for land in the middle country. The
export of rice in 1740 was about 90,000 barrels, and the average 1740-1745 about
100,000 (Carroll, Collections, I, 343, PR, XXI, 403— below, n. 33); see also
SCG, Oct. 8, 1744 (letter of Agricola), PR, XXII, 115-123 (Furye and John Fen-
wicke to Board, Nov. 21, 1745), 273-275 (Glen to Board, Apr. 28, 1747).
^* CSCHS, II, 19. Compare Lieutenant-Governor Broughton's statement in
1737: "our Negroes are very numerous and more dreadful to our Safety, than any
Spanish Invaders" (PR, XVIII, 172-173— to Newcastle, Feb. 6, 1737).
2^ JCHA, Nov. 10, 1739. Henrv McCulloh, the speculator in North Carolina
lands {Col. Recs. of N. C, V, 779-780, VII, 13-14), declared that its failure was
due to the landholdings of the council (PR, XX, 424-425 — enclosure by McCulloh
with letter to Board, Nov. 12, 1741; Bond, Quit Rent System, pp. 396-397).
^vl^
28 The Expansion of South Carolina
tenth of that amount.^" This act, evidently in view of the small immigra-
tion, gave only two-thirds of the negro duty to township settlement, but
made generous allowances — transportation from Charleston, tools, pro-
visions for a year, and a cow and a calf for each five settlers. The act was
continued in 1746 for five years more, but until the end of the war in 1748
there was no great income of either money or settlers.^'^
The weakness of the tidewater plantations caused the Commons for
several years to seek some means of strengthening them. An act of 1742
offered exemption from jury duty and all provincial taxes exceeding twenty-
nine shillings to all free white Protestant men residing in towns or villages
situated at the passes or ferries over rivers. The measure was continued in
1752 for six years, but then lapsed with no perceptible results. In 1743 a
House committee renewed the proposal to increase the required number of
servants on plantations, and recommended that training of negroes for
trades in which white men were usually employed be forbidden. Nothing
came of this nor of a more elaborate plan the next year for the purchase of
twenty-acre tracts between the Santee and Savannah not more than thirty
miles from the sea nor twenty from a parish church. On these tracts a
hundred white families a year should be settled, with much smaller bounties
than those allowed to township settlers, and forbidden to sell their lands.
The probable expense alone — about fourteen hundred pounds a year which
would have to be met in part by direct taxes — made this scheme im-
practicable.^"
The bounties on agricultural products offered during this decade were
^° Stats., Ill, 556-568; half and one-fourth the full duties were charged on the
smaller negroes — see PR, XXIII, 369-370 (from Glen's Answers, enclosed with his
letter to Board, July 19, 1749). The act of 1731 {Stats., Ill, 340-341) by its own
wording should have expired automatically June 7, 1739; no continuing act has been
found. The bounty act expired in August 1738 (see p. 26, above) ; it was evidently
continued, however {Stats., Ill, 562) ; the duties on slaves and other imports were
collected without any break (Treasurer's Ledgers, MS, 1735-1748).
^^ Stats., Ill, 670. This encouragement as administered by the governor and
council in 1743 came to the following: for immigrants over 12 years of age, 300
lbs. of beef, 50 of pork, 200 of rice, 8 bushels of corn, 1 bushel of salt; to all under
12, half these quantities; to each man an axe, broad hoe, and narrow hoe; to
every five persons, 1 cow and calf, 1 sow; to each servant, at the end of his term,
the same bounty (JC, Apr. 2, 1743). The assembly was no longer bound by any
instruction in its disposition of income from duties, as the crown considered that
the condition imposed when the sinking fund of 1724 was suspended had been
satisfied by the legislation of 1731 and 1735 (PR, XIX, 224 — Board to crown,
July 13, 1738).
^^ Stats., Ill, 591, 775; Letter ... to a Member of Assembly, SCG, Mar. 28,
1743; JCHA, Mar. 23, 30, Apr. 1, 1743, Jan. 25, Mar. 1, 6, 1744. Compare the
restrictions imposed on the Georgia settlers — above, p. 20. An act to allow holders
of uncultivated lands to surrender them, and thus to be relieved of quit rents — an
aftermath of the failure of the speculation of the 'thirties — was vetoed by the
crown. The total amount of land on the provincial treasurer's books, however,
declined from 2,349,129 acres in 1742 to 2,057,457 in 1748. See Stats., Ill, 636, PR,
XXI, 346-347 (Benjamin Whitaker, Observations, enclosed with his letter to
Board, June 25, 1744), XXIV, 314 (Glen to Board, received Aug. 10, 1751),
Bond, Quit Rent System, pp. 334-341.
The Background of Expansion 29
to aid the recovery of the depressed plantation system as well as to en-
courage small farmers. In 1741 the assembly renewed the bounty on hemp
and silk given in 1736. Three years later it increased both, and added
bounties on wine, flax, indigo, cotton, and flour sold in Charleston made
from wheat raised in the province. "A pretty large quantity of Indigo"
was made in this year, and the production rose so rapidly that the assembly
in 1746 hastily repealed the bounty on the new staple.^^
The return of peace in 1748 brought better times for the province, and , /
with it more slaves and a renewal of the bounty immigration. The speedy
exhaustion of the township fund brought about a careful reconsideration
of settlement policy. Again the House played with the idea of land pur- >
chase and settlement in the parishes, and for the first time showed op- -_
position to Germans as settlers by ordering the agent of the province in
England to do his utmost to prevent the immigration of more than a thou- \
sand foreign Protestants a year. The act of 1751 appropriated three-
fifths of the negro duties to settling foreign Protestants, or Protestants
from the British dominions who should present certificates of good char-
acter from ministers or corporations. For five years the bounty was to be
paid only to those settling between the Santee and the Savannah, within
forty miles of the coast. For the first three of the five years four pounds
ten shillings should be paid to all from thirteen to forty-nine years of age,
and half that amount to those from three to twelve. For the next two
years of the term these amounts were to be reduced by a third, and at the
end of that time two-thirds of the remainder should be paid to those set-
tling anywhere in the province. The act was to run for ten years. A re-
newed contest between House and council over the fees, which the
Commons thought excessive, resulted in assignment by the act of a fifth of
the negro duties to that purpose.^*
In October 1752 the prospect of the arrival of fifteen hundred Ger- ~^
mans caused a hasty revision of the law. The governor asked the Com-
mons to omit the restriction of settlers to the limits stated, on the ground
that there was not enough land for them. This was promptly done, but,
evidently appalled by the number of aliens coming into the province, the
House took steps to divert the entire three-fifths of the duties, after the
incoming horde should have been settled, to settlers from Great Britain and
Ireland. However, on the protest of the council against this frank attempt
^^ Stats., Ill, 587, 613-616, 671; PR, XXI, 403^04, XXII, 100 (Governor James
Glen to Board, Sept. 22, 1744, May 28, 1745).
2*JCHA, Nov. 23, 1749, Jan. 30, 31, Feb. 7, Mar. 16, 17, 1750, June 6, 7, 12, 14,
1751; Stats., Ill, 739-751. The remaining fifth of the duty was appropriated as a
bounty for ship building. It was later diverted to other uses (Stats., IV, 10-12).
No attempt was made by the governor and council to draw fees from the three-
fifths appropriated for the settlers (JC, Apr. 4, 1757, May 30, 1758). See letter of
"D.C." (SCG, Dec. 4, 1749) reporting discussion of settlement measures by a
Charleston club, and SCG, Nov. 7, 1754 (letter to Timothy) for evidence of interest
in settlement measures.
<,
30 The Expansion of South Carolina
to draw population from the mother country, the Commons adopted a
less drastic change. The act of October 1752 prescribed no place of set-
tlement; the bounty was to be paid in tools and provisions, and a reduction
of one-sixth was offset by provision for a cow and calf for each five persons.
This rate was to continue only four months, and thereafter half the amount
was to be paid.^*^
The settlement fund for its first five years amounted to about £3,500.
From that time to 1741, when the importation of slaves became negligible,
the receipts from negro duties totalled about £17,000. Only about £2,200
was received by the township fund during the next decade, but between
1752 and 1759 nearly £18,000 was realized from the four-fifths of the
negro duty, and by the end of 1765 £18,500 more, a total of £60,000.'*^
The aid to settlement thus given had no counterpart in any other English
continental colony.
In the tangled history of these years of encouragement to settlers,
with the ups and downs that came from indifference, selfishness and short-
sightedness of officials and representatives, one discerns that neither war
nor pestilence, prosperity nor hard times, long blinded the provincial
leaders to the fact that the essential problem of South Carolina was the
negro problem, and that the only available remedy was white settlement.
35 Below, p. 151; JCHA, Sept. 27, 28, Oct. 5, 1752; JUHA, Oct. 5, 1752; Stats..
Ill, 781-782; PR, XXV, 107-108 (Glen to Board, Dec. 16, 1752).
36 Treasury Ledger B, 1735-1773; JCHA, May 23, 1747, May 10, 1748, Jan.
31, 1750, June 4, 1760, June 16, 1761; below pp. 243-244. The exemptions from
quit rents and provincial taxes, generally for ten years, in effect increased the
township fund by several thousand pounds — see Stats., Ill, 439, 473, 527-528, IV,
54, 129, 190; JCHA, Nov. 23, 1750.
THE SETTLEMENT OF THE MIDDLE
COUNTRY— THE WESTERN TOWNSHIPS
6<x
sex
if*
If
VS'^^'
tK^^
-li
^-^&S'-'-
Aii^ttsta
Ebe
nac^
Txexdi
Gck yi
3u.r
'^
Map 2.
The Western Townships
The Settlement of the Middle Country — the
Western Townships
The townships marked off under Governor Johnson's scheme roughly
embraced the middle country, the wide region that stretched from the tide-
water to the fall line. It was the portion of the colony least desired by
eighteenth century settlers, having neither the advantages of position
enjoyed by the tidewater, nor the more healthful climate of the piedmont.
Into this region colonial policy now directed the newcomers whom it
coaxed from Europe, and thereby established settlements which in turn
offered attractions to settlers from the coast and from the more northern
colonies. As these small and uncertain streams of population converged at
one point or another in the middle country, communities were founded
which partook in their nature of the characteristics of the others spread
along the southern pineland, but because of varying racial mixtures, and
circumstances of settlement or early development, each was stamped with
some difference from its neighbors which two centuries have not obliterated.
In November 1732 a party of Switzers landed in Charleston, and at
nearly the same time there arrived a number of Scots from northern Ire-
land. As soon as practicable both were sent to their appointed task of
guarding the tidewater and settling the coastal plain behind it. The Switz-
ers were sent to the frontier southwest of the Santee, doubtless because it
was thought that they, as aliens to the tongue of their neighbors, would
cling to each other and make a more compact settlement. The Scots were
sent, perhaps by their own choice, to the thinly settled but less exposed
district north of the Santee. The provincial government continued to
direct the foreigners to the west and northwest, while the north side of the
Santee attracted other Scots for fifteen years, and proved most convenient
for British settlers who came from the northern colonies. Thus there was
brought about from the beginning a distinct difference in blood of the
eastern and western portions of the middle country.
CHAPTER III
PURRYSBURG
In 1724 the Proprietors, with the approval of the crown, had agreed
with Jean Pierre Purry of Neufchatel, Switzerland, to transport six hun-
dred persons to South Carolina and to grant him twenty-four thousand
acres of land. The Proprietors were unable to do their part, and the
project collapsed, although twenty-four Swiss were said to have gone to the
province. In 1730 Purry applied to the crown and offered to procure six
hundred Switzers within six years for settlement in South Carolina; in
return he asked twelve thousand acres for himself free of quit rents. He
evidently expected to make his expenses and profit by sale of this land.
Governor Johnson and the Board of Trade recommended that his petition
be granted on condition that the Swiss settle in a township. The crown,
however, ordered that he have forty-eight thousand acres on completion of
his enterprise, with a quit rent exemption of only ten years.^
Without waiting for final confirmation by the crown, Purry proceeded
to South Carolina. In Charleston he laid before the assembly the plans
he had made for his settlers, who were to raise hemp, silk, indigo, cotton
and wines. The assembly agreed that when he imported one hundred able-
bodied men he should receive four hundred pounds from the township
fund. His settlers up to the number of three hundred should be fed for a
year, each person over twelve years of age receiving eight bushels of Indian
corn or pease, three hundred pounds of beef, fifty pounds of pork, two hun-
dred pounds of rice, and a bushel of salt. For those under twelve half
these amounts were allowed. Each man was to have an axe, a broad hoe
and a narrow hoe, and for each five persons there would be furnished a cow
and a calf and a sow. Purry selected as the site of his town "the great
Yamasee Blufif", about eight miles below the Pallachuccola garrison ; this
met the desire of Governor Johnson for a post which would guard the
lower Savannah River pass. From his findings and his own lively imagina-
tion he then constructed a pamphlet which was a glowing description of
the riches and possibilities of Carolina with no hint of the hardships which
beset the road to wealth."
^PR, XII, 190-192 (above, p. 18, n. 5), XIV, 3-5, 25 (Board of Trade Journal,
Mar. 13, 25, Oct. 15, 1730), 77-78 (Purry to Board, Mar. 24, 1730), 237 (Johnson
to Board, July 20, 1730), 243-245, XV, 113-121, 123-126 (Board to crown, July 23,
1730, to Council Committee, May 26, June 26, 1732).
2 JCHA, Mar. 5, 17, 1731; PR, XIV, 237-238 (see n. 1 above), XVI, 350 (Purry,
received by Board July 16, 1734) ; Carroll, Collections, II, 121-140. See A. B.
Faust and G. M. Brumbaugh, Lists of Siviss Emigrants to the American Colonies
34
The Western Townships 35
In November 1732 sixty-one Switzers arrived, the advance guard of
Purry's group. They w^ere put in charge of James Richard of Geneva, one
of the associates of Purry w^ho had accompanied him to South Carolina the
year before. Richard was made justice of the peace and major of the
militia. Orders were issued to deliver him six small cannon, twenty
muskets, three hundred pounds of powder, three hundred pounds of bullets
and three hundred pounds of swan shot. The settlers were also furnished
with six crosscut saws, six whipsaws, twelve handsaws, hammers, nails,
spades and two iron corn mills. Actual settlement of the town may have
awaited the arrival of Purry himself six weeks later. He brought with him
ninety-one Swiss and shortly afterwards proceeded with a party of eighty-
seven to the Pallachuccolas. The trip was made in three pettyaugers, or
periaguas, as the long narrow boats were called that plied the inland passage
to the Savannah. By the end of the year 1733 there were two hundred and
seventy, perhaps three hundred people in Purrysburg. Purry returned to
Europe and in November 1734 arrived with two hundred and eighty more.
By this time he had received half of his four hundred pounds.^
During 1735 four hundred and fifty Swiss were reported as arriving
at Purrysburg or shortly expected there, the passage of apparently all being
paid by the crown. It is quite probable that there was duplication in these
statements, or that some settlers went to other South Carolina townships
or even to Georgia. In March of that year, however, the assembly was
satisfied that the border was sufficiently defended and abolished the
Pallachuccola garrison.*
Surveys in the township for the Purrysburgers began soon after their
arrival, but their grants were not made out until 1735. By 1739 thirty-
five thousand acres was granted, and in the next six years this was increased
by a seventh of that amount.^ By the land regulations this represented
about eight hundred persons settled in the township. Grants were based,
however, on the warrants which were made out soon after the arrival of the
settlers, and were not affected by the death or removal of persons in the
grantee's family. The number in the township at any one time must have
been far short of eight hundred. Two-thirds of the land thus granted was
to persons of French name, and about one-fourth of it to Germans. The
remainder was taken up by Englishmen, who probably qualified for the
grants by settling in the township. Among the foreigners were forty
in the Eighteenth Century (vol. II, Washington, 1925), pp. 17-26, and "Documents
in Swiss Archives relating to Emigration . . ." {American Historical Revieiv,
October, 1916).
3JC, Nov. 9, 1732; H. A. M. Smith, "Purrysburgh", in SCHGM, X, 193 (this
article, covering pp. 187-219, is cited below as Smith, "Purrysburgh") ; SCG,
Dec. 30, 1732; JCHA, Dec. 15, 1732, Dec. 6, 1733; PR, XVII, 191-192 (above, p.
24, n. 19), 227 (Furye to Board, Dec. 3, 1734).
*JUHA, Apr. 17, 1735, SCG, Nov. 22, 1735, TCHA, Mar. 21, 1735.
'P, III, 307, 330, Smith, "Purrysburgh", pp. 211-217 (eleven of the names listed
pp. 217-218 are clearly different renderings of names on the preceding list).
36 The Expansion of South Carolina
Protestants from Piedmont, twentj^-five from the Archbishopric of Salz-
burg, and a few individuals from other places.*' With these exceptions the
Purrysburgers are all spoken of as Swiss.
The twenty thousand acres of the township were laid out before the end
of 1733, but by the negligence of the governor and council the six-mile
reservation was not surveyed until 1735. It was found then that the delay
had enabled outsiders, among them Governor Johnson himself, to take up
over thirty thousand of the one hundred and nine thousand acres. In
compensation for these encroachments the council ordered double the
quantity so taken to be reserved north of the township. Purry himself
during the years 1732 to 1736 received grants of nearly twenty thousand
of his forty-eight thousand acres, all within the reserved land of the town-
ship. He died shortly afterwards, and though the governor and council
approved the petition of his son Charles for the rest of the land, he does
not appear to have taken it up.^
When the mountain-bred Switzers first saw their new home the face of
the land, even more than the cannon entrusted to them, must have shown
them that it was selected for the military needs of South Carolina and not
for their own comfort. The settlement itself was on a bluff, but the town-
ship was made up of the mixture of good land, pine barren and swamp char-
acteristic of the lower pine belt. Any other site for a large settlement on a
river near the tidewater must have had the same disadvantages. The
province was paying three thousand pounds for the defense of the Palla-
chuccola pass, and the fever, heat and loss of life which the settlement
suffered was the price it paid for that extraordinary bounty. Nevertheless
the government imposed a needless hardship upon the first settlers by
forcing them to cast lots for their lands, and by allowing encroachments
upon the township. In 1751 twenty-five of the inhabitants declared that
their lots had fallen on worthless land which they had been obliged to
forsake. The town itself was the first to suffer, as most of the settlers
adapted themselves to the needs of the region and dispersed through the
township, or, in complete dissatisfaction, went to other places. Neverthe-
less, the position on the Savannah favored trade ; the Switzers were a
foreign element and tended to stay together, and they evinced real determi-
nation to build up a settlement of traders and artisans.^
The most interesting of their attempts was to carry out one of Purry's
'^ Ibid. p. 201, SCG, July 21, 1733. Persecution by the Archbishop of Salzburg
caused many of his Protestant subjects to migrate {SCG, Mar. 11, Apr. 22, 1732).
They founded Ebenezer in Georgia opposite Purrysburg (Jones, History of Ga., I,
167-169). For individuals, note Holzendorf and de Beaufain (below, pp. 38, 39).
John Linder was from Berlin (G. P. Voigt, German and German-Siviss Element in
South Carolina, /7J2-7752— Columbia 1922— p. 22).
^ Smith, "Purrysburgh", pp. 205, 218-219; JC, May 11, 1739; PR, XVII, 185-
189 (above, p. 24, n. 19), XIX, 173-175 (Petition of Charles Purry, May 18, 1738).
«PR, XVII, 227 (see n. 3 above); Carroll, Collections, I, 296, Col. Recs. of
N. C, IV, 159-162; JC, Apr. 19, May 14, 1751; Voigt, German Element, p. 23; see
also PR, XIX, 174-175 (above, n. 7).
The Western Townships 37
first proposals — the establishment of the silk industry. John Lewis Poyas
was a native of Piedmont and arrived in Purrysburg in 1734. He and his
wife, so he stated later, understood "perfectly the manufacture of Silk in
all its Process from the very planting of the White Mulberry to the
spinning of the Superfine Organzine Raw Silk after the manner used in
Turin and Italy." "The Gentlemen who had first engaged him to teach the
Silken manufacture in that Colony" must have been the Purrysburg
leaders. In 1733 the Georgia Trustees offered to buy both South Carolina
and Georgia silk cocoons, and in 1736 the South Carolina assembly like-
wise gave a bounty. The next year Poyas appeared before the lieutenant-
governor and council with "Several Samples of Silk by him made". He
declared that he had no aid nor support from his "Gentlemen", and pro-
posed that the provincial government employ him. The Commons House
voted him a gratuity of fourteen pounds and agreed to pay him a hundred
pounds a year for three years to manage a plantation with six slaves, while
training ten apprentices a year.^ But four years later the House declared
Poyas responsible for the lack of results, discharged him and retired from
the silk business. In 1744 a larger bounty was offered, but it lapsed in
1749.^°
Meanwhile the Georgia government continued to buy cocoons, and
in 1751 set up a filature in Savannah for winding silk. Most of this came
from the German settlement of Ebenezer, Georgia, but Purrysburg silk
balls were bought likewise, and in 1766 the township furnished 6,000
pounds of cocoons, making about 300 pounds of raw silk, nearly a third of
the total. At that time it was reported that "almost every family in Pur-
rysburg parish" had quantities of silk worms. After this the industry in
Georgia declined and was abandoned. Governor Wright explaining that
the labor could be far more profitably emplojxd elsewhere, even though
the cocoons were bought for more than the market price. With the help of
the bounty offered by Parliament, however, the Purrysburgers persevered,
and in 1772 exported through Charleston 455 pounds of "exceeding fine
Raw Silk". Probably all the 592 pounds exported the preceding year
came from that township."
® Georgia Trustees, SCG, May 19, 1733; Stats., Ill, 436-437; JC, July 13, 1737;
JCHA, Oct. 6, 8, Dec. 9, 1737, Jan. 19, 24, Feb. 3, 1738. In December 1737 Hercules
Coyte, acting as a surveyor of hemp, flax, and silk under the act of 1736, certi-
fied fourteen pounds "of good Silk well drawn & fit for any Market" made
by Peter Paget of St. Thomas' Parish, near Charleston (JCHA, Dec. 15, 1737).
Dec. 11, 1736 Coyte advertised mulberry trees for sale in any number up to two
hundred thousand (SCG).
1*^ JCHA, Mar. 1, 1739, Mar. 29, 1740, Jan. 30, Feb. 24, 1741; Stats., Ill, 613-616.
See also JCHA, Dec. 17, 1743, Jan. 27, 1744. Apr. 10, 1742 [SCO) Poyas offered
to buy silk balls. In 1739 the commissioners under whom Poyas worked advertised
for ten apprentices, offering to take children from the townships at the expense of
the public {SCG, Feb. 22, 1739).
1^ Jones, History of Ga., I, 373, 433, II, 75-78; SCG, July 7, 1766, Mar. 14,
1771; South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal (cited as SCGCJ), Jan. 14,
1772.
38 The Expansion of South Carolina
Despite the competition of the more favorably situated towns of Sa-
vannah and Beaufort there are references to four stores in Purrysburg be-
tween 1735 and 1752; certainly not all — perhaps no two of them — were
operated at the same time." Charles Purry and Samuel Montaigut main-
tained their store until 1739, when Purry transferred his business to
Beaufort; he was murdered there in 1754 by his own slaves. A tanyard
and bark mill and a shoemaker appear in the Purrysburg advertisements,
and in 1741 David Kinder, Henry Bourquin and Jacob Truan from
Purrysburg gave notice in the Gazette that they would undertake any sort
of carpenter's or joiner's work "on very reasonable Terms, that is to say,
their Employers shall have one Half of their Work done for Nothing"."
From the beginning, however, agriculture was the chief pursuit of the
Purrysburgers and it finally became their sole interest. A flood from the
river in 1741 caused a partial listing of products: "the pumpkins, beans,
turnips, rice, etc., are ruined by the high water. . . ; and because the bears
have beaten down much grain, it will be ruined in the water." The next
year a tract of three hundred and fifty acres in the township was advertised,
which was made up of good corn and rice land, with cattle, one slave, and
a dwelling house. Gradually the settlement changed from a frontier town
of white laborers, free and indented, to a South Carolina parish dominated
by slave labor. Plats surveyed for settlers in the first ten years were small,
averaging about one hundred and fifty acres each, but a beginning of the
plantation system was provided in several large grants. Daniel Vernezo-
bre, a London merchant, received two thousand acres and sent negroes as
well as white people to the township. The absence of other references to
negroes in the first few years indicates that as a rule the larger grants —
though these were modest enough — were based on indentures, and that
their owners were "the so-called lords" of the Swiss servants. Samuel
Montaigut received grants amounting to eighteen hundred acres, James
Richard seven hundred, Doctor Brabant five hundred, and John Fred-
erick Holzendorf four hundred and fifty .^* All these were before 1740, as
were those of nineteen hundred and fifty acres to Hector Berenger de
Beaufain, who became one of the most honored and best loved men of the
province. He was born in Orange, France, and came to South Carolina
^2JC, Mar. 19, 1735; Court Records, Charleston, Common Pleas, MS, Feb. 1746
(Samuel Montaigut & Charles Purry, merchants, 1739) ; ibid., August (John
Linder of Purrysburg, storekeeper, 1745) ; SCG, Aug. 18, 1739 (advt. of Montaigut
& Purry) ; JC, Apr. 6, 1752 (Isaac Brabant "Marchand in Purisburgh").
^^SCG, Aug. 15, 1754, J.C, Aug. 1, 1754; SCG, Sept. 8, 1739, June 11, 1741,
June 15, 1747 (advts. of Peter DuPra, David Kinder, Paschal Nelson). Note the
letter outlining a new currency system signed "C P ." Purrysburg
{SCG, May 3, 1739).
"Smith, "Purrysburgh", pp. 211-217, SCG, Oct. 18, 1742 (advt. John Rodolph
Grant) ; PR, XVII, 270 (Board of Trade Journal, Aug. 8, 1735), JCHA, June 26,
1736; Voigt, German Element, p. 29 (see also Col. Recs. of Ga., XXIII, 190-191,
on the "two Sorts of People" at Purrysburg).
The Western Townships 39
from London in 1733. For several years he was a magistrate in Purrys-
burg, but later moved to Charleston; in 1742 he was appointed Collector
of the Customs for South Carolina, and in 1747 became a member of the
provincial council/^
In 1742 Peter Delmestre had four slaves as well as four white servants,
but a decade elapsed before other negroes appear in the land records. In
1752 Henry de Saussure, whose first grant in 1738 was for only three
hundred acres, declared that he had a wife, seven children, two white
servants, and fourteen negroes. Within three years seven other inhabitants
of the township received warrants which included the headrights of twenty-
five slaves. The two thousand acres of Henry Bourquin in 1757 and
similar surveys for half a dozen others in the next four years were probably
based on slaves. These owners are all listed among the early Purrysburg
immigrants.^*
The white population of the township probably remained nearly sta-
tionary for a generation after the settlement period. In 1743 a petition
stated that there were seventy men in its militia company; in 1757 there
were sixty-four, showing that there were about three hundred and fifty
settlers.^^ Three-fourths of the land taken up between 1750 and 1765 was
granted to persons of the same names or surnames as those of the early im-
migrants.
The migration to Purrysburg brought with it several professional men
of note. Three doctors came during the period of settlement, although one
of them, John Frederick Holzendorf, did not practice in Purrysburg. He
was a Brandenburger and brought with him a letter of introduction from
the Duke of Newcastle. By 1737 he had moved to Charleston.^^ Francis
Pelot was engaged by a neighboring planter as a tutor, married into the
family, and eventually became the Baptist minister of the Euhaw church,
between Purrysburg and Beaufort. At the time of settlement of the town-
ship two German schoolmasters are mentioned. One of them, a weaver,
opened a school in 1735, but soon had to abandon both his trades. In 1748
the parsonage, being unfit for a dwelling, was used for a school, and for
several years about 1740 some of the Germans had children at school in
Ebenezer. David Zubly was one of the early planters of Purrysburg but
developed religious scruples regarding slavery. At his death in 1757 his
German books, including two that were silver-cased and edged, but exclud-
ing two that were lent out, were worth four pounds, and were of equal
" Year Book, Charleston, 1880, p. 270; JUHA, Feb. 14, 1735; JC, June 1, 1738,
Smith, "Purrysburgh", p. 212.
^^ JC, Sept. 17, 1742, Feb. 4, Apr. 6, 7, Nov. 7, 1752, Jan. 7, June 6, 1755; Smith,
"Purrysburgh"; P, VI, 342, 343, VII, 114, 127, 131, 142, 149, 243.
^MUHA, Mar. 2, 1743 (see also JCHA, Jan. 30, 1740), JC, May 4, 1757.
IS PR, XVI, 123, 172 (Newcastle to Johnson, and reply May 22, Sept. 17, 1733) ;
JC, July 7, 1752; Voigt, German Element, pp. 30-31.
Q
\
40 The Expansion of South Carolina
value with his still pot ; the two items were the most valuable in his in-
ventory/^
Both the Lutheran and German Reformed faiths were represented
among the German settlers and the former were occasionally visited by the
Ebenezer pastors. The French, however, like the Huguenots of the pre-
vious generation, easily made the transition to the Anglican Church.
^^- Joseph Bugnion, one of the early arrivals in the township, was ordained in
London on his way over, as was his successor, Henry Francis Chisselle, who
served the community from 1734 to his death in 1758. Chisselle drew an
allowance from the Society for Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts,
and the assembly voted him seventy-one pounds a year from the township
fund. He held services for the French and German Switzers on alternate
Sundays, preaching to the former but for the latter merely reading a Ger-
man translation of the English prayerbook. In 1737 the meetings were in
his house, but in 1744 "a large and decent edifice" was finished by private
subscriptions and by a contribution of forty-six pounds from the township
fund.^*'
In 1735 Purry petitioned the assembly to make the township a parish,
/ in accordance with the instructions of the crown ; the inhabitants presented
I a similar petition in 1737. But no impression was made until 1746 when a
\^ petition was presented urging in strongest terms the need of "Parochial
\ Government and Discipline". The Ebenezer pastors were violent in their
— \ denunciation of the settlers; "it indeed appears that by and by a wild,
dissolute Indian life will be found among most of them." Doubtless the
settlement had dropped into easy-going ways, though it does not appear
that it deserved words as hard as these. By an act of 1747 the parish of
St. Peter was formed, including the township and the district north of it to
Kings Creek, forty miles from the town. It was given one member in the
Commons House.^^
By means of the established church and the plantation system the Swiss
had become closely identified with tidewater South Carolina. Neverthe-
less, a protest which they made in 1759 against a road petition of some
planters to the south of them shows that the barrier of language continued
to exist, and that the old land grievance was not forgotten. The petition,
\ they declared, if granted "would make your Petitioners fall again a
i^Leah Townsend, South Carolina Baptists, 1670-1805 (Florence, 1935), p. 41,
note; JUHA, Apr. 30, 1748, Voigt, German Element, pp. 26-28, Inventories, Charles-
ton, MS, 1756-1758, pp. 117, 118. The scholarly minister John Joachim Zubly was
David Zubly's son (George Howe, History of the Presbyterian Church in South
Carolina — 2 vols., Columbia, 1870, 1883 — pp. 266-267, Voigt, German Element,
p. 49).
^'^ Ibid., pp. 22-25, Frederick Dalcho, Historical Account of the Protestant
Episcopal Church in South Carolina (Charleston, 1820), pp. 385-386; JCHA,
Feb. 22, Mar. 6, Sept. 21, 1733, Nov. 15, 1734, Dec. 4, 1736, Apr. 19, 1744; JUHA,
Mar. 2, 1733, May 30, 1735; JC, Apr. 21, 1744.
21 JUHA, Apr. 24, 1735; JCHA, Feb. 5, 1737, Nov. 27, Dec. 11, 1746; Voigt,
German Element, pp. 25, 27, Stats., HI, 668-669.
\
The JVestern Townships 41
Sacrifice to the most sordid, most glaring and most palpable Self-interest to
which for want of public Spirited Men amongst them that understood
thoroughly the Laws and Language of the Country . . . they have ever
been an easy Prey." The law for the proposed road was delayed four years,
and in the final act the Purrysburgers partly won their point.^^
The permanent material results of Purry's settlement of foreign
Protestants were modest enough, but in so small and exposed a province
they were not to be despised. The failure of the town — due rather to the
later and more heavily subsidized settlement of Savannah than to any ill-
planning or mismanagement — was of minor significance. The southwest,
the weakest point in the province in 1729, under the protection of Purrys-
burg and of Georgia, grew into a region of large and rich plantations."^
Yet more important were the intangible achievements of these Switzers,
who, thanks to their own good qualities and the training and culture of
their leaders, were readily assimilated and in spite of the barrier of language
made a significant contribution to the intellectual life of province and state.
22JCHA, Jan. 17, 1759, Stats., IX 202-204.
~^ Two other parishes were established between the Combahee and the
Savannah: Prince William's in 1745, and St. Luke's in 1767 {Stats., Ill, 658-660,
IV, 266-268).
CHAPTER IV
Amelia and Orangeburg
With the southwest protected by Purrj^sburg the administration turned
its attention to the exposed region between the Edisto and the Santee.
Here the settlements reached farthest inland and the townships in this
quarter were placed in the upper pine belt; better soil and better drainage
gave the settlers an advantage over the Purr3'sburgers, and the distance
from the coast largely relieved them of the inroads of the planters. Amelia
Township was laid out on the west bank of the Congaree-Santee, with a
town site at the mouth of the former stream, and was traversed its entire
length by the Cherokee path. In the northeastern part of the township the
land fell away sharply to the narrow Congaree bottom, but along the
Santee the slope was more gradual, and the lowland and river swamp
wider. A small creek rose in the center of the area and ran southeast be-
tween low hills covered with oak and pine, but when it reached the lowland
and neared the river it became lost in a morass of mud and water called
Halfway Swamp. On the headwaters of this stream and on Buckhead
Creek and its branches was to be found the best land, a sandy loam with a
good clay subsoil.'^
A few men applied for lots in Amelia "town", and had their lands
surveyed nearby, but do not seem to have settled themselves there.^ The
administration took little interest in the township, doubtless because there
were already a number of settlers on the Cherokee path who might serve
to defend it. Among them was Charles Russell, former commander of the
Congaree garrison, who as early as 1725 had established himself at Ox
Creek (later Lyons Creek) where it joined the other main source of Half-
way Swamp. The spot was well chosen, for here the slightly higher and
better land of the upper pine belt began. It had probably been an ancient
stopping place for Indians and traders, for the land was granted in 1704 to
■"^ JC, June 7, 1733. The township was named for one of the princesses of the
royal family. The plat (state archives) was made November-December 1733.
Note that Bunch's plat (P, XIII, 425), adjoins the "town"; for location see
plats of Jackson (P, XI, 490), Kelly (P, IX, 295), and Elliott (P, XV, 5), P. C. J.
Weston, Documents Connected ivith the History of South Carolina (London, 1856),
p. 177, Salley, George Hunter's Map. For description of the area see Bureau of
Soils, Field Operations, 1904 (Washington, 1905), Orangeburg Area.
^ For instance, David Brown (a ship carpenter of Charleston — JC, Jan. 25,
1744), P, II, 40-41; John Bryan, P, II, 52; John Cooke, P, II, 119; George Haig,
P, II, 347; Rowland Stratham, P, III, 107; James Michie, P, II, 461. See also P,
III, 169, 213.
42
The Western Townships 43
George Sterling, whose daughter Russell married. In 1731 Russell bought
the land from Sterling's son.^ The crossing continued to be a convenient
stopping place on the road, and Robert Whitford, Joseph Lyons, Benjamin
Carter and Thomas Weekly settled near Russell and had their lands sur-
veyed on the creek. The Charleston records indicate that the men were
from the coast of South Carolina. Near them was the cowpen of James
Le Bas of St. John's Parish.*
One of the few foreigners among the early settlers of Amelia was
Christian Gottlieb Priber, driven out of Germany, he afterwards said, for
his Utopian schemes. In December 1735 he was advertising sundry per-
sonal effects for sale in Charleston. Two months later he asked for land in
Amelia on the rights of himself and five other persons, probably servants;
he proposed to bring his wife and four children from Saxony later. But
the Congaree river bottom offered too narrow scope for his learning and
ambitions, and during 1737 he resorted to the Cherokee country to erect a
model state. Neither the colonial officials nor the English traders liked
this new and would-be neutral power, and Priber ended his days a prisoner
in the Georgia fort at Frederica.°
By 1740 about thirty-five survej^s had been made in Amelia, amounting
to over twelve thousand acres. A third of the number and half of the
acreage were for non-residents. In the next nine j^ears less than six thou-
sand acres were added to the total ; nearly all the applicants were residents.^
Major Russell died in January 1737, at the beginning of a mission as
agent to the Cherokees. His widow continued in her home, which was
even more conveniently situated than before, for from this point on the
Cherokee path there now ran a path to Joyner's or McCord's ferry, Mrs.
Russell supplied passers-by with food and drink; her bill to the provincial
government for entertainment of Cherokees and Catawbas going to visit the
governor was in 1742 about eleven pounds; in 1746 it was sixteen, and in
1750 twenty-five. Sugar, punch and drams were large items in these
amounts. At that time five children and eleven slaves were part of her
^ For the date see notice of the death of his widow (A. S. Salley, Jr., History of
Orangeburg County — Orangeburg, 1898 — p. 198). For the location and identity of
Ox Creek, see P, I, 235, VI, 58. The lines and bounds of P, I, 235, 368, 412-413,
identify the tract. See Susan S. Bennett, "Some Early Settlers of Calhoun County",
Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association, 1938.
* See N. D. Mereness, Travels in the American Colonies (New York, 1916),
pp. 98-99, and S. C. Williams, Early Travels in the Tennessee Country (Johnson
City, 1928), p. 130; P, I, 235, 412-413, II, 90, IV, 210; JC, June 26, 1735; P, IV,
216, VI, 9; JCHA, Jan. 19, 1737. The names of the land owners occur in the
Giessendanner record (Salley, Orangeburg), and similar names occur in A. S.
Salley, Jr., Register of St. Philip's Parish . . . 1720-1758 (Charleston, 1904).
^JC, Feb. 27, 1736; P, IV, 28; Mereness, Travels, pp. 246-249; SCG, May 30,
Aug. 15, 1743; JCHA, Mar. 1, 1739; V. W. Crane, "A Lost Utopia", Seivanee
Review, January, 1919.
® See the Amelia entries in the index to Plats. Evidence of residence may be
found in the Giessendanner record, the advertisements in SCG, and petitions for
land.
44 The Expansion of South Carolina
household.^ A rival for this trade appeared in 1747 — Robert Rogers,
lately arrived in the province, who described himself as Innkeeper of
Boggy Gully, a small stream which entered Halfway Swamp a mile below
the junction of Lyons Creek and Mill Creek. In 1749 Conrad Hallman
surveyed the adjoining land below, and in time made his house also an
important stopping place.^
Mill Creek, the eastern source of Halfway Swamp, received its name
from Miles Jackson's mill, and in 1749, on his declaration to the governor
that he and his neighbors had been successful in wheat growing, he was
lent the bolting cloth needed to complete the mill. To the northeast and
near the pleasant valley of Buckhead Creek, several small farmers and the
owner of nine slaves established themselves during the 'forties, and Joseph
Joyner began operating his private ferry over the Congaree at the tip of
the great bend of the river.^
The northern part of the township, about High Hill Creek, was at the
edge of the sand hill region, and was evidently least desired by settlers.
Sir Alexander Cuming in 1730 noted "Iron Stone" and iron ore (the iron-
bearing sandstone of the region) at several points within or near the town-
ship. That some use was made of it is indicated by the occurrence in 1753
of "Mine Branch" on one plat, and "Path to Mines" on two others, all
above High Hill Creek.^° Ten miles above this creek, near Sandy Run,
there was similar sandstone, and several notations on plats are good evi-
dence that here too some enterprising smith smelted the ore.^^
Meanwhile, in the unsettled area on the banks of the nearby Edisto,
the administration was planting the second group of Switzers who came
among the bounty immigrants. The North Fork of the Edisto is one of the
beautiful little rivers that rise in the sand hills; after reaching the coastal
plain its swamps are from a half mile to a mile in width, but the stream is
still bold and clear. The site selected for the town of Orangeburg was the
east bank of the river where it turns sharply to join the South Fork, and the
lines of the township were surveyed to make a rectangle extending to the
western border of Amelia. Only the southern corner of the township lay in
^JCHA, Feb. 26, 1737, Feb. 16, 1742, Jan. 23, 1746, Mar. 14, May 17, 1750; JC,
Mar. 16, 1749; Mouzon, Map of N. and S. C.
^Ib'td., JC, May 14, 1747; P, IV, 449, V, 230, VII, 255; JCHA, May 22, 1749,
Feb. 9, 1750; SCG, May 7, 1750, Nov. 3, 1759.
9 See P, IV, 419, 522, V, 83, 212, VI, 62, XVII, 212-213; JC. Feb. 14, 1745,
Nov. 21, 1746, Mar. 16, Nov. 7, 1749; SCG, May 14, 1750 (advt. of Thomas
Bulline); Salley, Orangeburg, pp. 97, 99, 101, 114, 132; JCHA, Mar. 10, 1752,
Apr. 10, 1753; JUHA, Mar. 9, 1752, Mouzon, Map of N. and S. C.
^° Williams, Early Travels, pp. 130-131, Bureau of Soils, Orangeburg Area;
P, V, 472, XII, 52, XV, 402.
"P, V, 224, VI, 399. See also "The Mine Land" (P, VI, 399). For location
see below, p. 58, n. 15 and Map 3. The "mines" tract was Earingsman's plat;
today an area of about half an acre partly covered with loose iron-sandstone,
three-quarters of a mile from the highway in the direction of Bell Hall on the
Congaree (see Mills, Atlas, "Lexington District"), indicates the location.
The Western Townships 45
the flat swampy area of the lower pine belt; in the middle and upper
portions, especially along the river, were large stretches of soil like the best
in Amelia/^
On the 13th of July 1735 a ship arrived from Rotterdam with two
hundred and fifty Swiss on board, ninety of them able to bear arms. The
South Carolina Gazette enlarged upon the possibilities of their producing
wheat and corn "which now we are obliged to purchase at what rate soever
from our neighbours." They were to settle on the Edisto, that land being
thought best for wheat, corn, hemp and flax, and likewise for vineyards.
The Broughton administration pursued the enterprise with vigor. Within
a fortnight over two hundred of the Switzers began their journey to the
township, and fourteen months later lands had been surveyed and grants
signed for eighty-three men.^^
The newcomers probably found Joseph Robertson already settled in
the township; he was evidently from St. Philip's Parish. In 1732 John
Hearn "of James Island, hatmaker," declared that he had "settled" a
tract of five hundred acres on the Edisto; the next year as "Planter" of
Colleton County he had this tract surveyed and was then living on it.
This doubtless was his cowpen, a short distance below the proposed site
of the town; in 1741 he was justice of the peace. Seth Hatcher, a
Virginian, had land in the township in 1735.^* The names of a dozen other
non-German settlers occur in the land records up to 1740, and as many
more appear in the next twenty years. Grants of land in the township to
non-residents, however, were negligible.
For several years after 1735 the foreigners came in steadily; like the
other German settlers prior to 1750, they were almost entirely Swiss. By
1740 30,000 acres had been granted or surveyed; in the next nine years
6,000 acres, and in the 'fifties 9,000 more was taken up, all in tracts
averaging less than two hundred acres. Nine of the applicants were men
who had completed their terms as indented servants. One of the former
servants owned a slave, another had five, but there were only half a dozen
other negroes listed throughout the period. However, as there were few
additions to the original holdings — despite the fact that there were three
or four hundred children born in the township between 1740 and 1759 —
this does not account for the possible purchases of slaves by the earlier
settlers. The first choice for surveys was the high ground about the site
of the town, and next the valleys of the two or three creeks in the south-
■^^ Bureau of Soils, Orangeburg. A plat of Orangeburg has not been found.
Several line plats (P, IV, 185, 255, 321, V, 2+2) show that Faden, Map of S. C,
gives the location more accurately than Mouzon, Map of N. and S. C. The name
was evidently given in honor of the marriage of the Princess Royal to the Prince
of Orange — see London News, SCG, Aug. 12, 1732.
^^SCG, July 19, 26, 1735; JC, July 19, 1735, Sept. 17, 1736.
ifJC, Nov. 23, 1732, June 26, 1735; P, II, 331, 358-359, III, 253, IV, 447;
Register of St. Philip's, index, and Salley, Orangeburg, pp. 96, 202.
46 The Expansion of South Carolina
east and center of the township. Orangeburg was thus a compact settle-
ment of small farmers, and suited perfectly the purposes of the founders.
There were one hundred and forty-three men in the militia company of
the township in 1757, and as there does not appear to have been any great
loss by death or removals, it is probable that the population increased from
about five hundred in 1740 to about eight hundred in 1759.^^
Major Russell directed the settlement of the Orangeburg Switzers,
and in the latter part of 1736 Lieutenant-Governor Broughton himself
visited the Edisto and Santee townships to inquire into the complaints of
the settlers. After Russell's death in 1737 Christian Mote was appointed
agent for the Swiss and rendered valuable service. For a time he lived in
Orangeburg, but in 1740 he advertised from Charleston a hundred acres
and two lots for sale in Orangeburg, "upon one of which is built a neat,
strong Dwelling-house, as also a Kitchen and other Out houses". John
Chevillette who was in Purrysburg in 1736 had been formerly an officer
in the Prussian service, and was in 1757 Colonel of the Berkeley County
militia regiment. This organization included the companies of Amelia,
Orangeburg and other settlements to the northwest; Christian Minnick,
in the Edisco Forks, was Lieutenant-Colonel.^^
The Switzers embarked in earnest upon their mission of supplying the
province with grain, and in October 1737 Mote declared that they had
begun a water mill on the Edisto which for completion would need "4
saws for a Water Machine to saw Plank, 4 Mill stones for grinding
Corn", six hundred pounds of iron and one hundred pounds of steel.
Despite an aid of twenty-nine pounds from the township fund for the
purpose, Peter Roth reported in 1742 that the mill had never been com-
pleted, and proposed to finish it if he were granted an acre of land on the
river adjoining the town. The plat of this acre, surveyed the next year,
shows "The Mill" on the banks of the river a few yards from Front
Street. This year and the two following the Orangeburgers were "favored
with a very plentiful crop of Wheat" and had high hopes for the future."
Henry Snell's application in 1742 for the bounty on hemp, the drown-
ing of tiny Barbara Frolick in an indigo vat, the listing of indigo seed in
one Orangeburg inventory with rice sieves in that and another from the
nearby country, indicate that the settlement, in a small way, made some
profit from the Carolina staples. Several tradesmen appear — another
carpenter-millwright, a blacksmith, and, most enterprising of all, a counter-
feiter, Martyn Binsky, who in 1751 on promise of pardon secured by his
^^JC, Feb. 14, 1745, Mar. 13, 1746, May 4, 1757; note baptisms In Salley,
Orangeburg, pp. 94-213, and see Orangeburg in index to Plats.
^^ JCHA, Apr. 26, 1735, Feb. 26, 1737; JUHA, Nov. 11, 1736, Dec. 9, 1737; JC,
May 18, Dec. 3, 1736, Mar. 5, 1737, June 1, 1738; SCG, Sept. 6, 1740; Salley,
Orangeburg, pp. 24, 32.
"JUHA, Oct. S, 1737; JCHA, Oct. 6, 7, 1737; JC, June 1, 1738, Aug. 27, 1742,
Aug. 3, 1744; P, IV, 181.
The Western Townships 47
wife, delivered up copper plates and six hundred and eighty-one counterfeit
South Carolina notes. He revealed a plot for smuggling money through
Philadelphia from Svt^itzerland.^^
The circuit court act of 1769 provided for a courthouse at Orange-
burg, vv^hich had before been no more than a village, and shortly afterwards
the town was resurveyed. John Chevillette in 1745 appears in Orange-
burg as justice of the peace and as "John Chevillette & Comp. of Orangeb.
Storekeeper." A traveller in 1767 found here a tavern, a store "and a man
that pretended to preach".^®
The position of the township and the compactness of settlement doubt-
less had much to do with the solidarity of Orangeburg, but the strongest
force for unity and progress was its church. John Ulrick Giessendanner,
from Lichtensteig, Switzerland, came with the colony. In March 1737 he
advertised as a silversmith in Charleston, but in October, with Mote to
read the service in English, he married an English couple in Orangeburg.
His housekeeper, who had been for twenty-six years in his employ, followed
him to America "& to prevent & obviate any cause offence or scandel" he
married her, Mote performing the service. In the open near his house he
preached every Sunday.^"
In hardly more than a year, however, the worthy minister died. His
nephew, John Giessendanner, at the desire of the Germans went to Charles-
ton to secure from the Anglican Commissary license to preach in Orange-
burg. Mote persuaded him instead to take Presbyterian orders. His
preaching was "to the Inexpressible satisfaction of the Congregation at
Orangeburgh," and several years later the English of that and nearby com-
munities observing him "to be a Man of Learning, Piety and Knowledge
in the holy Scriptures, prevailed with him to officiate in preaching once Ev-
ery fortnight in English, which he hath Since performed very articulate and
Intelligible." In 1743 Bartholomew Zouberbuhler, Junior, a candidate
for Anglican orders, attempted to displace Giessendanner. John Hearn
"and above four score of the Dutch and English Inhabitants of Orange-
burg and the adjoining plantations" sent an indignant protest to the gov-
ernor. They were high in their praise of Giessendanner, and declared that
Zouberbuhler had been sent for "by some wicked Persons, in one part of
the Township" who had been exasperated by Giessendanner's public repri-
mand for "Great Irregularitys, and disorders" committed on the Sabbath.^^
18 JC, July 4, 1749, July 12, Aug. 1, 6, 26, 29, Sept. 3, 1751; Salley, Orangeburg,
pp. 202, 207-208; JCHA, Jan. 25, 1742; Inventories, 1758-1761, pp. 32, 283-284.
^^ Stats., VII, 198, Wallace, History of S. C, II, 61, n. 71, above, p. 46; JCHA,
Mar. 15, 1774; SCG, July 13, 1745 (Chevillette's advt.). Court Records, Charles-
ton, Common Pleas, Feb. 1746 (note of 1745 due to Chevillette, see also suit by him
in August term, 1747), Diary of T. Griffiths, Expedition to Ayoree 1767-1768,
The State (Columbia), Dec. 30, 1929.
2° Voigt, German Element, pp. 52-53, Salley, Orangeburg, p. 94.
21 See Salley, Orangeburg, pp. 35, 95, JC, Nov. 9, 1743, Mar. 6, 1744. Zouber-
buhler later became rector of Christ Church in Savannah (Jones, History of Ga.,
I, 525).
48 The Expansion of South Carolina
This secured Giessendanner in his ministry. Six years later he appeared
armed with a supporting petition from the township and proposed to go to
England for Episcopal orders, and thence to Germany and Switzerland as
immigration agent. He was allowed fourteen pounds expense money, and
was promised a shilling and a half a head for the foreign Protestants he
might bring back. He returned shortly, having received orders, and
brought with him fifty copies in German of the Book of Common Prayer.
On a further petition to the assembly he was allowed for preaching in
Orangeburg and Amelia fifty-seven pounds a year from the provincial
funds. In 1757, on his plea that this sum was inadequate for the ex-
tensive service and for his "very numerous" family, it was increased to one
hundred pounds. About the time that Giessendanner returned from
England the Orangeburgers built him a church, in which he preached
until his death in 1761.^^
The register begun by the elder Giessendanner was continued by the
nephew until near his death. Before his ordination in 1749 it was in
German; thereafter, as befitted a minister of the Church of England, it
was kept in English.^^ One has but to read through the entries to under-
stand the "inexpressible satisfaction" of his parishioners, and the unique
service he rendered the historian. His register shows that the German
and English elem.ents in Orangeburg tended to remain separate from one
another but not aloof. There are many instances of one standing sponsor
for the other in the baptism of children, and in the entire record, for the
township and nearby communities, there were about a score of mixed
marriages.
The long rectangle of level or rolling land between the North and
South Forks of the Edisto was closely associated with Orangeburg, and
had much the same type of soil, but both in population and industry pre-
sented a marked contrast. The rivers which shut it off from the coast put
its agriculture at a disadvantage but served to enclose its cattle ; the
abundant cane of the swamps fed them, and the region soon became the
largest and best range in the province."*
Christian Minnick came to South Carolina about the time that the
Swiss settled in Orangeburg; he began then or soon afterwards to raise
cattle in the forks and before 1745 two other stocks of cattle are recorded.
In 1744 a separate militia company of about thirty men was formed in this
community, on the petition of settlers who complained of the difficulty of
attending militia musters. Prior to 1749, when Minnick, along with
Gavin Pou and William Young who appear in Giessendanner's register
22
23
;JC, Feb. 26, 1748, Mar. 16, 1749; JCHA. Jan. 15, 1765, Aug. 11, 1769.
' The original record, recently acquired by the South Caroliniana Library of
the University of South Carolina, was printed in Salley, Orangeburg, pp. 93-216.
^* See Bureau of Soils, Orangeburg, Mouzon, Map of N. and S. C, South Caro-
lina and American General Gazette (cited as SCAGG), June 5, 1769 (advt. of
Audeon St. John & Co.).
The Western Townships 49
years before, applied for warrants, there were few surveys. By that time it
is probable that the cattle raisers had establishments too valuable to be left
without full protection of the law. There was, for instance, the property on
the east side of the South Fork formerly owned by Joseph Russell. When
his successor advertised it in 1755 the thousand-acre tract included fifty
acres of cleared land, a good house and corn house, both cedar-framed, the
dwelling house boarded above and below. There was also a negro kitchen
and other outhouses, and a landing on the river.^^ Pou had one slave,
Minnick six, and in the next five years applied for warrants on the rights
of eleven more. There were four other applicants, among them Thomas
Jones, cowkeeper, who appeared between 1740 and 1750 in the forks, but
whose lands were not taken up until 1757 and 1758.^^ These families
were ministered to by Giessendanner to all appearance as part of his
Orangeburg congregation.
There was little if any navigation of the Edisto, and the road to Charles-
ton spanned a forty-mile stretch of scantily settled country crossed by two
wide swamps. The assembly gave no aid for building and maintaining
bridges over these swamps, and the inhabitants found the labor and taxes
burdensome, while the roads continued to be "very deep and dangerous . . .
and exceeding troublesome. . . ."^^ In 1756 a private bridge over the
North Fork which gave access to the Charleston road was placed under
public care, and these settlers pointed out to the assembly that it would be
seventy miles nearer were the present route from Charleston to the Chero-
kee forts, which followed the road along the Congaree and Saluda, changed
to run through Orangeburg and the forks.^^ But the forks population
was probably less than two hundred, and much of the country was still
waste ; within the past six years there had been two advertisements mention-
ing "wild gangs of horses" in that section. The road to Saluda had to
wait ten years.
With the end of the general depression in the province about 1748 the
25Salley, Orangeburg, pp. 94, 100, 162, 172; P, III, 263, IV, 520; SCG, May 19,
1739, Dec. 24, 1744, Dec. 22, 1746, Apr. 1, 1751, Jan. 30, 1755 (advts. of Abraham
Du Pont, George Haig, James Marion, and Alexander McGregor) ; JC, Feb. 29,
Apr. 13, 1744, June 30, Sept. 6, 1749, Dec. 3, 1751.
^*' JC, May 5, 1752, Apr. 14, 1753. For Jones and the other three applicants, see
SCG, July 23, 1750 (advt. of Chevillette) ; John Clayton, Salley, Orangeburg, p.
107, JC, Mar. 1, 1757; Brand Pendarvis, JC, Dec. 5, 1758, SCAGG, June 5, 1767
(advt. of Gavin Pou), Salley, Orangeburg, p. 98; Leonard Varnido, ibid., pp. 103,
108, P, VI, 294. See also John Simmons and James Pendarvis, Salley, Orange-
burg, index.
'^5CG, July 4, 1774; JUHA, Jan. 21, 1737, May 7, 1752; JCHA, Jan. 21, 1737,
Feb. 25, 26, 28, May 21, 1741, May 9, 1752; Stats., VII, 519-520, IX, 95-96, 140-
141; Diary of T. Griffiths Cabove, n. 19).
^"^ Stats., IX, 183-184, 190-191; JCHA, Mar. 17, 1756, Feb. 2, 1757, Mar. 2,
1758; JUHA, Mar. 15, Nov. 15, 1756.
29 JC, May 4, 1757, SCG, Oct. 23, 1752, July 25, 1754 (advts. of James Francis
and Gavin Pou), Stats., IX, 221. A plat surveyed in 1757 near Clouds Creek, a
branch of Little Saluda, showed a "wagon road" from Orangeburg to Long Cane
(P, XIV, 269), but there is nothing to show that it was much used for such traffic.
50 The Expansion of South Carolina
scantily developed Amelia began a rapid growth. During the year 1749
about twenty-five surveys or applications for land were made for persons
settling in the township, a third of them for Germans. For the years 1749
to 1759 the total was between twenty-eight and thirty thousand acres,
representing about one hundred and ninety warrants, evenly divided be-
tween German and English names. The Germans were a part of the great
tide of this decade which the Indian troubles of the back country, aided
perhaps by the efforts of the provincial government, turned back toward
the coast. Less than ten percent of the total warrants for the decade ap-
pear to have been for non-residents and about the same number were for
English settlers who already had lands. In the militia organization of
1757 were two Amelia companies, the lower of eighty-three men, the
upper of fifty-five, but the latter evidently included some settlers north of
the township. There were probably six hundred and fifty whites and a
hundred slaves in the township.^^
Of this new migration the early settlement on Halfway Swamp re-
ceived its share. John Fouquet in 1749 applied for a warrant for three
hundred acres which included the rights for four slaves, and in 1753 for
five hundred acres on ten headrights. His first tract was survejed on
Halfway Swamp immediately below Boggy Gully, and here he built up an
establishment which, in his advertisement offering it for sale in 1758, he
described at length : "a very good pleasant dwelling-house, a very large
barn, stables, a stand for waggon and cart, a large smoak-house, and several
negro houses ; about 70 acres clear, and a good part thereof new ground,
most under good fence, about 10 acres under wild indico, cut but once, with
conveniences for making indico without pumps, and a good quantity of
fruit trees." ^^
Nearly a score of small landholders made surveys in the valley of
Buckhead Creek,^" while other settlers were moving in with capital and
slaves for developing the land along the Santee. Moses Thomson, who ac-
cording to family tradition was from Pennsylvania, settled in the Shen-
andoah Valley and bought a thousand acres from William Beverley.
By the end of 1745 he had moved to Amelia where he presently became
justice of the peace and captain of the militia. Headrights for thirteen
slaves were included in warrants granted him in 1749 and 1754. His son
William in 1755 married a daughter of Charles Russell and acquired a
tract of four hundred acres at the mouth of Buckhead Creek, the beginning
of his Belleville plantation.^^ Near him lived John McCord, former
3° Below, p. 154, JC, May 4, 1757. For slaves see also JC, Dec. 5, 1749, Sept. 3,
1754, Aug. 5, Oct. 21, 1755.
^MC, Oct. 3, 1749, Apr. 3, 1753, SCG, Dec. 15, 1758.
^^P, V, 83, 85, 133, VI, 36, 41, 85, 93; see also adjoining names in Plat index.
^^ SCG, Apr. 18, 1748; Joseph Johnson, Traditions . . . of the American
Revolution (Charleston, 1851), pp. 91, 100-101; Lyman Chalkley, Chronicles of the
Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia (3 vols., Rosslyn, 1912), III, 253-254; JC, Feb.
10, 1749, Oct. 7, 1751, Aug. 7, 1754; Salley, Orangeburg, p. 119; P, VI, 172.
The Western Townships 51
Indian trader, and in 1759 proprietor of Joyner's ferry .^* Moses Thomson
made his home at the mouth of Halfway Swamp, and the settlement on the
lower portion of that stream of others, residents if not natives of the prov-
ince, shifted the center of gravity of the township to the southeast. This
brought into the affairs of the community a group of Santee planters hitherto
little interested in Amelia.^''
Giessendanner records frequent marriages or baptisms at Mrs. Russell's
home, and the majority of Amelia names are in his register. Occasionally he
appears at Moses Thomson's, or on Buckhead at William Martin's or John
Lloyd's. In 1756 the upland settlers, through their "Trustees", asked aid
of the Commons to complete their partly built church. The planter- V*
controlled House rejected the petition, but "Amelia Chappel" occurs in Gies-
sendanner's record in March 1757 and regularly thereafter. It seems to
have been on the Cherokee road about a mile below the Ox Creek crossing.^®
The death of Giessendanner in 1761 cleared the way for the planters
to assume control. In 1764 the House was petitioned by certain Amelia
inhabitants, probably the same group as before, for some provision for a
minister, and the next year the Orangeburgers asked that their township be
made a parish. The answer of the assembly was an act to form St.
Matthew's Parish, including in it the two townships and an additional sec-
tion below Amelia on the Santee. The desire of the assembly to grant
representation to the middle and back country, none too strong at best,
was now sadly weakened by the veto of this act by the crown because it
added two members to the Commons. St. Matthew's became a parish in
1768 with only one seat in the House, and that had to be taken from St.
James Goose Creek. The acts provided for a chapel in Orangeburg and a
church and chapel elsewhere as the commissioners should decide. The two
Thomsons, William Heatley, and Thomas Sabb were among those named,
and there could have been no surprise when the church was placed on the
river road, above Halfway Swamp, and the chapel some miles south of it.^^'— ^^
Orangeburg remained a township of small German farmers, but Amelia Kv^
had become a planter's parish. v
s* Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 150; JC, Apr. 27, 1748, Mar. 16, 1749, May 7, 1751;
JCHA, July 6, 1759, P. VI, 62; Salley, Orangeburg, index, SCHGM, XXXIV, 177-
179. McCord's Ferry was not made a public ferry until 1766 — Stats., IX, 214.
McCord appears as witness to a deed made by Thomas Brown Dec. 4, 1745 (Mesne
Conveyances, MS, 3A, 182-187).
^^ For instance, Garret Fitzpatrick, Thomas and William Sabb, Ezekiel Cox,
William Heatley, Jerome LeBoeuf — Salley, Orangeburg, index; JC, Sept. 6, 1749,
Mar. 6, 1753, Feb. 2, 1756; Register . . . Prince Frederick (Baltimore, 1916), index;
Transactions of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina, 1934, pp. 48-51.
3«JCHA, Nov. 17, 1756, Mar. 11, 1757; Salley, Orangeburg, p. 169; SCG, Dec.
IS, 1758 (John Fouquet's advt.). See G. D. Bernheim, History of the German
Settlements and of the Lutheran Church in North and South Carolina (Philadelphia,
1872), pp. 227-228.
!*^JCHA, July 31, Aug. 1, 9, 1764, Jan. 15, Mar. 7, 1765; Stats., IV, 230-232,
298-300; Mouzon, Map of N. and S. C, Dalcho, Episcopal Church, p. 333-334.
-Vi.dLa.iy J p.t.Yrcj
No\t: CKo-Tig e.5 Ka_i^e. ^ee. n Tr\o.de
iV\ \i'ht.s of .5 c'lTNe. plo-t-j ta hriwg-
YOrs or fYo.u.ds M\ea.Kly ^it^i^e^j
loca.tiow.j of Thosse (7 laVs fl-j^pr^/^i-
Ce.Yfi-f-iCCK'ryO \\-^ Yc f iV Ct\ ce.} (\Ye. t-p
velu\\ve.i (7-f P\al^, Mame-s m
brac-Kcl-i indicate \.a."te^y oujwzrs;
fpr refefenctJ see a.ciyo(A(w.
Map 3
TVve Co-ng-arees tn /7J3
5ca\e. of Mi le^
CHAPTER V
Saxe Gotha and the Congarees
The upper Congaree Valley was inevitably chosen for one of the new
townships. Here the sand ridges faced each other across the river only two
or three miles apart, inviting blue heights at a distance but desolate wastes
underfoot. Above, the chief valley of the piedmont spread out like a fan.
Below, on the west side for thirty miles the Congaree hugged the sand hills
which east of the river receded before the steadily widening swamp and
fertile plain. A settlement at the upper end of this valley and on the west
bank of the river must always be cramped in its quarters, but would com-
mand the Cherokee path and much of the future traffic of the piedmont.
In 1730 or perhaps earlier Thomas Brown, of northern Irish origin,
entered the Catawba trade, and a few years later established his famous
store "near the Congrees Old Fort". This post had been on the high
bank of the river at the point where Congaree Creek, approaching the
larger stream, turns sharply to the south, a mile and a half above its mouth.
Brown's brother Patrick was his partner until about 1740 when he entered
the Creek trade. Concerned with them was Alexander Kilpatrick, who a
few years later left the pathetic injunction to his executors to endeavor to
get his son Thomas down from the Catawabas.^
In 1733 the governor and council ordered a township marked off at the
Congarees. With its reserve it extended from Sandy Run on the Congaree
beyond Twelve Mile Creek on the Saluda, but the strip of desirable land
was little more than a mile wide at any point. The town, eventually
known as Saxe Gotha, was laid out just above the old garrison site with its
Front Street paralleling the river bank for nearly a mile, and a reservation
for a fort at its northern end. The ground was level and fertile and the
location convenient."
Between 1732 and 1735 eight surveys were made on the east bank of
the river between the shoals and Patricks or Jacksons Creek. At least
three, probably five, of the men taking up these lands were non-residents,
the investment in the rich bottom land evidently appealing to them either
1 Above pp. 11-12; Map 3; Wills, MS, 1736-1740, p. 229, 1740-1747, pp. 388-389,
1752-1756, p. 373; JC, Nov. 28, 1733 (Brown's Catawba son was fifteen years old
in 1745— Mesne Conveyances, 3A, p. 183); JUHA, May 23, 1733, Feb. 28, 1744;
Bureau of Soils, Field Operations, 1922 (Washington, 1928), Lexington.
2JC, June 7, 1733, Haig, Map of the Cherokee Country; P, IV, 166, 382, 469,
VI, 325, XII, 135, 145, Map 3. The name was evidently given later in honor of
the marriage of the Prince of Wales to Princess Augusta of Saxe Gotha — see
JCHA, Dec. 4, 1736.
S3
54 The Expansion of South Carolina
for future sale or for their own use.^ One tract was for Alexander Kil-
patrick, another for Thomas Brown, and he or his brother Patrick also ac-
quired the tracts of Dr. Daniel Gibson and of Henry Gignilliat, a Charles-
ton vintner. The west side of the river was almost ignored until the
arrival of the bounty settlers, but Patrick Brown had three hundred acres
surveyed at the bend of Congaree Creek which included the site of the old
fort. By 1736 Thomas Brown and John Beresford, a low country land-
owner, had acquired plats on Twelve Mile Creek, and Brown even
secured two hundred and fifty acres at Ninety Six, fifty miles northwest of
that point. They were anticipating the growth of the province by seizing
the best crossings on the Cherokee path.*
In February 1735, during a temporary exhaustion of the township fund,
several Switzers petitioned the assembly for payment of the passage of
nineteen others of their party, in order that they might come on shore and
settle in a township. Among the former were Martin Friday, John Ulric
Beckman (or Bachman), John Ulric Muller and John Frederick Coleman.
But Jacob Gallman was unable to pay for the transportation of himself
and nine children, and John Matthias, Jacob Spuhl and five others were
still bound for their passages. Anglicizing of some of the names had al-
ready begun ; Coleman was evidently for Gallman, Friday for Fridig, and
Matthias, Muller and Spuhl soon after began to appear as Matthews,
Miller, and Spear. The Commons House provided the desired payment
and ordered the immigrants sent to the Congarees. Half a barrel of
powder and sixteen muskets were to be delivered "to the Patroon of the
Periague, who is to transport the . . . Swiss to the said Township." ^ This
is one of the few references to water transportation between Charleston and
the Congarees. It may have involved the perilous voyage along the coast
to the mouth of the Santee, or the safer but broken trip by way of the
Cooper River. All of the names cannot be identified with the Saxe Gotha
settlement; however, Jacob Gallman had his land surveyed immediately
below the old fort and three others selected theirs near him. But Martin
Friday had his two hundred and fifty acres surveyed two miles above at the
falls, a site of which he later made good use, and three more established
themselves nearby. A Charleston merchant, in May 1735, reported of the
Swiss at the Congarees "that they were industrious and settling apace."
In December the council read their complaint that Brown's store attracted
Indians who destroyed their corn. Two years later the settlers gratified
2 See Map 3, Memorials, I, 50 (Satur), V, 186 (Gignilliat), J. H. Easterby,
History of the St. Andrew's Society of Charleston, South Carolina, 1729-1929
(Charleston, 1929), p. 22 (Stitsmith). Gibson does not appear as residing in the
Congarees at any time. James Hopkins, a resident in 1737, seems to have given
up claim to two surveys made near the site of the garrison in 1733 — see P, I, 219-
220, II, 344, JC, Nov. 28, 1733, Mesne Conveyances, 2B, 35.
* Wills, 1740-1747, p. 388; P, I, 506, 514, II, 1, 17, V, 141; Map 3; below, p.
118.
^See Map 3; JUHA, Feb. 5, 6, 7, 14, 1735; JCHA, Feb. 5, 6, 1735.
The Western Townships 55
the provincial government by seizing six counterfeiters hidden near the
settlement.^
In 1736 Stephen and Joseph Crell, who were German — whether Swiss
or not does not appear — arrived with "their people" in Charleston and
were transported to the Congarees at the expense of the township fund.
Their seven hundred and fifty acres were surveyed for them on the river
about the mouth of Toms Creek, the next stream below Congaree Creek.
The following year a dozen other immigrants settled in the township.
Three of them, Herman, Abraham and John Jacob Geiger, had withdrawn
from John Tobler's band of New Windsor Switzers who considered their
departure a good riddance, Herman, so Tobler declared, being "a useless
man . . . [who] swore and cursed." The Geiger lands, along with those
of several others of the newcomers, were surveyed immediately above
Martin Friday.^ John Jacob Riemensperger from Toggenburg, Switzer-
land, arrived in South Carolina in 1737 with twenty-nine families of his
countrymen. His plat, with several others, probably for those who came
with him, was surveyed in the same year on the river below Toms Creek.
At the same time three or four seem to have settled about the mouth of the
Saluda, and even as high up as Twelve Mile Creek. Between 1736 and
1741 several English names are to be found among the Saxe Gotha plats;
Robert Lang senior and junior, William Baker, Thomas Berry, Richard
Myrick, and John Gibson had surveys near Savannah Hunt Creek. Gibson
was probably a non-resident; the others doubtless lived on their lands.
Myrick a few years later was living on Raifords Creek across the river.^
Like all the townships, Saxe Gotha had a very slow growth in the
early 'forties. The most promising move for adding to its population was
that of Riemensperger. He returned to Switzerland with a description of
Saxe Gotha signed by thirty-one of the settlers which was published as a
pamphlet at St. Gall in 1740. He was forbidden to seek emigrants in
Zurich and was ordered from the territory. But late the next year he
arrived at Savannah with a number of Switzers, part of whom went to
Ebenezer. The newcomers were in a miserable state at the time of land-
ing, and the pastors at Ebenezer reported nearly two months later that,
despite the care taken of them, only two of the thirty who had started for
Saxe Gotha were alive. However, the "several" orphans whom Riemen-
sperger carried in carts to the township, and nursed in his home, were
evidently other members of this luckless group. Nine years later four
^Map 3 (H. Spearly adjoined J. "Coleman"— P, IX, 476); PR, XVII, 339
(Samuel Eveleigh, May 1, 1735, received by Board July 4, 1735) ; JC, Dec. 2, 1735;
JUHA, Jan. 16, Mar. 25, 1736; JCHA, Jan. 17, Feb. 4, 1736; SCG, Jan. 17, 1736.
^JC, Sept. 29, 1736, May 28, June 5, 1742; "Tobler Manuscripts" (below, p.
67, n. 3), pp. 86-87. To locate the plats see Map 3 and P, IV, 161-162 (M.
Friday), 239 (J. Shillig), 473 (J. Struck), IX, 397 (J. Credy), 472 (A. Geiger),
XII, 68 (J. Liver).
^PR, XXIII, 299 (Riemensperger's petition to the crown, May 8, 1749) ; P, IV,
156, 157, 162-163, 355, 475; Map 3. See also below, pp. 150-151.
56 The Expansion of South Carolina
young Germans, two brothers of one name, two of another, asked for land
between the Broad and Saluda, and explained that two of them had been
cared for by Herman Geiger, and one each by Henry and John Coleman.
In the case of each pair the bounty of one brother had been invested in
cattle, that of the other taken by the guardian."
There were twenty-five surveys in the township between 1740 and 1747
on nearly a hundred headrights of Germans, while three small tracts were
run out for Englishmen. At the latter date a petition stated that there
were in the township sixty-six fathers of families and a hundred and seven
children. Modest as was the total of land holdings by English and German
settlers there had already begun a small overflow to the north bank of the
Saluda."
The Crells were granted two hundred and fifty and five hundred acres
respectively and evidently brought some capital with them. Stephen Crell
became a justice of the peace, and sold goods under the name of Stephen
Crell and Company. At his death in 1763, he had a stock of cattle, "some
books", a Hebrew Bible, and a Greek Testament. In 1739 Joseph Crell
declared that he had been at great expense "in Erecting a Water Mill" in
the township. He so impressed the Commons House with the advantage
that his mill would offer "to the Inhabitants of the several Townships
who plant wheat" that he was granted twenty-two pounds for completion
of the work. But he seems to have tired speedily of his Congaree farm at
Toms Creek, and in September advertised it for sale. He thus put on
record an excellent description of a back country establishment of the better
type: five hundred acres "compleatly scituated to keep a Store, and a Stock
of Cattle and Mares, wnth a new fram'd Dwelling House and other Build-
ings thereupon, viz a large Cornfield, Potatoes, Peas, Beans, ^c. as also
Wheat and Hemp already gather'd. , . ; moreover about 8 Bushels of
Hemp Seed (the Produce of a Quarter of an Acre) 20 Acres of the Land
being in good Fence all high dry Swamp rich Land fit to raise Hemp with-
out any dunging. . .". He also offered three choice slaves "acquainted to
manage the Hemp and to dress Deer Skins, Household Stuffs, Plantation
Utensils, a Waggon, a Plough, a Brewkettle, Brass Kettles, . . . Hoes,
Axes, . . ." etc. and choice cows, horses and hogs. The advertisement
does not mention the mill, and the actual building was probably done by
^ MS notes of G. P. Voigt, citing letter of Archivist of Zurich; Samuel Url-
sperger, Ausfiihrliche Nachricht von den Saltzhurghischen Emigranten (18 series,
Halle, v.d.), series 10, p. 1856; JC, May 28, 1742, Dec. 4, 1750; PR, XXIII, 299
(n. 8) ; Col. Recs. of Ga., II, 357-358, 370, 385. Peter Huber and Peter Inabnet,
two Orangeburgers, also attempted to canvass Switzerland for settlers but were
imprisoned in 1744, and Inabnet lost his life trying to escape. Huber returned to
South Carolina, but there is no evidence that he brought settlers. See JC, Oct. 6,
1742, June 29, 1744, Feb. 10, 1750; A. B. Faust, Lists of Siviss Emigrants in the
Eighteenth Century to the American Colonies, I (Washington, 1920), pp. 12-16.
"JC, Mar. 3, 1748; P, IV, 276, 385-387; see also JC, Nov. 11, 1747.
The Western Townships 57
Philip Puhl, or Poole as he was often called, who acquired both of Joseph
Crell's tracts of land/^ In 1748 Puhl declared that he had a corn mill
and was desirous of erecting a sawmill on the same stream. Martin
Friday had a mill near the site of his ferry and at his death about 1758
owned another on Twelve Mile Creek above his home."
A petition from Saxe Gotha in 1740, signed by thirty-nine persons of
German name, shows that practically all of the Germans there were of the
Reformed faith. They addressed their petition to the officers and citizens
of the city of Zurich, and asked for prayerbooks. Bibles and psalters with
notes arranged for four voices. When Riemensperger went to Switzerland
he carried this petition but it was rejected at the time the authorities
ordered him to leave the district. Christian Theus, the faithful minister of
the congregation, came from Switzerland probably with his brother
Jeremiah, the Charleston portrait painter, and in 1739 began his service to
the Congaree Germans which lasted until after the Revolution. In re-
sponse to a petition in 1747 which described the great need of the township
for a church and school with a glebe and maintenance for a minister, a
committee of the Commons House recommended that seventy-one pounds
be paid from the township fund towards building "a Church and Free-
School" in Saxe Gotha. The Lutheran ministers at Ebenezer declared
that the money went to building a church for the Reformed congregation
only. In 1751, however, William Baker gave half an acre on the Congaree
a few hundred yards above the mouth of Sandy Run to the "Elders of the
German Congregation of the Dissenting protestants at the Congrees . . .
[with the Meeting house build on] for the sole . . . use of said German
Protestants of the Helvetic or Walloone Confession as well as of that of
Augsbourg in Common." Eventually the Lutherans seem to have been left
to themselves, for seventeen years later John Gallman gave an acre of land
three miles above, likewise with a church upon it, to the Helvetic congrega-
tion.^^
Just when the growth of the back country was merging the small Saxe
Gotha settlement into that of the upper Congaree valley as a whole, the
township lost its two most important men, Thomas Brown and George
Haig. Brown died in 1747, leaving a considerable estate in lands and ^^itr-
^^SCG, Sept. 1, 1739, Aug. 29, 1743 (Crell's advt.) ; JCHA, Mar. 1, 1739, May 8,
1749; Inventories, 1763-1767, p. 15; P, II, 108, 109, IX, 51; JUHA, Jan. 18, 1739.
For the transfer of Crell's land see Mesne Conveyances, T, 478-479.
12 JC, Oct. 5, 1744, Mar. 14, 1745, Mar. 9, 1748, Mar. 16, 1749; JCHA, May 25,
1749, Feb. 9, 1750; SCG, Dec. 22, 1758, Inventories, 1758-1761, p. 89. Friday also
had a tan-yard, a windmill, nine negroes, a glass window worth three shillings,
and "a small sett of House Organs." He purchased Anthony Stack's fifty-acre
tract on Savannah Hunt Creek (Map 3, Memorials, VI, 304-305).
1^ Zurich Archives, Akten, 369 (notes of G. P. Voigt) ; Bernheim, German
Settlements, pp. 138-140, 142; JC, May 15, 1747, Feb. 6, Mar. 3, 1748; P, IV, 468,
V, 33; JCHA, Mar. 5, 1748, May 25, 1749, July 19, 1760; Mesne Conveyances, 3M,
118-121, Memorials, VI, 370.
58 The Expansion of South Carolina
sonal property, but the decline of the Catawbas had been accompanied by
his own ruin. In this year he had been unable to meet a note for twenty-
seven hundred pounds, and his appraisers declared that of the accounts
carried on his books "the Greatest part . . . are Desperate Debts". His
effects included two silver watches, a sundial, a coffee mill, a trading boat
valued at £21, 250 bushels of wheat, 43 head of cattle, 185 head of horses,
and 22 slaves, "some of which have been long used to a trading Boat and
Pettiauger." "
The back country career of George Haig is among the most interesting
in the history of South Carolina expansion. On May 5, 1733, as "George
Haig of Charles Town . . . Gent." he was appointed deputy surveyor.
For the next few years he surveyed lands in the low country and in the
Santee and Congaree townships. In 1737 he was appointed justice of the
peace and probably about that time moved to Sandy Run, having his home
about a mile below the crossing of the Cherokee path. He became engaged
in the Catawba trade and in 1742 brought the Catawbas to yield up for
justice one of their number who had ravished a white woman. The Cataw-
bas at the time were about four hundred warriors and were not so uni-
formly well behaved as they were thereafter, when they had lost heavily
by smallpox.^^
Like other leaders of his time Haig could withhold his hand from no
office or business. He surveyed most of the early Saxe Gotha and Orange-
burg plats, carried on his Indian trade, and was captain of the local militia
company. Between 1737 and 1746 he bought eleven hundred and forty
acres of land in the Congarees or in the lower part of the province. He
was constantly in correspondence with the governor on Indian affairs and
in 1746 went to the Cherokees as assistant to Colonel George Pawley, the
agent who effected the important Ninety Six purchase. Here he made
enemies of the Iroquois by seizing from them some captive settlement In-
dians, and two years later, on a trip to the Catawbas, he was taken prisoner.
With the half-breed son of Thomas Brown he was carried northward
through the Cherokee towns, where the traders tried in vain to get the
Cherokees to intercept the party of their dreaded cousins and rescue the
prisoners. Mrs. Haig sent a spirited petition to the governor begging that
the trade to the Cherokees be stopped until they interfered. She trans-
mitted this through her husband's factor, Thomas Corker, and the sensible
merchant likewise handed in the eloquent and dignified letter she had
written to him, with its postscript: "Please to send me something for a
^* Wills, 1740-1747, pp. 388-389; Court Records, Charleston, Common Pleas,
Aug. 1747; Inventories, 1746-1748, pp. 162-169; SCG, June 15, 1747 (advt. of
Brown and Corker).
^^P, I, 72, 114, 205, II, 47, 53-54, 344, 376, V, 224, VI, 325, 399 (plats of
Mercier and Earingsman and marks) ; Commissions and Instructions, 1732-1742,
MS, p. 18; William De Brahm, Map of South Carolina (London, 1757) ; JC, July 5,
1742; PR, XXIV, 408 (Glen to Board, Dec, 1751), Adair, American Indians, p. 224.
The Western Townships 59
Gown that is light & Coarse for every days Wear & very grave, if Callico let
there be but little White in it or Stamped Linnen." ^®
A year and a day from the time of Haig's capture there was read in the
council a letter of President Palmer of Pennsylvania and the journal of
Conrad Weiser, Indian agent, which gave news of Haig's fate. Despair-
ing of escape and worn out with the journey, he had forced his captors to
kill him. His more phlegmatic companion had been ransomed by Weiser
and got safely home. Haig's personal estate amounted to about £570, and
included 2 old silver watches, 5 old candlesticks, 15 packhorses, 44 horses,
18 negroes, and 42 gallons of rum.^^
During these dozen years of Saxe Gotha's growth, a separate and
curiously contrasting development was taking place across the river. Im-
mediately below the shoals, the east bank of the Congaree widened out into
a poorly drained bottom which is now regularly overflowed by the river.
Two miles below the mouth of Jacksons Creek, later known as Gill Creek,
and about four miles from the site of the Congaree garrison. Green Hill
rose above high water, and the river bank for a short distance invited
settlement. Here Philip Jackson had two hundred and fifty acres surveyed
in 1740; and on "Green Hill Path", which Haig traced upon the plat, he
later built his house. Other plats were run out on the river bank in the
early 'forties, despite the danger of high water. One four hundred acre
stretch, crisscrossed by water courses, was surveyed in 1741 for Elihu
Baker, a resident on Ashley River ; it was bought by George Haig, and on
the plat appears a sketch, perhaps more of a prophecy than an achievement,
of a "Rice Field". But the most desirable land in this district lay two miles
east on the edge of the lowland. Here for several miles a level terrace of
silt loam, fertile and easily cultivated, parallels the river. Raifords Creek,
the present Mill Creek, enters this narrow strip about two miles below
Gill Creek; it then begins an amazing series of turns and three miles
farther, having traversed many times that distance, reaches the river bot-
tom."
^^Ibid., p. 344; Memorials, VII, 485-486; JC, Mar. 27, Oct. 21, 1746, Mar. 29,
Apr. 16, 21, 1748; SCG, Apr. 23, 1753; vol. IV of Plats.
^nnventories, 1748-1751, pp. 174-176; JC, Mar. 18, 1749. Adair, American
Indians, pp. 343-345, tells part of the story, but uses only the initials, "G.H."; and
John H. Logan, History of the Upper Country of South Carolina (Charleston,
Columbia, 1859), pp. 302-306, reversing the initials assumes that it was Herman
Geiger who was slain.
i^P, IV, 85, 251, VII, 81; Townsend. S. C. Baptists, pp. 33-34, Bureau of Soils,
Field Operations, 1916 (Washington, 1921), Richland. Two early attempts to ex-
ploit this region came to naught — Thomas Brown's "purchase" from the Wateree
Indians of the land between the Congaree and the Wateree, and the proposal of
John Cartwright and John Selwvn of London to settle a thousand Protestants on a
grant here of 200,000 acres (JUHA, Feb. 28, 1744; JCHA, Feb. 28, Apr. 20, 21,
1744; PR, XIX, 176-179, 195-198, 228-231 (Petition of Cartwright and McCulloh's
proposal, received by Board May 30, June 14. 1738; Order in Council, July 20,
1738).
60 The Expansion of South Carolina
In 1740 Richard Jackson had four hundred acres surveyed at the head
of this stretch, but his name was given to the stream farther north ; his
headrights probably represented several slaves, for he had seven w^hen he
died in 1750. At the other end of the terrace, four miles away, Philip
Raiford in 1742 and 1743 had two tracts surveyed and later acquired two
others nearby, the total amounting to nearly thirteen hundred acres/^
John Pearson, who was in Amelia Township in 1737, in 1742 married
Raiford's daughter Mary, and bought a warrant for three hundred acres
near the tract of his father-in-law. He proceeded to clear and cultivate the
land, built a house and barn, and made his home there. The purchase of
the warrant, however, merely extinguished the claim of the original appli-
cant; the legal title he secured later on his own rights of three children and
three slaves. On Haig's death Pearson turned to surveying and became
the most active of these enterprising developers of the back country. Fol-
lowing his business he moved up to Broad River about 1755, but after his
bankruptcy in 1766 returned to the Congaree.^°
John Fairchild, Pearson's chief rival as surveyor, was evidently from
the coast country. He had four tracts, eight hundred acres, surveyed on
or near Raifords Creek between 1741 and 1745 and for a time lived
there. By 1742 William Howell and, within a few years, Thomas and
Arthur Howell had acquired tracts of land adjoining each other on the
creek between Pearson and Raiford. Thomas Howell's plat, like those
of several of his neighbors, shows his house on the very edge of the high
bank of the creek, and from his house to that of William the surveyor
traced "an Avenue"."^
In 1741 the blacksmith, Thomas Wallexelleson, settled on the river
and plied his trade. He neglected to have his warrant surveyed, however,
and four years later had to hasten to Charleston where he indignantly and
successfully protested against the attempt of Gilbert Gibson "contrary to
law and the intent of an hospitable Neighbour" to take up the greater part
of his timber.^^ William Hay claimed to have been "in Low and mean
Circumstances" when he came from Virginia about 1748, but he bought
^»P, IV, 76-77, 86, 382, V, 155; Map 3 (E. Reese) ; Wills, 1747-1752, pp. 62-63.
See also Col. Recs. of N. C, IV, 330 (Philip Raiford).
20 Wills, 1736-1740, p. 30, JC, Aug. 2, 1749, Feb. 8, 1751, Salley, Orangeburg, p.
107 (note P, V, 155, 214, for paths to John Pearson's) ; P, IV, 502, below, p. 156. He
was "a good Judge of Land" (SCGCJ, Nov. 19, 1771, advt. of John Ward).
21 P, II, 256, IV, 184, 327, 352, 354, V, 131 (see IV, 270, 293, 299, 382, V, 222),
Register St. Philip's, p. 73. William Howell's later headrights included five negroes
and when he died he had twelve, while Thomas had fourteen slaves and nine
sheep — JC, Nov. 29, 1744, Sept. 6, 1749, May 2, 1750, Oct. 1, 1751, Inventories,
1758-1761, pp. 394-395. John Gallman who died in Saxe Gotha about 1760 had
eight sheep {ibid., p. 22).
22 JC, Nov. 2, 1742, Oct. 5, 1744, Mar. 22, 1745; P, IV, 309; Inventories, 1751-
1753, p. 420; Wills, 1747-1752, p. 521. Gibson, a native of the province, was il-
literate; when he died about 1760 he owned five slaves, a plow and a thousand
pounds of wheat (JC, Oct. 5, 1744, Jan. 27, 1750, Inventories, 1758-1761, pp. 588-
589).
The Western Townships 61
Richard Jackson's land, on which he built "a Griss Mill", and in 1750
had four negroes in his family besides seven children.^^
By the end of 1747 about forty plats, a dozen of them for Germans, had
been added to the earlier surveys between the falls and the mouth of
Raifords Creek. Raiford's holdings were the largest and few were over
five hundred acres. The total population was probably about two hundred.
Green Hill was the outlet for their wheat and cattle, but cut off as they
were by river, swamp and creeks, they were badly handicapped. There
were few plats below Raifords Creek; indeed, the section between that
stream and the mouth of the Congaree remained almost unsettled until
after the Cherokee War. The swamp, here three or four miles wide, lay
almost entirely on the east side of the river, and even such lovers of mud
and water as the planters could hardly hope to use it, and neither they nor
the small farmers cared to take up the fertile land paralleling the swamp
when it meant complete isolation from the river. The Indians may have
constituted another obstacle to settlement of the region. The Catawbas or
Waterees probably hunted in the swamps long after the settlement of
Saxe Gotha.'*
With the renewal of the German immigration the English element in
the Congarees fell far behind in numbers. Their petitions between 1749
and 1759 amounted to about a hundred and thirty headrights, over half
of them in the township. The best lands, however, were gone; the two
hundred and fifty Germans who now established themselves in Saxe Gotha
and the fifty who settled across the river brought the population of the
upper Congaree valley to eight or nine hundred, but were unable to com-
pete with the English or earlier Swiss-German settlers for offices, honors
or trade. There were three settlers from Virginia, one of them John
Taylor from Amelia County, who in 1756 bought the land of Thomas
Wallexelleson. John Hamelton, another of the newcomers, was a soldier
from one of the independent companies, who after his discharge settled on
Broad River near the Congarees. He became deputy-surveyor and, about
1754, justice of the peace; twelve negroes were numbered in his head-
rights."^
2^ JC, Sept. 6, 1749, May 2, 1750. The mill appears to have been near the site
of the dam of the present Adams Pond, or perhaps nearer the junction of Mill
(Raifords) and Little Creeks. See Map 3, and plats of Hardy Hay and Robert
Goodwyn adjoining (P, VHI, 354, XI, 300). See also Mesne Conveyances 3Q,
346. Note that there v?as another mill on a small creek five miles above (Map 3).
^^ See below, p. 99. Note "Notchee Gut" and "Path to the Notchees" on two
Raifords Creek plats (Map 3). Some of these Notchees — fragments of the Mis-
sissippi Natchez tribe — were to be found at this time among the Cherokees, in the
Catawba towns, and in the low country near Four Hole Swamp — see John R. Swan-
ton, Indian Tribes of the Loijjer Mississippi Valley . . . (Washington, 1911), pp.
247-248, 254-255; JC, July 25, 1744, Feb. 4, 1747; JUHA, Mar. 25, Sept. 12, 1738;
Indian Books, V, 93-94; SCG, Apr. 27, 1734.
25 SCHGM, XXVII, 204-205, JC, Feb. 2, Apr. 6, July 4, Oct. 4, 1749, Aug. 4, 1752,
Mar. 6, 1753; SCG, Oct. 31, 1754 (advt. of Hamelton); above, p. 27, n. 27;
P, V, 116; Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 93; Mesne Conveyances, 2S, 140-145.
62 The Expansion of South Carolina
Henry Christopher Beudeker, one of the few tradesmen to appear, was
a Westphalian brewer and linen-maker. Having "Tasted Philadelphia and
New York Beer . . . the best of which he reckoned bad" he asked aid of
the governor and council for the establishment of a brewery at the Con-
garees, whence he would float his product down the river. He received
seventy-one pounds as a loan from the township fund. The next year he
applied for a further grant because of the loss of his barley crop, but this
was refused, and nothing more is heard of his scheme."^
In 1746 the Germans proudly showed Governor Glen their "large
fields with fine Wheat" and Martin Friday had 2,466 pounds of flour
when he died. For supplying Fort Loudoun in 1756 and 1757, over a
hundred thousand pounds of flour was sent from the settlement, and Henry
Gallman was ordered to buy there three or four thousand pounds of
bacon."^ Much of this flour and bacon, however, may have come from the
nearby communities. The successful establishment of indigo planting on
the coast suggested the crop as a possibility for the middle country and
even for the back country, for it grew fairly readily in both regions. A
tract on the river above Green Hill was advertised in 1755 as choice land
for indigo, but there are few references to it. Flax and hemp added small
amounts to the income of the more enterprising settlers.^^
The rise during the 'fifties of successful families like the Howells and
Raifords was accompanied by a small exodus of others. Besides Fairchild
and Pearson, who were doubtless looking for surveyor's fees, a dozen
Congaree names are found in the piedmont between 1749 and 1759. Solo-
mon McGraw went to Little River of Broad, and there were several others
on that stream who evidently had connections with the Raifords Creek
settlement. Philip Raiford, Junior and James Leslie were also on Broad
River by 1756. Samuel Lines went to the lower Saluda, while Robert
Lang senior and junior, or two men of their name, went one to the upper
Saluda, the other to Crims Creek, a branch of Broad.^ Ill health and
floods alone were quite enough to drive these men from the low-lying bot-
tom east of the river, but some no doubt moved because of opportunities to
sell to more successful neighbors. From the west side, which offered higher
ground next to the river, there appear to have been fewer departures.
Other changes equally significant were taking place in the Congarees.
28 JC, Jan. 18, 1749, Jan. 26, 1750, JCHA, Feb. 9, 10, 1750. Andrew Earner,
cooper and distiller, settled near Raifords Creek (JC, Nov. 6, 1750, Aug. 6, 1751,
Map 3).
2^ PR, XXIV, 431 (Enclosure with Glen's letter of December 1751 to Board);
Inventories, 1758-1761, p. 89; JCHA, May 14, 1752; Indian Books, V, 379, VI, 32.
^ SCG, June 15, 1748 (advt. of sale of Brown's property), Jan. 23, 1755 (advt.
Provost Marshall) ; for identification, see Map 3, and P, IV, 497. See also above
p. 56, and below, n. 34. William Howell, in his thousand pounds of personal
property in 1757 had no indigo. His inventory included a number of notes, 45 head
of horses, 185 head of hogs, and 36 sheep (Inventories, 1756-1758, pp. 178-179).
29 See Map 3, below, pp. 147, 148, and n. 6, and P, V, 498.
The Western Townships 63
In 1749 Martin Friday was feeding travelers and transporting them across
the Congaree at the foot of the shoals. His petition for the ferry privileges
aroused to action his countryman, Jacob Geiger, and both plied the Con-
garee in canoes while they built flats in anticipation of the assembly's ac-
tion. Elizabeth Haig and Robert Steill also asked the coveted privilege,
but in 1754 Friday won the contest.^" The Raifords Creek settlers used a
private ferry at Green Hill until 1756, when Thomas Howell completed
a road thirty miles in length from another ferry over the Congaree south
of Raifords Creek to the road leading north from Friday's Ferry .^^
Thomas Brown's death in 1747 was followed by the appearance of
several traders at the Congarees. Robert Steill, who was a member of a
Charleston firm, settled on the Congaree opposite the fort in 1749 or 1750,
and succeeded to the Catawba trade of Brown and Haig.^^ He had sixteen
negroes and a white servant. The chief heir of Brown's Cherokee trade,
however, and perhaps its purchaser, was one of the first of the bounty set-
tlers, Herman Geiger, who in 1748 and the years following was supplying
the traders with goods and serving food and drink to passing Indians.
In 1749 and 1751 he took up a thousand acres of land in the vicinity.^^
He died in 1751, leaving an estate appraised at nearly nineteen hundred
pounds, including nine negroes, thirty-three horses, sixty head of cattle, and
seventy head of hogs, two four-horse wagons, over a thousand pounds in
bonds and book debts, a gristmill, a windmill for cleaning wheat, a broken
sawmill, a trading boat worth twenty-eight pounds, five psalters, a sermon
book, a Bible, two decanters and twenty dram glasses.^* With his death
the outpost of the Cherokee trade shifted northwestward to Ninety Six, and
to the hands of one of Geiger's clients, Robert Goudey. The Congaree
store continued in existence and at one time or another there were several
others.^'*
^ JCHA, May 25, 1749, Feb. 9, 1750, Feb. 9, Mar. 6, 1751, Mar. 10, 1752, Feb. 8,
27, 1754; Stats., IX, 176-177; JUHA, Feb. 8, 1751, Mar. 9, 1752.
^^ P, V, 155; the line marks show that James Myrick's land (see John Aberly's
plat, P, IV, 431) was E. Baker's survey (P, IV, 270) ; JCHA, Nov. 16, 1756, Mar.
15, 1757; Stats., IX, 214-215, Mouzon, Map of S. C.
^^ Court Records, Charleston, Common Pleas, Feb. 1754 (Wright and Hume,
surviving Steill) ; there was a Robert Steale in the Yamasee country in 1711 (A. S.
Salley, Jr., Journal of the Commissioners of the Indian Trade . . . 1710 . . . 1715
(Columbia, 1926), p. 13; JC, Jan. 19, 1749, May 16, 1750. Steill died in 1753 (PR,
XXV, 354 — Glen to Board, Oct. 25, 1753).
33 See above, p. 55; JC, Nov. 16, 1738, June 4, July 18, 1748, Jan. 6, July 4,
1749, Mar. 23, May 7, 1751; JCHA, June 28, 1748, May 22, 1749.
3*JC, Mar. 17, 1752; SCG, Sept. 16, 1751 (advt. of Elizabeth Geiger); In-
ventories, 1751-1753, pp. 107-109. Compare this inventory with that of William
Strother of the Congarees who likewise died in 1751: 18 negroes, 22 head of cattle,
54 head of hogs, 4 beds and their "furniture," each bed exclusive of bedstead being
worth five pounds, a dozen pewter soup plates, a coflFee mill, a linen and a woolen
wheel, 2 flax hackles, 5 old books, and 4 bee hives. The total value of the per-
sonal property was nearly seven hundred pounds {ibid., pp. 40-42).
3^ See above, p. 56, below p. 132; the commander of the Congaree fort also had
a store (JCHA, May 8, 1749, Jan. 27, 1750).
64 The Expansion of South Carolina
Haig's murder in 1748 and other Indian outrages caused the assembly
to provide for a palisade fort at the Congarees and for two troops of
rangers to patrol the frontier during the immediate danger. John Fair-
child was given command of one of these troops, and in this capacity or
for some other reason was marked out like Haig for the special vengeance
of the Iroquois; during one long moment, while he sat in a house at Saluda
Old Town, two of them looked into his face while their fellows sur-
rounded the house. The dim firelight and the stout lying of his friends
barely saved him this time, as did the fleetness of his horse in another
crisis.^^ The fort at the Congarees was completed near the end of 1748
and a garrison was maintained there for several years. One of the com-
manders, Lieutenant Peter Mercier, married Elizabeth Haig, and by his
death in 1754 in the battle of Great Meadows in Virginia she was left
again to care for her fortunes. In the next five years, while she continued
to gather up small cash from sales of petty supplies or entertainment of
Indians, nearly nine hundred acres of land were surveyed in her name.^^
The spiritual state of this crossroads of inland South Carolina doubt-
less continued to be none of the best, and it was difficult to better the
situation because of the hopeless divisions in the community. The German
and English elements tended to remain separate, and each of these was di-
vided— the Germans into Lutheran and Reformed, the English into Baptist
and Anglican. The Reverend John Giessendanner visited the Congarees
occasionally if not regularly and doubtless preached to the settlers when he
baptized their children. The services were usually held in Mrs. Haig's
house.^^
In 1756 an act was passed allowing thirty pounds a year to a minister
who should hold services in the Congarees "and six times a year at least, at
the most populous places within forty miles of the same." For a time this
service was rendered by Abraham Imer, recently rector of Purrysburg,
who died at the Congarees in 1766. Theus continued his ministry to the
Reformed congregation, and there was also another German church at
Crims Creek on Broad River.^® The visits of the Reverend Philip Mulkey
3^JC, Mar. 29, Apr. 21, 1748, May 18, 1750, May 13, 1751, JCHA Apr. 8, 1748.
3^0, May 20, July 20, 1748, Feb. 8, 1749, May 9, 1751; Indian Books, II, pt. 2,
6, V, 1-4; Salley, Orangeburg, p. 140, below, p. 208, n. 79; JCHA, Mav 12, 1758,
Stats., IV, 121 ; P, VI, 325, 394, 407. Mrs. Mercier later married David Webb of
the Congarees, who had been a lieutenant of rangers in the Cherokee War (SCG,
July 5, 1760, Oct. 8, 1763 — advt. of Millicent Lang, Mesne Conveyances, 30, 12-18).
38 Salley, Orangeburg, pp. 122, 123, 140, 149-150, 159-160, 163. The Lutheran
pastors of Ebenezer described the Congaree settlers, at the time when the Re-
formed Church was dominant there, as "a vile mixture of bad men" (Voigt, Ger-
man Element, pp. 35-36).
f^JUHA, Jan. 23, 1756; Stats., IV, 20-21; SCGCJ, Sept. 9, 1766; Dalcho,
Episcopal Church, p. 386; Library of Congress Transcripts of Fulham MSS, N. C,
S. C, and Ga., No. 72, p. 44; below, p. 155. Imer's personal property advertised
later included four negroes, a riding chair, and some "valuable Books" (SCGCJ,
Dec. 23, 1766).
The Western Townships 65
of Fairforest Creek led to the forming of the Congaree Baptist Church
in 1766, with John Pearson, Isaac Raiford and about thirty others, chiefly
late arrivals in the community, as the first members. The church was
built in the same year on land given by William Howell, apparently part of
the mill tract he acquired from William Hay.^
Diverse and discordant as were these Congaree groups, they had by
1759 developed a settled society that was no discredit to the province, and
were effectively exploiting the limited agricultural resources and the com-
mercial possibilities of the upper Congaree. In the township defense sys-
tem the settlement was a conspicuous success; the chief passage from the
hill and mountain country to the coastal plain was now completely blocked
by an independent and resourceful population. The credit for establish-
ing this outpost was due in part to the provincial government, but even
more to an unusual group of frontiersmen, both English and Swiss.
^Townsend, S. C. Baptists, pp. 142-143. For the location of the church see
ibid., Mesne Conveyances, 3Q, 346, 3S, 70; P, XIX, 192 (path to meeting house,
John Pittman's plat, which was near Back Swamp).
CHAPTER VI
New Windsor and the Salkehatchie Forks
Fort Moore, like the site of the old Congaree garrison, was better
situated for defense than for a center of township settlement. On the
eastern side of the Savannah, for six miles below the shoals, great ridges,
little better than the sand hills bej'ond them, lay parallel with or facing the
river and left small space for river bottom or good upland. The southern-
most of these ridges ended in a bluff that dropped a sheer hundred feet to
the river bank, and from this height Fort Moore commanded, at the same
time that it was protected from, the great western trading path that ap-
proached the opposite bank.^
In the wider bottom of swamp and lowland below the fort and on the
slopes of the higher land lay the restricted agricultural possibilities of the
neighborhood. Greater promise for a town was offered by the other side
of the river where there was more good land and where traders could es-
tablish storehouses and save the expense of transportation across the river.
But few thought of this in 1735, and even though the Georgia town of
Augusta was founded the same year, most of the traders clung to the
safer east bank and to their old trading post, which continued to be called
Savannah Town.
Sebastian Zouberbuhler of Appenzell, Switzerland, came to South
Carolina in November 1734, commissioned by the Protestants of his canton
to find them a place for settlement. The next six months he spent in
viewing the proposed township sites and in conference with the lieutenant-
governor and council. In July he signed a contract to bring over a hundred
families to settle within eighteen months in the township at Fort Moore,
the province supplying the settlers with food, tools and cattle, and furnish-
ing lands free of all surveying charges and other fees. Two hundred more
families were to be brought over "with all convenient speed". No reward
for Zouberbuhler was stipulated, but he evidently hoped for money from
the township fund and expected a grant of land from the crown.^
About fifty Swiss families, numbering a hundred and ninety-two per-
^ Bartram says {Travels, p. 313) that by 1776 the river had eaten away the
site of the fort, and in view of present-day shifts of the current this may well be so.
2 PR, XVIII, 111-117 (Board of Trade Journal, Feb. 8, Mar. 15, Apr. 29, May
3, 5, 1737), 174-177 (Zouberbuhler's petition, received by Board Feb. 7, 1737) ; JC,
June 27, 1735, Apr. 2, Dec. 15, 16, 1743. He was allowed 16,000 acres but does
not seem to have had it surveyed.
66
The Western Townships 67
sons, came to South Carolina under this agreement. They set out in Au-
gust 1736, under the leadership of the Reverend Bartholomew Zouber-
buhler, the father of Sebastian, and Johannes Tobler, former governor of
Appenzell. Tobler and half or more of the immigrants were of the
moderate party in Appenzell, and as a result of a recent defeat Tobler had
lost his position. The Rotterdam magistrates were unwilling to allow them
to depart in an English vessel and held them six weeks, so that they did not
arrive in Charleston until the first of February, 1737. Tobler led a party
of twenty-five by the direct path to Fort Moore, finding a grasping "inn-
keeper" half-way the distance, but the rest of the settlers went by boat. It
was April before these started on their way; the journey to Fort Moore
consumed an additional six weeks, and in the hot season succeeding many
became sick and forty died.^
New Windsor Township was marked to extend from the mouth of
Town Creek to a point about seven miles above Fort Moore. The "town"
was laid out with the fort in its northwestern corner and most of the plats
lay between it and Silver Bluff, about ten miles farther down. In 1737
and 1738 the names appear of twenty-two Germans who had land sur-
veyed in the township.'* Probably a number of the Switzers came over as
the servants of Zouberbuhler and Tobler and were therefore allowed no
land at this time.
Between 1732 and 1738 twenty-six persons of non-German name had
lands surveyed in the township area. Ten of them were concerned in the
Indian trade and there were others with the same surnames as the traders.^
The population of the township in 1738 was perhaps three hundred. Few
names were added to the list between that time and 1760, and the removal
of the stores to Augusta after 1740 probably kept the population nearly
stationary. Three of the later applicants for land also had Indian trade
interests. John Dick, whose name suggests that he was from Williams-
burg, settled in New Windsor about 1742, and ten years later applied for
a warrant on Town Creek, which "is Convenient for his Trade of Tan-
2 PR, XVIII, 176-177 (above, n. 2), 232-233 (Bartholomew Zouberbuhler, Apr.
9, 1737, received by Board, Apr. 12, 1738) ; Voigt, MS notes (citing letter of
Archivist of Zurich), and German Element, pp. 31-33, 47; JC, Mar. 31,
1737; SCG, Feb. 5, 1737; "John Tobler Manuscripts", edited by C. G. Cordle,
Journal of Southern History, February, 1939, pp. 83-97.
*JCHA, Sept. 20, 1733, Mouzon, Map of N. and S. C, Faden, Map of S. C,
Haig, Map of the Cherokee Country, DeBrahra, Map of S. C, P, II, 493, XXA,
458; see "New Windsor" in index to Plats. No plat of the township has been
found.
^ See JC, Mar. 31, 1737, Mereness, Travels, p. 222. Compare the following
names in Plats index and in SCG advertisements: Summers (Mar. 26, 1737),
O'Brien and Roche (Nov. 5, 1737), Vaughan (Nov. 9, 1738), Smith (June 23,
1739), Motte and McGillivray (Aug. 25, 1739), and note mention of Duche in
letter to editor, July 25, 1748. See also surveys for Campbell and Brown, who
were concerned in the trade (below, pp. 69, 70).
68 The Expansion of South Carolina
ning." On this stream at the crossing of the path from Fort Moore to
Charleston, "a publick house was kept by one Sullivan." ®
The rank and file of the Switzers, quietly devoting themselves to their
lands, almost disappear from the records of early New Windsor. In a
township of limited agricultural possibilities farming offered scant oppor-
tunity for achieving wealth or notoriety. On their first arrival Tobler
and his own group had planned a harmonious community, which should
admit newcomers only on approval of the majority, but the elements of
population in the Savannah Town settlement made this hope as futile as
their expectation of large accessions of their countrymen.^
A tract of six hundred and fifty acres was surveyed for John Tobler —
"Landschampton Tobler" he was sometimes called in recognition of his
former title of Landeshauptman — in a great bend of the river even then
called "Beach" or Beech Island.^ Here a short distance from the edge of
the swamp Tobler built his house, and adjoining his land surveys were
later made for John Tobler, Junior, and Dr. John Jacob Sturzennegger.
When Tobler established his store does not appear, but from 1744 to 1765
there are occasional references to it, chiefly in connection with the Indian
trade. Apparently his son William was in charge of it at the beginning, but
later another son, Ulric, who was also a deputy surveyor and justice of the
peace, was partner. At the father's death the debts due the store amounted
to nearly twelve hundred pounds.^
John Tobler announced in the South Carolina Gazette in 1744 that he
had invented a machine for cleaning rice, which with the labor of three
negroes would clean three barrels a day. The invention is not mentioned
again but in another enterprise the versatile Switzer met with more suc-
cess. In the Gazette of December 18, 1749, the printer announced that
on the 23d he would publish an almanac for the year 1750 "calculated for
this Province by John Tobler, a Philomath of New Windsor." The first
reference to actual publication, however, was the announcement in De-
cember 1751 of Tobler's almanac for 1752 which contained "the Luna-
^ David Douglas — moved from New Windsor to Augusta (JC, Apr. 11, 1746,
SCG, Aug. 17, 1747, his advt.), John McQueen, Charleston merchant, with heavy in-
vestments in Indian Trade (JC, Sept. 18, 1755, Aug. 13, 1759), Daniel Clark,
former associate of Patrick Brown {SCG, Aug. 28, 1755, his advt.) ; the three
plats were surveyed in 1757 a short distance above Horse Creek (P, VI, 356-357,
363), evidently from land of the former Chickasaw reservation (below, p. 71).
For Dick see PR, XXI, 99 (Signatures to Williamsburg petition, see below, p. 81),
JC, Dec. 8, 1752; for Sullivan see Indian Books, III, 116 (below, p. 205, n. 70).
^ "Tobler Manuscripts", pp. 85-86.
« JC, Mar. 1, May 24, 1744, P, VII, 278, Mouzon, Map of N. and S. C, makes
an island of the east bank from Fort Moore nearly to Silver BluflF. The name
evidently came from the number of "beach" trees in the area. There are eleven in
the lines of a nearby plat (P, V, 285).
*P, VI, 90, VII, 278; JC, Mar. 1, 1744; Indian Books, VI, 14-15, 123; SCG,
May 12, 1759, June 8, 1765 (advts. of Ulric Tobler and Sturzennegger) ; Inven-
tories, 1763-1767, pp. 265-267.
The Western Townships 69
ti'ons and Eclipses," advice about bleeding, "some diverting epigrams," a
garden calendar by a lady of the province, and a description of the roads in
the southern colonies. With the possible exception of three years The
South-Carolina Almanack, with Tobler's calculations, was published yearly
until his death in 1765, after which his son John seems to have continued
the work, with some interruptions, until 1790. When the elder John
Tobler died he left eighty-three pounds cash, nearly two thousand pounds
due him in bonds and mortgages, two negroes, two pictures valued at
twenty-five shillings, a "Chamber Organ", a flute, a clock and a number of
German books valued at twenty-one pounds.^"
The Indian trade determined the ups and downs of New Windsor's
turbulent economic and social life. The traders were most of the time in
the Indian country, but returned regularly to Savannah Town or Augusta,
while the storekeepers or caretakers were residents throughout the year.
Of the principal traders by far the most important was Patrick Brown,
formerly of the Congarees, who in 1741 entered the western trading firm
of Archibald McGillivray and Company. With the retirement of Mc-
Gillivray and Wood, Brown became the most important trader in either
province. He had land in New Windsor, but if he lived there at all it was
for a short time, and in 1743 he was in Augusta where he maintained his
store. In 1748 he was granted by the Georgia government five hundred
acres thirty miles below Augusta on his promise to carry on there "a large
Indigo Work." At his death in 1755 he was head of the firms of Brown,
Rae and Company and Patrick Brown and Company, besides doing business
in his own name. He had through these firms a near monopoly of the
western trade, which through him went to Charleston. Unlike the other
chief traders he had little interest in imperial schemes, or perhaps thought
that the empire was best served by ceaseless application to business, peace
with the Indians, and abstention from colonial politics."
One of Brown's associates was George Galphin, who appears in the
Creek trade in 1744. In 1747 it was stated that he had bought four hun-
dred acres, surveyed in 1737, from the McGillivray company. The tract
lay immediately south of Town Creek and so included part of Silver BlufiE,
where he established his home. He was granted two thousand acres by the
^^Ibid.; SCG. Apr. 30, 1744; JC, Apr. 18, 1744; JCHA, Dec. 15, 1743. Notice
of Tobler's death is found in Urlsperger, Nachrichten, VII, pt. 4, 35. His daughter
married John Joachim Zubly {ibid., p. 135). See list of Tobler almanacs in
SCHGM, XV, 73-81; those for 1756, 1757 and 1758 were printed by Christopher
Sower in Germantown, Pennsylvania, who also printed a Tobler Pennsylvania
Almanack — see Charles Evans, American Bibliography, III (Chicago, 1905),
p. 242; in addition they are advertised as published or forthcoming, for the years
1754, 1759, 1761, 1762, 1763, 1767 (SCG, Oct. 29, 1753, Mar. 17, 1759, Dec. 23,
1760, Jan. 16, 1762, Nov. 20, 1762, SCAGG, Nov. 28, 1766).
11 Adair, American Indians, p. 325; JCHA, Apr. 30, 1740, Jan. 19, 25, 1742;
SCG, Aug. 29, Sept. 26, 1741, July 9. 1744, Aug. 28, 1755 (advt. of Daniel Clark),
Apr. 28, 1757 (advt. of William Pinckney) ; Col. Recs. of Ga., VI, 225; Henry
Laurens, Letter Books, MS, July 4, 1755.
70 The Expansion of South Carolina
South Carolina government, and in receiving other grants from Georgia he
declared in 1757 that he had forty negroes. From 1750 to the Revolution
Silver Bluff was a place of some note; Henry Laurens wrote Galphin in
1770 thanking him "very heartily for your politeness & civilities when I
was lately at your Hospitable Castle".^^ Several other traders had planta-
tions or cowpens near Fort Moore. On Alexander Wood's death in 1757
his executor advertised for sale at Point Comfort, at the mouth of Upper
Three Runs below Silver Bluff, three hundred horses, six hundred head of
cattle and a stock of hogs. Ten negro and Indian slaves were part of the
estate.^^
Most of the Indian trading stores were moved to Augusta during the
'forties, but in 1749 Jeremiah Knott still describes himself as storekeeper of
New Windsor. Isaac Motte, a sometime trader, lived there until his
death about 1753. The store of Samuel and George Eveleigh, the most
noted of the Charleston firms interested in the trade, was early in 1741 in
charge of Martin Campbell, but in 1744 was kept by John Fallowfield, at
that time justice of the peace. At his death in 1751 Fallowfield had a store
here in his own name, and his personal property included decanters, drink-
ing glasses, plates, a teakettle, two teapots, a spit, a chocolate pot, a coffee
mill, three brass candlesticks, eight chairs, three tables, a bureau, a writing
desk, a couch and mattress, a featherbed, bolster and pillows, a hat and
wig, a black coat, a pair of black plush breeches, a fustian coat and pair of
breeches and a large looking glass. He had two negroes, fourteen goats,
and six sheep. The goods in the store and his personal property together
amounted to two hundred pounds.^*
In their own persons as well as through their trade the Indians were a
potent influence on New Windsor and Augusta. They were constantly
passing on their way to Charleston to see the governor and the town and to
receive presents. Furthermore, as early as 1725 there were a number of
Chickasaws, a rather disorderly group of wanderers from the distant tribe,
living near Fort Moore. About 1738, when settlement of whites in New
Windsor practically ceased, the provincial government invited the entire
Chickasaw nation, for the sake of mutual protection, to move to its borders.
Most of them refused the offer, declaring "their Resolution to maintain
themselves on that Spot of Ground, where their fore Fathers had kindled
their Fires & laid their Bones for so many Generations." However, there
^See JC, Jan. 20, 1744, Nov. 11, 1747, Nov. 10, 1761, June 21, 1765; Indian
Books, II, 2, P, IV, 347; Laurens, Letter Books, Jan. 2, 1770. The company re-
ferred to in Col. Recs. of Ga., VI, 333 is evidently Brown's organization; see also
ibid., pp. 3 31, 673.
^^SCG, Apr. 28, 1757 (advt. of William Pinckney) ; P, VI, 156, Mouzon, Map
of N. and S. C; see also SCG, June 7, 1740, Feb. 5, 1741 (John Craig), JC, Oct. 8,
1742, JCHA, Dec. 15, 1736— deposition of McMullen (William McMullen).
"JCHA, May 8, 1749, May 28, 1751; SCG, Aug. 6, 1753; JC, Mar. 1, Sept. 8,
1744; Inventories, 1751-1753, pp. 469-471. On Eveleigh see Crane, Southern
Frontier, pp. 121-122.
The Western Townships 71
were two groups of Chickasaws near New Windsor in 1748 — one body of
twenty men with their families within three miles of the fort, and seventy
more under their chief the Squirrel King ten miles away on Horse Creek.
A tract of 21,774 acres was surveyed and reserved for them. These Indian
settlers were often a nuisance, sometimes a real danger to their white
neighbors — "pilfering thieving dogs" George Haig called them, but Haig
was a Catawba trader, and the Squirrel declared "that his People do not
quarrel with the white People but when they are Drunk." ^'
In 1742 the Squirrel and his warriors, under the command of Captain
William Gray, aided in the repulse of a Spanish attack on Frederica, the
southern outpost of Georgia — and according to one of their champions,
they saved the day. Lieutenant-Governor Bull ordered the commander of
Fort Moore to hoist the colors and entertain them royally whenever they
came to the fort, and the Commons House remembered the old chief long
and gratefully. Governor Glen gave them little countenance, however,
and about 1755 they moved for a time to a place a few miles below Augusta,
called New Savannah. They later returned to South Carolina. William
Gray was formerly a Creek trader, but about 1740 settled near Fort Moore
where he stayed for fifteen years, apparently engaged in planting.^®
Fort Moore was maintained by the province until the Cherokee War,
the garrison ranging from ten to about twenty-five men. The most in-
teresting of its commanders was Daniel Pepper whose service extended
from 1737 to 1745. The conduct of the New Windsor settlers un-
doubtedly left much to be desired — the situation being in no way improved
by a tacit exemption from prosecution for debt — and with more zeal than
discretion Pepper used his commission as justice of the peace to attempt a
reform of the community. Seizure of traders who had failed to pay their
Charleston debts caused an exodus to Augusta, whereon the indignant re-
mainder, among them Martin Campbell, Jeremiah Knott, and William
Tobler, planned Pepper's undoing. With Campbell presiding over a two
gallon bowl of punch several affidavits were secured, which were later
repudiated by the repentant signers, one of whom sagely observed "When
the liquor is in, the wit is out." But to other charges — that he had
slandered Robert Vaughan's wife and put him in the stocks for resenting
it, and without trial had another woman ducked "so often that her life
was in danger" — the captain could only say that he himself was drunk
when he put Vaughan in the stocks, and that the victim of the ducking was
^•^Mereness, Travels, pp. 168-172; JC, May 14, 1731, Mar. 27, 1746, Mar. 29,
1748; JCHA, Mar. 26, 1743, May 21, 1747, Mar. 27, 1765; JUHA, Jan. 26, 1739.
See Crane, Southern Frontier, p. 273, Col. Recs. of Ga., IV, 47, Adair, American
Indians, p. 224.
^"Indian Books, VI, 17; below, p. 189; Jones, History of Ga. I, 357; JCHA,
May 21, 1747, June 8, 1748, May 16, 1755 (tax estimate). Mar. 27, 1765; JC, Apr.
27, 1748, July 12, 1751; PR, XIX, 126 (Deposition of John and William Gray,
Jan. 16, 1727, enclosed by Bull to Board May 25, 1738).
72 The Expansio7i of South Carolina
a woman of ill fame. Pepper was deprived of his commission as magistrate
but he was complimented for his record as commander and for his arrest of
the delinquent debtors/^
Others beside Pepper tried to reform New Windsor, although by some-
what different methods. The rector of St. Bartholomew's paid a visit to
Savannah Town and preached before the arrival of the Swiss. He baptized
ten children, five of them being of Indian mothers. John Tobler himself
used to read aloud to his Swiss neighbors extracts from German sermons;
in asking his friend, one of the Ebenezer pastors, for other books of sermons
he stipulated that they be not too short. He and several other Switzers
earnestly begged the provincial government for a school and pastor in the
hope not only of putting a stop to the ungodliness prevalent in the town-
ship, but also of encouraging the settlement of foreign Protestants. The
subject was doubtless very near the heart of the former governor, for John
Tobler, Junior, though he had the education requisite for carrying on his
father's almanac, was in 1762 deprived of his commission as justice of the
peace because of his irregular course of life. Between 1751 and 1753 the
missionary at Augusta of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
preached nine sermons in the township, and on petition of the inhabitants
the assembly provided for monthly sermons by him at about thirty shillings
apiece. In 1766 it was reported that he had done so for several years "very
much to the Edification and Improvement" of the people.^^
A New Windsor petition in 1754, regarding the ferry over the Savan-
nah River, was signed by about fifty-five persons. The militia company
two years later consisted of sixty-six men, and there were listed with them
thirty-nine male slaves from sixteen to sixty.^^ This company, however,
included others beside settlers of the township, and it is improbable that the
white population was over three hundred. New Windsor was thus the
most thinly settled of the townships, and though it had several leaders of
some distinction, it was not strong enough to play a great part in either the
defense or the development of the frontier. Its backwardness, however,
was due to conditions beyond the control of the government. Despite its
weakness in white settlers, it was able to give substantial assistance to the
two forts and to the Chickasaws in defense of the western entrance to the
province.
I'JCHA, Apr. 25, 1735, Mar. 26, 30, 31, 1743, May 2, 15, 16, 1745; JC, Oct. 5,
1737, Mar. 1, 1744, July 30, 1745. Pepper came from Dorchester, and retired, at
the end of his service, to James Island {SCG, Sept. 7, 1734, JCHA, Dec. 14, 1747).
He maintained a store at the fort, a cowpen on Horse Creek, and a ferry over the
river (JC, Mar. 1, 1744). The petition refers to an act granting immunity to
debtors — probably the one of 1721 (see above, p. 11).
^® Dalcho, Episcopal Church, p. 368; Samuel Urlsperger, Nachrichten {Ameri-
canischcs Ackeriverk Gottes, 4 parts, Augsburg, 1754-1767), pt. 2, 317, pt. 4, 135;
JC, Nov. 29, 1744, Jan. 21, 1745, May 23, 1760, Dec. 28, 1762; JCHA, Feb. 1, 1754,
Mar. 6, 1766.
^MUHA, Feb. 6, 1754, JCHA, Feb. 8, 1754, JC, May 4, 1757.
The Western Townships 73
In 1729 the southwest was the weakest point in the South Carolina
line of defense, and at that time the assembly was maintaining for its
protection the fort at the Pallachuccolas and a troop of rangers with head-
quarters on the Salkehatchie.^° Conditions here encouraged the growth of
plantations on the coast, but hindered settlement in the interior. Up the
Combahee and Savannah Rivers and the waters of Port Royal Sound the
tides run for thirty miles, and these streams with their numerous tidal
creeks and inlets and the inland passage to Charleston afforded unusually
easy transportation. In the thousand small fresh-water swamps draining
into these waterways was a large area for the cultivation of rice. The land
and slave boom of the 'thirties perhaps reached its height here.
Beyond the tides, however, the swamps contract and as far as Kings
Creek, forty miles above, the land becomes typical of the lower pine belt,
with stretches of fine compact sand — so level that only extensive ditching
could make it profitable for crops — alternating with soil somewhat looser
in structure, better drained and much more desirable. The land rush over-
flowed into this region and before 1740 fifty thousand acres had been taken
up, chiefly on the Savannah about the Pallachuccolas, where was surveyed
a tract of twelve thousand acres for Purry, and on the forks of the Sal-
kehatchie, on the eastern branch of which a similar survey was made.
From point to point up the Savannah were smaller tracts: Arthur Mid-
dleton had two thousand acres laid off at the mouth of Kings Creek ; there
was another of eight hundred acres at the mouth of Briar Creek; and a
third, a thousand acres in area, at the mouth of the Lower or Old Three
Runs."^
The presence of a hundred or two Uchees in this section added little to
its attractions, although they, like the New Windsor Chickasaws, were
often useful. Most of the tribe lived a few miles below Silver Bluff, but
they roamed the entire area west of the Salkehatchie. As late as 1737 there
were some Creeks about the Pallachuccolas and Kings Creek, who like the
other settlement Indians were called upon in emergency. But in 1732 a
planter complained "that some Creek Indians who for some years have re-
sided in the Settlements, had been at his Cowpen & drove away his over-
seer and Slaves Robed his House destroyed his Corn and broke down his
Fences, & committed many Insolencies." ^" An order was given for the
pursuit and destruction of these Indians, but they probably escaped severe
punishment. These depredations were hardly as alarming to the settlers as
-'^ Stats., Ill, 213, 244, 263, 335, JCHA, Mar. 9, 29, Apr. 4, 5, 1734. The Pal-
lachuccola fort appears on a plat (P, I, 196).
^^ Bureau of Soils, Hampton; plat for John Roberts (state archives) ; P, I, be-
tween pp. 318 and 319, II, 392, 437, 439.
22 On the Uchees, see JUHA, Mar. 19, 1737; JC, Apr. 14, 1743, June 15, 1751,
Apr. 4, 1761; SCG, Oct. 28, 1732, Oct. 2, 1749 (advt. of Hugh Bryan) ; Mereness,
Travels, pp. 218, 222. For the Creeks, see JUHA, Mar. 19, 1737, July 2, 1744;
JC, Aug. 30, 1732.
74 The Expansion of South Carolina
the attacks made upon the Indians themselves by their own enemies. As
late as 1751 a party of northern Indians traversed the region quite to the
coast and there slew or captured five Uchees. About this time at
Silver Bluff the Uchees lost thirty-five of their women and children in the
same manner, but turned the tables on the invaders and killed nearly all
of them. Most of these settlement Indians went to the Creeks about 1750,
and by 1761 the rest of them appear to have followed.^^
After 1740 large grants in this region ceased for a time. During the
next twenty years a score of men of English name had warrants or surveys
here for tracts of five hundred acres or less, chiefly on the Salkehatchie.
One of these plats, in the fork of the river, shows "Indigo vats" near a
house. An advertisement of a larger holding in 1760 gives an unusually
complete description of an indigo plantation. It consisted of one thousand
acres on Buckhead Swamp, a branch of the east fork of the Salkehatchie;
one hundred acres of the higher land had been planted with indigo in 1758
and fifty more the next year — all of it under good fence; more than one-
third of the tract was good swamp for rice, a hundred acres having been
cleared ; there were "eleven setts of wedged indico vats", together with a
large quantity of rice, corn feed and some hogs. The plantation had been
in the hands of an overseer."*
The northern half of this district lay in the upper pine belt, the swamps
becoming smaller as the sand hills near New Windsor were approached,
the sand becoming less compact, and the soil usually better drained. Here
about twenty small landholders settled by 1760, most of them on the Upper
Three Runs or on Steel Creek, but several were on the Lower Three
Runs.^^ Farther down, on the headwaters of the Coosawhatchie, in a
slightly rolling section which is in effect an extension of the upper pine belt,
a small group made their homes. Thomas Barker in 1755 had a plat
surveyed on Jacksons Branch, which drained into the Salkehatchie; part of
his land was the site of Jackson's "Old Cowpen". John Townsend Dade,
who in 1748 was a settler in the Welsh Tract, in 1758 had a hundred and
fifty acres surveyed on Duck Branch, a tributary of the Coosawhatchie.
Dade and his wife were among the first members of the Coosawhatchie
Baptist Church organized here in 1759 — the first Baptist church to be es-
tablished beyond the tidewater after those of the Peedee and Lynches
2^JCHA, May 27, 1742; JC, May 26, 1742, May 7, June 15, July 2, 1751, Apr.
4, 1761; JUHA, June 6, 1747; Adair, American Indians, p. 346.
2*JC, July 4, Sept. 6, 1749, July 3, Aug. 7, 1753, Oct. 21, 1755, Aug. 23, Oct. 5,
1756, Jan. 4, Sept. 6, 1757, Aug. 1, Oct. 5, Nov. 7, Dec. 5, 1758, Jan. 2, Feb. 6,
1759; P, V, 137. The advertisement was that of John Lining {SCG, Mar. 15,
1760).
^^ Bureau of Soils, Barnwell, Bamberg and Hampton; for the upper settle-
ments see P, VI, 231, 359, VII, 133, 176, 182; for the others see P, VI, 294, 296,
304, 305.
The Western Townships 75
River. The minister of this church was James Smart who first appears in
the province on Lynches River. Four years after the organization of the
church he had a plat surveyed on Beech Branch of Coosawhatchie. Henry
Smart had land surveyed adjoining that of James and probably came with
him. These and other names among the nineteen original members of the
church show that it was largely an offshoot of the distant Welsh Neck
Church.2«
In the entire region, from the Forks to the Upper Three Runs, cattle
raising was evidently an important business until the Revolution. Lazarus
Brown in 1758 became owner of three hundred and fifty acres on the
Lower Three Runs from which he advertised in 1765 a thousand head of
cattle. Brown was reputed to be the tallest man in the province — nearly
seven feet. He was killed by one of his slaves who was tried and according
to sentence burned alive. Robert Oswald in 1761 advertised for sale three
thousand acres on the Coosawhatchie, including good corn, rice and indigo
land and six hundred cattle. In 1768 a stock of two thousand head was
advertised, part being in the fork and part on Buckhead Swamp, "being as
good a range for cattle as any in the southern parts of the province, having
a large cane swamp between them for a winter's range, and a most extensive
and plentiful summer's range." And in 1771 there was offered a third of
a stock of cattle and horses "ranging on Coosawhatchie, reckoned one of
the largest Stocks and as good Cattle as any in this Province." ^^
The continued weakness of the southwest was the chief factor in the
effort of the Commons in the 'forties to work out a plan of settlement for
the parishes, and in 1749 the governor and council reserved the vacant lands
in a six-mile strip along the Savannah from Purrysburg to New Windsor
for persons who would settle upon them. The reservation amounted to no
more than did the parish settlement plans, but the renewed immigration of
the foreign Protestants a few years later provided a partial solution of the
problem. For lack of sufficient vacant lands near the tidewater the Ger-
mans were evidently directed to the upper part of the Salkehatchie forks,
and there between 1753 and 1759 at least sixty surveys were made, amount-
ing to over eleven thousand acres. The great majority of these were on or
near Willow Swamp, Coltsons Branch or the forks of the Salkehatchie
nearby. Forty or fifty miles from tidewater, they were on the edge of the
upper pine belt, and had good land for the compact settlements for which
the Germans in other parts of the province had shown so marked a pref-
26 JC, Mar, 8, 1748, Mar. 4, 1755, P, VI, 252, XI, 411; Barker was probably
from St. George Dorchester (JCHA, Mar. 16, 1756). See below, p. 145, P, VIII,
249, Townsend, S. C. Baptists, pp. 47^8. The church has long been known as
Beech Branch Baptist Church.
2'P, VI, 296; see advertisements, SCG, June 25, 1750, Aug. 29, 1761, May 4,
1765, July 2, 1772, SCGCJ, Jan. 9, 1770, July 30, 1772, SCAGG, July IS, 1768,
May 27, 1771.
76 The Expansion of South Carolina
erence.^^ Additional Germans, a score or more in number, settled in other
parts of this district, on the Upper and Lower Three Runs and elsewhere,
often quite apart from their countrymen.^
Partly by the efforts of the provincial government, partly by the normal
spread of settlement, the southwest had been settled, although by reason
of the swamps which nearly surrounded the Germans in the Salkehatchie
and the thinness of settlement everywhere else, the inhabitants lived in com-
parative isolation. The militia returns of 1757 listed no company between
the head of tidewater and New Windsor, but at that time a company was
formed for the Salkehatchie forks in order to include the Germans/*'
The total population could hardly have been six hundred, over half of it
German.
28 Above, p. 28, JC, Oct. 3, 4, 1749; see the surveys, P, V, 315-329, 349, VI,
32, 163, 174-175, 178, 202, 319, 324, 377, 380, 392, VII, 62, 75, 94, 198-201, 297,
and note the names adjoining these plats. Among the settlers were Henry Ulmer
and Conrad Preacher (V, 324, 328).
2'' See P, VI, 109, 136, 164, 179, 200, 256, 257, 260, 264, 268, 270, 273, 276, VII,
61, 78, 82, 100 and plats adjoining these.
^'^JC, May 4, 23, 1757. Note the road petitions from the Salkehatchie and
Coosawhatchie settlers in 1764 and 1765; the latter built ten miles of road on their
own initiative (JCHA, July 31, Aug. 7, 1764, Jan. 24, Mar. 12, 26, 29, July 19,
1765, Stats., IX, 206-207).
THE SETTLEMENT OF THE MIDDLE
COUNTRY— THE EASTERN TOWNSHIPS
Ma p -^
CHAPTER VII
Williamsburg and Kingston
The region north of the Santee, cut off by the river from Charleston
and without an inland water passage to the south, in 1729 was settled only
in its southern tip and was faced by neither slave nor Indian menace. The
attention of the framers of the township plan had been fixed upon the
southwest and upon the Protestant immigrants from the continent who
were to defend it; when groups of Scotch-Irish settlers began to arrive and
to claim the bounty they were, without much ado and perhaps by their own
choice, assigned to the northeastern frontier.
On October 27, 1732, a ship arrived from Belfast with eighty-five
passengers; the "Irish" settlers imported by James Pringle and Robert Orr,
on the advice, they said, of two members of the council, were probably
among the number. Neither Pringle nor Orr became settlers in the town-
ships, and seem to have been acting merely as immigration agents. Simi-
larly the Reverend John Baxter, Presbyterian minister at Cainhoy near
Charleston, in 1737 reported that he had brought in forty-three persons
from Belfast.^
How many of the settlers thus imported went to Williamsburg, sur-
veyed in the spring of 1732, and how much time elapsed between arrival in
Charleston and settlement in the township does not appear. Supplies from
the township fund were given to a group of "Irish Protestants" about the
end of the year 1733. Several men of the Witherspoon connection — Gavin
Witherspoon, David Wilson and William James — who are said to have
reached the province in 1732, may have been among these settlers, and they
were joined by others of their kin in January 1735. In 1736 a shipload
arrived, the majority of whom went to Williamsburg. The experience of
one of these families which came in 1734 was probably typical. They
found the inhabitants in Charleston very kind, but were carried from
the town to Williamsburg by sea in an open boat. It was the dead of
winter and they suffered much from the weather and " 'the atheistical and
blasphemous mouths of our Patroons and the other hands.' " On arrival
at the township the settlers put up temporary huts of poles covered with
earth, while they made a beginning of clearing and planting the land.
There was comparatively little sickness, and although the Indians hunted
'^SCG, Oct. 28, 1732; JCHA, Feb. 22, 28, 1733; JC, Nov. 9, 10, 1732, Jan. 17,
May 9, 1733, Feb. 27, 1736, July 5, 1737. For Baxter see Howe, Presbyterian Church,
I, 204, 255-256, 284-285.
79
80 The Expansion of South Carolina
in the region during the spring season "in great numbers in all places like the
Egyptian locusts," they gave no serious trouble. From the corn crop of
1734 the settlers had five hundred bushels beyond their needs.^
The township selected lay on the Black River, a few miles above
tidewater. The King's Tree on a bluff of the eastern bank was taken as
the starting point for the survey of the town and the center of the town-
ship. Unfortunately the reserve was not surveyed until 1736, although
the order was given two years earlier. The 198,023 acres was typical of
the lower pine belt, with many swamps, and large areas beside so poorly
drained as to have been ill adapted for anything but cattle raising. There
were likewise some stretches of coarse sand that were nearly barren, but
much remained that was good land and the township had the advantage of
a river that was navigable for small boats.^
So closely did the townships hedge in the settled area that the admin-
istration was subjected to heavy pressure from the expanding planter
interests, and in October 1735 the lieutenant-governor and council frankly
threw open the townships east of the Santee to the planters by adopting a
rule that no inhabitant of South Carolina might have a warrant in the
townships west of that river.* The effect of this action, combined with the
delay in surveying the Williamsburg reserve, was disastrous. In 1734
surveys of about four thousand acres in Williamsburg can be accounted for,
and four-fifths of the grantees were evidently settlers, but in 1735 one-
third of the total acreage of about nineteen thousand was for persons who
could not have intended to settle in the township. The average size of
these tracts was nearly five hundred and fifty acres, while that of the set-
tlers was three hundred. A fourth of the total acreage of the years
1734-1737 can be satisfactorily identified as that of bona-fide settlers of
Williamsburg, representing about three hundred and fifteen persons. Half
of the land taken up was evidently for non-residents. The status of the
remaining fourth is doubtful, but the majority of the applicants appear to
have been inhabitants rather than outsiders. There were besides thirty-
eight men mentioned in the years 1734 to 1759 for whom no land record
appears, sixteen of them in a petition of 1748.^ The total population at the
end of the settlement period was probably five hundred.
The Williamsburg Scots evidently hoped to have the entire township
2 PR, XVII, 339 (above, p. 55, n. 6); J. G. Wardlaw, Genealogy of the
tVitherspoon Family (Yorkville, 1910), pp. 8-11; JC, Feb. 25, Mar. 3, Nov. 13,
1736.
^ Plats of Williamsburg town and township (state archives), Bennett, Soils
of the Southern States, p. 55 and map; Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, Soil Survey
of fVilliamsburg County . . . (Washington, 1931). The "King's Tree" was prob-
ably a Walter's pine (see W. C. Coker and H. R. Totten, Trees of the South-
eastern States — Chapel Hill, 193'1 — pp. 27-29), which resembles the white pine re-
served for the crown in the grants of land.
4 JC, Oct. 17, 1735. See also Feb. 26, 1736.
^JUHA, May 3, 1748.
The Eastern Townships 81
to themselves, and to choose their lands from its whole area. Instead — as
they declared in angry protests, first to the governor and council, then in
1743 to the royal commissioner for inspecting land grants — the deputy
surveyor had forced them to take consecutive tracts, while "all the good
Lands . . . [were] taken up by Gentlemen resideing in other parts of the
Province." They further declared that many of the "near sixty families
who came last over" were forced to go elsewhere. While there was much
justification for this complaint there was also some exaggeration in it, for
there were many thousands of good acres left in the township. Further-
more, while the surveys were concentrated about the King's Tree and
Black River, there were many away from river and town, with frequent
intervals between plats, which indicate that settlers had their choice of
land. The tracts of the outsiders were similarly distributed, and because of
their greater size often included land which was not practicable for the
Scots. For instance, John Cleland's five hundred acres lay entirely in the
swamp opposite the town, and Andrew Rutledge's thousand was half
swamp.*' These outsiders were South Carolina officials, planters, Charles-
ton lawyers, merchants and tradesmen. The lands were probably taken
up for planting or investment rather than speculation for speedy sale, for
only about five thousand acres of Williamsburg land was advertized for
sale in the Gazette in the next fifteen years.
James Aiken, a planter south of the Santee, had five hundred acres
granted to him in 1735. When the township was surveyed and his tract
was found to be in it, the obliging Broughton administration gave him a
special grant for it and for the adjoining tract which he had bought.
Thomas and Alexander McCree and two other Scots arriving in 1736
were then settled upon this land by the deputy surveyor. The McCrees re-
fused to move even after they had lost a suit for damages brought against
them in 1740. Four years later they again petitioned the governor and
council for the land, but thereafter gave up a struggle which was patently
hopeless from the start. There was more justification for the grant of a
thousand acres to George Hunter on which six Williamsburgers had been
placed by the deputy, and on which they had cleared six acres and built
huts. Hunter showed that his survey had been made in 1728 and that he
had paid taxes on it since.^
With the year 1737 warrants and surveys in Williamsburg come almost
to a stop. In the next eight years between five and six thousand acres was
granted, and from 1746 to 1759 about twelve thousand. Three-fourths or
more of this was for residents. For fifteen years of this time there was no
^PR, XXI, 93-105 (Representation to Henry McCulloh, Jan. 19, 1743, enclosed
by him to Board, Mar. 19, 1743), P, II, 157, III, 261.
■^ Grants, MS, I, 372, P, I, 483 ; Court Records, Charleston, Common Pleas,
Nov. 1740, Akin vs. McCrea ; JC, Oct. 1, Nov. 13, Dec. 2, 18, 1736, Jan. 14, 1743,
Jan. 14, 1744; see also Mar. 16, 1745.
82 The Expansion of South Carolina
migration of bounty settlers from Ireland to South Carolina. This may be
accounted for, in part, by the dissatisfaction of the Williamsburgers with
their treatment, but it was apparently due also to an unwillingness to
settle in the low country; when immigration began again after 1760,
although much of the upper pine belt was still vacant, the Scotch-Irish
studiously avoided it. Such reports as that of "the Great Sickness" of
1750, which "put us all into so great Confusion, that no business was
minded" were not calculated to encourage the prospective settler. There
were other obstacles; the local authorities in Ireland put difficulties in the
way of emigration, and the Spanish and French wars from 1739 to 1748
interfered with shipping.®
With corn the Williamsburgers made at least an excellent beginning.
The cattle raising industry preceded them to the township, for in February
1735 William James and three others protested that "sevl. People had
settled Cow Pens and kept large stocks of Cattle in the said Township,
which consumed the Herbage." The council at once ordered all cattle
removed save those of the landowners of the township. In 1743 James'
own cowpen is mentioned in an advertisement. That rice was an ordinary
crop of the township is indicated by a petition of James Gamble in 1743 in
which he asked for another tract of land, declaring that the two hundred
and fifty acres assigned him in 1734 was "so Extreamly barren" that three
of his best crops did not exceed ten bushels of rough rice.^
Hemp and flax were among the many products that the South Carolina
leaders wished to introduce among the planters, and during 1733 and
1734 Richard Hall was employed by the assembly to this end; but the
seed arrived too late to plant, and the death of Governor Johnson removed
his "only pillar". Hall had surveys of two thousand acres in Williams-
burg, and now turned his attention to the township, where he found the
land good. The settlers accepted his advice and assistance and "resolved
to follow sowing Hemp." In 1736 the assembly offered a bounty for flax
and doubled an existing premium on hemp.^°
Shortly after this references to Hall cease, but in 1740 William Lowry
from Williamsburg laid before the lieutenant-governor in council "the
first Piece of Holland made in this Province," and was given three pounds
® JC, Nov. 6, 1751, SCG, Aug. 21, 1736, Pennsyl'vania Magazine of History and
Biography, XXI, 485-487; "We have Letters from our Friends in Ireland Acquaint-
ing us of their desire of coming here, if we would in any shape encourage them,
which we have hitherto declin'd, because of the Lands being run and possessed
by others." (PR, XXI, 98— see n. 6 above).
^JC, Feb. 12, 1735, Nov. 9, 1743, SCG, Oct. 3, 1743 (advt. of John Basnett).
^^See SCG, Jan. 15, 1732 (letter of Agricola), May 18, 1734 (advt. of Hall);
PR, XV, 87 (Johnson to Board, received Jan. 26, 1732), XVII, 174-193 (Same,
Nov. 9, 1734, with enclosure, pp. 160-173), 313-315 (Hall, May 8, 1735, received by
Board June 25, 1735); JCHA, Jan. 20, 25, 26, Mar. 12, 1733, May 28, Nov. 15,
1734; JUHA, May 18, 23, 1734; Stats., Ill, 184, 436-437, VII, 489; P, II, 313, 334,
337, III, 483.
The Eastern Townships 83
from the township fund. In 1743 Janet, wife of John Fleming, brought
in twenty-four yards of fine white holland, the flax having been grown on
Fleming's plantation, spun by Janet, and woven by David Witherspoon.
She was given seven pounds. The next year she appeared with more linen,
and with her James McClellan, likewise of the township, who produced
twenty-one yards. No more gratuities were given, but in 1749 Governor
Glen said that a few linens were used in the province, made in Williams-
burg. In 1748 John Dobell, a former Georgia schoolmaster, wrote from
Charleston a somewhat exaggerated account of Williamsburg industry.
He stated that Williamsburg and Orangeburg were both flourishing,
particularly the former, "by whose Ingenious Industry our Market is
often supply'd with abundance of Barrelled Butter and Flour inferior to
none in the Northern Provinces and very little so to any in England ; with
Cheese Tallow Bacon etc. Not to mention Linnen Cloth which they make
in that perfection that our Governor has deign'd to wear it in Shirts him-
self"."
It was indigo, however, that brought wealth to Williamsburg. The
loose, dry and moderately rich soil demanded by the crop was to be found
at many points in the township, as in other parts of the lower pine belt,
and in June 1755 Henry Laurens wrote: "We shall have a great deal
offerd to us from such Persons as deal with us for Slaves from Williams-
burgh Township which affords in general the best Indigo." Accordingly
one finds in the militia census of 1757 one hundred and fifty-five male
slaves from sixteen to sixty years of age listed from Williamsburg, indi-
cating a total for the township of over six hundred. About fifty slaves are
found in the land petitions of the actual inhabitants between 1744 and
1755; doubtless there were many besides. Laurens' letters show that
buyers came in person from the township, and it is thus probable that men
who had themselves been bounty immigrants in 1735-1736 were among
those who "went to collaring each other & would have come to blows had
it not been prevented" in contending for the best slaves.^"
However, the absentees who still held the land taken up in 1736 and
1737 were in position to profit by the new crop, and probably owned
many of the negroes. Indigo did not require so much labor as rice, but
called for heavy expenditures for vats, and required skilled supervision.
Where the work was undertaken by outsiders it must have been in the
charge of overseers, for the Williamsburgers continued to monopolize the
public offices,^^ as they could not have done had any considerable number
i^CHA, Mar. 1, 1737; SCG, July 5, 1740; JC, Nov. 12, 1743, Nov. 30, 1744;
PR, XXIII, 362-363 (Answers of Glen to Board, July 19, 1749, incorrectly given
In Carroll, Collections, II, 229, as Williamsburg, Virginia) ; Col. Recs. of Ga.,
XXV, 281. For Dobell, see also ibid., pp. 15-19.
12 Carroll, Collections, II, 203-204, U. B. Phillips, American Negro Slavery
(New York, 1918), pp. 91-92, Laurens, Letter Books, June 30, July 2, 31, 1755.
i^See, for instance, the militia officers (JC, May 4, 1757), Stats., IX, 149, VII,
503. See also William W. Boddie, History of Williamsburg (Columbia, 1923).
84 The Expansion of South Carolina
of well-to-do Anglican planters established themselves in the township in
person.
Transportation was not a grave problem for Williamsburg, In 1734
a boat carried the goods of the Witherspoons up to Kingstree, and in 1737
Robert Finley received two hundred bushels of corn from the provincial
government as a gratuity for his clearing the river for large boats up to
the town. The river was regularly used, and acts were passed providing
for clearing it to the northern boundary of the township at the expense of
the inhabitants. A bridge over the Black at Kingstree, built by Roger
Gibson in 1740, and Murray's Ferry over the Santee, established by the
assembly the next year, gave the settlers access to Charleston by land."
Not many seem to have taken the "town" seriously before the Revolu-
tion. However, in 1740 Hugh Campbell, "late of Williamsburgh . . .
Storekeeper" was sued by a Charleston merchant for twenty-two pounds.
John Bassnett, who evidently went from Charleston with the first settlers,
was in 1744 captain of the militia and justice of the peace. He was both
planter and storekeeper. Against him in his role as planter, Robert Pringle
got a judgment for about £1,143, which was delivered to John Rice, a
Charleston butcher, for execution. But when Rice seized one of his slaves,
Bassnett's wife rescued her. Bassnett himself from the window threatened
to shoot the deputy and declared "that half the men in Charlestown
should not be able to seize them, being so well beloved by the Inhabitants
of Williamsburg, who would stand by him." Several months later, on
another suit, he declared himself bankrupt. In 1761 he was still justice of
the peace.^^
The Williamsburgers constituted a social unit of unusual strength and
vigor. They were bound by "their National Adherence to each other" and
this was probably appreciably strengthened by their contact with the Eng-
lish who had taken so much of the land of their township. Futhermore,
the Witherspoon, Fleming and James families, with several others, were
related by blood or marriage at the time of migration. But the chief bond
was the Williamsburg Presbyterian Church, organized in the third year of
settlement. On the petition of William James in July 1736 to the
lieutenant-governor and council, a two hundred and fifty acre plat was
given in trust for the use of a dissenting minister. From Ireland they
procured the Reverend Robert Herron, who served them three years.
After an interval he was succeeded in 1743 by the much loved John Rae,
i^Wardlaw, Genealogy, p. 9; JC, May 4, 1737; JUHA, Jan. 22, 1745; JCHA,
Feb. 27, 1753; Stats., VII, 489-491, 503, IX, 121-124.
^° Court Records, Charleston, Common Pleas, Feb. 1740; Register of St. Philip's,
index; JC, Apr. 26, 1735, Dec. 8, 1736, Apr. 17, 1744; SCG, July 30, 1744 (adv.
of J. Wedderburn) ; Register . . . Prince Frederick, index. Town lots were sur-
veyed, however— see above, n. 3, JC, Apr. 26, 1735, Feb. 27, 1736, July 1, 1737.
The Eastern Townships 85
of the Presbytery of Dundee, Scotland, who continued their minister until
his death in 1761.^^
The original intent of Johnson's plan was that each township be made
a parish, and, when it should have one hundred householders, send two
members to the Commons House. The first move to take advantage of
this understanding was made in 1739 when the Scotch dissenters petitioned
the assembly to make the township into a parish "with all the Privileges &ca
thereto annexed". Since parish expenses were borne almost entirely by
the provincial government, the Williamsburgers may have been willing to
have an Anglican church built for the privilege of representation. They
may even have thought that since the number of Anglicans settlers in the
parish was negligible, the church would remain unorganized. Meanwhile
they voted in Prince Frederick's parish.^^ The petition precipitated much
discussion, and though the House authorized such a bill, it was never
passed. The next parish east of the Santee was St. Mark's, formed in
1757, with its church near the mouth of the Wateree.
In 1746, during the War of the Austrian Succession, John Rae the
minister presented a petition to the assembly in behalf of his congregation,
saying that they were two hundred effective men, and asking a fort to
secure their wives and children and enable them "to act like men in de-
fense of their Country". In 1757, in a list of the South Carolina militia,
Williamsburg had two companies, one of forty-five men, the other of
eighty-four;^® the total white population in 1757 was probably about six
hundred and fifty.
This estimate, indicating an actual decrease of the white population
since 1746, points to two significant developments east of the Santee —
a replacing of white labor by slaves, and an emigration of the increase of
the whites to the less convenient but more fertile upper pine belt to the
northwest. The proportion of slaves was far from dangerous, however,
and from the standpoint of development of the province both the slave
importation and the white emigration were quite desirable.
Williamsburg was the most successful of the townships in Governor
Johnson's scheme. In the unpopular lower pine belt it continued to be a
compact community in which slaves were numerous enough to bring pros-
perity, but not to threaten security, while the expansion of the township
to the northwest was a vital factor in establishing contact between the
coast and the back country. In another sense, one perhaps not foreseen by
IS PR, XXI, 103 (above, n. 6), Wardlaw, Genealogy, JC, July 2, 1736, Howe,
Presbyterian Church, I, 324. There was also a glebe of 100 acres (Plat, state
archives). See also J. A. Wallace, History of IViUiamsburg Church (Salisbury,
1856), pp. 22-29.
1' JCHA, Mar. 16, Apr. 4, 1739, May 2, 7, 1740; see also names in PR, XXI,
96-99, 100-105 (above, n. 6) ; and Register . . . Prince Frederick, pp. 117, 121, 129.
18 JCHA, Apr. 16, 1746, May 4, 1757.
86 The Expansion of South Carolina
the governor, these Scots were equally important. They were a Scotch
Puritan community set down in a more easy-going English plantation
province. Their high standards of conduct and education, their social
compactness and their remarkable vigor were valuable aids to South Caro-
lina progress. On the other hand, despite their quarrels with the govern-
ment and the non-resident landowners, they were sufficiently adjusted to
economic, social, and political conditions to make an effective unit in South
Carolina life. To a conspicuous degree they served the same purpose as the
French element in the older parishes.
Kingston on the Waccamaw was one of the northern townships thrown
open to the inhabitants of the province by the order of the lieutenant-gov-
ernor and council in 1735. It was first planned to include both banks of
the Waccamaw River, but in 1733 the Commons House so earnestly urged
that it be run out entirely on the north bank that the administration con-
sented. A later House charged the failure of the township largely to
this change. It is true that the additional land on the Little Peedee was
poor compensation for the thirty or forty miles of the south bank of the
Waccamaw, but climate, soil and grants to non-residents are more satis-
factory explanations for its ill success.^®
The township thus located had three sides of a square, the southwest
line being for most of its course in the swamp of the Little Peedee, the
northeast line lying close to and paralleling the North Carolina boundary.
Ten or fifteen miles from the southern tip of the township a large creek
or "lake" flowed into the Waccamaw and on the bluff at this point the
site of the town was fixed.
The bulk of this great area is a plain so level that drainage is bad and
much of the soil — partly for this reason and partly from its composition —
was hardly practicable for settlement in a country where better and ac-
cessible land was plentiful. Near the two rivers, however, the plain falls
away to the edge of the river swamp, presenting a wide strip of well
drained and excellent soil. Smaller strips of the same land are to be found
along the small creeks reaching back into the interior.^" Thus the southern
corner, between the two rivers and including the site of the proposed town,
offered the best advantages — good upland soil, river swamp for rice, and
water transportation.
Between four and five thousand acres was taken up in the township
prior to 1 736, but in that year over seventeen thousand acres appear in the
records in plats, warrants or grants. A third of this was in tracts of five
hundred acres or more for outsiders of the type that besieged Williams-
13 Above, p. 80; JCHA, Mar. 1, 2, 7, 1733, Feb. 9, 1734, Mar. 30, 1743; JUHA,
Feb. 26, 1734; De Brahm, Map of S. C, Mouzon, Map of N. and S. C. No plat of
the township has been found; in 1783 "the plan" of Kingston is mentioned, and
in 1801 its name was changed to Conwayborough (Stats., IV, 561, V, 408).
^ Bureau of Soils, Horry.
The Eastern Townships 87
burg. The next year about fifteen thousand acres was taken up or applied
for, with about the same proportion for non-residents. Thereafter for
twenty years Kingston warrants and surveys ranged from one hundred to
two thousand acres a year. If all the land which was not apparently for
non-residents was taken up by actual settlers, the population would have
been about four hundred, and this figure is in accord with the militia re-
turns of 1757 which listed for the township a company of eighty-six men,
and showed fifty-seven male slaves from sixteen to sixty. There is little but
indirect evidence for the identity of these settlers. The Williamsburgers
themselves declared that many of the nearly sixty families of their country-
men "who came last over" to settle in the Black River township had to go
elsewhere. The establishing of a Presbyterian church in Kingston is a
further indication that a number of the Scotch-Irish settled there.^^
The Kingston settlers appear less in the colonial records than those of
any other South Carolina district. It seems improbable, therefore, that
many of the two hundred or more slaves of 1757 belonged to the inhab-
itants. However, Arthur Baxter, who started with a town lot and three
hundred acres in 1737, got a warrant in 1754 for four hundred more on
the headrights of eight slaves. In 1756 and 1757 he applied for warrants
for three hundred and fifty additional acres. Robert Jordan recited in his
petition of 1744 that the five hundred and fifty acres of his former
warrant had "proved so barren, that he cannot by labour nor Industry Get
a Living thereby" and asked other land instead. At the same time that
he got the new warrant he was given another for one hundred and fifty
for increase in his headrights. In 1755 a third warrant was given him for
three hundred and fifty acres based in part on two slaves. Abraham
Jordan's warrant for five hundred acres in 1755 was on the right of ten
slaves. The two Jordans were captain and lieutenant respectively of the
militia company in 1757. George Starrat's seven hundred and fifty
acres in 1745 must have included rights for slaves, for it represented
fifteen persons. Those Kingston plats which were recorded were run out
chiefly on or near the Waccamaw about Kingston, with a smaller number
on or near the Little Peedee opposite. How far into the interior they
extended cannot be stated, but in 1751 William Ridgeway declared that he
had lived some years in the upper part of the township on rented land, and
now applied for a warrant for two hundred acres on Playcard Swamp.
This was in the northeastern corner of the township, fifteen miles or more
from Kingston.^'
From the nearly complete obscurity enfolding it the "town" of Kingston
emerges for a moment in 1768 into a somewhat lurid light. The testimony
of William Hunter in a murder case having been called in question, he felt
21 JC, Feb. 7, 1737, May 4, 1757.
22 JC, Jan. 24, 1744, Mar. 20, 1745, June 4, 1751, May 7, 1754, Mar. 4, May 7,
1755, May 4, 1756, Mar. 1, 1757.
88 The Expansion of South Carolina
impelled to publish in the South Carolina Gazette of May 2nd an affi-
davit he had made in January preceding. From the piazza of the house of
John McDougal, justice of the peace and tavern keeper of Kingston,
Hunter had seen the owner and Joseph Jordon begin a quarrel which, inter-
larded with many and furious oaths, proceeded to displays of horsewhip,
sword, and knife; in the course of the long altercation Jordon paused to
eat the victuals set before him by the negro wench of the tavern, and on
McDougal's refusal to let him have punch, sent to Mrs. Wilson's for it.
Presently McDougal wounded Jordon, pursued him eighty yards to a
smith's shop and there killed him. Mrs. Gaddis dressed a cut in Mc-
Dougal's hand, and a negro belonging to Hunter's schooner also saw part
of the affair.
The Reverend John Baxter of Cainhoy occasionally preached at
Waccamaw, and in 1756 William Donaldson, a newly ordained minister
from the north, accepted a call to that congregation. After his death three
years later the Gazette advertised his estate — seven hundred acres on the
river, ten slaves, and the year's indigo crop. Mouzon's map of 1775 shows
a church at Kingston, and in 1795 Bishop Asbury preached in an old
Presbyterian meeting-house then repaired for the Methodists."^ This
church could hardly have been other than a Presbyterian church founded
chiefly by the Scotch-Irish settlement of Kingston, and served by Baxter
and Donaldson.
23 Howe, Presbyterian Church, I, 282, 594, SCG, Dec. 8, 1759 (advt. of Glen
and Skinner).
CHAPTER VIII
QUEENSBORO AND THE WeLSH TrACT
The Peedee, like the Santee and Savannah, offered the best advantages
for the small farmer in its upper pine belt, which lay above Black Creek,
In 1729, however, the population north of the Santee was too scanty for the
government to encourage settlement at such a distance, and the Peedee
township was placed on the lower course of the river in a region of many
and wide swamps, ill adapted as a whole to any but large plantations.
Queensboro was surveyed in 1733 and lay on both sides of the Peedee,
having its "town" and center on the west bank three or four miles above
the mouth of Lynches River.^
In November of this year James Gordon, proposing to settle one hun-
dred families in Queensboro, applied to the assembly for the same aid as
that given to Purry. The Commons House refused his request on the
ground that the northern townships needed no encouragement for settle-
ment. Thereupon, in 1734, Gordon at his own expense imported twenty-
seven persons whom he freed from indentures the next year when he
applied for the bounty for these and for twenty-one others just arrived.
The second group was from Pennsylvania as probably was the first; each
settler was given a bounty of eight bushels of corn and a peck of salt.
Gordon was commissioned as justice of the peace and captain of the militia
for the township although he seems to have had his home in Georgetown.^
The bounty given was only a part of the usual supply, but these settlers,
being neither foreign nor European, were not within the intention of the
settlement program. No individual grants appear which would correspond
to this migration, but Gordon himself in 1735 had surveys made in the
township of eight tracts amounting to thirty-one hundred acres. The
settlers may have established themselves in the township, or perhaps moved
up the river with the later arrivals from Pennsylvania. As for the town,
so little was it regarded that Gordon had his overseer plant the area re-
iJC, Mar. 10, 1732; JCHA, Sept. 20, 1733; copies of Welsh Tract and Queens-
boro plats (see Alexander Gregg, History of the Old C/ieraivs — Columbia, 1905 —
opposite pp. 45 and 49, and n. 8 below), De Brahm, Map of S. C. The township
and its town may also be approximately located by the following plats: P, I, 512,
II, 160, 172, 427.
2 JCHA, Nov. 17, Dec. 6, 1733; JC, Mar. 7, 29, 1735; SCG, Mar. 8, 1740 (advt.
of sale of Gordon's property). In his estimate of expenses of the province for
settlement (PR, XVII. 228 — above, p. 22, n. 14) Furye listed a year's allowance
"to Mr. Gordon & 40 Highlanders in one of the Northern Townships" but the
group cannot be identified, nor, perhaps, the statement entirely relied upon.
89
90 The Expansion of South Carolina
served for ft. Meanwhile the planters were taking up the land of Queens-
boro. Besides Gordon's holdings there were a dozen others of a thousand
acres or more, and by 1745 about sixty-five plats had been surveyed, which
brought the total to nearly thirty thousand acres. The three surveys of
John Hammerton, Secretary of the province, who was the chief grantee,
amounted to four thousand acres.^
Even earlier than the arrival of Gordon's immigrants several men had
settled on the river above the township. Malachai Murphy, a native of the
province, claimed to have purchased part of a warrant for land on the
Peedee about 1728. He made his home a short distance above Mars Bluff,
a three or four mile stretch of high ground on the west bank of the river
five miles above Jeffreys Creek.* When in 1746 he applied for a warrant
for the land he had so long occupied without legal title, he had twelve
slaves. Gideon Gibson, who established a cowpen on the Peedee about
1732, later moved to the Little Peedee.®
John Thompson, Junior, lived near enough to Prince Frederick's
Church on the lower Black River to serve as vestryman, but in 1735 he had
a thousand acres surveyed on the point between Jeffreys Creek and the
Peedee, and by the spring of 1736 several tracts for others were surveyed
on the creek nearby. Thompson traded with the Cheraw Indians, who
lived on the east bank of the river at the shoals and caused the vicinity to
be called "the Cheraws".® They hunted along the river, with some of the
Peedees who probably lived with them, and claimed the land at least as far
down as Mars Bluff, sometimes called "the Little Cheraws". Francis
Young lived on the river opposite the Great Cheraws town, and he and
Thompson later had lands surveyed there at the mouth of Thompsons
Creek. ^
In August 1736 Lieutenant-Governor Broughton and the council read
and granted the petition of David Lewis, Samuel Wild and Daniel James.
These men represented members of a colony of Welsh Baptists living in
Newcastle County, then one of the three Lower Counties of Pennsylvania,
but later part of the state of Delaware. On examination they had found
the land of the Peedee valley suited to their purpose of raising "Hemp,
2 See above, p. 20, n. 9 ; P, II, 316, 322, 344, IV, 14-18, 20, 22-24, 39-40; JC,
June 2, 1752. In 1743 five hundred acres in fifty acre tracts was advertised as
formerly the property of Gordon {SCG, Mar. 14th).
^JC, Apr. 13, 1744, Feb. 20, 1746 (the name is sometimes given as Michael);
Welsh Tract plat (below, n. 8) ; SCG, Apr. 17, 1755 (advt. of Edward Jerman) ;
Bureau of Soils, Florence (map).
^ JC, Nov. 12, 1747, P, IV, 510. He was probably the carpenter who came
from Virginia — JCHA, July 2, 8, 1731 — but the identity of the Gideon Gibsons is
not clear.
^ See index to Register . . . Prince Frederick and P, III, 156, 516, IV, 5;
JUHA, Jan. 26, 1738; JC, June 8, 1739; Mooney, Slouan Tribes, p. 60.
^ SCG, Feb. 7, 1761, SCGCJ, Aug. 26, 1766 (advts. of Andrew Johnston and Isaac
Navel) ; Grooms' land was on or near Mars Bluff {SCAGG, Mar. 18, 1768—
advt. of John Murray); JC, Nov. 9, 1743; P. IV, 195, 263-264.
The Eastern Townships 91
Flax, Wheat, Barley &ca". They asked for the prospective settlers a reser-
vation of ten thousand acres of Queensboro — the northeast portion of that
township — and all the land above for eight miles on each side the river as
far as the junction of its two main branches. The nearest tributary of the
Peedee that could be called its main branch was Little River, seventy miles
north of Queensboro and twenty miles beyond the North Carolina line as
later surveyed. The South Carolina portion alone thus constituted a
reservation for immigrants with which no township could compare in area
of fertile and convenient land.®
Associated with James in the reservation for the Welsh was Maurice
Lewis, a Charleston member of the Commons House who had but recently
taken up surveys of fifteen hundred acres of land in Queensboro, and who
called himself one of "the Welch and Pensilvanians". The records of the
Welsh Tract Baptist Church in Pennsylvania state, in November 1735,
that Abel Morgan, teaching elder, James James, ruling elder, Thomas
Evan, deacon, Daniel James, Samuel Miles [Wilds], John Harry, John
Harry, Junior, Thomas Harry, Jeremiah Rowell, Richard Barrow,
Thomas Money, Nathaniel Evan, Mary James, Annie Evan, Sarah James,
Mary Wilds, Elizabeth Harry, Margaret Harry, Eleanor Jenkin, Sarah
Harry, Margaret William, Mary Rowell, and Sarah Barrow were re-
moved to Carolina and were dismissed to the Baptist Church in Charles-
ton, or permitted to form themselves into a church. But not until January
1737 is there reference in the South Carolina records to the arrival of
"several" in the province.^ During the year 1737 the Welsh Tract Church
dismissed to the Peedee settlement eight men and seven women, in 1738
John Jones and his wife, Ann, and in 1739 and 1741 several other mem-
bers. With the exception of Abel Morgan, listed in the record as re-
turned, James James who soon died, and Thomas Money, references to
all the men named appear on Peedee plats within the next few years.^°
In the summer of 1737 warrants were granted to several whose names do
not appear in the minutes of the mother church, among them Evan
Vaughan, Samuel Sarancy and Evan Davis.^^
^Records of the fVelsh Tract Baptist Meeting . . . Delanvare, 1701-1828
(Wilmington, 1904), I, 7-18; JC, Aug. 13, 1736; Gregg, Old Cheraivs, pp. 614-617.
The plat finally surveyed according to these directions was not returned until
January 1738 (JC, Jan. 27, 1738) ; it has not been found. A plat of Nov. 29, 1736,
rejected by the administration, is in the state archives; it is reproduced without
the signature of the surveyor in Gregg, Old Chera<ws, opp. p. 49. For the at-
tempts to deceive the administration into depriving the Welsh of a great part of
their reservation, see JC, Feb. 18, Dec. 14, 1737, Jan. 27, 1738, July 7, 1739;
SCG, Feb. 12, 1737 (proclamation).
9JCHA, Feb. 1, 1738, Register of St. Philip's, pp. 128, 167, P, III, 375, 412,
JC, Jan. 19, 1737.
1° See Townsend, S. C. Baptists, p. 62, n. 2 ; P, IV, 297 (Wild), 203 (S. Parsons),
197 (J. Rowell), IV, 262 (Barrow), 302 (Ellerbe, adjoining N. Evans), 187
(Dousenal — i.e., Devonald), 189 (Evan Harry, adjoining J. Harry).
^^JC, July 29, 1737. Daniel James already had received a warrant for 350
acres (JC, Dec. 9, 1736).
92 The Expansion of South Carolina
To each head of a family among these settlers arriving in 1737 were
given six bushels of corn and a bushel of salt. Eight hundred and fifty-
nine pounds was set aside from the township fund as a bounty for the first
two hundred settlers over twelve years of age who should come from
Wales. The reservation was extended from time to time until 1745, but
there is no evidence of direct immigration from Wales, the war with Spain
being given as the cause of the failure of the plan. From Pennsylvania,
however, the Welsh continued to come in considerable numbers. ^^
The immigrants made little use of the lower half of their great reserva-
tion. In 1737 Thomas Evans and the widow of Samuel Wilds had their
surveys made in or near Queensboro, followed in 1738 by Thomas James,
Griffith John and Evan, John and David Harry. These were near the
mouth of Catfish Creek. There was room for others, for none of the plats
showed outsiders adjoining, but the rest of the Welsh evidently preferred
land farther north.^^
Between Black Creek and the sand hills on either side of the Cheraws
the Welsh Tract included the typical soils of the upper pine belt. A short
distance from the river was a light sandy loam, excellently adapted to
agriculture, but next to the Peedee the land was even more fertile, con-
venient for water transportation, and, because of the forage in the swamp
portions, better suited for cattle raising. A five mile square of this river
bottom, on the east side of the river and ten miles below the Cheraws, lay
nearly enclosed in a great bend of the Peedee. The soil was a rich silt
loam like that of Raifords Creek, and the area less subject to the floods
that afflicted it later when the valley above was cleared. Here in the
"Welch Neck", before they had been a year in the province, the Welsh
began their surveys, their plats fronting the river above and below the
mouth of Crooked Creek. William and Abel James, Thomas Evans,
James Rogers, William Terrel, Daniel Devonal and John Jones had their
plats made in 1738." Within seven years of that date nearly a hundred
plats were run out in the Welsh reservation, amounting to about twenty
five thousand acres. Few of the holdings were over five hundred acres.
The population of five hundred thus represented was probably half Welsh,
■^-JC, Dec. 14, 1737 (a few others may have received the bounty later — JC,
June 6, 1739, Oct. 15, 1742), July 7, 1739, Jan. 26, 1743, Mar. 25, 1745. James
Price, however, claimed to have come from Wales on encouragement by the
province; see also William Hughes and Job Edwards (JC, Jan. 22, 1746), and
note JC, Jan. 20, July 19, 1738.
^^P, IV, 145-146, 188-189, 297; the later claim of the Welsh that grants to
South Carolinians had forced them to settle further up the river and had prevented
immigration of others was evidently an excuse on which to ask an extension of
the reservation— (JC, July 7, 1739).
"Bureau of Soils, Marlboro; above, p. 59; P, IV, 187, 190-194 (Devonald's
plat was stated to be in Queensboro, but later surveys — see P, IV, 394 — and the
index to Plats show this to be an error). The location of the Welsh Neck surveys
may be worked out from the names on a later plat of Thomas James (P, XVII,
228).
The Eastern Towtiships 93
all of whom lived in or near the Welsh Neck. The petitions from the
west side of the river indicate that a larger number of the early settlers
there came from the South Carolina coast than from Virginia or the
northern colonies.
One of the first difficulties of the Welsh was with the Cheraw and
Peedee Indians who by "running among their Settlements under pretence
of Hunting" caused them great uneasiness. In 1739 John Thompson was
called before the lieutenant-governor and council, but he denied that he
had promoted "any misunderstanding between the Welch and Indians or
Virginians &ca." About two years before he had bought all the lands of
these Indians on the river, including about forty "old fields" as the
abandoned cleared lands of the Indians were called. His expenses, in-
cluding his service in quieting the apprehensions of settlers in the Welsh
Tract and in Williamsburg, came to a hundred and five pounds which the
provincial government undertook to pay him in return for surrender of
the deed, giving him warrants for a thousand acres of land besides. Some
of the Cheraws were already with the Catawbas ; probably the rest of their
tribe and the Peedees soon joined them.^^
James James was the leading member of the Welsh group at the time
of the migration. He was a justice of the peace in Pennsylvania and was
the father of Abel, Daniel and Philip James. He seems to have died
within a year, however, and Daniel James became justice of the peace,
succeeded in turn by William James, who was likewise the first captain of
the militia. Daniel James started a mill which William completed, each
receiving a reward of fourteen pounds from the provincial government.
John Newberry, on Muddy Creek at the lower end of the Welsh Neck,
set up a grist- and sawmill and another like it was built by Gideon Ellis,
who came to the Welsh Tract from the lower part of the province, and
settled on the south side of the river on or near Jeffreys Creek.^'' Among
four other mills projected at the same time one belonged to John Kolp and
one to James Gillespie, formerly of Winyaw and sometime Cherokee
trader. These mills are evidence of the success of the Welsh plans for
grain production. In 1743 the governor and council offered a bounty of
fourteen shillings a barrel for the first twenty barrels "of good and
merchantable white flower" made in the Welsh Tract and brought to the
Charleston market. It was promptly claimed the next year.^"
1^ JC, June 8, 1739, SCG, June 2, 1746, Adair, American Indians, p. 224, Indian
Books, V, 94. There were other Peedees, living near Charleston (JC, July 25,
1744).
i^Townsend, S. C. Baptists, p. 62; JC, June 8, 1739, Jan. 26, Apr. 28, 1743,
Nov. 29, 1744, Mar. 14, 1745, Feb. 8, Nov. 20, 1746; P, II, 252-253, IV, 203, 373;
Register of St. Philip's, p. 166.
"JC, Sept. 16, 1736, July 9, 1739, Jan. 26, 1743, Oct. 5, 1744, Mar. 22, 1745,
May 29, 1750; for Kolp see JC, Jan. 14, 1746, P, IV, 241; for Gillespie see Commis-
sions and Instructions, p. 186, P, II, 395-396, IV, 282. For other mills see JC,
Feb. 8, Nov. 20, 1746.
94 The Expansion of South Carolina
When in 1747 indigo suddenly became a Carolina staple the planters
in the Queensboro portion of the Peedee valley turned to it with great
success. Over a thousand acres of James Gordon's land was advertised
as extraordinarily good for indigo. It was probably also responsible for no
small part of the prosperity of the Welsh Tract. At Mars Bluff eighteen
hundred acres was offered for sale which Malachi Murphy said was good
for indigo and corn. Even the settlers on the Rocky River in North
Carolina made indigo and shipped it to Charleston.^^
From the expiration of the reservation in 1745 until 1759 settlement
proceeded apace. Nearly five hundred warrants were issued for about
115,000 acres of land on the Peedee, chiefly in the Welsh Tract. These
warrants represent an addition of 2,300 persons to the five hundred earlier
settlers of the region. The militia returns of 1757 listed seven Welsh
Tract companies numbering 865 officers and men and 117 male slaves
sixteen to sixty years of age, and indicated a population of about 4,300
whites and 500 negroes. The returns, however, list only two companies
between the Welsh Tract and the Waccamaw River, and it is probable that
some of the so-called Welsh Tract companies included settlers below the
lines of that reservation. The population of the Welsh Tract proper was
perhaps three thousand whites and three hundred negroes. The slaves
were widely distributed, nearly a hundred persons owning them. As early
as 1745 Thomas EUerbe, a Virginian, had applied for warrants on head-
rights of twenty-five persons, doubtless most of them slaves. George
Hicks, likewise from Virginia, could boast fifteen negroes and an overseer,
and Samuel Sarancy had twenty-one.^^ The Welsh like the other earlier
settlers had their full share in the expansion of holdings in slaves and
land. There was, apparently, little shifting of population in the area.
The Peedee was unobstructed by shoals below the Cheraws, and was
even navigated above as far as Rocky River. The settlers received "all
their salt and heavy goods" by water from Georgetown, but sent their
indigo by wagons to Charleston. The Welsh had a church rule censuring
a member who should travel up or down the river on the Sabbath save in
case of absolute necessity. Thus the Cheraws like the other settlements of
the fall line of the rivers was in an excellent position for trade, and
references from time to time show that it became the center for the neigh-
boring middle and back country. In 1750 a Charleston firm sued Samuel
Armstrong "of Cheraws . . . Trader" for a debt of one hundred pounds
made in 1747. In 1760 mention was made of the stores of John Crawford
^^ See SCG advertisements of: Alexander Fraser (Mar. 19, 1754), Provost
Marshal (June 9, 1759, Nov. 20, 1762), Edward Jerman (Apr. 17, 1755), Andrew
Johnston (Feb. 7, 1761), Robert Williams (Sept. 18, 1762); Col. Recs. of N. C,
V, 356.
19 JC, July 5, 1742, Mar. 20, 22, May 3, 1745, Nov. 18, 1747, Nov. 5, 1751, May
4, 1757; note also John Crawford and his ten slaves near Thompsons Creek (JC,
June 4, 1751, JCHA, Mar. 27, 1759, P, VI, 52).
The Eastern Townships 95
and Christopher Gadsden, and the next year Gadsden announced the sale
of all his goods and warned the public not to trust his Dutch servant who
"lately attended at his stores at the Charraws and George-Town." ^°
The Welsh Tract paid a penalty for its prosperity and freedom from
serious Indian dangers by becoming early a prey to horse thieves. In 1739
one of the petitions of the Welsh complained "That several Out Laws and
Fugitives from the Colonies of Virginia and North Carolina most of whom
are Mullatoes or of a mixed Blood" had thrust themselves among them,
paying no taxes nor quit rents, "and are a Pest & Nuisance to the adjacent
Inhabitants". A few years later seven men on the unsurveyed North
Carolina boundary defied the officers of both provinces, and sent word to
Captain James "to raise all his Company, swearing they were Men enough
if the whole Inhabitants of the River came after them." They were part
of a band of robbers sought by the Virginia government, and had, so the
Welsh suspected, the sympathy of some of their neighbors. The governor,
however, thought it sufficient to order James to issue a magistrate's warrant
and to call out an adequate force of the militia to enforce it. In 1746 two
settlers petitioned for lands elsewhere, one stating that the robbers had re-
duced his stock of hogs from twenty-five to six. In 1750, on recommenda-
tion of James Gillespie, the governor appointed George Hicks and John
Crawford justices of the peace, for Gillespie declared that he and James
were the only magistrates within a hundred miles, and some of the settlers
were "Living very Riotous". Two years later Crawford himself, with
about sixty others, petitioned for a county court for the district between the
mouth of Lynches River and the North Carolina line, but nothing came of
the request.^^
Another episode in the boundary controversy concerned the lands of
Governor Arthur Dobbs, part of whose 200,000 acres lay on Rocky River.
A colony of Scotch-Irish from Pennsylvania had settled on his land, but —
probably encouraged by the wording of the Welsh Tract reservation — a
score of them applied to South Carolina for their grants instead of to the
North Carolina governor, hoping to get their land for the cost of fees in-
stead of paying Dobbs fifteen or twenty pounds per hundred acres. In
1755 and 1756 about seventy of these Rocky River settlers petitioned the
South Carolina government for protection. They even offered to seize
Dobbs' agent and surveyor and bring him to Charleston if Glen would send
instructions and commissions to certain of their number as justices of the
peace and militia officers. Commissions were given, and under another
^ Col. Recs. of N. C, V, 357, Welsh Neck Church Book, MS, p. 4; Townsend,
S. C. Baptists, p. 85; Court Records, Common Pleas, Feb. 1750; SCG, Mar. 14,
1761. Gadsden's thirteen hundred acre plat in 1763 included land earlier surveyed
for John Thompson, and showed a building near the mouth of Thompsons Creek
(P, IV, 195, VI, 213). See JCHA, May 19, 1760, for Gadsden and Crawford stores.
21 JC, July 7, 1739, Mar. 25, 1745, Mar. 12, 1746, May 29, 1750; JCHA, Mar.
17, 1752; JUHA, Mar. 16, 1752, Col. Recs. of N. C, IV, 760.
96 The Expansion of South Carolina
name the Rocky River company of fifty men was included in the South
Carolina militia list of 1757. To avert violent measures, however, Glen
and the council urged Governor Dobbs to allow all persons in the disputed
boundary area to remain on their lands until the crown gave proper in-
structions. Final settlement of the dispute did not come until 1764 when
the boundary was run west to the Catawba River, and after a riot in which
Dobbs was threatened with violence.^^
The Welsh immigrants constituted a religious group as compact and
vigorous as that which settled Williamsburg. In January 1738 fifteen of
them with their wives were organized as the Peedee — later the Welsh
Neck — Baptist Church. Philip James, son of James James, was dismissed
from the Pennsylvania church in November 1737 and came with the first
settlers; he was ordained as their minister in 1743, and served till his death
in 1754, The congregation first met in the house of John Jones who used
a Welsh concordance of the scriptures by Abel Morgan. In 1744 they
built a church which was replaced in 1769 by another, forty-five feet by
thirty. There were sixty-six members in 1759.^^
The early history of this church was far from tranquil. Declaring that
it was not a church of Christ, the Reverend Robert Williams withdrew
from it in 1759, his lands and slaves no doubt giving him quite enough to
do. After many patient inquiries and admonitions the church excommuni-
cated him. The congregation immediately called the Reverend Nicholas
Bedgegood, an Englishman who had been partially trained for the law,
and who was later associated with Whitefield in the management of the
Georgia Orphan House. The conduct of the members was the subject of
constant investigation. In 1760 James James was suspended for beating a
neighbor. John Booth was likewise suspended for quarrelling and using
profane language, and required to make public acknowledgment of repent-
ance before he was restored. Other offenses, both lighter and graver, were
inquired into and handled with fine firmness, charity and common sense."*
In 1752 thirty-one settlers, among them Gideon Gibson and several of
the first Welsh immigrants to Queensboro, organized a Baptist Church on
Catfish Creek, and in 1758 they built a meeting house near the mouth of
the stream. During the 'fifties the Welsh Neck Church established two
branches, one at Mars Bluff, the other in Cashaway Neck on the east side
of the river and above Mars Bluff. In 1756 the latter congregation,
which had been meeting " 'at the Scholl house' ", achieved separate organi-
zation, and in its activity and influence was second only to the Welsh
22 Col. Recs. of N. C, V, xxxii-xxxiv, 355-356, VI, 788-789, JC, Aug. 12, 1755,
Jan. 7, 1756, May 4, 1757, below, p. 135.
23Townsend, S. C. Baptists, pp. 62-64, 74; Welsh Neck Church Book; Abel
Morgan, Cyd-Gordiad Egyddora^vl o'r Scrytliurau . . . (Philadelphia, 1730) —
John Jones' copy has notes in Welsh made after the settlement on the Peedee.
2* See JC, Feb. 23, 1749, May 5, 1752, Mar. 22, 1754, Feb. 4, 1755; Townsend,
S. C. Baptists, pp. 64-67, 69; Welsh Neck Church Book, pp. 1-19.
The Eastern Towfiships 97
Neck. Like that church it kept a strong but kind hand upon its errant
members, requiring their attendance on Sundays and striving to keep them
from excessive drinking — the latter a fault for which it became necessary
to suspend one of the ministers. The Reverend Evan Pugh began his long
service to this church in 1764. Among the first members were Abel and
Benjamin James, Jeremiah Rowell, and Henry, John Martin and Peter
Kolb. The Kolbs, too, were said to have come from Pennsylvania.^^
The Anglican church developed more slowly in the Welsh Tract than
did the Baptist, but the settlement there of South Carolinians and
Virginians provided it with possible members, and the growth of population
and wealth on the Peedee made parish government necessary. The rector
of Prince Frederick, John Fordyce, visited the upper Peedee in 1743. He
held services at four places, and baptized twenty-nine children for his own
parish and nineteen from North Carolina. He had an eye for the material
as well as spiritual future of the region; in 1737 he had had a thousand
acres surveyed for himself in Queensboro, and now looked enviously upon
the Welsh reservation, which he found "as good land as ever was plowed
and Capable of Great Improvements but ill bestowed on a people who
will never answer the Intention of the Governmts Indulgence to them".
Members of even the Gibson, Wild and Evans families resorted to Fordyce
for baptism or marriage, but after his death in 1751 there was a different
story. That the Peedee was soon well provided with dissenting ministers
was a condition which his successors had some part in bringing about The
vestry and wardens of Prince Frederick declared to the Bishop of London
that their rector, the notorious Michael Smith, "did make a Tour into these
remote Parts of the Parish. But He had better stay'd at home, for the
Consequence has been, that thro' his indiscreet Carriage, (We shd rather
say immoral Conduct) among them, instead of bringing them over, and
joining of them to the Communion of our Church, he has unhappily driven
them to send for Anabaptist Teachers from Philadelphia, who dip many,
and form them into Congregations; so that the regaining of them, and
making them Members of the Established Chh will (we judge) be at-
tended with great Pains, if not an impossibility." "^
When St. Mark's parish was created in 1757 its minister served the
Peedee settlers three years before the church was built on the Santee. It
was not until 1768 that St. David's was formed; the church was built at
Cheraw Hill. This parish extended from Lynches River to the North
Carolina line, the southern boundary running northeast and crossing the
25 Gregg, Old Cheraivs, p. 83, Townsend, S. C. Baptists, pp. 78-79, 84-90.
Shortly after 1765 two other Baptist Churches appear on the Peedee, growing out
of the Catfish Church {ibid. pp. 79, 81).
26 JC, Dec. 16, 1743, P, II, 395, Dalcho, Episcopal Church, pp. 319-320,
Register . . . Prince Frederick, p. 132, and Welsh names in index; see also Francis
Young, Malachi Murphy, Daniel McDaniel, George Hicks, and Thomas Ellerbe.
98 The Expansion of South Carolina
Peedee a short distance above the mouth of Black Creek, leaving much of
the Welsh Tract in Prince Frederick's.^^
The Welsh Tract was a happy afterthought of the administrators of
the township system. In 1759 it was far the most populous part of the
middle country, and, next to Williamsburg, the most prosperous. This
success was due chiefly to the excellent soil, to the fact that swamps were
neither large nor numerous, to the easy water transportation, and to the
establishment of experienced settlers from South Carolina and other
colonies. The part played by the province, though small, was important.
Without the reservation and the initial bounty the Welsh would have
come more slowly, probably in smaller numbers, and would have had
difficulty in establishing so strong a community. On the other hand, the
privileges accorded the Welsh caused little hindrance to the actual settle-
ment of other persons. The rich Peedee basin developed Anglican and
Presbyterian groups as well, contributing to the province not one, but three
elements, equally vigorous and distinctive in their culture.
27JCHA, Jan. 30, 31, July 6, 1759, Apr. 17, 1760; Gregg, Old Cheraws, pp.
163-166, 174-175.
CHAPTER IX
Fredericksburg and the Waterees
From the fall line to its mouth the Wateree runs through a valley which
is a duplicate of the Congaree basin. The shoals end at the mouth of
Sawneys Creek and the river begins to wander through a swamp that
slowly widens until it is five miles across. The upper two-thirds of this
valley has the appearance of the piedmont, for the sand hills approach
within a mile or two of the river, but between the hills and the swamp lie
irregular strips of sandy loam and river bottom, which are as much a part of
the low country as the swamp or the navigable river itself.^
Early in the eighteenth century the Wateree Indians had their villages
on both sides of the river a few miles below the falls. The first plats
showed large cleared fields and an "Indian Ditch" in a great bend of the
river opposite the mouth of Pinetree Creek. After the Yamasee War the
Waterees removed to the Catawbas, but continued to hunt along the stream
to its mouth.^ The main path to the Catawbas ran nearly north from the
Congarees to the west bank of the Wateree, and followed the stream to the
towns. Another crossed the sand hills from the Congarees to the Wateree
villages, and joined a less used path up the eastern side of the Santee and
Wateree. Above Pinetree Creek this eastern path forked, one route fol-
lowing the river, the other the ridge between the valleys of the Wateree
and Lynches River.^
Such a gateway called for the protection of a township, although the
danger was not great. For settlers there was the advantage of the Catawba
trade and the fact that this was the best route from the back country of
the more northern colonies. In June 1733 instructions were given for
surveying the township at the mouth of the Wateree, but later the selection
of the site was entrusted to the surveyor, who in February 1734 laid off
Fredericksburg on the east side of the river with the mouth of Pinetree
Creek as the center of its western line, and the site of the proposed town.*
^Bureau of Soils, Sumter, Richland, Field Operations, 1919 (Washington,
1925), Kershaw.
^Mooney, Siouan Tribes, p. 81; JCHA, Feb. 27, 1738, Apr. 20, 1744; H. Moll,
Neiv Map of the North Parts of America . . . (1720), P, IV, 400, V, 27, 108.
Compare Mills, Atlas of S. C, Kershaw District.
^Haig, Map of the Cherokee Country; P, IV, 118, 134, V, 353, 383, 430, VII,
252, 319, VIII, 605.
^JC, June 7, Dec. 6, 1733; see copy of the plat in T. J. Kirkland and R. M.
Kennedy, Historic Camden, Pt. I, (Columbia, 1905), opposite p. 10; see also JC,
Oct. 5, 1744, and P, VIII, 343.
99
100 The Expansion of South Carolina
It is possible that the Indian trade had already tempted settlers to the
spot, for in 1736 when a family was killed near Pinetree the report referred
to "Neighbours" dwelling thereabout. Apparently the murder was done
by the Cheraws who lived with the Catawbas, and a lieutenant and eight
men were sent to range to the rear of the settlement. A year later the
Waterees objected to the settlement on their lands, and their "flagrant and
insolent Behaviour" caused the sending of Colonel Henry Fox as agent to
bring them to terms. He was also given command of the six rangers
provided. Neither this formidable force nor the threat to bring the
Senecas upon them availed, and they were not quieted until, on the lieu-
tenant-governor's suggestion, some of their headmen were invited to
Charleston for a conference.^
The beginning of township settlement is indicated by the advertisement
of the commissary-general in January 1737 for fifteen hundred bushels of
corn to be delivered at Fredericksburg before September next. Probably
among the prospective settlers thus provided for were Adam Strain, David
Alexander, James McGowen, Hugh McCutchin, and Michael Harris, for
in February of that year they were given warrants for land in the township,
their tracts ranging in size from fifty to three hundred acres. It was doubt-
less the failure of the bounty fund which delayed the surveys, and not until
ten years later, when settlers began to arrive in considerable numbers, did
these men bestir themselves to secure titles to their lands. The names and
the fact that some of the grants carried the ten-year exemption from quit
rents given to bounty immigrants indicate that they were part of the
Scotch-Irish movement which founded Williamsburg, but it is not certain
that they actually settled on the Wateree. In 1737 several Switzers from
John Tobler's group were assigned to Fredericksburg, but they do not
appear in the township.®
Alexander Rattray, Gentleman, who was probably from Charleston or
nearby, settled on the Wateree about 1739. He bought land, and did not
apply on his own rights until 1749 when he had a wife and eight slaves.
His plat was surveyed near Swift Creek in the lower part of Fredericks-
burg.^ Nine applicants for land in 1743 and 1744, among them Jeffrey
Summerford a Pennsylvanian, had plats surveyed at various points on the
river or the creeks in and near the township. In the latter year twelve
settlers signed a petition in behalf of Charles Radcliffe's request for land
^JUHA, Dec. 17, 1736, Feb. 23, 1738, Nov. 20, 1740; JCHA, Feb. 24, 25, 27,
Mar. 1, 2, 1738, Feb. 17, 1741, Jan. 19, 1742.
^SCG, Jan. 22, 1737 (advt. of Peter Taylor); Kirkland and Kennedy, His-
toric Camden, Pt. I, 68; P, IV, 461, V, 50, 204; Grants, XLII, 314, 362, 366.
Adam Strain, or another of his name, was in Williamsburg in 1743 (PR, XXI,
99 — above, p. 81, n. 6). For the Switzers see "Tobler Manuscripts", pp. 87-88.
'^ SCG, Nov. 16, 1753 (advt. of Edward Richardson); SCHGM, XIII, 213;
Register of St. Philip's, p. 172; JC, Oct. 5, 1744, Feb. 23, 1749; P, V, 50. Note
also plats of William and Robert Seawright (P, IV, 512-513). Neither, however,
appears in the township — see Salley, Orangeburg, pp. 112, 140.
The Eastern Townships 101
on which to build a mill, and about twice as many a similar petition for
Paul Harrelson. The names of only four of the petitioners are given,
but the numbers indicate that the Wateree settlers were slower than
most others in applying for warrants. Radclifife was promised by the
governor and council fourteen pounds if he completed his mill within two
years. He made a dam on Sims Creek, below the township line, but ap-
pears to have gone to Georgia before he built the mill. Harrelson, how-
ever, reported in March 1745 that he had completed his mill, and was
given seven pounds from the township fund.^
In 1746 there were four warrants for land in Fredericksburg, one of
which was given to Benjamin McKennie, an immigrant from the north, who
had in his household nine whites and three negroes. He selected land on the
river near Sims Creek, and later added a small tract adjoining which he
said would afford him a good landing. John Hope of Black River applied
for land — perhaps for his son who was later a resident near Pinetree Hill
— on rights including three slaves.^ In 1747 a warrant was given to John
McConnel who had been in the province for five or six years; because of
his poverty he was relieved from paying the fees. Within three years
warrants were granted to Daniel McDaniel, who was from Williamsburg
and had thirteen slaves, and to Bryan Rork, a bricklayer from West
Jersey.'"
The land below the shoals on the west side of the Wateree, despite the
fact that it was hemmed in by river and sand hill, early attracted planters
and small farmers from the low country and other settlers from elsewhere.
From point to point as the river, winding through its wilderness, thrust
an elbow towards the upland, or paralleled it for a considerable distance,
there were provided inviting spots or terraces. Below the sand hills and
extending several miles below and above the great "raft" of trees which
choked the channel of the river ten miles from its mouth, there was a
stretch with soil like that on Buckhead and Lyons Creeks of Amelia Town-
ship. Near the raft as late as 1750 there was an Indian hunting camp,
probably of the Waterees."
In 1742 Joseph Hasfort, a Cherokee trader who after his retirement
seems to have lived in Orangeburg, had two hundred acres surveyed a mile
above the raft. Richard Singleton in 1733 applied for two warrants which
were surveyed immediately above Hasfort's. This, however, was not done
8 JC, Oct. 5, 1743, Oct. 5, Nov. 29, 1744, Mar. 14, IS, 1745, Nov. 20, 1746, Feb. 4,
Sept. 1, 1752; P, IV, 221, 436, 480, V, 125, VII, 145. For location compare also
Kirkland and Kennedy, Historic Camden, Pt. I, opp. p. 69.
9JC, Nov. 20, 1746, Mar. 18, 1749, Sept. 1, 1752; P, IV, 438, V, 418, SCG.
June 30, 1746 (advt. of John Hope); SCAGG, July 4, 1766 (advt. of John N.
Oglethorpe) ; for the other two warrants see JC, Nov. 20, 1746 (Anne Dugette),
and Apr. 15, 1749 (John Tyler).
I'^JC, May 14, Nov. 28, 1747, June 9, 1748, Jan. 24, 1749.
" See Mouzon, Map of N. and S. C, Faden, Map of S. C, and P, VI, 75, 362,
VII, 93, Bureau of Soils, Richland, above, p. 42.
102 The Expansion of South Carolina
until 1750 and the year before John Pearson laid off seven hundred acres
for him on the swamp, probably some distance above, the plat showing a
large cleared field, a house and two outhouses. Timothy Puckett moved to
this section probably from land acquired in Amelia in 1736, and lived here
for a time before he turned his attention to the valley of Stevens Creek/^
Henry and Anne Dungworth were married in Charleston in 1748, but in
1751 it was Anne who appeared before the governor to ask for a warrant
for two hundred acres on the Wateree, explaining that her husband could
not come to town because of the debt in which he was involved. Since
their marriage triplets had been born to them. The warrant was granted
with all fees paid from the township fund. In time Henry effected a truce
with the government, if not with his creditors, for two or three years later
he was acting as constable.^^ Above Singleton's land, and near the mouth
of Colonels Creek, Colonel Henry Fox established himself and apparently
gave his title to the creek. He had lived in South Carolina four years be-
fore his mission of 1737 to the Catawbas, and perhaps about that time
made his home on the Wateree. James McGirt from the low country was
living further up the river in 1741 and became in time justice of the peace."
Twenty miles above these settlements a terrace of silt loam opposite
the mouth of Pinetree Creek attracted Roger Gibson, formerly a Williams-
burg planter, and Anthony Wright and his nephew Luke Gibson, who had
low country connections. Their plats were surveyed in 1748 and 1749,
and Gibson was appointed justice of the peace and captain of one of the
Wateree militia companies. His warrant was based on the headrights of
two children and eight slaves; his plat lay within a great bend of the river
and included a large cleared Indian field. ^^ John Todd, from Pennsylvania
and North Carolina, had a plat surveyed on rights which included three
slaves. The ever-widening swamp below Gibson's land had little appeal
save to men who could take up large tracts ; here James Michie of Charles-
ton, a member of the Commons House and a large landholder, had twenty-
five hundred acres surveyed ; near him there was laid out a thousand acres
for James McCrellas and five hundred for John and William Scott. The
12JUHA, Nov. 14, 1734; JCHA, May 24 1734; Salley, Orangeburg, pp. 96,
98; JC, Jan. 23, 1748; P, V, 42, 439, VI, 145. For Puckett see P, XIX, 290, below
p. 129, n. 34, and paths and adjoining names P, VI, 91, 362.
'^^ Register of St. Philip's, p. 189, JC, Sept. 3, 1751, P, V, 341, JCHA, Jan. 28,
1754.
^* For Fox see JC, Jan. 1, 1754; for the location see Lindsay's plat (P, V, 412)
and Richardson's (P, VI, 329), the latter being Toland's advertised June 19, 1767
(SCG). For McGirt, see Register of St. Philip's, p. 163; JCHA, Feb. 25, 1741,
Jan. 16, 1755; SCG, June 8, 1747; P, IV, 313, VI, 352; note path to McGirt's,
P, VII, 363. For Fox and McGirt see also JUHA, May 8, 1754, JC, Mar. 16, 1745,
Mav 16, 1751, May 5, 1752, Aug. 5, 1755, May 4, 1756; P, V, 452; SCG, Dec. 18,
1752 (advt. of McGirt).
1^ Bureau of Soils, Kershaw; JC, Jan. 31, Oct. 21, 1746, Jan. 23, Mar. 10, 1748,
Aug. 6, 1751; P, IV, 400, 437, 496, V, 27; JUHA, Jan. 22, 1745, May 3, 1748, JC,
Jan. 24, 1749, May 13, 1751.
The Eastern Townships 103
Scotts were early resident on the Wateree, and William Scott married the
widow of McCrellas/^
During 1749 there were over sixty surveys in Fredericksburg and on
the west side of the river between the falls and Colonels Creek. This was
twice as many as for any year prior to the Cherokee War. Even more
than in the case of the earlier warrants, these were for actual settlers.
Gibson's militia company more than doubled in number from 1749 to
1751, and at the latter date his and Rattray's together had a hundred and
eighty-odd men. For the time the movement spent itself, and during 1750
there were not a dozen warrants. In 1751 there was an increase, but the
Indian troubles of the spring of that year alarmed the Waterees almost as
much as Saluda and Ninety Six. The assembly provided for two troops of
rangers; the captains, Gibson and John Fairchild of the Congarees, were
instructed to trace the same route, but in opposite directions, from the
Catawbas to the Congarees and Ninety Six. In eight days Gibson com-
pleted his troop of twenty-two, all but six of them represented in Wateree
land records either in person or by others of their names. Rattray ap-
peared before the governor and council and reported that his neighbors had
enforted themselves; that ten families had gone to Virginia, and that many
others wished to leave. He set forth the pains at which he had been to
keep the people together, "using both Perswation and threats," but what
favor he might have gained with the governor by this was probably lost
by his blunt statement "That he apprehends if some other Method be not
taken with the Cherokees the making them Presents & paying them
Tribute, instead of their being Tributary to us, there will be no Living in
these out parts." It soon became evident, however, that the Waterees was
too far to the east to be in great danger.^^
In October 1751 a small immigration of Quakers from Ireland brought
Sam.uel Wyly and Josiah Tomlinson to the Waterees. They applied for
two hundred and fifty and four hundred and fifty acres, respectively;
Wyly had three servants, Tomlinson four. Early in November four others
of this group, Robert Millhouse, Samuel Russell, John Wyly, and Timothy
Kelly, petitioned for warrants, Millhouse having five servants and Kelly and
Russell two each. Joseph Evans applied for land in 1752 affirming as a
Quaker; in 1753 two other Irish Quakers, Joshua English and John
Dixon, profited by the settlement act of the year before to produce Quaker
certificates of sober character, and were given the bounty. The next year
i^For Todd, see JC, Jan. 24, 1749, P, V, 27 (path on Gibson's plat), 90,
Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 87; for Michie see JC, Mar. 15, 1750, JCHA, May 7, 1752,
P, V, 92, SCGCJ, Aug. 12, 1766; for McCrellas and Scott see P, IV, 399, 479, JC,
Aug. 6, Sept. 3, 1751. See also John Scott's advertisement, SCG, Mar. 20, 1742.
i^JC, May 13, 22, 1751, Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 65, 87, below, pp. 121-123.
Rattray became bankrupt in 1753; in 1767 he was living further up the valley on
Rocky Creek {SCG, Nov. 16, 1735— advt. of Edward Richardson, JC, Mar. S,
1754, Sept. 7, 1762, Sept. 1, 1767).
104 The Expansion of South Carolina
six families of Irish Protestants — apparently not Quakers, for they took
the oath — were given warrants for from one to two hundred acres with
bounty. They had come by way of England and Philadelphia and de-
clared themselves much reduced by the expense of the trip. They settled
on both sides of the river in or near the township. At least three other
families, probably all from Ireland, received the bounty later.^^
Samuel Wyly bought land above Swift Creek, opposite Friends' Neck,
finding it "of great use to himself & Friends," and perhaps made his home
here for a while.^^ In 1752 he obtained a warrant for three hundred acres
and in 1755, on the rights of six slaves, another for three hundred more.
His home in 1759 was "Mount Pleasant", near Pinetree Hill which is in
the lower part of the present city of Camden. By 1753 he was surveying
land, and the supplies furnished by him to the Catawbas indicate that he
kept an inn, perhaps an inn and store. He was appointed justice of the
peace and stood high in the favor of governors."" In 1761 he had a survey
made of six hundred and fifty acres running in an irregular tract from
Little Pinetree Creek north of Pinetree Hill over to the river. The plat
showed a pond on the creek with two millraces, one supplying a sawmill,
the other a gristmill. The Pinetree Hill store in 1760 is spoken of as
belonging to Joseph Kershaw, the Pinetree member of the Charleston firm
of William Ancrum, Aaron Loocock and Lambert Lance, which evidently
began its investment in Wateree land with Ancrum's plat of 1758. Ker-
shaw and his brother Ely, later associated with him, are said to have come
from Great Britain to Charleston.^^
Robert Millhouse, Samuel Russell and Timothy Kelly executed their
rights on the west side of the river ten miles from Pinetree Hill, in the
bend below the mouth of Gum Swamp, which immediately came to be
called Friends' Neck. These plats were largely swamp, however, and the
next year Kelly declared that on examining his he could not find there
"any place whereon to build a home conveniently," and on the rights of
three children obtained another warrant which he had surveyed on Saw-
neys Creek at the falls." Millhouse likewise seems to have preferred
higher ground, for in six months from his first warrant he applied for land
on Pinetree Creek, a mile from its mouth, where he built a gristmill and,
i^C, Oct. 25, Nov. 5, 6, 1751, Apr. 7, Aug. 7, 1753, Dec. 7, 1754, Oct. 21, 1755,
June 7, 1757; see also SCG, July 23, 1753, and above p. 29, P, VI, 22, 34, 97-98.
■■^^ JC, Feb. 4, 1752; the location can be made out from the plats of Hope and
Kelly (P, VI, 32, IV, 457).
20 JC, Dec. 5, 1752, Dec. 5, 1755; Indian Books, VI, 181-182; JCHA, Mar. 31,
1757, May 12, 1758; P, V, 351; SCG, Dec. 22, 1759; Kirkland and Kennedy,
Historic Camden, pt. I, opp. p. 69.
^'^Ibid. and pp. 11-12, P, VI, 415, VII, 156; Howe, Presbyterian Church, I,
495-496. Ancrum's plat included Pinetree Hill— P, VI, 353.
22 P, VI, 56, 115, 244, 355, VII, 247 (the plats and the advertisement of
Kershaw — SCAGG, June 19, 1767 — show the location; Ancrum's Ferry was later
included in this neck — see Mills, Atlas of S. C, Kershaw District) ; JC, Aug. 4,
1752, P, V, 394.
The Eastern Townships 105
probably, his home and his sawmill. The inventory of his estate made
a year later showed him possessed of five slaves, small quantities of wheat,
barley and indigo seed, and three sets of indigo vats. The gristmill was
valued at forty pounds, the sawmill at two thirds as much. As early as
1753 the Quakers had organized a meeting, and to their three trustees
Wyly in 1759 gave a tract of four acres near Pinetree Hill.'^
The warrants and surveys in Fredericksburg and on the west side of
the lower Wateree between 1737 and 1759 amounted to about twenty
thousand acres each. Nearly a third of the total consisted of thousand-
acre tracts for low country planters surveyed in 1759 in the Wateree
swamp. There were four companies of militia on the Wateree in 1757,
besides two in the Waxhaws, but two of these, Adanison's and White's,
were evidently made up of men on the west side above the falls. The one
which embraced the township, commanded by Joseph McKerthlin with
Michael Brannon as lieutenant, had seventy-seven white men and listed
twenty slaves. James McGirt's company, including the lower west side,
had sixty-three white men, with sixteen slaves.^* The total population thus
indicated at the time of the return was about eight hundred, a number in
accord with the headrights represented in the warrants, and in 1759 it was
probably at least nine hundred.
The majority of the warrants were surveyed on the river, most of the
others on the larger creeks, and until the last few years of the period it was
seldom that one was surveyed away from any stream. There were a
score of Germans. Of all the settlers only about thirty gave their origin —
eight from Pennsylvania, six from Virginia, twelve from other colonies to
the north, or from the "northward". Among them was John Collins who
came from Long Island with his wife and five children, bringing a wagon,
plow, "and tools proper to make Wheat and Flour." The trip took twenty
weeks. He said that he left eight families on the Yadkin who were coming
to South Carolina if they could be sure that they could have six months in
which to take up the lands on which they might settle. Another settler
from the north, William Smith, bought a tract already improved with a
log house on it. Only five applicants stated that they were from South
Carolina, but it is probably that at least a dozen others if not more were
from the coast. For instance James Gamble declared that he was from
New York, and applied for land for himself, wife, seven children, and
three slaves; it turned out, however, that he was from Williamsburg and
23 JC, May 5, 1752; P, VI, 56; SCG, Oct. 24, 1761 (advt. of William Far-
rell) ; Wills, 1752-1756, pp. 391-392; Inventories, 1753-1756, p. 405; S. B. Weeks,
Southern Quakers and Slavery (Baltimore, 1896), p. 114, Kirkland and Kennedy,
Historic Camden, pt. I, 77-81.
-* JC, May 4, 1757. For Adamson, see below p. 232; his lieutenant is listed as
James Co'b, but the index to Plats shows that it is Cobb, whose land was on
Rocky Creek, Catawba (JC, Aug. 2, 1757, P, VI, 297). White's land has not
been found, but the small number of slaves in his company indicates that it was
on the upper Wateree. See also below, p. 142.
106 The Expansion of South Carolina
was entitled to four hundred acres only. Edward Howard, his neighbor,
was also from Williamsburg.^^
The plats of the 'fifties, like those of the preceding decade, show the
difference in the needs of the small farmers and the planters. Those who
had servants or slaves and sometimes those who had large families selected
the river bottom below the fall line, where they found swamp, rich soil and
high ground. This is sometimes shown in the 1759 plats for low country
planters which were tracts of five hundred or a thousand acres, two or
three miles long lying entirely in the great swamp. The warrants indicate
that there were perhaps fifty slaves in Fredericksburg in 1759, most of
them in the lower portion, and nearly a hundred on the west side of the
river. The small farmers settled in the center and the northern part of
the township, where the narrow river bottom left ample space for a house
and cornfield. The heat and apparent danger of sickness may have been
additional reasons why immigrants from the north avoided the swamp.
Thus the upper part of the Wateree valley, piedmont in its soil, became
small farm in its industry, while the lower portion showed a beginning of
the plantations and their crops. A petition of the inhabitants in 1752 listed
wheat, barley, oats, rye, peas, flax, hemp, and indigo as the products their
land produced successfully, also butter, cheese, pork, beef, and tallow.
Joseph Kershaw or his partners in Charleston in 1760 advertised fine
Carolina flour from Pinetree Hill, and in 1763 a quantity of hemp seed to
be sold from either point. The Waterees took the lead in the process that
was by 1763 to drive most of the northern flour, save the superfine grade,
from the Charleston market. Cattle and stock were doubtless important
throughout the valley. The 1752 inventory of John Scott's estate, which
included ten negroes, listed about a hundred and seventy cattle, sixteen
hogs, twenty-eight horses, and no other property save furniture and tools.
Scott had a rifle-gun, a set of silver shoe and knee buckles and clasps, three
books, a tablecloth, two pewter dishes, six plates, and six each of knives,
forks, and spoons.^*^
In response to the petition of 1752 the assembly appropriated a hundred
pounds for clearing the river of the rafts of timber obstructing it, and di-
rected that if the sum proved insufficient a tax of seventeen pence a hundred
acres should be levied on all absentee owners of lands within ten miles of the
river above the raft. The road called for by the petition, from Beards
Ferry on the Santee nearly to the Catawba nation, was ordered built by
the usual labor levy; later plats show that by 1755 it had been cleared to
25 JC, Jan. 14, 1744, Feb. 6, Mar. 2, 1749, Dec. 3, 1751, Feb. 4, Mar. 3, 1752,
P, V, 109.
2«P, VII, 50, 52, 73-75, 77, 81, 91, 93, 124-125; JCHA, May 9, 1752, SCG, July 12,
Aug. 30, 1760, Sept. 17, 1763 (Charleston news), Nov. 5, 1763, Dec. 29, 1766;
Inventories, 1751-1753, pp. 457-1-58,
The Eastern Townships 107
Pinetree Hill, but apparently not to the Waxhaws before 1760. The
Wateree was cleared for less than half the sum appropriated, and fourteen
pounds was reserved for removing future obstructions. There was a path
on the west side of the river leading to the private ferry over the lower
Congaree kept by Joseph Joyner, and probably by 1754 a ferry was main-
tained by Anthony Wright opposite Pinetree Creek, but despite petitions
the ferries were not made public nor a road authorized until 1766.^^
The Waterees seems to have been comparatively free of the rougher
elements which the Indian trade gathered at the other fall line settlements.
Only a dozen of the land petitions were signed by mark. After the com-
plaint of horse thieves in 1745 a rather orderly life prevailed, though there
were some exceptions. Riots occurred during the rush for lands in 1749
when the dispossessed claimants attempted to prevent surveys. The poor
and illiterate Charles Lindsay had settled on the west side of Wateree
immediately below Colonel Fox in 1748 and built his house near the river.
He suffered many reverses, but secured a warrant and a survey in 1749.
Fox, in an attempt to take advantage of his delay in completing his title,
urgently petitioned for a warrant to the land, piously declaring that his
chief purpose was to remove as a neighbor one whose principles were
"Enfattuated by the Common Enemy to mankind". In lieu of this land he
proposed to present him four hundred acres about forty miles distant which
would make a much better range. But Lindsay vigorously denied all
charges of actual wrongdoing, and, whatever influence the common enemy
had over him, kept his land."^
In 1756 the assembly provided a hundred pounds a year for a minister to
preach at or near Pinetree Hill and six times a year at the most populous
places within forty miles of that point, but for a decade the salary was un-
claimed. However, the minister of Prince Frederick's Parish on December
9, 1753, baptized twenty-three children, most of them belonging to families
near Pinetree Hill, and it is possible that other ministers also visited the
section.^
For twenty miles northwest of Williamsburg the land is characteristic
of the lower pine belt, with wide swamps and areas of fine compact sand
too level for proper drainage, alternating with higher and looser soil of
more value. For another score of miles above this point, quite to the sand
hills and embracing the upper waters of Black River, was a stretch of
slightly rolling country with a loose, sandy loam as good as any the upper
"Above, p. 44, JCHA, Dec. 12, 1752, Mar. 31, Apr. 4, 16, 1753, May 10, 1754,
Mar. 16, 17, 25, 1756, July 6, 1759; Stats., VII, 504-506, IX, 186, 199-200, 213-216;
P, V, 412, 439, VI, 27, 327, VII, 134, 269.
28 JC, Jan. 24, May 2, Aug. 1, Sept. 6, Oct. 3, 4, Nov. 7, 1749, Mar. 3, Sept. 1, 1752,
Feb. 5, 6, Apr. 30, 1754, Feb. 2, 1756.
^ Stats., IV, 20-21, Fulham MSS, N. C, S. C, Ga., No. 72, p. 43, Register . . .
Prince Frederick, pp. 40-41.
108 The Expansion of South Carolina
pine belt afforded. Here the Catawba Indians had hunting camps as late
as 1748.'°
In 1744 John Neilson, a Charleston butcher, had two small surveys
made on Rocky Bluff Swamp and Turkey Creek, and on one of these tracts
Samuel Neilson made his home. John Hope, who had been fifteen years in
the province, in 1746 likewise established himself on the upper waters.
Plats for Williamsburg names begin to appear in 1752, though David
Anderson had actually settled himself on the "northernmost Branch of
Black River" — doubtless Stony Run, where his lands were later surveyed —
as early as 1742; it is probable that others too had ventured to build in this
secluded part of the middle country without applying for warrants.'^ There
were at least twenty-five settled near each other chiefly about Stony Run,
among them Robert Wilson, Hugh Erwin, Henry Cassels, James Bradley
and James Grimes.'" The tracts were nearly all less than five hundred
acres in extent. Twenty or thirty others settled on the headwaters of the
Black, some of whom may have been from Williamsburg. Lynches River
was only a few miles from Stony Run and a portion of the overflow from
the township found its way there.
David Anderson became captain of the militia company on the head of
Black River and Lynches River, and gave the land for Salem Presbyterian
Church built about 1759. A year before, on the petition of "the Principal
Inhabitants of Jeffreys Creek", the governor granted a warrant for three
hundred acres on or near that creek in trust for a Presbyterian church and
minister. This church, too, probably owed its origin to migration of Scots
from Williamsburg.'^
Along the east side of the Santee Swamp from Jacks Creek to the mouth
of the Wateree lay a stretch of sandy loam, four or five miles wide, which
held great promise for planters who could make use of it and of the nearby
swamp. Beyond the head of the Santee this strip was in effect continued
in the reddish sandy soil found in the high ridge paralleling the east bank
of the Wateree but known as the High Hills of Santee. In December
1739 the lieutenant-governor proclaimed a two-year reservation of the east
bank of the Santee and Wateree, from Jacks Creek to Fredericksburg
township, for settlers from Scotland. The inspiration of this was doubtless
the arrival in North Carolina in the preceding September of a shipload of
three hundred and fifty Scots. Others were not won by this invitation, how-
ever, although the Commons House in 1743 hopefully proposed an exten-
^° Bureau of Soils, Clarendon, Sumter, Field Operations, 1907 (Washington,
1909), Lee, JC, June 13, 1748.
^^ SCG, June 30, 1746, June 23, 1759 (advts. of David Anderson, Henry Ravenel
et al.) ; P, IV, 425, 454; JC, Nov. 20, 1746.
32 See P, V, 357, 386, 400, 464, 468, VI, 23, 93, 164, 218 and the names on the
plats adjoining. The names may be identified from the petition of JUHA, May
3, 1748. See also SCHGM, XXVI, 122-123.
3'' See P, V, 282, 468, and JUHA, May 3, 1748; Howe, Presbyterian Church,
I, 327, 412-413; JC, May 4, 1757, May 30, 1758.
The Eastern Townships 109
sion of the time and the reservation of land near Williamsburg for Protes-
tants from Ireland.^*
Development of the district therefore waited upon the planters who were
during the 'thirties and 'forties moving into the region north and east of
the Santee. Most of these settlers, among them John and Josiah Cantey,
were from the older coast country, but Richard Richardson came from
Virginia and in 1736 married Mary Cantey. He did not petition for land
until 1744; his three hundred acres, surveyed at Halfway Swamp, showed
his house on the road to Fredericksburg Township.^'' In 1749 George
Russell, who claimed to be an inhabitant of the "North Britain tract", as
the Wateree reservation was called, declared to the governor and council
that there were several families from Virginia and Pennsylvania settled
there, and that many others were planning to come to South Carolina. He
asked for a reservation of land for a glebe which, by attracting a minister,
would also draw most of his congregation. Accordingly five hundred acres
was reserved for this purpose for a Scotch or Presbyterian congregation.
The land was surveyed in the High Hills, but nothing more is heard of
Russell or his congregation. Between 1745 and 1759 about seventy plats
were surveyed between Halfway Swamp and Fredericksburg Township,
chiefly about the High Hills. Among these was one for John Dargan on
Shanks Creek, near the mouth of the Wateree. At his death in 1767 it
had on it a gristmill and was well equipped for the culture of rice, for it
was described as good swamp easily overflowed, ten acres under dams. On
a nearby tract he had two sets of indigo vats. The militia organization
combined these men with a portion of the upper Black River settlers, with
Isaac Brunson of the High Hills as captain and Richardson as lieutenant of
the company of one hundred and twentj'-five. There were sixty-two slaves
listed. Richardson was shortly afterwards made colonel of a regiment of
the militia.^*'
This Santee and High Hills section was sufficiently Anglican to secure
for itself one of the three parishes granted the middle country before the
Revolution and two of the four members in the Commons House from that
section. St. Mark's Parish was established in 1757, Richardson, James
McGirt, Matthew Neilson and three of the Canteys being made commis-
sioners for building the church, which was eventually put near Richardson's
home."
3^ Bureau of Soils, Clarendon and Sumter; JUHA, Dec. 14, 1739; JCHA, Dec.
15, 1739; SCG, Dec. 29, 1739 (proclamation; the reservation was ten miles wide) ;
P, VII, 67; Col. Recs. of N. C, IV, 489 (compare SCG, Apr. 11, 1740).
^^SCHGM, XI, 203-204, 213; JC, Oct. 5, 1744; P, IV, 291, 525; SCG, Aug.
31, 1747 (advt. of Thomas Monck).
*«JC, July 4, 1749, Sept. 3, 1754, May 4, 1757, Oct. 1, 1759; P, IV, 421, VI, 15,
VII, 67; SCAGG, Feb. 27, 1767 (Provost-Marshal's advt.).
^' Stats., IV, 35-37, JCHA, Jan. 30, 1759, Mouzon, Map of N. and S. C.
I
I
THE SETTLEMENT OF THE
BACK COUNTRY
cr
h
< V
^ '^
CD
The Settlement of the Back Country
By 1759 South Carolina settlement, following the rivers of the middle
country, had largely realized Governor Johnson's plan. As though by a
seven-fingered hand the tidewater had laid hold upon the entire coastal
plain, and by its economic and social system bound the region securely to
itself. Meanwhile for twenty years forces of expansion, much the same as
those which had settled the lower and upper pine belts, had been filling up
the piedmont. Already, however, it was apparent that this was a section
fundamentally different from the plain below the sand hills, and the grave
problems which were in store for the South Carolina government were even
now faintly foreshadowed.
Soil, topography, climate and distance from the coast all had their part
in marking out a different development for this "up country", as it later
came to be called. Originally it was a low plain of sand and clay, with its
seashore the line of great sand banks which later became the sand hills. As
the ocean receded to its present position, the rivers deepened their valleys
across the piedmont plain which now became a plateau, carved into
rectangles and triangles by the parallel or converging streams. A thou-
sand creeks cut through the edges of these valleys, sometimes reducing them
to gentle slopes, but near the large streams making veritable little mountain
ranges. The desirable land thus came to lie upon two levels, the river
valley with its adjoining creek bottoms, and the long parallel stretch of
plateau with its ridges that reached out and interlaced with the arms of the
valley. The river sometimes ran through a wide basin, then again between
steeply sloping sides, while the upland stretches in turn might be several
miles wide or mere ridges from which one could look down a creek bottom
in either direction to a river.
113
114 The Expansion of South Carolina
This was the topography of the piedmont — infinitely complicated in
detail, but simple in plan and impressive in the constantly recurring sweep
of valley and ridge. Later generations were to see many of these hillsides
cleared and abandoned, lonely as sand hill or pine barren, with all the larger
streams reddened or yellowed by the clay poured into them. But the new-
comer saw clear waters and the varied unbroken green of the great forest
of oak, hickory and pine.^
The soil of these hills and plateaus compared favorably with any but
the very best in the province. The surface was a mold, rich, though of no
great thickness, laid down by the hardwood trees. The valleys of the
rivers and larger creeks were even more fertile, for in them had slowly ac-
cumulated an alluvium of washings from the hills. While the surface
mold was of fundamental importance in the settlement and early develop-
ment of the piedmont, it was the prevailing clay subsoil which was later to
determine its history. This clay, really a mixture of sand and clay, ranged
in depth from a few inches to many feet, and was derived from the weather-
ing of rocks, chiefly granite and the kindred gneiss. When comparatively
level ground was cleared the surface drainage slowly carried away the
clay, often leaving several inches of sandy loam like that of the coastal
plain. On unprotected slopes, however, no sand could accumulate, and
the clay was swept off in sheets or eaten out in gullies.
The clay, especially where it had a coating of sand, formed an ideal
foundation for the mold which lay upon the surface, the sand keeping the
earth porous and well drained, the clay holding moisture. Unfortunately
this combination was easily destroyed. On level ground the subsoil was
secure, but the surface soil was soon exhausted, and on the slopes both were
quickly washed away.^
The piedmont, even at its lower edge, rose two hundred feet above the
coastal plain, and was free from swamps. In consequence the air in sum-
mer was cooler and less sultry than that of the low country, and its climate
more healthful. This was probably the chief attraction to the immigrant
from Europe and the northern colonies. But however conducive the
region might be to health and comfort, it held little promise of wealth for
the early eighteenth century settler. By neither soil nor climate was it well
adapted to the staples of the day. Far worse than this were the difficulties
in the way of transportation. Each river made its exit from the piedmont
by tumbling over a series of rocks ; a dozen other shoals lay back of this
^ See, for instance, Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 22-23. That treeless spots were
rare is shown by the early plats, which seldom lacked trees to mark all lines.
^ See Bennett, Soils and Agriculture, pp. 147-148; Bureau of Soils, Field
Operations, 1902, 1909, 1911, 1921 (Washington, 1903, 1912, 1914, 1926), Abbe-
ville Area, Anderson, Fairfield, Greenville; Phillips, Life and Labor, pp. 5, 9-10.
For contemporary descriptions of this and similar areas, see American Husbandry,
I, 388-389, Tra'vels of William Bartram, pp. 318-328; compare Adelaide L.
Fries, Records of the Moravians in North Carolina (4 vols., Raleigh, 1922-1930),
I, 44-60.
The Settlement of the Back Country 115
point, and navigation even with small boats was so tedious and dangerous
that early settlers found pack train and wagon preferable. Land trans-
portation in turn faced great obstacles, for roads paralleling the rivers
crossed many creeks, some deep and nearly all with steep banks. The best
routes were along the ridges between the rivers, but these ran at a distance
from the desirable land of the river bottoms. Thus the corn, wheat or
cattle which the piedmont could produce so well and which the rice planta-
tions could afford to buy must be carried or driven from one to three
hundred miles to market, and there sold in well-nigh hopeless competition
with similar products from the upper or lower pine belts or from Pennsyl-
vania. Therefore the piedmont remained in isolation — a back country
indeed — until the slow coming of the canal, railroad, and cotton.
/ The Fiv-Jt NineVy 5i)f
■3 Ni-n^fy Sl)/ CoLcrthouse, 1 77Z.
ABC LaKdi of Rpbert Qc^udet/
P ^ ^
ScQ.le.of Mcl«.i
Map 6
The: Northwest frontier
Prior Sai-vejj "at
CoroTvo-Ca" '
Pricr Su.ri/ey^ fOr
H a-na a t C IV
NiT\e.Vw Silx-5ee Inset Ma^
Re-f erence-s; for tKe. &re.Q.t Jclv rey, Ch^-
ter Z, K. i*^: f ">- tl\e. tPw;nsUipo, ClvccJ^^er ZET,
noiej xJO.d'f; for w.i\«.ty 5i)f, CKcvf ter X, n->3.
5caVe of M, lej
20
-i
CHAPTER X
The Northwest Frontier
The movement of settlers into the hills waited for the Carolina popula-
tion to span the low country — not even the hardiest of frontiersmen cared
to be more than a day's journey from his fellows. But no sooner was the
settlement of the upper tier of townships well under way than men began
to seek the creek and river valleys beyond the fall line. Such was the isola-
tion of the region, however, that in some portions the Indians and their
trade largely determined its early history. The Cherokee path along the
Saluda River first opened the way for back country settlement, but then,
having been indirectly the means of encouraging expansion, the Indians
so effectually blocked its progress that the farther end of the path was not
reached until the whole province east of it had been settled.
In the early part of the century the chief route to the Cherokees began
at Fort Moore and followed the eastern side of the Savannah River to the
Lower Towns. Near the crossing of the path over Stevens Creek John
Stevens in 1715 maintained a cowpen, the establishment surviving only
in the name of the stream. This path was half as long again as that which
ran by way of the Congarees, but so inconsiderable was the trade of the
Cherokees that they had to depend for their goods upon the center of the
greater southwestern traffic. By 1730 or earlier some traders, to avoid the
large streams that fell into the Savannah, were making their way due
north from Fort Moore along the ridge between the headwaters of Stevens
Creek and the Little Saluda. Reaching the Saluda valley at the point
which later came to be called Ninety Six, the path followed an easy course
along the edge of the narrow western side of that valley until it was within
fifty miles of Keowee.^
By 1740 there was a fundamental change in the situation. The Chero-
kee trade had become an important factor in the general South Carolina
expansion, and the traffic turned toward the well settled Congaree and
Santee valleys which afforded the shorter route, and a wagon road and
^ See above, p. 10; Mouzon, Map of N. and S. C; P, V, 100, 137, 405;
Year Book, Charleston, 1894, p. 327; Crane, Southern Frontier, pp. 41, 132, and
map; JC, Mar. 1, 1744; PR, XIII, 76 (Philemon Parmeter, Oct. 19, 1727, en-
closed by Middleton, June 13, 1728) ; Swanton, Creek Indians, map 3. For the
Fort Moore-Saluda path see P, II, 361, IV, 439; for the Congaree-Keowee path
see Salley, George Hunter's Map, Mouzon, Map of N. and S. C, and compare the
journal with stream numbers on modern maps.
117
118 The Expansion of South Carolina
river navigation to Saxe Gotha town.^ Enterprising men tried to anticipate
the needs of the trade and advancing population by taking up land at what
promised to be trading posts. Major Hugh Butler in 1736, a year before
he went as agent to the Cherokees, had a hundred and twenty-three acres
surveyed "at a place commonly called and known by the name of Saludy
Old Town, at the Cherokee Path", but there is no evidence that he made
any use of it. It was Thomas Brown who shrewdly selected the strategic
center of the western piedmont and in 1738 had George Haig survey for
him two hundred acres where the Congaree and Savannah Town paths
met. This was on the south side of what was then called Ninety Six
Creek, but now Henleys, about half a mile above its junction with the
stream now called Ninety Six, and five miles from the river.^ Traders
coming from the Congarees by turning so far to the left avoided the lower
and deeper portions of Wilsons Creek. Ninety Six was the trader's esti-
mate of the number of miles from Keowee, the nearest Cherokee town, and
appears on George Hunter's map of the path made in 1730.* It was the
point selected by Major Butler, however, which had the earliest develop-
ment. From a short distance above the mouth of the Little Saluda quite
to Ninety Six the valley of the river offered good bottom land in rather
generous stretches. Added attractions were the Cherokee path, which
came close to the bank, and a ford over the river nearby. The west bank
near the mouth of Terrapin Creek was the former home of the Saluda
Indians, and over two centuries after their departure to Pennsylvania the
name Saluda Old Town clings to the spot.°
It is probable that as early as 1740 some settlers had established them-
2 See above, p. 58, below, pp. 170, 191.
3P, IX, 376, JCHA, Oct. 3, 1737, JC, June 29, 1737. For Ninety Six see
Map 6, inset. 1 is on Brown's 1738 plat (P, II, 361); 2 is on Robert Goudey's
land — see below, p. 219 and note the Simpson-Murray plat (below, p. 127) ; for 3
see Stats., IV, 325, maps in William Johnson, Life and Correspondence of
Nathanael Greene (2 vols., Charleston, 1822), II, opposite p. 140, and John
Drayton, Memoirs of the American Revolution (2 vols., Charleston, 1821), I,
opposite p. 389. A, B, C are plats surveyed for Thomas Nightingale, William
Dargan and Robert Goudey (P, V, 431, VII, 349, VIII, 450); notations and
lines of the plats and Goudey's advertisement in SCAGG, Nov. 4, 1774, show that
he acquired the other two. Brown's 1744 plat adjoined the southern line of his
1738 survey (P, IV, 268), but was ignored by later surveyors (see P, VII, 181,
VIII, 450).
* The original of the Hunter map is in the Library of Congress; attention was
called to it by Professor Verner W. Crane, and it has been printed as George
Hunter's Map of the Cherokee Country by the Historical Commission of South
Carolina (Bulletin No. 4, Columbia, 1917). Thomas Brown's plat of 1738 was
"at a place commonly called and known by the name of Ninety Six" and a
second adjoining it was laid out for him in 1744 described as "96 miles from the
Charokee Nation" (PR, XXII, 62— Hunter to Board, May 1, 1745). For two plats
at the Little Saluda crossing, taken up about 1738, see P, IV, 89 (William Sterling
and Edward Keating; both were residents of the middle or low country — see JUHA,
Feb. 26, 1734, and Bennett, "Some Early Settlers of Calhoun County").
= Bureau of Soils, Field Operations, 1909, 1918 (Washington, 1912, 1924),
Saluda, Newberry; P, IV, 439, V, 153, Mooney, Siouan Tribes, p. 83.
The Settlement of the Back Country 119
selves on the Cherokee path between the Little Saluda and Ninety Six to
live by hunting or farming. In June 1746 Governor Glen, attended by
nearly three hundred men, made a tour of the back country to hold a
series of conferences with the Indians, and, incidentally, to see the progress
of the townships. After an interview with the Catawbas at the Congarees
the party proceeded to Ninety Six, crossing the Little Saluda River, then
in high water, by swimming the horses and using improvised boats of
buffalo hides.^ At Ninety Six was held the most important of the con-
ferences, that with the Cherokees. It is hardly to be doubted that the
inhabitants were all in attendance at this imposing affair. Among them
was James Francis, who had lived in the back country of Pennsylvania and
Virginia, one of the most interesting figures of South Carolina frontier
history. He furnished five pounds worth of supplies to the governor's
party at this time. Two years later he disposed of the improvements he
had made at Saluda Old Town, and in the same year was appointed captain
of a troop of rangers.'
This troop, with another which was put under the command of John
Fairchild, was provided for by the assembly in April 1748 because of the
capture of George Haig, the murder of a trader in the Cherokees, and
other threats of an Indian outbreak. Each troop was to consist of fifteen
men, two of them friendly Indians, and was to serve for four months.
Within two days after receiving Glen's letter Francis enlisted twelve men,
"All Living in Saludy Settlements".^ Of the twelve John Turk, Robert
Lang, Charles Banks, David Ball, John Reed, and Henry Foster received
warrants in the Saluda valley between 1749 and 1755, and John Foster
had his plat surveyed in 1767; the other five appear never to have applied
for land, and in 1748 not one of the troop had either warrant or plat.
Francis begged the governor to allow him to enlist two more white men in
place of the Indians, and gave a hint of the occupation of his neighbors by
saying that "As for their usefulness in hunting for Provision ... I
Question whether e'er an Indian on the Main can compare with some of
the Men inlisted, not only in killing Provisions or the like but any other
Property that an Indian is adapted to." The commander of Fort Moore
three years later in effect confirmed Francis' argument by his opinion that
the best way to capture the raiding Iroquois would be to employ the
"White Hunters ab^ the Congrees and Salude . . . for they are in general
^See PR, XXI, 266-267 (Reply of Upper House to Commons, Oct. 14, 1743,
enclosed by Council committee to Board, Apr. 24, 1744) ; note Adair, American
Indians, p. 236 on the Cherokee silver mine (at this time the Little Saluda was
usually called the Saluda — see George Hunter's Map); SCG, June 12, 1755;
PR, XXII, 101, 202-203, 135-136, 154-155, (Glen to Board, May 28, 1745, Sept.
29, 1746, to Newcastle, Feb. 11, May 3, 1746).
' JCHA, Feb. 20, 1753, Mar. 6, 1755, JC, June 8, 1748.
^ Above, p. 58, JC, Mar. 29, 1748 (letters of Minnick, Dexter, Beamer, Max-
well), Apr. 16, May 11 (letter of Francis), 1748, JCHA, Apr. 8, 1748.
120 The Expansion of South Carolina
very expert Woods men but might perhaps exceed their orders as they are
little more than white Indians".^
There are occasional references in the South Carolina as well as the
Georgia and North Carolina records to men who made their living entirely
or chiefly by hunting and sale of skins/" but nowhere in colonial South
Carolina does there appear another community like this. Two of the troop,
John and Henry Foster, were stepsons of the captain, and presumably came
from Virginia or Pennsylvania with him. Charles Banks was also from
the northward, and formerly in the Cherokee trade. Robert Lang and his
father had land in Saxe Gotha by 1740 and at some time one or both of
them probably were also traders. Francis himself did not know the
Cherokee language, and could hardly have been at any time regularly en-
gaged in that trade, but Henry Foster was familiar with the nation.^^
When Francis left Saluda Old Town he established himself at or near
the crossing of the Cherokee path over Wilsons Creek, ten miles above
Ninety Six.^^ He became justice of the peace and captain of the militia,
but his "people" were not always favorably known — "Seven or Eight very
desperate Fellows", Herman Geiger called them. Despite the fact that
Francis' influence was strong in this community, his authority was probably
ill defined. His sole land warrant, sworn to in 1755, was for only a hun-
dred and fifty acres, and it was probably from hunting and trafficking with
Indians and whites for skins that he and his henchmen drew most of their
livelihood. It seems to have been this trade also which brought him into
debt that he could not pay, and his retirement from Saluda Old Town, it
was alleged, was to enable him to defend himself against writs. But Francis
likewise farmed, and a farmer near him was plundered by the Indians in
1751 who "made a Dreadfull Havock", destroying most "of the Corn then
Growing, Potatoes, Colwarts Tob^". Another man of this neighborhood
had five cows killed, four of them milch cows with young calves. In fact,
the population which depended entirely upon the soil must have far
exceeded the hunters in number, for Glen in 1751 sent a hundred muskets,
^JC, Apr. 6, 1749, Apr. 1, June 4, 1751, July 3, 1752, Feb. 1, 1754; P, IV, 502,
V, 39, 135, 411, VI, 74, VII, 324, IX, 147.
i°For South Carolina see Stats., IV, 310, JC, Oct. 31, 1766, JCHA, Jan. 7,
1768, SCG, July 14, 1759, Oct. 30, 1762 (advt. of Lazarus Brown), SCAGG,
Oct. 2, 1767; for North Carolina, see Fries, Records of the Moravians, I, 46-47,
50, 58, State Rec. of N. C. (16 vols., Winston and Goldsboro, 1895-1906), XXIII,
218-219; for Georgia, see Col. Recs. of Ga., VIII, 167, JC, Sept. 16, 1756.
^^ JC, June 29, 1737; May 7, 11, 23, 1751 (statements of Stephen Crell, Herman
Geiger, and David Dowey) ; July 3, 1753; Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 12-13 (affidavits
of William Turner and Charles Banks) ; Adair, American Indians, p. 347; Map 3.
^ He lived five or six miles from Thomas Davis (Indian Books, II, pt. 2,
21), who lived twelve miles above Ninety Six on Goudey's Saluda River planta-
tion {SCG, Sept. 27, 1760). These distances correspond with those on the
Simpson-Murray plat (below, p. 127).
The Settlement of the Back Country 121
a hundred pounds of powder and two hundred pounds of bullets to Francis
to distribute to those destitute of arms/^
James Adair, the Chickasaw trader and later author of the History of
the American hidianSj recently ruined in the attempt to win the Choctaws
to the English alliance, graced the household of Francis with his presence
during 1750 and 1751. He went to the Cherokees in company with Henry
Foster, the two carrying two kegs of rum and perhaps other Indian trade
commodities. The principal Indian traders were almost uniformly men of
such large business interests and important connections that they heartily
disliked the trouble-making frontiersmen, but the Scotch adventurer, who
had not yet had his fill of danger nor suffered decline of his own boisterous
nature, found these "brave Wanton fellows" kindred spirits. "A brave
chearful companion" he declared Henry Foster to have been, when many
years later he recalled their trip to the Cherokees, the songs and draughts
of punch with which they beguiled the dangerous journey. Francis him-
self was not an uncongenial associate, to judge by hints in Adair's carefully
written letters to the governor during the 1751 alarm, in which he applied
for permission to lead these frontiersmen and the New Windsor Chicka-
saws against the Indian enemies of Carolina. When in his book he lauded
the virtues and hardihood of the American woodsmen, he could have ranked
no others in his mind above the traders and "Francis's people" with whom
he had been most closely associated.^*
About January 1751 the hunting camp on the Savannah of some
Cherokees from the Lower Town of Tugaloo was rifled by white men of
three hundred and thirty-one deerskins. The Indians applied to Francis,
who gave them a written permission to search houses of men they suspected.
Charles Banks soon found them "looking and Peeping about his House,
Something more than Common," but Herman Geiger, now in his short
term of trading with the Cherokees, reported that he was sure one of the
Fosters was guilty. Some color was given to this charge by Francis' slow-
ness in investigating the affair and the opinion of the Cherokees which he
expressed in private. Unfortunately the affair was speedily followed by a
crisis in Indian relations, and for a time the injured Tugaloo huntsmen
were forgotten. Later, after the war scare had subsided, Francis wrote to
Governor Glen describing the slow and inadequate process of frontier
justice for Indians. Benjamin Burgess, escaping from arrest for theft of
the skins, took refuge with John Vann, a former Choctaw trader who now
^^SCG, Dec. 3, 1750 (advt. of "John" Francis, J. P.); JC, Apr. 2, 1751 (peti-
tion of John Collier), May 11 (above, n. 11), Aug. 9, 1751, Aug. 5, 1755, May 4,
1757; PR, XXV, 355 (Glen's letter to one of council, enclosed by him to Board
Oct. 25, 1753); Miscellaneous Records, MS, Charleston, 1754-1758, p. 159 (Protec-
tion to Francis, Apr. 9, 1755) ; Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 14-16, 17-23.
i^See below, pp. 195-197, JCHA, May 16, 1750, JC, May 11, 23, 1751; Adair,
American Indians, pp. 266, 346-347, 454-455.
122 The Expansion of South Carolina
traded irregularly with the Cherokees. Vann maintained an establish-
ment near Ninety Six Creek of more unsavory character than that of
Francis — including three negroes, a mulatto and a half-breed Indian —
"all bearing an Equal Character with Burgess & which I believe there is
not three Families on Saludy wou'd Suffer any one of them to Remain
Four & Twenty Hours on their Plantation." Eventually Vann sent one
of the negroes, ostensibly to seize Burgess in his hunting camp, but really to
kill him and thus prevent his telling tales. But Burgess, attacked in his
sleep, escaped with a jaw "very much" broken, and several knife wounds,
leaving two score deer and beaver skins, a rifle — one of the first mentioned
in the records of the back country — and two horses. The provincial gov-
ernment finally assumed responsibility for paying the injured Cherokees for
the skins.^^
The chief episode in the 1751 Indian alarm occurred on a branch of
the thinly settled Little Saluda. The head of the stream later called
Clouds Creek was formed by several springs near the crossing of the
natural routes from the Congarees to Fort Moore and from Ninety Six
to Orangeburg; for that reason, probably, the place appealed to the retired
Indian trader Isaac Cloud, and here he made his home. At midnight of
May 7, 1751, Mary Cloud arrived at the house of Martin Friday, in Saxe
Gotha, and there gave her narrative on oath before Daniel Scheider,
captain of the militia company:
That on the fourth Instant two Indians came to my House about
Half-way between the Congrees and Savannah Town. The Indians were
Savannas. They came there about dark, and sate down very civilly;
and my Husband being able to talk their Tongue they talked a great
while together, And I gave them Supper. And they asked my Husband
for Pipes and Tobacco, and he gave it them. And we sate up until
Midnight, and then we all went to Sleep; and they lay down too and
pulled off their Mogassens and Boots. One of them broke his Pipe, and
he came to the Bed to my Husband, who handed unto him his Pipe out
of his Mouth, and laid down again; and we all dropt into Sleep: and
when the Cocks began to Crow they came, as I suppose, to the Bed, and
Shot my Husband through the Head. And a young Man lying upon
the Floor was Shot in the same Minute. And the Indians, I suppose,
thinking the Bullet had gone thro' my Husband's Head and my own too,
struck me with a Tomahawk under my right Arm; and afterwards they
struck me two Cuts upon the left Knee. I lying still they supposed I
was dead, and one of them went and killed both my Children; & then
they came and took the Blankets from us & plunder'd the House of all that
was valuable and went off. And in that bad Condition I have lain
amongst my Dead two Days. And by the help of Providence one of my
Horses came to the House; and so I came to Martin Fridig's House.
i^ndian Books, II, pt. 2, 12-13, 14-20, III, 7-8; JC, May 11, Aug. 9, Nov. 25,
1751. For Vann, see P, V, 404, and below, p. 196. A German immigrant brought
a rifle-gun in 1750 (JC, Mar. 13, 1750) ; see also above, p. 106. At some time
between 1751 and 1759 Vann was on the Savannah River opposite the mouth of
the Georgia Broad River (P, VIII, 273, 535). In 1759 he was in Georgia (PR,
XXVIII, 210— Governor W^illiam Henry Lyttelton to Board, Sept. 1, 1759).
The Settlement of the Back Country 123
The Commons was stirred by this and other accounts of raids in the
northwest to debate so drastic a measure as an expedition of a thousand
men to punish the Cherokees and their friends, but later thought better of
it. Meanwhile Mary Cloud had been brought to town, and the House,
having resolved to pay her expenses, some months later read and approved
the few bills which finished the story — five pounds to Doctor Chalmers
for amputating her leg, with other sums to someone else for nursing her and
to the sexton of St. Philip's for her funeral charges.^®
The Saluda frontiersmen were rendered desperate by the continued
danger and uncertainty. At one time they thought of falling upon the
Indians and thus bringing the matter to open war, at another they threat-
ened to abandon their homes if the government did not take measures
to protect them. Four troops of rangers were provided, Francis and his
neighbors built a fort on his place, and the storm blew over. The captain
continued to enjoy the confidence of the governor, but his connections were
not such as to recommend him to the low country as a whole, and when the
Commons House provided in 1755 for a troop of fifty men to range from
the Savannah to the Broad, it urged upon Glen the appointment of William
Gray, veteran of the Spanish war and retired Indian trader, but
a man of the middle country rather than the frontier. Glen accordingly
canceled Francis' appointment, and sent the commission to Gray, who was
then living near Fort Moore. "I have got some Enemies on Account of
the Commission", the new captain wrote the governor, "but please God
for to bless me with Health there shall be no cause of Complaint of any
neglect of my guarding the Out Inhabitants of this Province." Since the
troop had already been raised under Francis as captain and John Fairchild
as lieutenant it is not hard to guess who were the enemies. Either they or
his health speedily proved too much for him, for after only six days service
he abandoned the command and went home again, with the result that
Francis was eventually restored to the place.^^
Life in Francis' neighborhood and on both sides of the Saluda about
him appears to have changed very little until after the Cherokee war.
Below, howev^er, first at Saluda Old Town about 1748 and then at Ninety
Six half a dozen years later, there had begun a more settled industry and
society of farmers who owned their lands. For a time there was excellent
prospect of the immigration of a large number of substantial farmers from
Virginia to this section. In January 1746 Governor Glen and the council
read two petitions of John and Thomas Turk and Michael Taylor of
^^]C, May 11, 1751, JCHA, May 13, 14, 1751, Jan. 9, 15, 23, June 12, 1752.
For location note the deposition following, and SCG, Oct. 19, 1767 (Charleston
news), P, V, 425, VI, 401, 420. No record of a warrant or survey for Cloud ap-
pears.
1" JUHA, and JCHA, May 9, 1751; Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 195-197; JC,
May 23, 1751, May 7, 1755; JCHA, Apr. 27, May 10, 14, 1751, Feb. 6, 28, 1755, Feb.
17, 1756, above, p. 71.
124 The Expansion of South Carolina
Augusta County, Virginia, They stated that they had examined the lands
about Ninety Six, which, according to "the Inhabitants dwelling there-
abouts", were claimed by the Indians. They asked that the government
purchase the lands and reserve them for new settlers from the back country
of Virginia and Pennsylvania, the prospective immigrants to get the usual
fifty acres a head and some further encouragement. The governor and
council resolved that the lands should be purchased, and the Commons
House agreed to a fifteen-year exemption from all provincial taxes save
that on negroes, the exemption to begin only when one hundred families
had arrived. The House, in accordance with its policy of compact settle-
ment, instructed a committee to persuade the agents to select lands nearer
the settled areas, but the reply was that only the Ninety Six region would
serve their purpose, as nowhere else could they find land "so healthy in its
situation so good in its kind or sufficient enough to support such a number
of them as may be sufficient to make themselves secure against the attempts
of Indians or other Enemys." John Turk evidently remained to see the
purchase made from the Cherokees, while Taylor and Thomas Turk went
back to spread the news and to make preparations for removal.^^
But this project, even more than that of the Welsh tract, which it
closely resembled, was to meet with many difficulties. Relations with the
Cherokees in 1746 were none too good, and nothing was done about the
purchase until John Turk, evidently despairing of action, returned to
Virginia. Thereupon in October the governor and council received from
the three promoters a letter in which respect for constituted authority
contended with disgust. "The want of such a purchase has caus'd a War
& Bloodshed where we now live, which makes the people here afraid of
falling again into the like crooked Circumstances." The failure of the
administration "makes the people here believe you want that land settled
without the charge of a purchase, which they are unwilling to do ... if a
purchase is made soon, it will clear us, if not, we shall rue that we were at
any trouble or charge about it." The petitioners seemed resolved to come
whether or not, but William Baskins, John Pickens, James Lesslie "and
above 30 other" inhabitants of the back country of Virginia declared that
they waited for news of the purchase. This letter brought action ; addi-
tional instructions were given to a recently appointed Cherokee agent, and
on the twelfth of February 1747 the headmen of the Lower Towns signed
a deed for the Cherokee lands between Long Canes and Ninety Six,
defining the new boundary as extending along Long Cane Creek to its
head, thence to the head of the nearest tributary of the Saluda, along that
stream to the river, and from that point north to the Catawba-Cherokee
i^JC, Jan. 9, 10, 14, Oct. 21, 1746; JCHA, Jan. 10, 11, 13, 1746.
The Settlement of the Back Country 125
path. The price was a hundred and eighty nine pounds sterling, paid in
ammunition.
The effect of this purchase was to hasten settlement on the Cherokee
path, but the early settlers were the hunters and squatters of Ninety Six
rather than farmers or planters like the clients of the Turks. The latter
were probably alarmed by the news of South Carolina Indian troubles and
went elsewhere or did not come to the province at all. As for the pro-
moters themselves, left without the support of neighbors, they took up land
farther down the river. John Turk, who had returned from Augusta
County in time to serve in Francis's troop in 1748 and the next year, had
four hundred and fifty acres surveyed just above Terrapin Creek at Saluda
Old Town. His household included three slaves and an indented servant.
Thomas Turk does not appear again, but James Turk in 1749 had two
hundred acres surveyed on the east side of the river nearly opposite John's
land.'°
Up to 1752 there were about thirty plats, averaging three hundred
acres each, surveyed about Saluda and Ninety Six. Among the headrights
were those of James Maxwell, low country planter and Cherokee trader,
who had sixteen hundred acres surveyed in a great bend of the Saluda on
the east side, and of Daniel Burnett, evidently from Charleston, who
bought Francis' improvements at Saluda Old Town and later had five
hundred acres run out there. Making allowance for Maxwell's slaves,
who were probably on his low country plantation, and for the Ninety
Six hunters, few of whom had warrants, the land records indicate a
population of about a hundred and eighty. During the 1751 crisis practi-
cally no warrants were issued for land in the Saluda valley, but settlement
only awaited the prospect of peace; "the world can Scarcely Exceed us,
in a more healthy Climate," wrote Francis during the troubles, "more
Clear and wholesome Waters Running thro' such a beautiful and fruitfuU
soil. These Blessings wou'd soon Induce thousands to be Partakers, when
they understand this Government hath taken such Methods with the Indi-
ans so as they need be under no concern, of fear or danger from them."
Only a fort in the settlement, or perhaps among the Cherokees, and a stand-
ing company of rangers, he declared, would make the frontier secure."^
Meanwhile the Saluda valley and the adjacent waters of the Savannah
had become the scene of the largest speculation in land in colonial South
Carolina. As early as 1737 John Hamilton of London petitioned the
crown for two hundred thousand acres of land in the province on which to
^^ JC, Oct. 21, 1746, Mar. 7, 1747; Wallace, History of S. C, I, 447-448; JCHA,
May 22, 23, 25, June 10, 1747. The agent was George Pawley — below, pp. 194-195.
20 JC, Apr. 6, Aug. 1, 1749; P, IV, 502, V, 39, 105. For Pickens, Leslie and
Taylor, see below, pp. 138, 147, 148.
21 JC, Aug. 20, 1743, P, V, 105, Register of St. Philip's, index, P, IV, 439, JC,
June 8, 1748, Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 21-23.
126 The Expansion of South Carolina
settle a thousand families and to raise wine, olives, coffee, hemp, flax and
so forth. He claimed to have made agreement with a hundred and forty
families as prospective settlers. The Board of Trade, however, was not
satisfied with his proposals or his ability to carry out the settlement and re-
ported against it. In 1741 William Livingston, who was merely the agent
for the newly appointed Governor Glen, made a similar proposal for
himself and "associates", undertaking to settle a thousand persons on two
hundred thousand acres on the Savannah in ten years. The products he
had in mind were rice, naval stores, "and in time even Silk and Wine".
The Board recommended granting the petition, despite the extraordinary
proportion of two hundred acres per head, in view of the fact that the
promoters were to meet all expenses of transportation and settlement. The
crown gave the order, stipulating that there should be settled one white
person to each two hundred acres.^^
For a time the Livingston project languished, probably because of the
Austrian war and the depression in South Carolina. Meanwhile John
Hamilton revived his plans, and in 1747 petitioned the crown for half a
million acres in South Carolina on condition of settling one person per two
hundred acres. It appeared now that Solomon da Costa, Francis Salvador
and other Jews had associated themselves with him, in order to settle some
of their poor in America. However, the unwillingness of da Costa and
his group to bind themselves to a large initial expenditure caused the
failure of this petition likewise. In 1749 the Livingston order was re-
newed and transferred to Hamilton, and the latter, with a family of
fifty-eight persons — whether servants or slaves does not appear — proceeded
to South Carolina.^^ In November 1751 Surveyor-General George
Hunter surveyed the two hundred thousand acres of "Hamilton's Great
Survey" in four plats of equal area. The tract, nearly eighteen miles on a
side, extended from the Saluda River far into the valleys of Long Cane and
Stevens Creeks, and lay immediately above Thomas Brown's 1738 plat.
The southernmost plat enclosed two surveys already made for John Hamil-
ton amounting to twelve thousand nine hundred acres.^^
22 PR, XVIII, 272-276, 278-280, 304-310, XX, 383-385, 543-545, 581-584 (papers
on Livingston-Hamilton application, dated, or received by Board, July 29, Aug.
31, Nov. 17, 1737, Aug. 8, 1741, Feb. 2, Oct. 29, 1742), XX, 338-340, 530-531
(Journal entries thereon, Aug. 11, Oct. 1, 1741, Jan. 15, 28, 1742).
23 PR, XXII, 324-329, XXIII, 103-107, 198 (papers dated or received Dec. 7,
1747, Jan. 12, Mar. 26, Apr. 3, Dec. 13, 1748), XXII, 251-253, XXIII, 1, 31-32
(entries of Dec. 8, 17, 22, 1747, Jan. 12, Feb. 3, Dec. 8, 13, 14, 1748).
2^ The second, third and fourth plats are to be found in P, V, between pp.
506, 509; the lines of the first are in a survey of this tract made for its later
purchasers (below, n. 25). The location of the lines of the entire Great Survey is
indicated by the streams and line-trees on the four plats, by the marks on the
adjoining plats, and by the plats of the following: Richard Oswald (XIX, 97),
Andrew Williamson (XXI, 490, 491), John McCue (XVIII, 182), Elizabeth
Campbell (IX, 30), Londonborough Township (below, p. 251). These references
also show the inaccuracy of the survey. The southeast boundary of the tract
was surveyed as a N45E line, but appears to have been N40E; compare the
The Settlement of the Back Country 127
The tract nearest to Ninety Six was bought in 1755 for eight thou-
sand pounds by William Simpson and Dr. John Murray, a Charleston
physician, and the one lying on the Saluda above it was earlier sold to
Joseph Salvador, a London merchant. The Simpson-Murray tract was
divided three years after its purchase, Murray taking the half lying next
to the river. It was doubtless on this land that he established a plantation,
for in 1757 he had an overseer "at Saludy". Probably most of the "12
stout Negro's" in the Ninety Six fort at the beginning of the Cherokee War
were his. Murray also seems to have acted as agent for Hamilton for the
remaining lands of the Great Survey, and raised cattle on his plantation
called Hard Labor, which gave its name to the western branch of Stevens
Creek. Cuffytown Creek, the eastern fork, was doubtless so called from the
negro quarters of a similar plantation. Dr. Murray's advertisement of
1760 for a strayed horse bred at Ninety Six gives point to the name of
Horse Pen Creek, a nearby branch of CufiFytown.^^ Andrew Williamson
appears in the back country in 1758 furnishing and driving cattle and hogs
to supply the forts, and in 1760 and 1766 seems to have been employed by
Murray or in partnership with him. The fact that Williamson applied for'
no land until 1767 suggests that his own headright had been taken up by
someone else, and that he was a native of the province. A survey of 1764
refers to him as possessor of land and a mill within Hamilton's survey, ap-
proximately the location of his later plantation White Hall.^''
Stevens Creek and Long Cane Creek were the chief tributaries of the
Savannah between New Windsor and the Indian boundary, and their
basins contained most of the desirable land, for the river valley proper was
narrow and steep. The two creek valleys, however, closely hedged in the
Saluda and during the settlement period were, for the most part, merely an
extension of the Ninety Six region. The Cherokee path made Ninety Six
and Fort Moore the natural gateways to Stevens Creek and the adjacent
bank of the Savannah, and shortly before 1750 settlers entered from each
point. In 1747 Isaac Barksdale, one of the chief southwestern traders,
recently if not at that time an inhabitant of New Windsor, secured from
the Georgia government a grant of four hundred acres on Uchee Island,
boundary of the later Edgefield District (P, XXI, 491, Mills, Atlas of S. C). See
also C. T. Julien in The Index-Journal (Greenwood, S. C), June 27, 1937, for the
present state of this line. For the enclosed lands of Hamilton, see JC, Jan. 17,
Mar. 23, 1751.
25 Mesne Conveyances, 4T, 490-501; SCG, Jan. 13, 1757, Nov. 15, 1760 (advts. of
Murray), Feb. 9, Mar. 15, 1760, Feb. 21, 1761 (frontier news); Laurens, Letter
Books, Oct. 10, 1764. Murray and another coast-country physician, Dr. David
Caw, in 1755 had a thousand acres each surveyed on "Stephens Creek" adjoining
each other (P, VI, 14, VIII, 393). These probably were the plats on Hard Labor
Creek included in Londonborough Township — see below, p. 251, n. 30 for reference.
2« JCHA, May 12, 1758, July 2, 1766; Indian Books, VI, 134; JC, Mar. 3, 1767.
His mill was near the lower end of the survey numbered 6 in Map 6. The William-
son name was not uncommon near the Edisto and lower Savannah (see P, I, 409, IV,
454, VII, 176).
128 The Expansion of South Carolina
probably the island ten miles above the mouth of Stevens Creek at or near
which the Uchees had formerly lived. Here the next year he had an over-
seer, but whether for plantation or cowpen does not appear.^^
In 1751 Joseph Chatwin and a Virginian, Joseph Nelson, asked for
land which they had already settled on the river above the mouth of
Stevens Creek.^® Chatwin had four slaves, and later applied for land on
the rights of three more. He soon began work as deputy surveyor, and was
captain of the first militia company of the section, but by 1759 had re-
moved to Georgia.^ In 1752 Matthew Chavous applied for a warrant
for three hundred acres, explaining that he was a free negro, and had been
in the province twelve years. The council postponed action for more
deliberate consideration "whether the giving away lands to Negroes in this
Province and to their Posterity be Expedient", but the matter was not re-
ferred to again. Thomas Bassett in 1751 swore to the rights of himself,
four children and thirty slaves, and applied for land on the waters of
Savannah. After a long delay for which he declared the Indian alarm of
1751 in part responsible, and during which he went to Virginia, the
warrant dwindled to two hundred and fifty acres in New Windsor;
Thomas does not appear as a settler but Nathaniel Bassett does. It is
possible that others besides Bassett intended to settle here and changed
their minds for one reason or another; Jacob Pennington in November
1749 asked that his warrant for three hundred and fifty acres on the
Savannah be changed to the district between the Broad and Saluda, for he
had "found himself deceived in the Situation and Quality of the Land on
said River." '^
The other entrance to the Stevens Creek district was from the north, by
Ninety Six, whence a formerly used branch of the Cherokee path led
directly south to Savannah Town. Cuffytown Creek, extending far be-
yond the main valley of Stevens, was nearest to the Saluda settlements.
John Scott in 1747 applied for four hundred acres, having a wife, one child
and five slaves, and four years later on the rights of three children obtained
another warrant. The first warrant was surveyed on Haw Tree Creek, a
branch of Cuf¥ytown, near the Ninety Six path and Horse Pen Creek;
2^JC, Mar. 1, 1744, Col. Recs. of Ga., VI, 171-172 (see also pp. 416, 434, and
IX, 265), Mouzon, Map of N. and S. C, SCG, Aug. 30, 1748. See also Patrick
Cardiff and James Jarvis — probably Indian traders, the latter a resident of New
Windsor. Their plats seem to have been surveyed a few miles above the mouth
of Stevens Creek (JC, June 3, Nov. 6, 1748, Jan. 18, May 17, 1750, P, V, 100, 137).
28 JC, Feb. 28, May 7, 1751, Mav 4, 1757, P, V, 137. Thomas Bryan had a
plat surveyed adjoining Chatwin (JC, Feb. 28, 1751, P, V, 392). Several dis-
charged soldiers from the independent companies applied for land here, but it
is not certain that any became settlers (JC, Dec. 5, Aug. 2, 1749, Sept. 4, 1750,
P, V, 249).
-9JC, Apr. 7, Nov. 7, 1752, Oct. 21, 1755, P, V, 281, VI, 128, Col. Recs. of Ga.,
VIII, 15-16.
^°JC, Feb. 2, Nov. 7, 1749, Feb. 28, Apr. 7, July 8, 1752, Sept. 7, 1756, Grants.
V, 73.
The Settlement of the Back Country 129
the second, the plat for which shows a mill on a branch of Stevens Creek,
was probably nearby/^ Between 1755 and 1757 several others gained lands
on Haw Tree Creek, among them Richard Wallace and Thomas Howard,
who were made captain and lieutenant of the second militia company
organized in the Stevens Creek district/^
Better land than that on Cuffytown or Savannah River lay between
these streams in the fifteen mile circle nearly surrounded by Stevens Creek
and its tributary Turkey Creek. Horns, Beaverdam, Log, Turkey, Rocky,
Sleepy and Mountain Creeks in quick succession, as one travelled the old
Cherokee path to Ninety Six, offered good bottom land and pasturage.
Alexander McGregor, a Charleston innkeeper, in 1747 obtained a warrant
for six hundred acres near the mouth of Horns Creek. At its mouth
another absentee, Ulric Tobler of New Windsor, in 1751 had two hun-
dred acres surveyed and for a time thereafter the stream was known by his
name, or that of Joseph Noble who applied for his warrant in 1754.^^
The next year, however, Benjamin Horn from North Carolina asked for
two hundred acres on this creek and gave it its more permanent name;
George Bussey, with five slaves, also settled here. Already the Germans
arriving in Charleston were finding their way to the valley and in 1756 and
1757, surveys were made for them and for other Englishmen on Horns
Creek and the nearby streams.^^
By 1759 the central portions of the Stevens Creek valley, from Horns
Creek to the upper branches of Turkey Creek, had been dotted with nearly
fifty surveys amounting to about nine thousand acres, and on Cuf^ytown
there were a dozen more for actual settlers. On the river the taking up of
land nearly ceased after 1752, though the thirty plats surveyed from 1747
to 1759 amounted to nearly as much as those of the Turkey Creek section.
Among the newcomers here was John Scott, formerly of Cuffytown Creek,
who seems to have moved about 1755 to a point about ten miles above the
mouth of Stevens Creek. He was made a justice of the peace in 1760;
above and below him half a dozen other settlers had surveys made which
included convenient proportions of river bottom and high land. The
total number of plats in the valley of Stevens Creek and on the river
31 Above, p. 117, JC, Nov. 10, 1747, Apr. 2, 1751; P, IV, 483, V, 150; for location
of Haw Tree see Blakeley's plat, P, IX, 360, and names adjoining. Note that
Horse Pen and Haw Tree Creeks are at or near Cuffy Town (P, VIII, 98, 119,
420, 500).
32 P, VI, 109, 334, VII, 17, XX, 372, JC, May 4, 1757. For several absentee
land owners see P, VI, 167, SCG, June 5, 1755 (advt. of Peter Sanders), P, VI,
180, IX, 390, B. A. Elzas, The Jeivs of South Carolina (Philadelphia, 1905), pp.
33-37.
33 JC, Nov. 11, 1747, Apr. 2, 1751, Apr. 2, 1754; JCHA, May 22, 1749; SCG,
Jan. 30, Apr. 24, 1755; P, V, 148, XII, 118.
3* Co/. Recs. of N. C, IV, 946, JC, Feb. 4, 1755, P, VI, 31. For the Germans
see, for instances, P, VI, 170, 175, 199; for the English note John Lamar (JC,
May 4, 1757, P, VI, 214, 234-235, 240, 332), and Timothy Puckett, formerly
a Wateree settler (above, p. 102, P, VI, 253).
130 The Expansion of South Carolina
nearby between 1747 and 1759 was nearly a hundred and fifty, represent-
ing headrights of about six hundred and fifty persons. The two militia
companies reported in 1757 had a hundred and nine men, and the returns
listed seventeen slaves. The population of six hundred thus indicated cor-
responded closely to the number of headrights.^'
On the Saluda warrants and surveys between 1752 and 1759, a hun-
dred and forty in all, amounted to nearly thirty thousand acres. Only
three of these were for more than five hundred acres, and there were
apparently not over half a dozen for non-residents. Slightly over half of
the total were for land on the south side of the Saluda, along the river it-
self, scattered about on the branches of the Little Saluda, or rather
compactly on Ninety Six Creek. On the north side the valley of Bush
River was preferred to Little River, and to the banks of the Saluda. A
few men had surveys far above the rest; Henry Foster's hundred and fifty
acres was on the point between the Saluda and Reedy Rivers ; John Reed,
another member of Francis' troop of 1748, had two hundred and fifty run
out farther up on the Reedy; John Turk in 1753 had one hundred and
fifty acres, and James Williams in 1755 three hundred, surveyed on
Raeburns Creek.""
About ten per cent of the warrants were for Germans who had strayed
farther north than the great Dutch Fork settlement. A dozen settlers
stated that they had been residents of the province, five others that they
were from Virginia, and several, including Edward Brown and Thomas
Haverd, with twelve children, were from Pennsylvania. There were few
servants, and few slaves besides those of Dr. Murray, but in 1748 Daniel
Burnett was possessed of a servant and thiee negroes, and later Enoch
Anderson had three slaves, William Turner four, and John Davis two.
Stephen Holston had four "Dutch" servants.^^ Warrants and surveys in
the valley above and including the Little Saluda account for nearly eight
hundred persons. The number of warrants would have been considerably
smaller had it not been for Governor Glen's trip to Keowee in 1753 to
build Fort Prince George. On his return he received the petitions and
heard the oaths as to headrights of sixteen men about Saluda Old Town
and Ninety Six and in 1755, when he held a conference here with the
Cherokees, even James Francis and Henry Foster paid their respects to the
royal authority by seeking titles to land. Timothy Riordan, nearly thirty
years after he, or one of his name, had served in a provincial company, ap-
peared to ask for two hundred acres on Ninety Six Creek, and Benjamin
Burgess got a warrant for a hundred acres which he had surveyed near
^^P, VI, 85; Grants, VII, 39; P, V, 162, XIX, 365; JC, Mar. 22, 1754; Grants,
V, 386 (apparently Lloyd acquired the Kirby plat); P, XIX, 365 (two plats of
Scott), XVIII, 376 (Michie), 387 (Middleton).
3SP, V, 407, VI, 74, 176, VII, 324; see also V, 245, 480, VII, 277, 282.
^MC, Mar. 16, 1749, Feb. 5, Apr. 3, 1750, Nov. 5, 1751, Sept. 3, 1753, Feb. 4,
1755; P, V, 75. For Burnett see above, p. 125, and JC, June 8, 1748.
The Settlement of the Back Country 131
Little River, though he fell again into evil courses during the horse-thieving
days of the next decade.^^
In 1757 the two militia companies of Andrew Brown and James
Francis numbered forty-seven and seventy men, respectively, and to this
number should be added some portion of the company on the Little Saluda
and Twelve Mile Creek below. Slaves, possibly fifty in number, were not
included in the return. Thus the militia list indicates a population in 1757
of about seven hundred and twenty-five, which must have increased by
1759 to nearly eight hundred.
Ninety Six and the valley below had passed the hunting stage and
developed a fairly prosperous and varied industry, with some products
which brought in a money income. On Ninety Six Creek itself Daniel
Migler had his blacksmith's shop. In 1751 John Collier who came from
Virginia declared that he had built a flour mill on Samsons Fork, a branch
of Saluda. Nothing more appears of his mill, but mill paths running to-
ward Little River near its mouth are found on plats as early as 1749,
showing the existence of one on the north side, and Mill Creek near
Daniel Burnett suggests that there was another at Saluda Old Town.
When in 1753 Governor Glen was casting about for provisions for the men
who were to build Fort Prince George, he was encouraged to hear that
the wheat crop of the Saluda valley had not failed. In a petition of 1755
the settlers of Saluda and Enoree stated that they hoped this year to raise
"some hundreds" of pounds of indigo, but how many were able to make
money in this way cannot be said. The country was well adapted to horse
and cattle raising, and the Cherokee path and trade offered both outlet and
possible market. Daniel Burnett's widow in 1755 had four horses stolen
from her, and about the same time there is a reference to her cattle. The
great majority here were small farmers who had little money, but evidently ^
maintained themselves in a fair degree of comfort. Robert Lang in 1757 /
asked the Commons House to pay him twenty pounds for the plundering 7"
of cattle and goods, and the burning of his house by the Cherokees. The V
house was evidently a simple affair, such as John Hanna, from Virginia, /
expected his neighbors to help him build. Hanna also had the promise of
aid in clearing ground.^^
A description of a back country establishment was put on record as a
result of the mischievous work of a Cherokee embassy in 1753. In that
year Stephen Holston of the Little Saluda appeared before the governor
and council and declared that during his absence from home a party of
38 JC, Feb. 1, 1754, May 22, Aug. 5, 1755, below, pp. 207, 209, P, VII, 24, IX,
144, JCHA, Feb. 28, 1770, PR, XIII, 195 (Enclosure no. 10 with Middleton's letter
of June 13, 1728).
39 JCHA, Feb. 5, 1755, Mar. 15, 1757, May 31, 1760; below, p. 172; JC, Apr.
2, 1751, Sept. 1, 1752; P, V, 52, 153, VI, 340, VII, 30; PR, XXV, 355 (above, n.
13); SCG. Oct. 31, 1754, June 5, 1755 (advts. of John Hamilton and James
Francis).
132 The Expansion of South Carolina
about forty Cherokees, returning from a conference in Charleston, stopped
for the night at his house. The Indians demanded provisions which were
given them, and two were allowed to sleep on the floor. Holston's wife
retired to her bed Chamber and two other white men to their Rooms but
no sooner had they been asleep, till the said Cherokee Indians Surrounded
the house at the same time firing a great many Guns, and on Each side
of the house there being a Door the Indians broke open the Doors and
came forcibly into the . . . house and one of them armed with a gun en-
deavoured to force open the door of the Room where the Petifs wife Lay,
she looking throw a hole asked him what he wanted and seeing all of
them armed and in a forcible posture, to save her life she Jumped out of
a window, with a young Infant in her arms and went thro the woods
three Miles to a Neighbours house where she took Shelter that night, and
in the morning she returned to her own house she found that the said
cherokees, had Robbed her of the Chief part of her Pewter Plate Dishes,
Tea Cups Kettle and took away about 30 Bushels of Corn.
As there were three other white men at the place that night, besides James
Beamer and his half-breed son Thomas, who were with the party, Mrs.
Holston's aHrm may have been unwarranted, but it was sufficient to cause
her husband to apply for his two warrants of two hundred acres each on
the north side of the Saluda, away from the Cherokee path."*"
The Cherokee trade brought within reach of the Saluda settlers what
was probably the largest store above the fall line, and made Robert Goudey
the most important man, next to Francis, in the valley. Goudey first ap-
pears in the Cherokee trade about 1747, and was actively engaged in it for
several years. In 1751 he came from the upper Cherokees with a hundred
horse loads of skins. But two years after Herman Geiger's death he had
a store at Ninety Six and was thereafter merchant rather than trader,
carrying on enterprises larger, perhaps, than those of any other Indian
merchant save Patrick Brown himself.*^ He sent out one trader with
goods worth three thousand pounds of skins, and in 1758 got judgment
against Cornelius Daugherty for fifteen hundred pounds sterling. He had
already the year before gone into the Cherokee country with two constables
and six men and carried away four slaves from Daugherty in the night.
When he died in 1775 or 1776 there were about four hundred persons in
debt to him ; some of the accounts, however, were of men dead fifteen years.
By his will he left his property to his wife, son and daughter, but gave to
his three Indian daughters a small sum of money each.^^
*ojC, Sept. 3, 1753, P, V, 414, 424.
"JC, July 18, 1748 (letter of Ludovick Grant), June 5, 1751, July 6, 1753
(statement of Elliott). An impressive sketch of a house "the forest, belonging to
Mr. Gowdie" appears on the plat of the Simpson-Murray tract (above, p. 127,
n. 25) on the east bank of the Saluda and nearly opposite the upper corner of the
tract. Note "the forest" of P, V, 411, and "Windsor Forest" of JC, June 7, 1751.
*-JC, June 5, 1751; Indian Books, V, 44, VI, 105-109 (letters of Grant and
Demere) ; Court Records, Common Pleas, Feb. 1758 (Goudey vs. Cornelius
Docharty) ; Wills, 1774-1779, pp. 303-304; Inventories, 1774-1785, 195-208.
The Settlement of the Back Country 133
The Saluda valley above the German settlements between 1748 and
1759 represented a new phase of the South Carolina frontier. The rudest
aspects of life here were to last less than a generation, but between the
piedmont settlements and the earlier outposts of the province at the
Congarees and Savannah Town there were differences of more than pass-
ing import. The great distance from markets, the climate and soil — one
more healthful than that of the lowlands, the other more generous than
that at the fall line — had bred or attracted a hardier and more numerous
population, which as a whole had little wealth and few connections with
the economy and society of the coast.
Yet the government and coast country had a grip upon the region
which intelligent administration and the growth of settlement bade fair
to strengthen. The burden of defense against the Indians the frontiers-
men carried for the most part by themselves, but they looked, and not
always vainly, for aid from Charleston. The conservative South Carolina
government had no stauncher champions than the back country leaders
who by reason of origin, or the property or position they had acquired or
hoped for, felt themselves responsible for law and order in their section.
Among these men was William Turner who owned slaves and seven
hundred and fifty acres; his plantation, which included the low ground of
Bush River at its mouth, displaced the irregular establishment of Thomas
Haverd. Others were Enoch Anderson, the former Indian trader, who
settled down with family and slaves opposite Saluda Old Town, and John
Turk, who felt in 1754 that he had property enough to require his adver-
tising in the Gazette, after the manner of Charleston tradesmen, the fact
that his wife had eloped from him, and that he would not be responsible
for debts contracted by her.^^ Finally there was Francis himself, doubly
important because he combined education, experience and earnest desire to
fill responsible positions with the frontier interests and outlook which gave
him a powerful hold upon unruly neighbors.
The settlement of Stevens Creek and the nearby valley of the Savannah
was the signal for the advance upon Long Cane Creek, the Indian bound-
ary. John Chevis, a free negro carpenter from Virginia, in 1751 asked for
land on the rights of himself, wife, nine children and a foundling infant,
saying that he had begun improvements on Stevens Creek. This warrant
the governor and council granted with the condition that he prove that he
was free. The plat, however, was surveyed the same year on Little River,
of which Long Cane Creek was a branch, five miles above the junction of
the two streams. Wider bottom lands were to be found here, but it was
several miles beyond the Indian boundary.*^ Four men between 1754 and
^JC, Feb. S, Apr. 3, 1750, Mar. 17, 1752, Feb. 4, 1755; P, V, 75, VIII, 241;
Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 12, V, 33; SCG, July 25, 1748 (letter to editor), Aug. IS,
1754.
**JC, May 7, 1751, P, V, 138; Patrick Calhoun refers to him as a free negro
134 The Expansion of South Carolina
1756 had surveys made on or near the lower course of Little River, here-
after generally called the Northwest Fork of Long Cane — perhaps to
satisfy scruples in regard to the Indian lands. One of the settlers was the
illiterate William Morris, "very Sick and poor" at the time, who sent his
wife Elinor to petition for his warrant. He survived to take up more land
and to have his wife elope from him.^^
These pioneers opened the way for a rapid development of the Long
Cane and Little River valleys. Noteworthy among the new settlers was a
group from the north, similar to, though smaller than, that which a few
years before made the Waxhaw region one of the distinctive settlements of
the province. The Calhouns — four brothers, James, Ezekiel, William and
Patrick, their sister Mary Noble and a Hugh Calhoun — appear for a
decade prior to 1755 in the records of Augusta County, Virginia, holding
considerable tracts of land and disputing before the courts with their
neighbors. After January 1755 they are found no more in Augusta records
as residents, and John C. Calhoun, the son of Patrick, many years later said
that the four brothers with their sister and their mother Catherine arrived
in South Carolina in February 1756. In September of this year certain
settlers of the Long Canes region petitioned the governor for protection
against Cherokee depredations, saying that they had moved from the
Virginia frontier at the beginning of the preceding year, and had secured
the consent of the Cherokees for their settlement. Applications for war-
rants, however, were not made until June 6 1758, when William, Ezekiel
and Patrick were allowed four hundred, five hundred and two hundred
acres respectively, while Arthur Patton, doubtless also from Augusta
County, was given a warrant for six hundred and fifty acres.*® On the
fourth of July Mary Noble applied for three hundred acres and James
Calhoun for three hundred and fifty; in November Robert Norris, ap-
parently another neighbor from Virginia, and Hugh and Robert Calhoun
were given warrants for three hundred, a hundred, and a hundred acres
respectively. Patrick evidently had secured a deputation as surveyor while
in Charleston and with these tracts began the near monopoly of Long
Canes surveying which he held for seven years. William had his plat
surveyed to include Little River immediately above its junction with a
small stream later known as Calhoun Creek. Perhaps the preference was
given to Mary Noble, who acquired "Cane Hill" at the junction of the
(P, VII, 63, 381). The location is indicated by plats of Petit (P, VIII, 136) and
Hillsboro Township (below, p. 253).
*5 William Beddingfield {Col. Recs. of N. C, IV, 946, P, VI, 123); Nimrod
Kilcrease (P, VII, 418) ; John Kilcrease (P, XX, 281, for location see P, VIII,
137 and plat of Hillsboro); Morris (JC, Dec. 5, 1755, P, VI, 350, VIII, 382, 552,
SCG, June 11, 1763). Note also John Vann, above, n. 15.
^SCHGM, VII, 81-84, XXXIX, 50; Chalkley, Chronicles, I, 40, JC, Sept. 9,
1756, June 6, 1758; Indian Books, V, 220-221. The Calhouns were formerly
of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
The Settlement of the Back Country 135
forks of Calhoun Creek, a mile above her brother. Patrick laid out his
own land on the south fork of the creek a mile beyond Cane Hill/^
Another group, the Alexanders, came immediately afterwards. From
Aaron to Zebulun there were nine of them whose plats of from two to four
hundred acres each were surveyed in 1758 and 1759 on Little River and
the smaller streams near the Calhoun settlement. Adam Alexander was
apparently one of the settlers on Governor Dobbs' Rocky River lands, and
by 1759 two more of his neighbors had applied for land on Little River or
its branches; after 1760 nine others appeared in the Long Canes and eight
in other parts of the South Carolina back country.**
Nearly forty plats were surveyed on Little River and its upper tribu-
taries during 1758 and a dozen more on Long Cane and other nearby
streams, the total headrights amounting to about a hundred and seventy-
five. The next j'ear, because of Indian troubles, there were only a third
as many. Thus the Long Canes region had thirty percent of the land-
holdings of the Savannah valley above New Windsor. Despite its new-
ness it boasted its mill on one of the branches of Little River, and a wagon
road running from the Calhoun settlement across Long Cane and Turkey
Creek to the forks of the Edisto.*^
How true it was, as the Long Canes settlers claimed, that they had
the approval of the Cherokees for their Little River settlement, cannot be
ascertained ; they declared that for a time they were well treated by the
Indians, but then began to lose their horses and cattle. Their suspicions
that some of their white neighbors, perhaps engaged in the Indian trade or
dependent on hunting, inspired the Indians to do them mischief was
probably not without foundation. However, far worse than cattle steal-
ing was about to befall those who had, wittingly or not, gone over the
Indian boundary.
^^Chalkley, Chronicles, I, 53, JC, July 4, Nov. 7, 1758. For these plats see
P, VI, 382-383, 390, 404, 406, 408, 421, VII, 3, 27. For location of Ezekiel Cal-
houn's plat note that it adjoined Henry Baker who in turn adjoined Beddingfield
(P, VIII, 376) ; for Patton, see P, IX, 382. The date of Hugh Calhoun's warrant is
noted on the plat.
*«P, VI, 355, 358, 395. VII, 12, 63, 284-286, 296, above, pp. 95-96.
^^P, VI, 319, VII, 32,47, 268.
CHAPTER XI
The Waxhaws and Upper Wateree
The Catawbas and their kindred tribes, reduced to a handful by war
and disease, left the valley of the Catawba- Wateree open for settlement
below their towns, and at the same time were a defense against attacks upon
it. Pinetree Hill was the natural outlet for the region, while through its
upper gateway the great migration from the north made its way into South
Carolina. During the 'forties the earlier representatives of the movement
went down the Wateree and there or elsewhere mingled with the pioneers
from the low country. The South Carolinians first met the solid mass of
Virginia and Pennsylvania immigrants in the next decade on the upper or
Catawba reaches of the river.
Settlement of the west side of the Wateree above the falls began shortly
after that in Fredericksburgh Township, To the narrow valley and slate
land of Sawnej's Creek came Isaac Pinson, who could not sign his name,
and James Adamson who declared that he had been many years in the
service of the crown and had come with his wife and two children by way
of Philadelphia.^ Further north where Wateree Creek offered a wider
bottom and better land John Arledge of Virginia and Richard Gregory
from East Jersey in 1749 applied for warrants, and here John Stubbs —
probably from Williamsburg — made his home.^
The first record of Moses Kirkland in South Carolina is typical of his
troubled career. In May 1752 Richard Kirkland, from the north, applied
for a warrant for three hundred and fifty acres on the rights of himself,
wife, three children, a white servant, and two negroes. The plat was
surveyed near the mouth of Wateree Creek where the westerly Catawba
path crossed the stream, and was evidently settled by Moses. Accused later
in the year of enticing the Catawbas down to his house to trade and of
selling them liquor, Moses declared that he kept "a Store of Dry goods and
have had some Rum and other Liquors to sell which I have sold to my
Customers and Travelers as they pass [and] repass from the Northward to
the Congarees &c" but indignantly denied that he had ever sold a drop of
rum to an Indian in his life. In May 1754 he was summoned before the
MC, Aug. 1, 1749, Oct. 3, 1752; P, V, 310, 370, VII, 146; Kirkland and Kennedy,
Historic Camden, pt. 1, 62.
2 Bureau of Soils, Fairfield, Kershaw; P, IV, 519, V, 144 (path on Gate's
plat) ; JC, Mar. 20, 1735, Feb. 2, 1749.
136
The Settlement of the Back Country 137
governor on the charge of harboring a runaway negro and was again ac-
cused of selling rum to the Indians. The latter complaint he answered as
before, but promised to send down the negro. Shortly afterward he began
to take up land in Amelia, but finally established himself in the lower part
of the fork of the Broad and Saluda and there set up an elaborate wheat
and sawmill plant.^ At the same time on the north side of the river a small
group of settlers was filling in the creek valleys immediately above Fred-
ericksburg, among them Roger Gibson, who moved about 1751 from his
place opposite Pinetree Hill to Beaver Creek. When he died not long after,
his property was seized for debt. Nearby was Jonathan Christmas, who
was from the Williamsburg section.* Perhaps a dozen others established
themselves on or near Beaver Creek before 1759.
At Great Falls, halfway between Pinetree Hill and the Catawba towns,
a rocky ridge partly closes the Catawba valley. Above this point on the
east side of the river from Camp Creek to Waxhaw Creek the land is roll-
ing but not rugged, and the surface was doubtless a vegetable mold for
which the red clay made a good subsoil, in some contrast with the darker
heavier clay at Waxhaw Creek and beyond. Between the two small
streams lay the district called the Waxhaws, composed chiefly of the fan-
like system of Cane Creek and its tributaries; the Waxhaw Indians, after
whom it was called, abandoned it at the time of the great Indian war and
went to the Catawbas. The Catawba path dropped from the higher land
into the valley, crossed Cane Creek above its junction with Camp Creek,
and turned north along the ridge between the creek and the river.^
Edward Richardson, bricklayer, slaveholder, and real estate owner in
Charleston, in 1749 applied for a warrant for twelve hundred acres in the
Waxhaws, but later had his survey made on Jacks Creek, in the planta-
tion area on the north side of the Santee. The troubles of others who
actually attempted settlement may have caused him to make the change.*
Benjamin Maddox, evidently son of a Maryland settler in Fred-
ericksburg, in 1752 declared that he had built a house in the Waxhaws,
and had moved his family there; his warrant was surveyed at the junction
of Cane and Camp Creeks. Ralph Jones, who came from Ireland with the
Wyly group of Quakers, and Thomas Simpson, who had fourteen slaves,
applied for lands on Cane Creek at crossings of the Catawba path, while on
3JC, May 5, Nov. 15, 1752, June 5, 1753, Apr. 25, May 7, 1754, June 7, 1756,
Sept. 7, 1762; JCHA, Mar. 19, 1765; Indian Books, III, 160-161, P, V, 417.
* JC, Mar. 3, Dec. 3, 1752 (Daniel Bready), Oct. 2, 1753; P, V, 272, Register . . .
Prince Frederick, p. 52.
•"^Bureau of Soils, Field Operations, 1904 (Washington, 1905), Lancaster
(this report, however, ignores the change in the soil beyond Waxhaw Creek) ;
Mooney, Siouan Tribes, pp. 74-76; JUHA, Oct. 6, 1737. For the path, which
evidently changed its course, perhaps more than once, see P, VII, 269, XI, 471,
XVI, 259.
^ Court Records, Common Pleas, Nov. term, 1746 (Richardson 'vs. Clark) ; SCG,
Feb. 9, 1760 (advt. of Richardson) ; JC, Oct. 3, 1749, P, V, 449.
138 The Expansion of South Carolina
the river nearby John Hudson, a Fredericksburg settler, had a hundred
acres surveyed for one of his children.^
But while these men, between 1751 and 1753, were establishing claims
under the South Carolina government, another and larger group was
settling in the Waxhaws. In 1751 Andrew Pickens, Robert Ramsay,
Robert and William Davies, John Linn and James Moore applied to the
governor and council of North Carolina for warrants in Anson County,
then the westernmost of the counties in the unsurveyed portion of the
southern border. Pickens applied for eight hundred acres, Ramsay seven
hundred, and Robert Davies six hundred. Pickens became captain of an
Anson County militia company, a roll of which, apparently made in 1754,
listed sixty-one privates beside his subordinates. Lieutenant Robert Ramsay,
Ensign John Crockett, three sergeants, and five corporals.® Of the entire
troop thirty-two appear in the South Carolina or North Carolina records
as landholders in the Waxhaws prior to the Revolution. Seventeen more
are indicated as residents of the Waxhaws by the appearance there of
others of the same surname. Six of the total can be identified with Fishing
Creek or Rocky Creek, opposite the Waxhaws; five more appear as land-
holders elsewhere in South Carolina,
Andrew and John Pickens were among the justices of the peace who
met in December 1745 to form the first court for Augusta County, Vir-
ginia. The next year a John Pickens signed the petition to the governor
and council of South Carolina for the purchase of the Ninety Six lands. In
November 1750 Andrew sold four hundred acres of land in Augusta
County, and disappears from its records. References to John Pickens con-
tinue, but one of that name was sought in 1750 and again in 1758 and not
found. Upon his North Carolina warrant Andrew obtained a grant for
five hundred and fifty acres on the north side of Waxhaw Creek.^ There
are many references in the Augusta County records to Robert Ramsay or
Ramsey. The one who came to the Waxhaws apparently surveyed both
of his North Carolina warrants on Cane Creek, near the crossing of the
Catawba path, and this point, lying as it did in red soil rather than in the
darker tougher ground on Waxhaw Creek, became the center of the settle-
ment. Here, adjoining Ramsay or his immediate neighbors, surveys were
made for Thomas Wright, George Douglas, James Moore, John Martin
Klein, John Kennedy, and Philip Walker, all members of Pickens' militia
^For Maddox see JC, Sept. 6, 1749, Feb. 4, 1752, P, V, 291; for Jones, above,
p. 103, JC, Dec. 7, 1752, Mar. 13, 1754 (letter of Wyly), P, V, 290; for Simpson,
JC, Mar. 6, 1753, P, V, 420; for Hudson, JC, May 5, 1752, P, VII, 463.
^ Col. and State Recs. of N. C, IV, 1246, 1250, XXII, 381-382.
^Chalkley, Chronicles, I, 13, 305, 322, III, 289; above, p. 124; P, XIV, 240;
Grants, (North Carolina), Book 2, p. 11, File No. 28 (office of Grant Clerk,
Raleigh).
%
The Settlement of the Back Country 139
company; others were to be found close by on other portions of Cane
Creek/° Pickens had with him on or near Waxhaw Creek several of his
company, among them Archibald Crockatt, William Hood, William
Davies, and John Pickens. Near him Robert McClenachan, who was
evidently of Augusta County likewise, settled himself, having in 1751 ob-
tained a North Carolina warrant for four hundred acres. Never a doubt
that he was not in North Carolina appeared to vex him, and he served as
justice of the peace under that government, on the commission for estab-
lishing Mecklenburg County, and as captain of the militia.^^
Meanwhile on Cane Creek there had been trouble between the settlers
holding land under the rival governments. Benjamin Maddox in his ap-
plication for land in 1752 declared that the day after he moved his family
to his new house a surveyor "and a Good many People belonging to N°
Carolina came and run out the Land," claiming that it was in that province.
The survey on this warrant, however, and another made for him later
show that he carried his point. Richard Causart the next year complained
that after he had settled himself in the Waxhaws on the land for which he
had applied to the South Carolina government, Griffith Rutherford, a
North Carolina surveyor, surveyed the land and threatened to shoot him
or any South Carolina deputy who might try to run it out. Despite the
threat Samuel Wyly surveyed four hundred acres for him on a branch of
Cane Creek. Ralph Jones secured a grant for his Cane Creek survey, "but
being terrified with the Threats of the people in that part who say it is in
North Carolina he was afraid to venture amongst . . . such Despar'd
people", and sold the land to John Douglas.^^
The governor and council ordered the land vacated, but at the same
time wrote to the North Carolina executive protesting vigorously against
the encroachments on the Catawbas and on the southern province. Presi-
dent Rowan directed an inquiry and sent a report of the findings of Anson
County officials. One of these was Andrew Pickens, justice of the peace,
who explained that Captain William Moore had obtained a North
Carolina warrant, but delayed execution of it till after Douglas had estab-
lished his title, and though he also bought a South Carolina warrant to the
land, he "found himself the younger Brother there." Both "strove each
with the other which should enjoy the Premises which occasioned great
Contentions Quarrelings and Fightings between them, and Moore plows
up the others Turnips and one turned Cattle into the others Wheat."
Douglas first appealed to the South Carolina government, then both parties
^^ See plats of these men, or their names on plats of others, P, IX, 128, XI,
471, XVI, 258-259.
^^P, VIII, 451 (path on Jane Grierson's plat), XIV, 240; Deed Books (Anson
County, N. C.), I, 280; Chalkley, Chronicles, I and II, indexes; Col. and State
Recs. of N. C, IV, 1250, VI, 799, XXIII, 590-591 ; see also V, 141.
12 p, V, 291, 351, VII, 289; JC, Feb. 4, 1752, Feb. 6, 1753, Mar. 13, 1754.
140 The Expansion of South Caroli?ta
went to Pickens. He persuaded them to submit the dispute to their neigh-
bors, and they in turn referred it to the North Carolina government."
Hard on the heels of this affair came the complaint of Daniel Mc-
Daniel. Three warrants were granted in the upper part of Fredericks-
burg to two slaveholders of that name, one from Virgina, the other from
Williamsburg, but it was probably the former who in June 1754 de-
scribed his injuries at the hands of would-be North Carolinians. His
narrative was to the effect that "being at one of his Neighbours Houses
called William Mitchell where there was Lickuar to sell, and some of the
Company began to fight and abuse each other, the said McDaniel strove to
peacefie them" and himself was drawn into an altercation with one. After-
wards "he went to one of His own Plantations" where he had a tenant and
went to bed. Late in the night a party of men armed with clubs and other
weapons came to the house to carry him before Squire Robeson, of Anson
County. McDaniel and his tenant drove them off. A hue and cry, with
promise of five pistoles reward resulted in his capture and appearance before
several magistrates, one of them Andrew Pickens. Another protest from
the southern government followed, and apparently the case went no further.
It was partly to avoid conflict with the North Carolina authorities but
chiefly for the protection of the Catawbas that Governor Glen and his
council ordered the Jones tract vacated, and from time to time inserted
clauses in Wateree warrants forbidding surveyors to execute them within
thirty or forty miles of the Catawbas. The prohibition did not entirely
prevent South Carolina encroachments, however, and of course had no
effect upon the northern government.^*
Most of the Waxhaw settlers were to be found on or near the five or
six mile stretch of Cane Creek that parallels the river. From the center
of the settlement where the Catawba path crossed Cane Creek another road
ran west to Land's ford over the river. The plats as well as the names of
these settlers are evidence of a group spirit that is in marked contrast with
the individualism of most of the settlements on other piedmont rivers,
and indicate that in part this was such a migration as that which settled the
Welsh Tract. In Pickens' company there were five men of each of the
names Pickens, Davies, and Nutt ; four Crocketts and four Walkers, and
two each of five other names. The first plats were on the creek, but later
settlers showed a tendency to cling to the others, and surveyed the adjoin-
ing upland rather than the remaining but more distant creek bottoms. The
court records of Augusta County, Virginia, indicate that, besides the
Pickens and Ramsay families, Robert McClenachan, the McCorkles,
Crocketts, and Linns came from that county. Three of the deeds for land
^^JC, Mar. 14, Apr. 24, May 6, 1754.
"JC, Nov. 28, 1747, June 9, 1748, Jan. 24, 1749, Dec. 3, 1751, Aug. 4, 1752,
June 5, 1753, May 11, June 17, 1754; Indian Books, III, 163-164.
The Settlement of the Back Country 141
by the Waxhaw settlers, recorded in Anson County, were paid for in
Virginia currency/^
Across the river and somewhat below the Waxhaws lay a region much
resembling it. Fishing Creek and Rocky Creek entered the Catawba at
the "Great Falls" or shoals of the river, and with their tributaries made a
rolling valley or a series of small valleys affording a large amount of creek
bottom for small farmers. Thomas Pinson in 1749 asked for a warrant for
fifty acres near the mouth of Rocky Creek on which to build a mill. Three
years later John Lea or Lee stated that he came from Maryland about a
year before and had settled on Wateree Creek, where he had cleared nine
acres of land and on it "built proper Conveniencys for his Family".
Thomas Land, a weaver, also from the northward, one of the party which
attacked Daniel McDaniel, declared that he had bought a North Carolina
warrant, but wished a South Carolina title; his four hundred acres was
surveyed in the forks of Rocky Creek.^^ Thirty or forty men had lands
surveyed before 1760 on the west side of the river above Rocky Mount, but
these plats were chiefly on the branches of Rocky Creek, for the sides of
the river valley proper were narrow and steep. Few North Carolina
surveys appear.
By 1760 over a hundred and fifty South Carolina warrants and surveys
amounting to thirty thousand acres had been recorded for the Wateree-
Catawba valley above the shoals on the west side and Fredericksburg Town-
ship on the east. A quarter of this total was located in the Waxhaws, an-
other quarter across the river in the valleys of Rocky and Fishing Creeks,
a third of it on the west side between Wateree Creek and the shoals, and
the remainder on the east side between the Waxhaws and the township.
To this amount should be added four thousand acres which can be identified
as Waxhaw grants of the North Carolina government. Half a dozen men
appear as settlers on Wateree and Beaver Creeks whose land records have
not been found.
For the portions of the valley below Rocky Creek and the Waxhaws
the land holdings are probably a fair index of the population — about two
hundred and twenty-five on the west and a hundred on the east. But the
number and apparent distribution of the men in Pickens' company in 1754
show that the South Carolina offices recorded only a small portion of the
Waxhaw settlers. Furthermore, the South Carolina militia list of 1757
includes two Waxhaw companies — one commanded by Pickens, with
Robert Ramsay as lieutenant and John Crockatt as ensign, the other by
^'^ See Chalkley, Chronicles, I and III, Indexes; Deed Books, (Anson County,
N. C), MS, I, 222-224, 280, 390.
-^Bureau of Soils, Field Operations, 1912 (Washington, 1915), Chester. For
Pinson see JC, Aug. 1, 1749, Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 87; for John Lee and his son
Francis see JC, Nov. 7, 1752, P, V, 378-379; for Land, P, V, 416, VIII, 414, Deed
Books (Anson County, N. C), I, 431-432, JC, June 5, 1753.
142 The Expansion of South Carolina
Thomas Simpson. The first contained sixty-one white men, including
officers, and six slaves ; the second, sixty-one whites and seven slaves. There
were two companies on the west side, Adamson's and White's. The popu-
lation of the Waxhaws was probably about five hundred, and that across
the river on Rocky and Fishing Creeks over three hundred.^^
The Catawbas, perhaps the chief sufferers by the boundary controversy,
themselves became troublesome as settlers encroached upon their lands.
A certain Andrew Clever was driven from Fishing Creek by the young
Catawbas who burned his house but allowed him to take away his belong-
ings. A drunken Catawba even killed a child in the Waxhaws, but was
immediately put to death by his tribe. Matthew Tool, the trader who
stayed in the nation, complained of their usually petty but constant depre-
dations on the inhabitants. The South Carolina settlers found no favor
with their government, since the sufferers all lived within the thirty-mile
limit set by Governor Glen. The North Carolina administration, feeling
little need of the Catawbas as a frontier defense, resented the South Caro-
lina reservation and protectorate, and aggrieved settlers had some success
in their applications to that government. At a conference at Tool's house
in 1754 three settlers, who cannot be identified by the records of either
government, complained that the Indians took bread, meat and clothes from
them, and had even tried to carry off a child. The Catawba chief. King
Hagler, made a good defense. The attempted abduction, he said, was
merely a joke of one of their wild young men. When the warriors were on
the warpath, either in pursuit or flight, and went to some of the settlers'
houses for food, "no sooner we do appear but your Dogs bark and . . .
[you] hide Your Bread Meal and Meat" so that food had to be taken by
force. However, there were many "that are very kind and Curtious to
us . . . they give us Bread and milk meat or Butter very freely". In
turn he brought the constant Indian indictment against the whites:
"Brothers here is One thing You Yourselves are to Blame very much in.
That is You Rot Your grain in Tubs out of which you take and make
Strong Spirits You sell it to our young men and give it them, many times;
they get very Drunk . . . [and] Commit those Crimes ... it is also
very bad for our people, for it Rots their guts and Causes our men to get
very sick".^®
It is chiefly these fracases of McDaniel, Douglas, and the Indians that
bring out the scanty evidence on the industrial life of the upper Wateree
and the Catawba. Their corn, wheat, rye, cattle and hogs, turnips, milk
and butter, were the products of a simple but complete back country in-
■'^'^JC, May 4, 1757, above, p. 105. Simpson's company probably included the
men on Beaver Creek and nearby. For the landless settlers see paths on plats,
p^ V, 49, 144, 149.
' i« jc' Apr. 5, 1753 (letter of Steill), Col. Recs. of N. C, V, 141-144b, 363, 574,
784, VI, 58.
The Settlement of the Back Country 143
dustry — so complete that it even included the whiskey with which to brace
their spirits or fuddle their wits without recourse to the low country rum.
A larger industry — probably more a hope for the future than an achieve-
ment of the present — is outlined by the petition of the Wateree inhabitants
of 1752 in which they asked for a road to the Catawba nation. They de-
clared it would open a considerable trade with the settlements on the
Catawba and Yadkin in flour, butter, cheese, hemp, flax and flax seed.
In addition to Pinson's mill on Rocky Creek, there was the gristmill of
James Lynah which appears on a plat of 1756 on Singletons Creek, below
the Waxhaws. The conference with the Catawbas in 1754 shows the
existence of another mill, perhaps above the Catawba towns. Probably
the best customers that these settlers had for their surplus were the new-
comers, but there was doubtless a considerable export likewise. A certain
McLaney of Fishing Creek was at Pinetree Hill with his wagon on his
way to Charleston in 1760 when the Cherokees attacked his home and
killed his wife and daughter.^®
The inventories of Robert and James McCorkle, the one of 1757 and
the other of 1760, add considerably to the scanty descriptions of the
economy and of conditions of life in the Waxhaws. Both men, or rather,
men of both names, were in Pickens' company, and all the names in the
inventories are of Waxhaw settlers. Both lists include twenty or twenty-
five head of cattle and several horses, but together only ten hogs. James
had a cart, Robert a plow, plow irons, and "her" gears. Robert's in-
ventory carried two mattocks, a weeding hoe, a sickle, three axes, a band
saw, cooper's tools, and some plank. For household comforts he had one
bed, a trunk, two iron pots and a pot rack, a frying pan, pewter, delph
ware and wooden dishes, with two dozen spoons, and eight knives and
forks. He had two Bibles. Most of James McCorkle's property seems
to be listed as already sold at a vendue, seven gallons and two quarts of
whiskey being expended on the occasion. Much of the property was in
cattle, but included was a "chist", a coat and "wescoat", a pair of shears,
and some firearms.^"
The Waxhaws, like Williamsburg and the Welsh Tract, affords strik-
ing evidence that it required a closely-knit community to found a church,
and that in turn the church was a powerful factor in binding together as
well as improving the settlement. Between 1753 and 1755 both the
Charleston Presbytery and the northern Presbyterians sent ministers
through the settlement to preach. In November 1755, one of these, Hugh
McAden, after a trip across to Broad River, returned and preached to a
congregation which was evidently the beginning of Fishing Creek Church,
then crossed the Catawba and preached in the Waxhaw meeting house. In
^MC, Apr. 6, 1756, SCG, Sept. 27, 1760; JCHA, May 9, Dec. 12, 1752, P, VI, 258.
Note the acts providing for Wateree and Catawba roads, above, p. 106.
I
20
Will Books (Anson County, N. C), I.
144 The Expansion of South Carolina
March 1757, Robert Miller, "min'' of the Waxaws", bought a tract of
land on which was an old cabin, but in February of the next year simply
as Mr. Robert Miller, with his wife, he resold the cabin and the land ex-
cept four and a half acres. This latter tract, with a house for divine wor-
ship and a retiring house, he gave by deed a few weeks later to Robert
Davies, Robert Ramsay, John Linn, Samuel Dunlap, and Henry White,
planters, for the use of the Waxhaw Presbyterian congregation. The
deed mentioned a spring on the lot. Miller and his wife Jean reserved
the seat at the left of the north entrance, the seat to be four feet long and
to be paid for at the same rate as the others then rented in the church.^^
The short-lived ministry, which thus came to an end with such apparent
good feeling on the part of Miller, began with the church's appeal to the
Charleston Presbytery for a minister and the licensing by that body of this
probationer, a Scotch schoolmaster. In June 1758 Miller was deposed
by the Presbytery on the charge of adultery. Within a year the church
called William Richardson, an Englishman educated at the University of
Glasgow and a student of theology under Samuel Davies of Virginia. He
had recently been ordained by the Hanover Presbytery of Virginia as
missionary to the Cherokees, but had given up the task as hopeless almost
as soon as appointed. His widely extended ministry, lasting till his death
in 1771, did much to make the Waxhaws the Presbyterian center of the
South Carolina back country. The church stood near the point where the
old Catawba path crossed the new path to Land's ford, and was only a
mile and a half from the river. During the next decade settlers even
forebore their usual search for river and creek bottoms and took up every
foot of land near the church. The Presbyterian congregation on Fishing
Creek evidently joined the Waxhaw Church in calling Richardson, and a
plat surveyed on the creek in 1763 shows paths to the meeting house.^^
So varied had been the social types of the newer South Carolina com-
munities, so gradual the drift of the settlement process away from the
plantation and trading post types of the early royal period toward non-
staple and non-commercial communities, that there were probably few in
the province who realized that the Waxhaw settlement had any significance
save for trade and frontier defense. In one way or another the dominant
planter and merchant group of the tidewater had a powerful grip upon
each of the preceding settlements, whether by its staple crop, slave labor,
fear of the Indians or French, or by the low country origin of its settlers.
But two-thirds or three-fourths of the settlers of the upper Wateree and
Catawba came from the north, among them nearly all the leaders of the
region, and their slaves were negligible in number. The absence of eco-
nomic ties, however, promised to be less serious than social and political
21 Deed Books (Anson County, N. C), V, 12, 125, 136-137; Howe, Presby-
terian Church, I, 286-288.
22
Ibid., 287-293, 297-298, 336, 417, P, VII, 339.
The Settlement of the Back Country 145
differences, for already there was a small sale from the upper valley of the
products of the dairy and of the farm. It was the strengthening of South
Carolina Presbyterianism and its connections with the north that con-
stituted a real threat to the tidewater system.
The valley of Lynches River above the sand hills made a small and
somewhat isolated area, which because of its position and scanty resources
played a minor part in the colonial life of South Carolina. In 1750
Robert Stuart, from the Jerseys, and John Middleton whose family had
six slaves, applied for warrants near the mouth of Buffalo Creek, a branch
of the main stream, Middleton explaining that his father before his death
had built a house and made improvements there. In 1.752 William McKee
from the northward, who had a white servant in his family, applied for
a warrant which was surveyed on a branch of the south fork, or Little
Lynches River, which rises so far to the west that it interlaces with the
waters of the Catawba. The Catawba path crossed this creek where a
hundred-foot cliff and the great Hanging Rock overhung the stream, and
McKee's plat included the rock.^^
A contemporary historian of the Baptists stated that about 1754 nine-
teen members of the Welsh Neck congregation moved to this region and in
September 1755 formed a church. Henry Ledbetter was their first pastor
and James Smart his assistant, both men being originally from Virginia.
Edward Boykin and his son Henry were made deacons; Ledbetter and
Smart both applied for warrants on November 6, 1755 and the plat of the
former was surveyed on the south fork. Edward Boykin and William
DeLoach appear among the landholders of the Peedee section, and De-
Loach and Henry Boykin now had warrants surveyed on Little Lynches.
The church built in 1757 was probably on the east side of the main fork,
but a few years later was rebuilt near the mouth of Flat Creek across the
river. The rectors of Prince Frederick's occasionally visited this as other
nearby settlements.^*
The names of several settlers taking out warrants for land on these
upper waters indicate that some of them were from the communities on
the Black River and nearby stretches of Lynches River. John Pickens,
however, came from Virginia with the Waxhaw group of settlers. He
bought land on the west side of the Catawba in 1755 from Robert Mc-
Clenachan, but two years later resold the tract to its former owner, mean-
while in 1756 applying to the South Carolina government for two hundred
23 JC, Aug. 10, 1750. For Stuart, see P, VI, 1, 227 (plat of John "Perkins"), JC,
Nov. 6, 1755 (David Anderson) ; for Middleton, and James Clark, a neighbor,
JC, Aug. 10, 1750, Jan. 8, 1752, P, V, 390, VI, 227, 418, VII, 10; for McKee, JC,
Dec. 5, 1752, P, V, 383.
2*Townsend, 5". C. Baptists, pp. 95-96, JC, Feb. 8, 1746, Nov. 6, 1755, P,
V, 59, 169, VI, 121, 146 VII, 162; Register . . . Prince Frederick, pp. 33, 36, 39
(Hewet, Dial, Clark, Cantey). Smart in 1759 moved to the Coosawhatchie and
became minister of that church (see above, p. 75).
146 The Expansion of South Carolina
acres on Lynches River. The survey the next year, on a branch of the
south fork, showed a mill and pond apparently complete. In 1759 he was
a justice of the peace advertising strayed horses and cattle, but described
himself as living on the north fork.^^
From 1752 to the end of 1758 surveying of land on the two forks of
the river and their branches went on slowly but steadily, finally amounting
to at least fifteen thousand acres, over half of it on Little Lj'nches and its
chief tributary. Hanging Rock Creek. There were a number of other
grants of uncertain location that might have increased the total by a third.
The militia organization of 1757 included two companies, one on each fork,
that on the south branch having fifty white men and sixteen slaves,
the other fifty-three whites and five slaves. The few hints as to the oc-
cupation of these men point to stock raising as their chief support — "this
range" is the phrase used by Pickens in 1759.^®
^^ See, for instance, index to Plats for Thomas Crawford, Robert Allison, John
Lide, Thomas Dial, and William Cantey. For Cantey see also SCG, Apr. 2,
1763 (advt. of John Pickens). For Pickens see above, p. 124, Deed Books, (Anson
County, N. C), I, 280, 390; JC, Dec. 7, 1756, P, VII, 379; SCG, May 5, 12, 1759.
26 JC, May 4, 1757; SCG, Jan. 12, Sept. 8, 1759, Feb. 14, 1761, Nov. 5,
1763 (advts. of Pickens).
CHAPTER XII
The Dutch Fork and Upper Broad River
The valley of Broad River, the largest in the South Carolina piedmont,
opened upon the Congaree gateway, the most important interior point in
the province. Its development, however, was somewhat slower than that
of the basins of either the Saluda or Wateree, for it had neither township
nor Indian trade path from Charleston to attract settlers and to direct
them along its course. Furthermore, its lower portion for twenty miles
or more, like that of the Saluda, is generally narrow, with small creek
valleys opening from it, and the soil, derived from the prevailing slate, is
neither so fertile nor so easily cultivated as the red clay land beyond.^
On the Saluda, above Twelve Mile Creek and the scantily settled
corner of Saxe Gotha, a certain John Gibson and several Germans es-
tablished themselves between 1747 and 1749. Michael Taylor, one of the
Virginians who petitioned in 1746 for the purchase of the Ninety Six lands,
described himself in 1749 as a weaver and had his plat surveyed on the
south bank of the Saluda. On the same day two other Virginians, James
Scott and William Jenkins, applied for tracts on the south bank, and Scott
apparently kept a boat for the convenience of travellers who came by the
path approaching the northern side. Samuel Lines, a native of the prov-
ince who in 1745 was living on Raifords Creek, moved to Beaverdam
Creek, near Scott's home.^
The first settlement between the Broad and the Saluda was the result
of the partial exhaustion by the bounty immigrants of the good land in
Saxe Gotha, and in 1749 other Germans appear near the earlier settlers.
Farther up the Saluda, on High Hill Creek and on Bear Creek, two
Germans and several Englishmen had plats surveyed, among them Robert
Steill, the Congaree trader, and two soldiers recently discharged from the
independent companies.^ On the west bank of the Broad, at a ford and
island four miles above its mouth, Thomas Brown had two hundred and
^ See below, n. 5.
2p, IV, 382, V, 63, JC, Feb. 5, 1750; for Taylor, see above, p. 123, P, V, 101
("above the Congrees") ; for Scott and Jenkins, see JC, Mar. 2, 1749, P, V, 104,
and for location plat of Jackson, see Lines; for Lines, see Map 3, JC, Apr. 7,
1752, P, Vn, 180.
3 Above, p. 56; for High Hill Creek, see P, IV, 423, 426, 456, 462, 467, 475-
476; for Bear Creek, and location of those plats, see JC, Aug. 2, 1749, and, in
order, plats of Jackson, Brown, Long, Frymouth, Warle, Myer, and Rome (P,
V, 236, IV, 493, 448, 463, 431, V, 54).
147
148 The Expansion of South Carolina
fifty acres surveyed. Samuel Hollenshed, a blacksmith from New Jersey
and Virginia, made his home and carried on his trade on the west side
of the river at the mouth of the creek which came to be known by his
name, and by 1750 a dozen Germans had settled on both sides of the river
below Cedar Creek, one of them having three slaves in his headrights.*
There was no great attraction for settlers on the lower Broad, how-
ever, and hardly had the handful of earlier immigrants brought the settle-
ments as far as Little River than other newcomers overran the red clay
lands above quite to the Tyger.^ Purmont Carey and John Hughes,
former companions-in-arms in one of the independent companies, now
chose to be neighbors, settling themselves at the mouth of Little River,
while Daniel Rees, a blacksmith from Pennsylvania, obtained a warrant
for three hundred acres and settled higher up on the same stream. Like-
wise to this river there came during the 'fifties Solomon McGraw, Richard
Spencer and James Leslie, former settlers on Raifords Creek, and
James Andrews who had been some years in the province.® Near Wilkin-
sons Creek, a few miles above, Thomas Conoway of Virginia, who declared
he had been living on the north side of the Broad for four years, and
Conrad Alder, who had two slaves and said he had been long a resident of
the colony, had tracts surveyed on warrants issued in 1749.^ Two Penn-
sylvanians, Thomas Owen and Lawrence Free, and Free's "former ac-
quaintance" Jacob Canomore, in 1752 petitioned for land on the creek.
Three years later Owen had a tract with a mill on it surveyed adjoining
his land. Here settled Ann Hancock, after being barbarously treated by
her husband in Virginia and finally deserted by him.*
On the south side of the Broad, Wateree Creek was the first large
stream which settlers found in their northward movement. Elisha Atkin-
son and John Taylor, recently discharged soldiers who had to sign their
names by mark, Alexander Deley, who had lately married a German immi-
^P, IV, 316 (Brown); JC, Mar. 5, 6, 1751, P, V, 122 (Hollenshed); JC, Nov.
11, 1749, P, IV, 459 (Stocker and Derer) ; P, IV, 385 (Burckhard), 386 (Appeal),
457-458 (Geiger, Blackvelder, Weaver) ; JC, Mar. 16, 1749, P, IV, 524 (Kuntz-
ler); P, V, 222 (Cranmar) ; P, V, 74 (Bookman, Pushart) ; 178 (Frantz) ; 182
(Hogheim). Note also Peter Rentfro, at the mouth of Turkeycock, now Nicholas
Creek (P, V, 158, JC, Mar. 16, 1749). He seems to have been in Augusta County-
Virginia in 1749 (Chalkley, Chronicles, I, 23, 28).
^ See Bennett, Soils of the Southern States, pp. 164-166, Bureau of Soils, Fair-
field, Richland, Newberry, Lexington.
«JCHA, Feb. 6, 1736; JC, Sept. 6, Oct. 19, Nov. 7, 1749, Apr. 7, 1752, Apr. 6,
1756, June 5, 1759; P, IV, 478, V, 143, 303, 311, VI, 10, 56, 65 (path to Rees),
above. Map 3. Note also Martha Howell on Cowpen Branch of Little River (P,
VII, 28), path to Philip Raiford (P, VI, 54), and Reese names in the Congarees
(Map 3, and Townsend, S. C. Baptists, p. 145, n. 70).
^Conoway — JC, June 6, 1749; note names of creeks in P, V, 448, and VI, 64
and 65 (Owen and Harris) ; Alder— JC, May 2, 1749, see plat of "Cornelius"
Alder, P, IX, 8, and for location of this plat see V, 459 (plat of Vansant).
8JC, June 6, 1749, June 2, Sept. 1, 1752, P, V, 53, 448, VI, 64, 65 (path on
Harris' plat), VI, 305.
The Settlement of the Back Country 149
grant, and Mary King, widow of a corporal in the garrison of the new Con-
garee fort, were given warrants which were surveyed on or near this creek.®
Immediately above two similar streams invited immigrants. On the near-
est John Gregory from New Jersey and his illiterate son Benjamin settled
in 1748, the latter planning to make flour. Peter Crim had a survey on
the Santee in Amelia in 1738. Five years later he engaged in a
Cherokee mine venture, and was reported to be overseer of the work. In
1750 he applied for two hundred and fifty acres which was surveyed at
the mouth of the creek adjoining Benjamin Gregory, and the stream there-
after was known as Crims Creek. Andrew Holman, a foreign Protestant
who came by way of Philadelphia the same year, in like manner gave his
name to a tributary a mile above, where he said he planted three kinds of
wheat. In the wide lowland at the mouth of Cannons Creek Herman
Geiger of the Congarees in 1749 had a tract surveyed, and an ad-
joining plat run out the next year for Hans Jacob Morf was crossed by a
path to Geiger's cowpen. In February 1750 John Cannon petitioned for
land on the headrights of nine children, a servant, his wife and himself.
The survey two months later showed two houses on the land.^°
The Enoree and the Tyger, for some miles above the points at which
they empty themselves into Broad River, have narrow and steep valleys, but
at six or seven miles distance one comes to Kings Creek on the Enoree, the
first of a series of tributaries. Early settlers evidently found this network
of small vallej^s with their clear streams and fertile cane-covered bottoms
unusually inviting. "The canebrake" was the name given to one of the
tracts first settled on the west side of the Enoree just above the mouth of
Indian Creek. Easy access to this region was offered by the ford over the
Broad a mile and a half above the mouth of the Enoree — at first called
John Lee's ford, but later Lyles's.^^ In or about 1748 a settler named
King made his new home on the north side of the Enoree near the mouth
of Indian Creek. He soon died and his widow Mary, rendered uneasy
by surveys near her, in 1750 applied for a warrant on the headrights of
herself and six children. In consideration of her poverty this was given
her without requiring her appearance in Charleston. The plat showed her
house set on the edge of the low ground of the river and near a spring.
On "Collins River" as the Enoree was known for several years, Samuel Col-
lins applied for land in September 1750, stating that he had already made
^JC, Aug. 2, Sept. 6, Nov. 7, 1749; P, V, 196, 267 (plat of Walthour), VI, 14
(note that this plat adjoins Fisher, and see his plat — V, 225 — adjoining Walthour).
^0 Gregory— J C, Oct. 3, 1749 and see path on P, V, 184; Crim— P, IV, 210, V,
220, PR, XXI, 262 (deposition of Michael Christopher Rowe, enclosed by Council
Committee to Board, Apr. 24, 1744) ; Holman— P, V, 184, 486, JC, Mar. 6,
1750; Geiger and Cannon— above, pp. 55-56, 63, JC, Feb. 5, 1750, P, V, 38,
243, 278.
^^See Jacob Pennington's will (n. 12); P, V, 380, VIII, 209; Mills, Atlas of
S. C, Newberry.
150 The Expansion of South Carolina
improvements to provide for his wife and six children whom he expected
shortly by sea from New Jersey .^^
A path to John Linvell's, traced on a plat surveyed for John Heigler
on the north side of the Enoree in 1750, indicates the origin of the name
Linvells River by which the Tyger was first known.^^ Jacob Pennington
and Gilbert Gilder came from Pennsylvania and in February 1749 obtained
warrants which were surveyed, the one in the cane-covered Enoree river
bottom, the other on the Broad ; Gilder however made his home on or
near Indian Creek. Abraham Pennington, brother of Jacob, settled op-
posite Samuel Collins perhaps as early as 1750, and in March of that year
Nicholas Boater asked for four hundred and fifty acres to enable him to
plant wheat, the occupation to which he had been bred ; his survey included
the mouth of Indian Creek/* Duncans Creek, the next of the numerous
western tributaries above Indian Creek, apparently received its name from
a certain Duncan who was living there at least as early as August 1752.
The first of the name to apply for land was John Duncan in 1754. Two
plats on the Tyger surveyed in 1753 showed North Carolina grants ad-
joining."
Thus between 1749 and 1751 settlers from the Carolina low country
and from the north, two or three to each creek, had staked ofi the upper
Broad region for the white man, but the Indian troubles during the latter
year reduced to a handful the number who came to the region above Crims
Creek and Little River. In 1752 settlement began again, but the chief
accessions for the next few years were not from the British colonies to the
north, but from the German states, the continuation of a movement having
its beginnings in 1749. John Jacob Riemensperger, undaunted by the
disastrous outcome of his first return to Europe in 1740 as immigration
agent, four years later offered to make another trip to bring back some of
his Swiss countrymen. He asked the provincial administration to pay the
passages of the expected immigrants, but nothing came of his application
until he renewed it in 1748 after the close of the Austrian Succession War.
He was then promised payment of his own passage to England, fifteen
12 For King, see JC, Apr. 3, 1750, P, V, 474; Wills, 1757-1763, pp. 324-325.
For the location note the Bentley (or Bensley) and Garret tracts (P, V, 270, VI,
25, X, 195) ; for Collins, see JC, Sept. 4, 1750, P, VI, 309; the plat was surveyed
on the north side of the river in what is now called the Horseshoe, opposite the
mouth of Kings Creek.
13 P, V, 112, 179, 364, JC, June 6, 1753; it was likewise called W^oodalls River;
there was a John Woodall on Kings Creek in 1769 (P, V, 312, XI, 322). Reference
to David Tyger in the Enoree-Tyger community appears in 1760 (JC, Feb. 11).
Among the Tyger River headrights of 1751 was one slave (JC, Nov. 1, 1751,
P, V, 268).
i*JC, Feb. 2, 1749, Mar. 6, 1750, Feb. 4, 1752; P, IV, 499, V, 41, 114, 436, VI,
17, 309; above, p. 128; Wills, 1753-1763, pp. 324-325, 1774-1779, pp. 169-170.
i^P, V, 287 (path on Hamitt's plat), JC, Mar. 5, 1754. For North Carolina sur-
veys see P, V, 364 (and note on this plat "Path to Padgetts" — doubtless the origin
of the name of the nearby Padgetts Creek), XII, 95, JC, Apr. 5, 1753.
The Settlement of the Back Country 151
guineas for purchase of clothes for himself, and one shilling sterling a head
for all foreign Protestants whom he should get to settle in South Carolina.
In April he announced that he had forty letters from the Germans to their
friends and relatives, and was ready to depart.^^
In October 1749 Riemensperger arrived with a hundred and thirty-
two German Protestants who came as freemen, besides others who had to
become servants in payment of their passage. "Palatines" they were called,
but they probably were part of the six hundred Wiirttemberg Lutherans
for whom he had vainly besought aid from the British government.
Riemensperger declared to the governor and assembly that from Germany
and Switzerland he had engaged upwards of three thousand persons, but
had, by a series of misadventures, lost most of them to other places, chiefly
Pennsylvania. In London he had asked for his party the privilege of set-
tling above Saxe Gotha "where land is better", doubtless having in
mind the Crims Creek section, the first large body of very desirable land
on the Broad, and a region already known to the promoter." The crown
discouraged his suggestion, but the South Carolina governor and council
gave his immigrants, along with the bounty, warrants for land "in or near
Saxe Gotha" which carried the ten-year exemption from quit rents, despite
the fact that none of them was surveyed in the township. John Adam
Epting and ten others, with headrights amounting to forty-seven persons,
chose Crims Creek; another settled on Wateree Creek, three miles below.^^
Three years after the arrival of this group of settlers it was learned that
Foster, Cunliffe and Sons of Liverpool had taken on board ship about
fifteen hundred Germans bound for South Carolina. To the consternation
of their Charleston consignees it developed that the English firm and its
Rotterdam agents "led into a very great Error by some Officious Person or
another", expected to receive the passage money, presumably from the
provincial government, when the immigrants were landed. It does not
appear that Riemensperger or the other South Carolina German agents
were immediately responsible for this migration or the blunder of the
shippers, but the circumstances indicate that it was their energetic advertis-
ing that started the exodus. The consignees estimated that only one-fourth
could be disposed of as indented servants; with this resource quickly ex-
hausted they released the remaining Germans after taking bond for pay-
ment. The immigrants were then entitled to their lands and bounty, but
^6 Above, p. 55, JC, Nov. 29, 1744, Mar. 9, Apr. 21, 27, 1748.
" JC, Oct. 16, 17, 19, 22, 1749, JCHA, Dec. 1, 1749, PR, XXIII, 283-286, 299-318
(Board Journal, May 30, 31, 1749, Riemensperger's petition. May 8, Board's report,
June 5, Board to Bedford, June 2, his reply, June 7, 1749). In 1748 Riemensperger
stated that he had a stock of cattle on the east side of the Broad, forty miles from
the Congarees in charge of his son-in-law John Frasier, and asked 500 acres there
for Frasier and himself (JC, Apr. 21, 1748). For Frasier see also Map 3, JC, Oct.
3, 1749, P, V, 60.
i«JC, Oct. 16, 17, 1749; P, V, 187, 190, 193, 197, 199, 201, 203, 209, 231, IX,
378.
152 The Expansion of South Carolina
the township fund speedily fell short of the demands upon it, and though a
loan of the four hundred pounds in the ship-building bounty in part met
the emergency, the later arrivals received, for the time being, only a por-
tion of what was due them/^
From September 1752 to March of the following year the governor
and council received the land petitions of these immigrants amounting to
twelve hundred and fifty headrights. The clause of the act of 1751 al-
lowing the bounty only to those settling within forty miles of the coast
had been repealed on the governor's request and the warrants were given
for lands throughout the western half of the province, some of them in the
townships. Despite the fact that only the township settlers were given the
ten-year exemption from quit rents, the great majority settled outside ; these
were allowed, however, the provincial exemption for ten years from taxes.
Four of the petitioners stated that they came from Wiirttemberg or
nearby, one that he was from the upper parts of Germany, and another
that he was from Germany, but the rest were silent as to their
origin. In 1846 a Lutheran minister, after thirteen years residence in the
Saluda valley, stated that the oldest inhabitants declared "their ancestors
chiefly came from the neighborhood of the Rhine, Baden and Wurten-
berg".^" Some of the petitions gave the purposes of the applicants in
coming to South Carolina: a score declared that they came in order to join
friends and relatives; a dozen roundly asserted that they had come to live
in a country of liberty, or a free Protestant land ; a smaller number ad-
mitted that the bounty had drawn them; several stated that they came to
make their fortune, and Rosina Barbara Ralgebin, the only one of her
name and family, said that she was "Desirous to see more of the World".
Some, no doubt, anticipated the lot which fell to Barbara Powmin and
others. When Adam Hover heard of the arrival of the immigrants on one
of the first ships, he came down from his home on Crims Creek with several
of his friends "to purchase some of them", and meeting Barbara he forth-
with engaged her for marriage.^^
Peter Beckeli stated that he was a Catholic, and was informed that he
could not get the bounty "unless he renounced the Errors of the Roman",
but no apparent objection was made to giving admittance or land to him or
to the four other men of his faith who came after him. In the course of
the proceedings, the Reverend Mr. Zubly announced that after several con-
versations with the Catholics four of them had accepted Protestantism, and
i»JC, Sept. 1, 22, Nov. 25, 1752, Jan. 11, 1753; JCHA, Sept. 27, Nov. 22, Dec.
12, 1752.
2°JC, Oct. 20, 30, Nov. 7, 1752, Ernest L. Hazelius, History of the American
Lutheran Church (Zanesville, O., 1846), pp. 26, 239. See also, Urlsperger,
Nachrichten {Ackcrivcrk), pt. 4, 259, Voigt, German Element, p. 12.
21 JC, Oct. 3, Nov. 29, 1752, P, V, 234 ("Haubert"), 500.
The Settlement of the Back Country 153
the others appear to have done likewise, for their grants were marked as
being on the bounty."
In 1755 Joseph Crell, back in the Congarees for a short time, declared
that the recent German immigrants to South Carolina were "poor and of
the meaner Sort", and asked encouragement for himself as an agent for
bringing in a better type of settlers. Crell's charge is supported in 1754 by
the complaint of the wardens and vestry of St. Philip's, Charleston, that
the great number of beggars in the town was "chiefly occasioned by the
Importation of many old and Impotent Palatines . . . , who not being
able to get Masters, the Merchants agents had been obliged to take their
Bonds and let them go at large". It is clear that the host imported by the
Foster-Cunliffe firm lacked the outstanding leaders who came to the town-
ships, and that it contained a far larger proportion of poor and shiftless
than did the earlier Swiss migration ; nevertheless there is no evidence that
the great majority were inferior to the average of the English and Scotch
settlers.^^
Tracing these twelve or thirteen hundred Germans to their new homes
is a difficult task, for the warrants specified no place, and the uncertain
rendering of the German names by the English clerks often made effective
disguise. However, a check of the plats and grants locates all but forty of
the petitioners, who represented only about ten per cent of the immigrants.
At least a fourth of the total are discovered in the valleys of the large
creeks in the red clay lands west of Broad River. Of these Cannons
Creek was the first choice, with Crims Creek, Second Creek immediately
above Cannons, and Wateree Creek attracting smaller numbers. With
some the desire to be near their friends and relatives obviously outweighed
the attractions of land and water, and their plats are found on high ground.
There is a hint in this that these were Wiirttembergers, following Hans
Adam Epting and his fellows who had come there three years before.
Above Second Creek only a few ventured, but Andreas Power and John
George Wells had their plats surveyed on Indian Creek, and Christopher
Jacob Dues and Jacob Hayle found land on Padgetts Creek and were ap-
parently the first to make South Carolina surveys on that stream."* The
22 JC, Oct. 20, Nov. 7, 28, 1752, Feb. 7, Mar. 23, 1753, and see above, p. 40,
n. 19. Two of the petitions were made after Zubly's report (Nov. 28) ; four of
the men had wives. It is thus not clear how many Catholics there were, or how
many became Protestant. (Compare Grants, V, 446, VI, 143, 354, VIII, 214).
-3JC, Feb. 4, 1755, JCHA, Feb. 2, 1754. For Crell, see above, pp. 55-57,
John George Kreps, or Krepsin, had 21 chests of baggage (JC, Nov. 7,
1752; his land was surveyed on Beaverdam Creek, on the south side of the
Saluda — P, V, 480). The clerk recorded no signatures to the land petitions of
these immigrants as made by mark, but the unusual circumstances make this evi-
dence uncertain.
24JC, Oct. 3, Nov. 7, 1752, Feb. 7, Mar. 23, 1753; P, V, 481, 483, VI, 95, XII,
132.
154 The Expansion of South Carolina
slate land on the west side of the Broad below Wateree Creek was practi-
cally ignored, but the north side of the Saluda a few miles awaj'^, which
had the same type of soil and an equally scanty population of German and
English settlers, attracted a tenth or more of the newcomers. This was
doubtless due to the fact that the slopes here were gentler and streams
somewhat larger than those of the lower Broad. Camping Creek, the
largest, was selected by a dozen families. The opposite side of the Saluda
received no more than a total of fifty settlers, the north side of the Broad
only half as many, and a few others went to other portions of the back
country.
Save for the upper west side of the Broad, however, Amelia Town-
ship offered the chief attraction — the excellent soil, scanty settlement, and
exemption from quit rents apparently outweighing the opportunity to live
among the three hundred or more of their countrymen on the upper WMters.
A hundred and sixty or more settled here, and Orangeburg drew half as
many. Nearly a hundred were established on the waters of the Coosawhat-
chie and Salkehatchie, and a score perhaps below Amelia and Orange-
burg.2^
Over a third of the Germans who settled in the middle and back coun-
try between 1748 and 1759 came in this migration of 1752. Until 1756
they continued to arrive at the rate of two or three hundred a year, but
thereafter the number of petitions fell off sharply and, save for the group
which came in 1764, practically ceased with the outbreak of the Cherokee
War. The movement of Germans from the north was negligible.
The total number of petitions of the Germans between 1748 and 1759
was slightly over thirteen hundred, representing about thirty-seven hundred
headrights. The place of settlement of a fifth of these has not been located
but of the remainder sixteen hundred settled on the branches of the Broad
and Saluda, nearly seven hundred in Amelia and Orangeburg and im-
mediately below those townships, about three hundred on the Congaree,
and an equal number on the Salkehatchie and Coosawhatchie. The
Wateree, the upper Savannah and Purrysburg each attracted from twenty-
five to fifty. Of the seven hundred or more whose place of settlement is
not established a number may have failed to take up their warrants and
remained in Charleston ; the others, concealed under different renderings
of their names, were doubtless distributed throughout the middle and back
country in somewhat the same proportions as their brothers.
The compactness of German settlement in the forks of the Broad and
Saluda made possible a church organization, and it was for the service of
these settlers that the Reverend John Gasser left Switzerland in 1752.
Coming by way of Pennsylvania he did not reach Charleston to petition
25
See above, pp. 45, 50, 75.
The Settlement of the Back Country 155
for land until February 1754, but at that time he had agreed with the
settlers to preach in two churches, one in the lower part of the fork and the
other farther up. He was given the bounty, as was his servant, John Crebs,
whom he had recently freed. His fifty acre plat was surveyed about three
miles from the mouth of Crims Creek, and about a mile above the junction
of Holmans Creek with that stream, a spot convenient for this and the
nearby German settlements. The church seems to have been organized at
once, but in April Gasser presented a petition, signed by about forty per-
sons, stating that bad crops and the expenses of settlement made it im-
possible for the people to support a minister and schoolmaster, and asking
permission to make a general collection from the province.^® It was prob-
ably on account of these troubles that the minister soon after returned to
Switzerland. In 1763, however, Epting and Peter Dickert, as elders of
the dissenting congregation on Crims Creek, applied for a hundred acres
for a meeting house and glebe for the minister. The warrant was exe-
cuted on land adjoining Gasser's, the plat showing the church complete
with steeple, evidently on or near the site of the present St. John's Lutheran
Church, with roads running to it from four directions.^^
In 1760 and 1761 a very different group of worshippers, near the
mouth of the Saluda, achieved an unenviable notoriety. Jacob Weber was
a Switzer, brought up in the Reformed church. After a season of depres-
sion, then another of faith and exaltation, he fell into the delusion that he
was the Deity. Among the few associates he collected around him one
became the Son, another the Holy Spirit, and a third, John George Smith-
peter, the devil, whom the others eventually murdered. Weber, Hannah
Weber, John Geiger, and Jacob Burghart were tried in Charleston and
condemned to death for the crime, but only Jacob Weber was executed.
Lutheran and Anglican vied with each other in driving home the lessons
of this tale, each using it for his own purpose, and the frenzy of the luck-
less handful of settlers was dignified into "the Weber heresy".^^
The English settlers were first on the ground in nearly all parts of the
Broad and Saluda region, but after the German tide set in at any point
English settlement nearly or completely ceased. In the lower Saluda
valley there were a score of English headrights between 1752 and 1759, on
the Broad below Wateree Creek and Cedar Creek, about twice as many.
The scanty resources of this region make it improbable that any consider-
able number of English settlers would have chosen it, even if there had
2« JC, Feb. 5, Apr. 2, 1754, P, IX, 456. In May 1754 John George Loeff "being
a minister of the Gospel", applied for land about the Congarees, but nothing more
appears about him (JC, May 7, 1754).
"Faust, Lists, I, 10, JC, Mar. 1, 1763, P, V, 338, VIII, 346, IX, 456.
28 PR, XXIX, 80-82 (Bull to Pitt, Apr. 26, 1761), SCG, Apr. 25, 1761, Bern-
heim, German Settlements, pp. 195-205. For the location see plats of Derer (P,
IV, 459), Burkard (IV, 385), Geiger (V, 463), and "Smithpader" (V, 495).
156 The Expansion of South Carolina
been no Germans, but between Wateree Creek and Second Creek, in one
of the most desirable spots in the province, only about thirty English head-
rights were represented in petitions and plats. There is no evidence of any
hostility between the two peoples, nor as yet any migration of the earlier
English settlers from the German district, but later comers of either race
chose districts inhabited by settlers speaking their own tongue.
Between 1752 and 1759 a hundred and sixty men of British name ap-
plied for land on the waters of the Broad, their headrights amounting to
nearly six hundred and fifty persons. Less than fifty of these headrights
were for land below Wateree Creek and Cedar Creek. Above these
streams Indian Creek was the first choice throughout the period and at-
tracted a hundred settlers; the Enoree itself received about eighty. On
Wilkinsons Creek and the other branches on the north side of the Broad,
but below Sandy River, were located plats amounting to a hundred and
forty headrights, while on the latter stream about forty settlers were es-
tablished, chiefly in 1758 and 1759. Surveys were made on Tyger River
and its tributary Fairforest Creek as early as 1752. By 1759 the head-
rights on the former were about sixty, while on the latter there were a
score. The English population of the valley of the Broad, as indicated by
the land records, was between nine hundred and a thousand.^^ They were
thus outnumbered two to one by the Germans who had settled among them
on the middle waters of this river.
As settlement advanced along the Broad and its branches mills were
set up in the manner characteristic of other back country communities. The
first mentioned was on Wilkinsons Creek in 1752; the next year Peter
Crim had one on Crims Creek, and Isaac Pennington later owned two on
the Enoree. Indirect rather than direct evidence indicates that corn was
the usual crop, but wheat was commonly grown. Though slaves were few,
Pennington bequeathed two and Crim had three.^°
The most important of the later settlers was the elder John Pearson,
formerly of the Congarees, who was captain of the militia company of the
Congaree forks in 1757 and appears to have been living then on Broad
^ The militia list of JC, May 4, 1757 does not give location of companies for
a satisfactory check of this figure. John Pearson's company "In the Congaree
Forks" had 134 whites and 40 slaves; the company of James "Lassley" (Leslie — see
above, p. 148) on Broad River had 76 whites and 9 slaves; and that of Fink
(whose first name is not given) on the south side of the Saluda, 40 whites. It is
thus impossible to distinguish between these and the Congaree-Saxe Gotha com-
panies; the total militia returns, however, appear to be far short of the headrights.
^°For Pennington and Crim see JC, Apr. 2, 1754, P, VIII, 636, Wills, 1757-
1763, pp. 324-325, SCG, Dec. 19, 1761 (advt. of Margaret Mint) ; for other mills,
note P, V, 423, VI, 29, 64, 65, X, 248, XII, 167. For wheat see above, pp. 149, 150,
P, VIII, 346, and the following references (the name and the figure following are
from Stats., IV, the figures in parenthesis are the Plats volume and page locating
the name): Conrade Volk, 120 (VIII, 635); Felix Grose [Cronx], 121 (VIII, 64);
Adam Summers, 121 (V, 338); Henry Heartley, 121 (VIII, 346); John Sheely,
121 (V, 332) ; Conrad Shire, 121 (VII, 400) ; John Cannon, 122 (V, 278).
The Settlement of the Back Country 157
River. When he became bankrupt in 1766 and his thirteen hundred acres
was advertised for sale, his home w^as on the west side of the river above
the mouth of Crims Creek, where a high ridge rises from a narrow bottom
and affords a splendid view of the valley. Two other former settlers of
Raifords Creek — Evan Rees and Philip Raiford, Junior — had plats sur-
veyed on the north side of the river ; the latter was living there, near Wil-
kinsons Creek, in 1755.^^
Pearson's letters were well worded though badly spelled, and in the
beautiful script of the trained penman of the day; those of his son Philip
were nearly as good. Both Philip and his brother John were born after
their father settled at the Congarees, and of the latter it was said that
"Under the instruction of his father, & with a little school education, he
became a very good English scholar." In 1758 John Fairchild surveyed a
plat of two hundred acres on a branch of Indian Creek for Abel Anderson,
and at one point of the line wrote the word "Schoolhouse". No other
reference to the "school" appears, but as the plat was in the midst of the
Anderson, Pennington and King settlement, the suggestion is clear that
these men sought to provide something more than the simple home instruc-
tion which was the only recourse for most of the back country. Between
this time and the Revolution references appear to three different streams
named Schoolhouse Branch, one flowing into the Tyger, one into Duncans
Creek, and a third into Padgets Creek, but none could well have touched
Abel Anderson's land.^" Six of the English applicants for land on the
Broad and lower Saluda were unable to sign their names and two others
who were recorded as signing land petitions, on some other occasion made
their marks. Five of the eight signatures to the wills of Mary Pennington
and John Cannon were made by mark, although the number must be dis-
counted because of the possible infirmity of the principals.^^
On the east side of the Broad a handful of settlers from Pennsylvania,
among them Thomas Owen, Jacob Canomore and Lawrence Free, joined by
Richard Gregory, from the Wateree valley, with his father and brother,
made the nucleus of two small Seventh-Day Baptist congregations of un-
certain history and identity, organized probably about the same time.
John Pearson, in the absence of an ordained minister, served both churches
in the capacity of exhorter or lay preacher. Two letters of Pearson written
in 1764 reveal his intense religious interest and activity. In his house-
hold he held prayers morning and evening, and on the fifth of May he
31 For Pearson see below, p. 163, P, V, 410, SCG, June 9, 1766, JC, Apr. 2, 1754,
May 4, 1757, Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 63, Wills, 1760-1767, p. 132. For Raiford
and Rees see above, Map 3, P, VI, 54, 64, 249, VII, 207.
32 Draper MSS, University of Wisconsin Library, 2VV, 186 (Pearson MSS) ;
below, n. 34; P, XI, 15, XIII, 432, XX, 544, XXI, 446. Compare Schoolhouse
Branch of Black River (P, VIII, 84).
33 JC, Aug. 2, Sept. 6, Oct. 3, 1749, Wills, 1760-1767, pp. 194, 232.
158 The Expansion of South Carolina
announced "A Great Meeting" to be held on the next Friday, Saturday
and Sunday to which he invited his Raifords Creek kin.^*
Another Baptist congregation was organized on Broad River in 1759
or 1760 by the Reverend Philip Mulkey, made up of members said to have
come with him from Deep River in North Carolina. In 1762, however,
the minister moved to Fairforest Creek, about eight miles above the junc-
tion of that stream with Tyger River. His congregation followed him,
and the Fairforest Baptist Church quickly became the chief back country
center for the Baptist faith.^^
2* See above, p. 157, Townsend, S. C. Baptists, pp. 159, 167-168, 172-174;
photographs of four letters or fragments from John Pearson and his son Philip to
another son (supplied by Professor E. L. Green, University of S. C, originals
owned by W. Boyce Pearson, Strother, S. C).
^^ Townsend, S. C. Baptists, pp. 125-126, 136. The building erected in 1772
was on land given by Benjamin Holcombe {ibid., p. 126), whose plat of 1770 on
both sides of Dining Creek lay chiefly on the north side of that stream. This
indicates a site approximating that of the present church — see Bureau of Soils,
Field Operations, 1913 (Washington, 1916), map of Union County. Joseph Breed,
one of the members, had a plat surveyed on Fairforest Creek in 1762 (P,
VII, 362).
BACK COUNTRY AND FRONTIER
CHAPTER XIII
The Back Country in 1759
The beginnings and early growth of the back country had been in large
measure the history of separate and nearly isolated communities. But in
1759 these settlements touched one another along the whole length of the
Indian boundary, and partly by mere physical contact, partly by increasing
likeness of industry and interests, had become a distinct section of the
province.
In thirty years the South Carolina of 1729 with its 10,000 whites and
20,000 negroes had grown to 36,000 of the former and 55,000 of the latter,
while the compact triangle of the earlier day had expanded into the sections
which distinguished the later history of the commonwealth. The tide-
water proper had 19,000 whites and all but two or three thousand of the
slaves; to these numbers should be added 1,400 whites — over half of them
Scotch — and about 900 slaves which were the population of Purrysburg,
Williamsburg and Kingston, townships touching tidewater and raising their
products under coast conditions.^
In the townships of the upper pine belt and fall line and on the small
rivers between them there were apparently 9,000 whites and about 1,300
slaves. Nearly a third of these whites and a fourth of the slaves were in the
Welsh Tract, the best settled portion of the section. With the exception of
500 Welsh and nearly 2,000 Germans the white settlers of the middle
country seem to have been almost entirely of English stock.
Beyond the fall line and the townships was the back country with nearly
7,000 whites and about 300 slaves. The Broad River valley, with 1,800
Germans and 1,000 Britons, had twice as many settlers as either the
Wateree-Catawba or Saluda valleys. On the Catawba and in the Long
Canes the great majority were doubtless Ulster Scots, but elsewhere it is
difficult to distinguish between North and South Briton; except for the
Germans it is probable that there were comparatively few who were not
English.
The origin of the middle and back country settlers who did not enjoy
the bounty or did not come in well identified groups cannot be satisfactorily
stated without intensive study of population lists of the other colonies
^ See population estimates above, pp. 5-6, the militia return of 1757 (JC, May
4), Glen's estimate of 175'1 — 7,000 militia, 50,000 slaves (JC, Dec. 30), imports of
slaves {SCG. Dec. 8, 1759).
160
Back Country and Frontier 161
which furnished emigrants. The names were English or Scotch, few of
them distinctive; even where reasonable probability of origin in a certain
colony is established for a settler the question usually remains unanswered
as to whether he was in turn a recent immigrant to that region.
Besides the small groups of settlers in Amelia and on Black River,
Lynches River and the Coosawhatchie which have been listed as coming
from the coast or middle country,^ the South Carolina provincial records
and the parish registers which have survived show about a hundred and fifty
names of men going from the tidewater to the interior.^ These local
records cover perhaps half of the settled population of the tidewater ;
newcomers to that section are scarcely to be identified at all.* This evi-
dence though slender is consistent and one concludes that a quarter or
even a third of the middle country white population came from the tide-
water after a shorter or longer residence there, while probably less than
ten percent of the back country settlers had a similar origin. Furthermore,
the fact is clear that the chief leaders of the middle country came in this
migration, while it gave scarcely any important men to the back country.
In other words, during this period the middle country was quite sufficient
as a settlement field for the coast population; here was room and to spare
with soil, climate and crops much the same as those to which they were
accustomed, and there was little point in their going farther in their search
for homes.
Of the outsiders who can be identified by their petitions or otherwise
much the largest number came from Virginia — sixty or more heads of
families, besides the groups in the Waxhaws and Long Canes; nearly fifty
slaves were brought in by these settlers. Half as many petitioners stated
that they came from Pennsylvania, but these were in addition to the Welsh
settlers from the Lower Counties of that colony. Maryland, the Jerseys
and North Carolina were each named by a handful of petitioners as their
former homes. Thus, in the middle country the Virginia element may have
been as large as that from tidewater South Carolina, while in the back
country it was undoubtedly in the lead, the settlers from the other colonies
coming second and the South Carolinians making a poor third.
This mixing of elements was by no means new to South Carolina. Its
2 Above, pp. 43, 75, 108, 145.
^ This number includes the discharged soldiers (see above, p. 27, n. 27).
^ Some idea of the immigration to the province may be had from the advertise-
ments by shipmasters of servants' time for sale, by the numerous advertisements for
return of runaway servants recently imported, and by applications of recent im-
migrants from the West Indies for permission to bring in slaves duty free. See
for instances, SCG, Sept. 30, 1732 (Capt. James Wilks), Mar. 20, 1742 (John
Savage), Jan. 20, 1746 (William Whaley), Jan. 7, 1745 (McKenzie & Roche),
Feb. 4, 1745 (M. Peacock), Dec. 16, 1745 (Isaac Ross); Harriott Horry Ravenel,
Eliza Pinckney (New York, 1896), p. 1; JUHA, June 4, 1735, Nov. 20, 1742; SCG
Dec. 2, 1732, JC, July 5, 1742, JCHA Mar. 1, 1754.
162 The Expansion of South Carolina
own tidewater society had been compounded mainly of Englishmen from
England and her colonies; the Germans and Welsh, the strangers of the
eighteenth century, made no greater diversity than did the French in
earlier days, and the native South Carolina element in the middle and
back country afforded a nucleus for provincial unity. The new settlements
were a problem, in some ways a threat to the province, but geography, not
race, was at the root of the matter. The back country, the region which
was farthest removed and fastest growing, was to be the chief focus of
South Carolina's growing pains ; only by concentrating study upon it and by
comparing its conditions with those of the middle country — the transition
section — can an understanding be gained of the province's new and coming
problems.
The part played by the Indian trader in opening up the back country
was of great importance. As he counted off the weary miles, or rested
himself by clear waters, or hunted game and searched for strayed horses in
the forest, he came to know the country as few others could. He pointed
the way to the first settlers, and not infrequently forsook his hazardous
occupation to take his place among them. In his domesticated state he was
of special value because of his knowledge of Indian affairs and his former
connections with the government and the merchants of the coast. The
Indian path itself was a channel along which came a trickle of the ebb and
flow of the commerce and civilization of the distant little city, and the
early settler sought a place upon it, where he could fancy himself a part of
or least in touch with that life. Vying with the trader in his knowledge of
the frontier was the professional hunter who might himself have served an
apprenticeship as packhorseman in the Indian trade, or else have drifted
from the settlements into this hard and shiftless existence. This class was
not so numerous in South Carolina as in the colony to the north, where the
back country was more free from Indian competition as well as from
Indian danger. About Saluda Old Town and Ninety Six the Indian trade
and the nearness to the Cherokee country enabled the trader and hunter to
continue their pursuits after they became husbandmen.
Cattle-raising was in many respects a frontier occupation, and occasion-
ally cowpens were established far beyond the settlements. But there was
little point in raising beeves so far from a market, for the middle country
continued to the Revolution to be thinly settled, and its myriad swamps,
especially in such comparatively isolated sections as the Coosawhatchie and
Edisto Forks, remained the chief cattle ranges. Elsewhere through the
back country the first settlers were the small farmers. These varied among
themselves in their possessions, some evidently bringing scarcely more than
a few tools and a little clothing — destitute even of the gun so much needed
on the frontier. A single horse transported these goods and any members
of the family that could not walk. Wagons came only after a given
Back Country and Frontier 163
section was fairly well settled, and the poorer men probably brought
neither cow nor hog.
But equally early in the process of settlement came a somewhat more
well-to-do farmer, his several horses carrying his family as well as his
goods, the latter differing from those of his poorer neighbor in quality and
quantity rather than in kind. To what extent he brought his stock of
cattle, hogs and poultry with him, and how much he depended on buying
them from earlier settlers cannot be said. Probably all these men had
some money with them, the proceeds of the breaking up of the home they
left, for most of them could within a year pay the land fees.
In the selection of a site for settlement the back countryman was nearly
always influenced by the distance from other settlers. He was rarely
found more than ten miles from his fellows, but within these liberal limits
he sought for land to answer rather exacting requirements. In the process
he usually passed by the larger rivers, such as the Wateree and the Broad,
and even the secondary streams, like the Enoree, Little Saluda and Stevens
Creek. Where the lowland on the river was wide the owner of two or three
hundred acres risked his all in the occasional floods; where it was narrow
the adjacent highland was usually steep and rocky, while the rivers them-
selves were obstacles rather than means of transportation. Instead he made
his way to the valleys of those streams more properly called creeks, where
the piedmont offered its choicest combination of soil and convenience, and,
indeed, of beauty too. The clear stream was easily crossed, on its banks
grew the cane or grass essential for cattle, the soil of the slopes was good,
that of the narrow bottom as rich as was to be found. Finally, though
wells were not unknown,^ the hillside produced a spring or the site was not
complete.
Although these advantages seem to have outweighed small differences in
soil structure, the average settler examined his ground carefully, and the
large areas which today are stubborn or poor land were usually passed over
for the red clay beyond. Very often the surveyor was entrusted with the
selection, and when John Pearson's lands were advertised for sale in 1771
he was spoken of as a good judge of land.^
The bounty settlers, since they came through Charleston and had their
land fees paid for them, swore to their headrights before the governor and
council and secured their warrants at once. Others, including emigrants
from the coast, first found a spot and set to work, application for the
warrant being delayed for a term varying from several months to several
years according to the circumstances of the newcomer. The settler had no
legal rights to land or improvements until he had secured a warrant, but
the government gave him every consideration possible ; not only was his the
^Indian Books, V, 21.
^SCGCJ, Nov. 19, 1771; see also JC, June 2, 1752.
164 The Expansion of South Carolina
first claim, but if any one else obtained a warrant for the land, the occu-
pant, if he applied for his own warrant before a survey was made, could get
the other cancelled.
The warrant allowed twelve months for the survey,^ and could be re-
newed on application. A one hundred acre tract cost the settler who did
not enjoy the bounty about five pounds sterling in fees, besides the time
and expense of appearing in Charleston to swear to headrights.^ To the
provincial government the non-bounty settler was due to pay taxes, appar-
ently from the date of the warrant, but they seem to have been collected,
and with fair efficiency, from the time the survey was made.® When the
grant was made he became obligated to the crown for annual payment of
quit rents; this he often evaded by leaving his plat in the surveyor-general's
office instead of taking out the grant, though by so doing he ran some risk
of losing his land.^°
The number of those who made no move to apply for warrants was
small ; " land was abundant, the regulations of the crown liberal, and the
poorest settler had his choice. On the other hand there were few large
holdings. This impartial distribution of the soil, matched in varying
degrees in the back country of the other southern colonies, was the chief
basis for an equality of wealth and opportunity that was the most significant
characteristic of the American frontier.
The five months from November to March were the time of the year
chosen by the overland immigrants for their arrival in South Carolina, the
need for harvesting the old crop and planting the new outweighing the
discomforts of winter weather on the road and in a makeshift house. ^" It
was not uncommon for the newcomer to buy out the improvements of some
less well-to-do settler; in other cases the family was left at the old home
while the head of it made proper provision for his wife and children ;
others found lodging with neighbors while the new house was building."
''State Recs. of N. C, XI, 39; this was reduced in 1755 to six (PR, XXVI, 321—
instructions to Lyttelton).
^ See above, p. 25. The requirement for personal appearance seems to have
been first made by the crown in 1739 (see State Recs. of N. C, XI, 39, PR, XXIII,
133— Surveyor General George Hunter, June 20, 1748, JC, Mar. 7, 1735).
*'See Stats., Ill, 354, 385, 440; JC, Sept. 1, 1752, Aug. 7, 1753, Dec. 2, 1760.
^^4 shillings proclamation money per 100 acres; after 1755 they began two
years from the grant (PR, XXVI, 315 — instructions to Lyttelton) ; the province
as a whole paid only half the rents due (Bond, Quit Rent System, pp. 318-349),
and it is probable that the back country paid an even smaller proportion. For
instances of evasion see JC, Feb. 27, Mar. 7, 1735, Mar. 7, 1758, Sept. 4, 1759.
^^ Had it been otherwise the many reports of disasters and mishaps to persons
in the back country and on the frontier — the poorest class being more often than
not the victims — would have recorded a much larger number of squatters.
^- About twenty petitioners gave the approximate time of their arrival in the
province.
13 JC, Jan. 24, 1749, Sept. 4, 1750, Mar. 3, May 5, 1752, Journal of Alexander
Chesney, . . . ed. by E. Alfred Jones (Columbus, 1921), pp. 3-4.
Back Country and Frontier 165
On the whole, however, it appears that the custom was for the family to
come as a unit and to settle the land without outside aid.
The first dwelling set up seems to have been a small log cabin or a mere
shelter of poles covered with branches of trees and earth/* The settler's
permanent home on the bank of the stream or on the edge of its narrow
swamp was probably built within the year. It was usually made of logs,
doubtless roofed with rough boards.^^ Throughout the back country, how-
ever, there were occasional frame houses covered with plank sawed out of
trees by hand with whipsaws, or perhaps hewn out with axes.^^ The labor
involved in this proceeding was immense, but it was probably used by all
who had slaves or money with which to hire laborers because of the tighter
and more comfortable house it made. Wooden floors were apparently the
rule, although in 1775, at one back country house, William Tennant slept
on a broken clay floor. Stephen Holston's house at Little Saluda had three
or more rooms, and when the Catawbas in 1756 attempted to go into the
house of a nearby North Carolina settler and found it locked they made
their entrance by the chimney. Glass windows were rare; Martin Friday
had one in his Congaree home appraised at approximately three shillings."
Sometimes settlers were able to plant their first crops in an abandoned
Indian field, but the country was otherwise heavily wooded, and the
clearing of a few acres of the land was as pressing a need as the erection of
some sort of shelter.^^ Petitioners for land warrants always spoke of this
as extremely heavy labor; it appears that they felled all the trees in a space
of five or ten acres, later used part of the timber to build the house, and
converted the branches of the trees into the fence necessary for protection
of the crop.^® For additions to the original clearing settlers may have used
the method of girdling the trees and leaving them to die, though appar-
ently it was the custom to cut them down and leave them to rot on the
ground. The cleared field usually began at the edge of the narrow swamp
which bordered the creek.^°
Through most of the middle and back country corn was the first crop
planted in the newly cleared land, and long remained the chief food re-
i*For instance, JC, Mar. 3, 1752, Sept. 3, 1753, Dec. 24, 1764, PR, XVII, 339
(above, p. 55, n. 6). Compare above, p. 79.
^^Col. Recs. of N. C, V, 355, 362, R. W. Gibbes, Documentary History of the
American Revolution, 1764-1776 (New York, 1855), p. 232.
"See advertisements, SCG, Sept. 1, 1739 (Joseph Crell), Jan. 30, 1755 (Alex-
ander McGregor) ; JC, Oct. 17, 1764. Note the lumber and whipsaws in Inven-
tories, 1753-1756, p. 368, 1758-1761, pp. 22, 392, 428, 469, 483, 588; see also
inventory of Robert McCorkle (above p. 143, n. 20). Note also Elisha Lawrence's
sawmill on Long Cane, in 1767 (P, XVII, 283).
1^ Gibbes, Documentary History, 1764-1776, p. 232, JC, Sept. 3, 1753, Aug. 24,
1756, Inventories, 1758-1761, p. 89.
^®See JC, June 8, 1739, P, IV, 400, above, p. 114, n. 1.
^^For instances, JC, Nov. 13, 1736, Apr. 2, 1751, Apr. 7, Nov. 7, 1752; com-
pare Col. Rccs. of N. C, V, 362-363.
20 See ibid., Carroll, Collections, II, 201, P, VII, 17, 215.
166 The Expansion of South Carolina
source. There was no sale for it, however, save to incoming settlers, since
the low country supplied itself. Like other back country crops it was
made almost entirely with the hoe; only the well to do had ploughs —
heavy, cumbersome implements which were utterly impracticable for the
new ground with its numerous stumps and network of roots. Cultivation
was therefore shallow and inefficient, and only the fertility of the fresh
soil enabled the farmer to make from twenty to thirty bushels to the acre.
Corn was planted in wide rows with hills six feet or more apart, evidently
to give room for other products such as peas and probably beans and
pumpkins planted with it.^^ Rye was also a food product cultivated in
small quantities, and barley sometimes appears in the records."^ Oats seem
to have been rare, the horses and cattle depending in winter upon the
canes and grass on the banks of the streams, with some assistance from
fodder and doubtless from corn shucks.'^
It is probable that the poorer settlers planted no grain but corn, but
references to sweet potatoes, turnips, pumpkins and coleworts suggest that
these garden products were commonly grown, and that they formed an
important part of the food supply.'^ Orchards of peach, pear and apple
trees were a point of pride with the better class of middle country settlers,^"
and were doubtless planted in the back country also.
At the time of settlement there were high hopes that wheat planted in
the townships would replace the flour imported from the northern colonies,
but not until the settlement of the Wateree and Congaree did the industry
receive any great impetus.^® The Cherokee War not only brought out the
evidence of the amiount of back country wheat but accounts of supplies
furnished by the frontier neighborhoods to their stockade forts show that
its cultivation was widely distributed, and even suggest that wheat
rivalled corn as a food product of the frontier. The Charleston news-
paper advertisements of this period indicate that despite the expense of
transportation the settlers about the Congarees and Pinetree Hill drew a
^^Inventories; compare American Husbandry, I, 447-448, II, 21, above, p. 34,
Carroll, Collections, II, 203. South Carolina regularly exported small amounts of
corn and pease {SCG, Dec. 8, 1759), and it does not appear that this came from
the back country.
" JC, Jan. 18, 1749, JCHA, July 1762 (schedule for 1762), May 25, 1764, Inven-
tories, 1758-1761, p. 483. Reap-hooks occur in ibid., for instance, 1761-1763, p. 318.
^^ Note oats, fodder, corn blades or pasturage — Stats., IV, 119, 121, 126, In-
ventories, 1753-1756, p. 237.
24 See above, pp. 38, 56, 120, 139; P, IX, 460 (Turnip Patch Fork); JC, Apr.
26, 1764; Stats., IV, 123, 126; JCHA, June 23, 1761. The white or Irish potato
became common on the coast later (SCG, July 7, 1766).
25 JC, Apr. 11, 1746, Nov. 6, 1751; SCG, Dec. 15, 1758 (advt. John Fouquet),
Jan. 23, 1762 (advt. of J. F. Doubbs) ; SCAGG, Nov. 4, 1774.
26 See PR, XXIII, 226 (enclosure with Glen's letter to Board, Oct. 10, 1748),
Carroll, Collections, II, 223-224, JCHA, May 6, 1749, Inventories, 1756-1758, pp.
398-399.
Back Country and Frontier 167
considerable income from it.^^ Aside from this crop there was little in
the agriculture of the piedmont to yield money. Hemp and flax, however,
were likewise among the early ambitions for the townships, and the initial
bounties were continued, though irregularly, for the remainder of the
colonial period.^^ Several settlers at the Congarees and Orangeburg raised
small quantities of hemp until the end of the 'fifties, but otherwise the new
settlers seem to have paid little attention to it.^ Flax was more generally
planted, but the evidence is the listing of flax hackles in inventories, and
indicates that it was grown only to supply the family with cloth.^°
In some respects indigo offered more inducements to the frontiersman
than any other money crop. Its bulk was so small in proportion to its
value that transportation of it was a negligible problem, for the produce of
an acre might be sold for ten pounds sterling, yet weigh only eighty
pounds. Furthermore it grew readily in either middle or back country
soil. In 1754 the commissary-general announced that he had six bushels
of Guatemala seed to distribute to the back settlers, a pint to each family.
Therefore it is not surprising to read the optimistic statements of the
Saluda and Enoree settlers in 1755 that they hoped to raise "some hun-
dreds" of indigo that year, nor of Governor Dobbs of North Carolina in
regard to indigo making by the back settlers of that province.^^ Doubtless
a few succeeded with the marvellous new crop, but the process of getting
the dye from the weed was complicated and delicate, and required large
carefully made vats plentifully supplied with water. The back country
did not develop indigo till after 1759, though the middle country, in
better position and with more capital, was already an important factor in
Its production.
No record appears to throw real light on the profit, in normal times,
to the back country from cattle raising. But exports of beef and pork
27JCHA, Feb. 25, 1741, July 3, 1760, July, 1762 (schedule for 1762); JC, Mar.
6, 1750, Nov. 7, 1752, Inventories, 1758-1761, pp. 89, 589; see also above, p. 106,
and below, p. 221, n. 23.
28 See above, pp. 82-83; Stats. Ill, 587, 615, 616; IV, 28-29, 49, 98, 166-168,
232, 315-317.
29 Above, p. 56, Inventories, 1753-1756, p. 237, JCHA, Jan. 25, 1742, Jan 10,
1755, SCG, June 9, 1759.
30 Inventories, 1751-1753, p. 41, 1753-1756, p. 236, 1758-1761, pp. 22, 277, 483,
1761-1763, pp. 31, 318. A bounty was offered on cotton by the act of 1744
{Stats., Ill, 615), and a few references to it similar to those to flax are found in
middle and back country inventories (1753-1756, pp. 47, 443, 1758-1761, p. 318;
see also PR, XXII, 276— Glen to Board, Apr. 28, 1747). In 1747 James Marion
applied to the assembly for a seven year monopoly for a machine "for ginning
of the rough seed-Cotton, such as has usually been sown ... in this Province;"
which would, with the labor of a negro man and two boys in twelve hours clean
eighty pounds of cotton from the seed (JCHA, May 19, 1747).
31 Carroll, Collections, II, 203, 235, SCG, Feb. 12, 1754, above, p. 131, Col. Recs.
of N. C. V, 149.
32 Above, pp. 62, 94, 105. See Harriott H. Ravenel, Eliza Pinckney (New York,
1896), pp. 102-103.
168 The Expansion of South Carolina
from South Carolina which were 5,576 barrels in the year ending June
1749, when the back country was in process of settlement, fell steadily and
during the last three years of the 'fifties were less than a thousand barrels
a year. The new settlements were evidently unable to take advantage of
the shift of low country labor to the rapidly expanding rice and indigo
crops by sending salted pork and beef to Charleston for export, and
probably were scarcely better equipped to sell meat to the low country
planters. For this purpose cattle must be fattened, salt brought up from
the coast, and heavy meat transported back, or else the fat cattle must be
driven to the coast and properly fed on the way. Hides could be tanned in
the back country, and marketing them was a somewhat simpler matter.
In 1748 they were worth six shillings apiece in Charleston.^^ There were
few large holdings of cattle in the back country. About fifty inventories,
fairly representative of all but the poorest back and middle country settlers,
show only half a dozen owners of as many as a hundred, and only one of
these was in the piedmont. However, most of these men had more cattle
than their families alone could consume, and it is evident that small num-
bers of beeves and hogs, sold as opportunity offered, eked out the back
country income.
It was probably butter, rather than beef, that made cattle worth while
to the more enterprising frontiersman. Butter was worth in the back
country four or five pence a pound, and, prepared with saltpetre and salt
in the manner of the time, kept indefinitely, so that the output of the
individual farm, whether little or large, could be fully utilized. In 1739
it was spoken of as the "chief produce" of the townships. The Scotch-
Irish settlers on Rocky River in North Carolina were the first to give
back country butter a name in the Charleston market, the first advertise-
ments— which also included tallow — appearing in 1760. The Waxhaws
early announced intentions of making butter and cheese, and the cooper's
tools in Robert McCorkle's inventory must have been intended for making
casks for these exports. In the Cherokee War one settler supplied eighty
pounds of butter, another eighty-eight, to frontier forts on the Broad and
Saluda Rivers at about four pence a pound.^
There were few settlers who did not have at least one horse. Oxen
seem to have been seldom used, and horses were essential for work on the
farm as well as for transportation abroad ; the numbers owned by any
individual were usually small, only in rare cases as high as fifty head.^^
^^ Carroll, Collections, II, 237, SCG, Sept. 8, 1759. Note the tanyard at the
Congarees (above, p. 57, n. 12). See also Inventories, 1753-1756, p. 47, 1758-
1761, p. 67. A German tanner, George Keat, settled on the Saluda in 1752
(JC, Jan. 8, 1752, P, V, 267).
^MCHA, Dec. 18, 1739, May 28, 1760, May 25, 1764; SCG, Aug. 23, 1760,
above, p. 143; see Inventories, 1758-1761, p. 589.
35 For instance, JC, July 7, 1752. See JUHA, Dec. 3, 1744, JCHA, Jan. 24,
1745, SCG, Oct. 2, 1755 (advt. of Richard Waters), Feb. 2, 1760 (advt. of William
Lawrence), Mar. 28, 1761 (advt. of John Dawson) ; John Crawford, at Cheraw, had
two pairs of oxen (Inventories, 1758-1761, p. 585).
Back Country and Frontier 169
They were bred in the back country and probably found ready sale on the
coast.
Hunting was a resource available to most of the back country people,
and almost as much to those of the middle country, which was even more
thinly settled, and had wide swamps for the protection of game. Buffalo
disappeared as the first settlers arrived, leaving only their licks, paths, and
the names of streams to record their history. Bears made their exit as
promptly, though the Purrysburgers claimed to have suffered by them
several years after their settlement. But the deer survived in spite of the
annual slaughter, and the Cherokees from the Lower Towns came regularly
nearly to Ninety Six for their hunts. Probably the great majority of the
settlers profited from lucky chances at deer, and more rarely caught beaver.
Some undoubtedly continued to make their living chiefly by hunting, but
their number was small ; success in this profession required as great skill and
as hard work as did farming and promised less reward.^^ Dogs were
common in the back country, but seem to have been kept for defense rather
than for hunting. Guns were usually muskets ; however the new rifles
began to appear in 1750 and by 1759 were found frequently. References
to fishing are rare; the Ebenezer pastors complained that the Purryburgers
preferred to have their children hunt and fish rather than go to school, and
Patrick Calhoun said in 1765 that the settlers had repaired the Indian
fishdam across Little River, and that in the large creeks were plenty of
rock fish, shad, perch, cat and trout.^^
The sale of his surplus products might enable the poorest back country-
man to spend a few shillings a year for salt and ammunition, and, at rare
intervals, for a blanket or some indispensable tool, while his more comfort-
able neighbor sold and bought in proportion. The total of this trade was
considerable, but it was spread out over a great area which had not as yet
developed any economic centers nor even a respectable crossroads. Four
rivers divided the region into as many districts, and made cross-country
communication excessively difficult. True, there was Ninety Six where
Robert Goudey did a business rivalling that of some of the merchants in
Charleston, but this was a store for the Cherokee traders, and was not
even within reach of the best settled regions of the back country. In 1762
Thomas Wade appears to have had a store at the crossing of the Catawba
road over Hanging Rock Creek, and at that time reference is made to a
similar establishment formerly kept at the mouth of Stevens Creek. Some-
where on every road, no doubt, there was an enterprising settler like
Moses Kirkland who kept an extra supply of some commodity, wet or dry,
of which he might occasionally sell a little, but that was all. The rivers
3«See SCGCJ, Aug. 9, 1768, P, VII, 63, XI, 514, XII, 48, 54, 97, above, pp. 38,
119-122, Inventories, 1753-1756, p. 47.
"JC, Mar. 13, 1750, Mar. 16, 1756, Apr. 26, 1764, Col. Recs. of N. C, V, 142,
Indian Books, III, 8, Voigt, German Element, p. 27, Hillsboro Plat (below, p. 253).
170 The Expansion of South Carolina
which precluded cross country communication inexorably pointed the direct
ways to the fall line or to the coast, and thither the back countryman be-
took himself — not indeed by an easy water carriage, but on horseback,
following the path along the side of the valley. Within a decade of settle-
ment, however, the path had widened into a rough road, and harnessing four
horses to a wagon — if he was one of the few who owned one of the pon-
derous vehicles — he set forth, charged with the sales and commissions of his
neighbors as well as his own. To make the best of the venture many,
perhaps most, of these wagons were driven direct to Charleston, but there
were others ready to stop short of this goal.^®
At Savannah Town John Tobler's store survived the competition of
Augusta; at the Congarees Audeon St. John, successor to Thomas Brown,
Robert Steill, and Herman Geiger, was perhaps the only considerable
merchant. His store was hired as a military depot during the Cherokee
War, and in 1763 he had "a complete and fresh assortment of dry goods
suitable to the back inhabitants, . . . for cash or short credit". The
sand hills prevented the wagons of the Wateree and Catawba coming to
the Congarees; instead those bound for Charleston from the upper valley
and from still further north followed the road along the eastern side of
the river. With the development of wheat as a paying crop there was a
good opportunity for a store at the head of Wateree navigation, and here
Samuel Wyly tried for a time the role of merchant. He was succeeded if
not bought out by Joseph Kershaw and his Charleston partners. After the
Cherokee War this store became the most important trading enterprise in
the middle or back country.^®
The transportation problem, which geography made the fundamental
obstacle to the early development of the piedmont, was intensified by the
quickness with which a comparatively small population spread over the
great area behind the tidewater. The resources of the province would
not have permitted any considerable assistance for roads in the new settle-
ments even had the provincial system sanctioned it, while public levies of
money or labor on the inhabitants themselves was for years manifestly
impossible. At the expense of the township fund the Cherokee path was
made a wagon road as far as the Congarees in 1737, and in 1747 the
inhabitants were charged with its upkeep, but in the main the settlers were
left to themselves to make the best use they could of the Indian trade paths
and to develop new routes. In 1748 the Cherokee path above the Congarees
was spoken of as the "Main Road", evidently meaning that the trees had
^ Above, p. 136; for Wade, Mesne Conveyances, 3E, 785-792, P, V, 383, VII,
184; for the other store, SCG, Oct. 9, 1762 (advt. of J. and C. Wright), P, IX, 398.
Most of the fifty wagons in Lyttelton's expedition were from the Broad and
Saluda; one-horse carts were as common as wagons {Stats., IV, 117-128).
29JCHA, July 1762 (schedule for 1762), SCG, Nov. 26, 1763, above, p. 104.
Back Country and Frontier 171
been cut back along the route to allow the passage of wagons. There were
few if any bridges on this stretch, and streams like the Little Saluda could
only be crossed when the water was not high. Even in low water the
footing in the fords was treacherous and the steep banks made an empty
wagon a load. By 1759 the road to the Cherokees was open for wagons
almost if not quite to Fort Prince George.*"
The old trading path from the Catawbas ran nearly south along the
west bank of the Catawba to the head of the Congaree, but about 1755 the
traffic on it shifted to the road constructed by Thomas Howell to his
ferry below Raifords Creek. A plat of 1758 on Cedar Creek shows that
the path of the early settlers on the east bank of the Broad had yielded
chief place to a road along the ridge to the Howells Ferry road ; the latter
and its two branches above were not made a public charge until 1766, nor
does it appear that the upper portions of these routes were open for wagons
until after 1760. Meanwhile the more convenient path on the east side of
the Wateree was made a public road in 1753 but it was not completed to
the Waxhaws until the end of the decade. From Grannys Quarter Creek,
a few miles above Pinetree Hill, a path turned east across Lynches River
to the Peedee at the Cheraws, and by 1756 wagons seem to have been
following it, although improvement of the route was not provided for
until 1762."
In 1750, with the settlement of the Enoree and its branches, paths
appear on the plats near the mouths of Indian Creek and Kings Creek,
crossing Cannons Creek about five miles from the Broad, and evidently
reaching the Crims Creek settlement near its church. In 1758 this path
is referred to as a wagon road ; about Wateree Creek it turned and crossed
the ridge to the Saluda, thus avoiding the rugged land on the lower Broad.
The Cherokee path was perhaps reached by Scott's landing below Bear
Creek, but later this road was continued farther down the north bank of
the Saluda to Kirkland's Ferry, near the mouth of the river.*^
There were two early trading paths on the eastern side of the Savannah
above the falls, one paralleling the river a few miles from its banks, the
other running north from Savannah Town to Ninety Six. The settlers
of the Long Cane section and the upper branches of Stevens Creek, how-
ever, used the Cherokee path or the later route which led from the Calhoun
^JC, Jan. 19, 1737, P, IV, 439, Stats., IX, 146, SCG, Jan. 12, 1760. Compare
the troubles of the Moravian company on their journey from Pennsylvania to North
Carolina in 1753 (Mereness, Travels, pp. 325-356).
^1 Above, pp. 63, 99, 106; P, V, 222, 253, 278, 459, VI, 129, 213, 328, VII,
281, 294; Stats., IX, 200-201, 214; see also pp. 144-147.
*2p, V, 114, 184, 278, VI, 96, 309, 316, 320, VII, 80, XII, 99; Stats., IX, 211,
Mouzon, Map of N. and S. C. The upper portion of the route evidently ap-
proximated that of the later Kings Creek-Crims Creek road (see Mills, Atlas of
S. C, Newberry).
172 The Expansion of South Carolina
settlement across Hard Labor Creek to the Ninety Six-Savannah Town
road and thence to the forks of the Edisto."
The first of the paths crossing the piedmont from the north was the
Virginia trading route which also served for communication between the
back country and the northern colonies. In 1752 another path paralleling
this one led to Lea's ford over Broad River, nearly a mile above the
mouth of the Enoree. John Lea or Lee appears no more on Broad River,
and the crossing later became known as Lyles' ford, but in 1756 the wagon
road crossed by the shallow ford at Fishdam shoals, six miles above the
Tyger."** The Catawba was crossed at Land's ford west of the Waxhaw
Church. Beyond Broad River the road cannot be traced prior to 1759;
the most used route seems to have been a path from Cannons Creek to the
Saluda, crossing that stream about a mile above the mouth of Bush River.
The Indian path from the Catawbas to Savannah Town, which before the
settlement of the middle country crossed at the shoals at the head of the
Congaree, was used for the infrequent travel between the Congarees and
Fort Moore. The route skirted the branches of the Little Saluda for half
the distance, but then turned southwest, crossing the head branches of the
South Fork of the Edisto. At the fort a ferry was established by law in
1739, the "Sand Bar" being the landing place on the Georgia side.^^
The simple forms of manufacturing to be found in the back country
were the making or repairing of tools and utensils and the crude processes
necessary to prepare crops and products for market or home consumption.
Most blacksmiths appear to have plied their trade along with their farm
work. At Ninety Six there were Daniel Migler and William Ritenour,
on the Broad were Samuel Hollenshed and Daniel Rees, while the smith's
tools among Isaac Pennington's effects and the 71 pounds of bar iron, worth
one pound sterling, owned by Peter Crim suggest that these men employed
smiths.^*' At the fall line there were others; for instance one of Herman
Geiger's negroes was a smith. The "path to the Mines" in Amelia, and
Isaac Pennington's petition for fifty acres on the Enoree on which he was
"Settling an Iron Work and that he may have some Ore to keep the same
imployed," suggest early native sources to eke out imports of bar iron.*^
The carpenters, joiners, wheelwrights, shoemakers and weavers, a score of
them, were to be found chiefly in the fall line settlements, but there were
several in the back country.*®
*3p, V, 293, 381, VII, 32, 47; Plat of Hillsboro (below, p. 253).
**P, V, 380, VI, 149, VII, 65, IX, 92; see also VI, 309, XVI, 353. For fishdams
see above, p. 169.
4-^P, IV, 134, VI, 281, VIII, 241, XVI, 219, above, p. 72; Stats. IX, 110-111,
Mouzon, Map of N. and S. C.
*^ Stats., IV, 122 (for location see P, VII, 181, 334), above, p. 148; Inventories,
1758-1761, pp. 432, 439.
^Ubid., 1751-1753, p. 108, above, p. 44, JC, Apr. 2, 1754,
*^ Mesne Conveyances.
Back Country and Frontier 173
The grinding of corn and wheat was one of the first problems of the
settler. Some may have cracked their corn Indian fashion, but others out
of reach of a cornmill probably used small steel or iron hand mills; they
were furnished to the Purrysburg and Hillsborough settlers and are oc-
casionally found in inventories, valued at about fifteen shillings.^^ But a
mill pond and its corn mill were usually the first evidence that a section
had been settled, and it was rare that the settlers were not thus provided
within five years. Corn was usually sold in the grain, but wheat was
ground in the back country or at the fall line before it was sent to the
coast.
Sawmills were available to few of the back country settlers before the
Cherokee War ; with their whipsaws the settlers could saw planks them-
selves almost as efficiently as could the clumsy frames, set with two or more
saws, which were slowly driven through the log by a water wheel. The
carpenter who contracted to rebuild Fort Moore in 1747 made the brick —
doubtless for chimneys — on the ground, but otherwise bricks are con-
spicuous in the back country by their absence. ^°
Weaving and spinning were important items in home industry, although
there is no evidence that there was any surplus for sale ; spinning wheels
and looms, even after years of use, were worth six or seven shilling each.
Wool, flax and cotton were generally used, although sheep were not to be
found in every inventory.^^ In Isaac Pennington's estate in 1762 there was
a still valued at about twenty-one pounds; Hans Jacob Morf, of Saxe
Gotha, had one worth only fifty shillings; he also had both corn and rye.
The whiskey used at the vendue of James McCorkle's estate was valued
at eighteen pence a gallon."
Two hundred and fifty slaves were listed by a hundred and seventy
owners in applications for warrants in the back country between 1744 and
1756. Eight of these men, owning eighty-six slaves, were residents of the
coast or middle country, and some of them probably did not put their slaves
upon the land. The other applicants averaged about three slaves each, and \ j
the negroes were widely distributed over the piedmont. During the last
three or four years of the decade there was doubtless a more rapid increase
of slaves in the back country, but the total could scarcely have been over I /^
three hundred. Indentured servants played an even smaller part; the
number listed in warrants was less than fifty, though this figure was doubt-
*^ Above, p. 35, below, p. 253; Inventories, 1753-1756, pp. 326, 405; compare
Adair, American Indians, p. 407.
®° Note plan of sawmill in Ebenezer — Plan <von Neu Ebenezer, . . . Augsberg
(Collection of H. D. Kendall, Camden, S. C), and provision for sawing plank at
Fort Prince George in 1763 (Journal of Directors of Cherokee Trade, MS, B, p.
32) ; and Inventories, 1758-1761, pp. 399, 428, 588. For the Fort Moore reference,
see JCHA, Apr. 11, 1747.
^1 See for instances, Inventories, 1753-1756, pp. 47, 236, 326, 405, 443, 1758-
1761, pp. 22, 428, 439, 1761-1763, pp. 31, 249, 318.
^^Ibid., 1758-1761, p. 432, 1761-1763, p. 319, above, p. 143.
174 The Expansion of South Carolina
less incomplete even for the period covered. About fifty applicants for
land in the back country stated that they had served indentures, but most of
these had been servants to masters in Charleston or elsewhere on the coast.
Only a few of the servants were not German, and the indentures almost in-
variably represented passage money from Europe to Charleston. If many of
the numerous Scotch or Irish servants on the coast made their way to the
back country after the expiration of their terms, the fact does not appear in
the records. The demand for overseers or tradesmen doubtless absorbed
them as free laborers. Labor was therefore almost uniformly free, but
there was little employment for hire. William Calhoun about 1764 records
a few instances of work done for purchase of commodities, and Henry
Christopher Beudeker paid seventeen pence a day for men to reap barley
and wheat, while his coopers received twenty-one pence. ^^ It is clear that
these were exceptions to the rule that the farmer himself and his family
did nearly all the work.
The furniture of the poorer settlers of the back country probably con-
sisted of a few chairs and a bedstead with straw mattress and blankets or
skins for covering. Cooking was done on the open fire, by both poor and
well to do, and the poorest had his pot, which hung in the flame by a hook,
and a pan for frying. Wooden noggins, serving for cups or small vessels,
piggins — small wooden tubs — and wooden pails were probably common.
Pewter plates and spoons, with steel knives and forks, completed a simple
but adequate list of utensils. Pewter implements were easily broken or
hopelessly bent, but could be melted and reshaped almost as easily, and the
occurrence of spoon molds in two inventories suggests that this work was
part of the blacksmith's craft. A great many of the back settlers were
much more amply provided with household conveniences. Featherbeds,
pillows and bolsters, linen sheets, table cloths and towels, looking-glass,
teakettle, china or delftware and a greater abundance of pots, basins, jugs,
hooks, potracks, were evidence of this comfort.^*
One of John Pearson's neighbors about 1764 pawned a pair of cloth
breeches, and the fact that Pearson felt impelled to describe them as made
of cloth, together with the occurrence in Robert Goudey's inventory of
1776 of fourteen pairs of leather breeches, suggests that the latter were the
common wear of the back country.^^ There are no references to moc-
casins, a poor a covering at best ; and with leather so easy to procure there
was no excuse for the back country settler to be badly shod. The goods
that Captain Pepper kept for sale in Fort Moore were primarily to appeal
°^ "Journal of William Calhoun", Publications of the Southern History As-
sociation, VIII (1904), 18+; JC, Jan. 26, 1750.
^■* Will of James McCorkle (above, p. 143, n. 20); Inventories, 1751-1753, pp.
93, 420, 1753-1756, p. 237, 1754-1758, p. 258, 1756-1758, p. 4.
^■^ John Pearson to his son (above, p. 158, n. 34); Inventories, 1774-1785,
p. 195.
Back Country and Frontier 175
to the soldiers of his garrison but probably indicate the usual clothes of the
settlers. He sold coarse shoes for five or six shillings, while steel shoe
buckles cost two-thirds as much. Felt hats were about six shillings, fine
castor hats — presumably beaver — about twelve shillings. Coarse stock-
ings he sold at two shillings, the "best knit stockings" at five or six, and a
cotton shirt "well made" was eight and a half. Moses Hendrick, on
Indian Creek, boasted a coat and red jacket; other inventories of perhaps
the better-to-do show usually coat and "wescoat". James Adamson, on
the Wateree, had a broadcloth coat valued by appraisers at twenty-eight
shillings, and another, evidently the worse for wear, worth about a third
that much. Some inventories on the fall line list razors, wigs and perukes.^®
About women's wear there is a dearth of evidence. It may in part be
inferred from the items in lists of men's clothes. Governor Dobbs de-
scribed the summer clothing of his Rocky River settlers — "no woman wear-
ing more than a shift and one thin petticoat." Mrs. Haig, belonging to
the middle country, and to the upper class at that, demanded of Thomas
Corker that he send her a gown so that she might have good mourning
clothes for everyday wear. In 1767 an indented servant girl about seven-
teen years of age, "short, lusty, ruddy-faced and remarkably sluttish",
recently come from Ireland and supposed to be headed for the "Irish"
settlements, ran away from her Charleston master clad in "a new black
quilted serge petticoat, a new printed linen gown, a long ear'd cap and
straw hat." "
The diet of the back country settlers varied, but the staples for rich and
poor were corn (meal or hominy), wheat flour, salt or dried beef and pork.
One of the innumerable complaints of the Reverend Charles Woodmason,
of the Parish of St. Mark, had to do with the prevailing fare of his High
Hills neighbors: "Where I am, is neither Beef or Mutton — nor Beer,
Cyder, or anything better than Water — These People eat twice a day . . .
Their Bread of Indian Corn, Pork in Winter & Bacon in Sumf If any
Beef, they jerk it & dry it in the Sun — So that you may as well eat a Deal
Board." An Indian forced himself into a German's house near Four Hole
Swamp and took out of the pot of hominy the piece of meat that was being
cooked with it. The Catawba Indians said that many settlers very cheer-
fully gave them bread and milk, meat or butter. Poultry were evidently
common, geese are occasionally mentioned in the middle country, and an
Orangeburg settler had turkeys. Patrick Calhoun remarked on his plat of
Hillsborough Township that the country afforded plenty of deer and wild
^'^^JC, Mar. 1, 1744, Inventories, 1746-1748, pp. 162-169, 1751-1753, p. 470,
1758-1761, pp. 468, 483. The Iroquois took from Haig his cap, his handkerchief
from his neck, and his great coat, and from Brown his coat, jacket, and the shirt
from his wallet (JC, Mar. 29, 1748).
"Co/. Recs. of N. C, V, 355-356, above, pp. 58-59, SCG, Jan. 12, 1767.
176 The Expansion of South Carolina
turkeys. The beehives listed show the country was well supplied with
honey from its own hives, if not from the forests.^®
The various kinds of drink of the better class is indicated by the tea-
kettles, chocolate pots and coffee mills found in the back country and in
the fall line townships. Wine is seldom found ; John Gallman of Saxe
Gotha township left eighteen bottles of Vidonia in 1758. Rum, less often
whiskey, undiluted or mixed with sugar and water to make punch, was the
usual drink of the back countryman, and was both necessity and luxury.
With its sovereign power it might make even hard labor a pleasure, and
was perhaps used by the new settler to get the aid of his neighbors in raising
his log house. This was the habit in the back country of North Carolina,
said the Moravians, who refused to believe in its efficacy: "Wagner was
very busy with his new house, and about twenty people were helping him,
but things never go well at such a gathering for more time is spent in
drinking brandy than in working." The same use of it is hinted at among
the expenses of the Cherokee War in an account for rum, which "was ab-
solutely necessary to encourage the men to build Fort Ninety Six." ^^ The
references to tobacco before the Cherokee War are few, but these indicate
that it was commonly used. A poor man at Ninety Six had tobacco planted
along with his crop and vegetables ; this was probably for his own con-
sumption and, perhaps, for trade with his neighbors, for it does not appear
that the back country sold tobacco at this time.*"*
With violins the region was well supplied ; several of them by one chance
or another get into the records. Moses Hendrick had one on Indian Creek,
another occurs in the Congaree inventories, a third in Orangeburg and a
fourth at the Cheraws. Martin Friday, at the Congarees, as well as John
Tobler at New Windsor, had "a small sett [of] House Organs", but no
others are mentioned. In the varied assortment of articles left by robbers
in a sack hidden in a hollow tree on Twenty-Five Mile Creek, near Pine-
tree Hill, in 1767, were two Jews harps. At a belated Regulator affair on
a branch of Stevens Creek in 1772 a drum was kept beating and a fiddle
playing while the offender received his five hundred lashes.*'^
It does not appear that life in the tiny clearings of the great forest made
the back countrymen somber or melancholy; on the contrary, the oc-
^^ Fulham MSS, S. Carolina (Library of Congress copies), No. 51; JC, Apr. 10,
1753, above, p. 142; Inventories, 1753-1756, pp. 236, 1758-1761, pp. 275,
394; PR, XXII, 201 (Glen to Board, Sept. 29, 1746), Hillsboro Plat (below, p.
253), Col. Recs. of N. C, V, 142.
^inventories, 1751-1753, pp. 41, 469, 1758-1761, pp. 22, 483; Fries, Records of
the Moravians, I, 96, JCHA, June 11, 1760. William Calhoun's journal (above, n.
53) from 1760 to 1771 records frequent sales of rum, but late in the decade these gave
way to "liquor" which apparently meant whiskey.
80 Above, p. 120; Inventories, 1751-1753, pp. 107, 470; JC, Mar. 19, 1735.
^Inventories, 1758-1761, pp. 89, 274, 468, 585, 589; above, p. 69; SCAGG,
Oct. 16, 1767 (advt. of J. N. Oglethorpe) ; JC, Feb. 3, 1772. There were Jews harps
in Thomas Brown's inventory (1746-1748, p. 164).
Back Country/ and Frontier 177
casional glimpses of them when they were not concerned about the appear-
ance of their letters or speech show them to have been a very cheerful
people. Their life was simple and usually hard, but nature was bountiful,
and there was no necessity for unrelieved toil. The climate and every
creek and wood were a continual invitation to outdoor sports, and winter
evenings by firelight or occasional candle were not without their resources
even though spinning, carding, and other tasks required much of the time.
Only on the northwest frontier, its nearest approach to one of the major
Indian tribes, does the back country seem to have gathered a considerable
number of the idle and vicious, the Indians and the Indian trade attract-
ing rougher elements like those to be found in Saxe Gotha in the earlier
days. Even there, however, the forces and the desire for law and order
were distinctly uppermost; there were few who did not earnestly wish for
advance of settlement and all that went with it. Elsewhere in the pied-
mont the record is remarkably good. The reasons are not far to seek. The
criminally minded were as yet little drawn to the region — there was not
much to steal — and the idle and worthless contrived to stay in districts
farther removed from Indian dangers. Those who came were the re-
sponsible type who sought land and wealth, or, if that were out of reach,
at least comfort and independence. To some very serious-minded per-
sons like the Ebenezer Lutheran pastors and John Tobler, or to others
like Governor Glen, desirous of writing a letter that would entertain and
strike the fancy of his superiors in England, the back settlers offered ex-
cellent material for lurid imaginations to play upon. The facts, however,
were against the traducers.®^
The council journal notes on land petitions of the late 'forties and
early 'fifties indicate the petitioner's signature, whether written by him-
self or signed by mark, but the deeds and mortgages of the middle and back
country show the inaccuracy of this record.^^ A fair estimate would place
illiteracy between ten and twenty percent. The Germans made the best
showing, the overland settlers from Virginia and the northern colonies the
poorest. Failure to sign a paper, however, was no indication of economic
status, for some of the owners of slaves and of considerable amounts of
other property were thus listed.
In the incomplete record made by back country inventories, books are
an infrequent entry. This item in James Love's estate on upper Lynches
River amounted to nearly two pounds ; in James Adamson's on the Wateree
to twelve shillings; Benoni Fowler's books on upper Broad River were
worth nine shillings, as were "Some old Books" belonging to Thomas
«2Voigt, German Element, JC, July 4, 1749, PR, XXV, 350 (above, p. 121, n.
13). For instances of bad behavior, see above, p. 121, JC, Apr. 6, Aug. 4, 1749,
Sept. 1, 1752. For a summary account of the German element see G. P. Voigt,
"The Germans and German-Swiss in South Carolina", Proceedings of the South
Carolina Historical Association, 193 5.
®^ Mesne Conveyances, Inventories, Wills.
178 The Expansion of South Carolina
Ortham near Ninety Six. In the older communities on the fall line and
below, inventories made before 1760 show that John Jacob Riemensperger
of the Congarees had sixty-four "old Dutch books," Robert Millhouse of
the lower Wateree had over seven pounds worth, John Fallowfield of
New Windsor had twelve "reading" books appraised at seven shillings,
and John Tobler's library was worth over twenty-one pounds. James
Gerald of the Congarees had a two-volume set of Fielding's Joseph
Andrews which was valued at six shillings.^*
Petitions from the back country were probably written out at times by
a Charleston lawyer or the clerk of the court, but some evidently were put
to paper without such help, and the wording of the letters copied into the
council journal or the Indian Books bears evidence of fairly faithful trans-
literation. They were written with what skill and knowledge of English
the writer could muster — for like others of the day they wished to appear
well on paper — and on the whole are no discredit to their section. The
papers and letters of the less learned, and of those who approached danger-
ously near to illiteracy, more often than not had some saving grace of
simple and effective language, awkward, perhaps, but all the more charged
with meaning for being hard-won. The writers had been little touched
by the wordy style of the day; what they knew was to a large degree the
English of the King James version, even though they perhaps did not get it
direct from that source. Mary Cloud's affidavit was written out before a
German justice of the peace in Saxe Gotha or on the Cherokee path below,
and doubtless all the help available was rendered the worthy squire in
putting it down. But there was little time for polishing a paper in a case
in which time was vital, and its stark simplicity, its dignified and rhythmic
prose, quite certainly represented the speech of the woman who had sur-
vived, as Governor Glen put it, to tell "the whole of the Dreadful &
Bloody Scene." ''
A study of these back countrymen in the middle of the century impresses
one with their soundness, their integrity, their goodly heritage of ideas and
customs. With equal force comes the realization that conditions in their
new home were violently upsetting to their previous habits and social or-
ganization, and that there was as much of threat as of promise in the
situation. In the prevailing economic equality, in the lack of government
and of church establishment, there was the foundation for a society more
democratic and free than ever known before to these immigrants save to
those who had come from the back country of other colonies. The stimulus
of the new independence, the demands upon the family and upon each re-
«* Inventories, 1753-1756, pp. 237, 405, 1751-1753, p. 471, 1758-1761, pp. 341, 399,
483, 1761-1763, p. 31, 1763-1767, p. 265. For identification of Love, see JC,
Dec. 6, 1757, Ortham, JUHA, Feb. 4, 1755, Fowler, P, VII, 257.
«2 Above, p. 122, JC, June 18, 1753.
Back Country and Frontier 179
sponsible member of it, developed a high degree of individualism, and
for the most part showed these settlers at their best. The obvious danger,
however, was that society in the back country would break down by
reason of this very individualism and isolation, this lack of agencies like
schools and churches which could organize the community, utilize and
foster its intellectual and spiritual resources, and maintain stimulating
and improving contact with the progressive influences of the outside world.
The critical problem was therefore whether the plain vigorous culture
characteristic of the best of these people could strike root in the soil and
draw new strength from its bounty, its beauty and its hardships.
Brief though their sojourn had been in the Carolina piedmont the
settlers were striving, both consciously and unconsciously, to preserve if
not to improve upon the heritage they brought with them. The efforts
were sometimes effective, more often pathetically inadequate, but whether
they took the form of attempts to educate children, to acquire handsome
clothes or tableware, to set up churches for the improvement of the morals
of the settlement, or of moves on the part of ambitious individuals to get
for themselves the offices and scanty emoluments that lay within their
reach, the tendency was to establish in the back country the social organiza-
tion as well as the agencies and standards these leaders had known on the
coast or in the old country. Under the circumstances it was even more dif-
ficult to make headway toward establishing a superior class than to set up
schools and churches, but the obstacles were economic and natural, not the
outgrowth of any conscious or organized effort to set up democratic opinions
and institutions. The foundations of democracy had been laid, but its
growth was not to come until the next generation.
More success attended the effort to achieve the simpler and more
tangible standards or institutions of the older society. Sheer illiteracy was
kept to a minimum, and the absence of evidence to the contrar}- indicates
that for this elementary education the children were dependent on their
parents. The results even in the homes of those who had a fair education
were likely to be meager, although John Pearson succeeded well enough
in his own task, and farther down, on the border of the middle country,
John Tobler appears to have imparted his almanac-making craft, if not
all of his superior learning, to his son.^
But most of the work of education fell to the church, and the teaching
of creed or catechism to the young, the grappling of the elders with the
uncompromising theology- of the day as it was set forth in the occasional
sermon or in community pra\'er-meetings, went far toward preventing
^ Above, p. 69. John Tobler Jr. appears to have lived until 1790 at least,
and to have married about 1760 (JC, Apr. 6, 1762) ; presumably he grew up in
South Carolina. In 1764 the Gazette listed nine places on the fall line and in the
back country %yhere subscriptions might be left for the paper, and a score of others
in the middle country (Aug. 25, Oct. 1, 1764).
r
180 The Expansion of South Carolina
intellectual stagnation." I'here was yet another secular service rendered
by the church. It is improbable that the majority of the settlers of any
nationality represented in the back country had great religious interest,
but the church members as a rule were the more substantial elements of
the population, and thus the leaders were brought into more effective or-
ganization. In turn the services strengthened the hold of the church upon
the affection and the imagination of the people and increased the comfort
and joy it gave to those who were able and willing to do its bidding.
For these purposes there were in the back country in 1759 only five
or six fully organized churches — the Waxhaw and Fishing Creek Presby-
terian Churches, the Baptist Churches on Lynches River, Broad River
and Fairforest Creek, and probably the German church on Crims Creek.
Occasionally communities were visited by ministers from the middle
country churches or by missionaries from the northern colonies. Nor were
the Anglican leaders in the low country and in England unaware of the
dangers and opportunities on the frontier, although in 1759 the only practi-
cal results were the short-lived missions to the fall line settlements.*'^
xv The problems which vexed the back country, and the scanty list of
forces and agencies which it could of itself muster for their solution, throw
into strong relief the role, actual and possible, of the government which
should have been greatest of all institutions for the purposes of order and
progress. In appearance political authority was lacking to a degree almost
startling. There was no court outside of Charleston, with the exception of
the justices of the peace who had the authority to try cases involving
about three pounds sterling or less, to issue warrants for the arrest and
transportation of offenders to the provincial court, and to hear the appeals
of servants having grievances against their masters. For warrants which they
issued or executions they granted, the justices received fees of eight or
nine pence; the few constables had similar fees for serving these papers,
and about a penny and a half mileage. Petty breaches of the peace, small
^^ Note the prayer meetings conducted by Pearson and John Tobler (above
pp. 72, 157). In the Congarees Herman Geiger had — besides a Bible — a sermon
book and five psalters, and William Howell had three volumes of "Arskens
Sermons" (Inventories, 1751-1753, p. 107, 1756-1758, p. 178). Of physicians,
whose professional training might have served to raise the standard of education
as well as that of physical well-being, the back country probably had none in
1759. Dr. John Cantzon was in the Waxhaws in 1763 (JC, Dec. 6, 1763, P, VIII,
340, X, 55), and a year earlier Dr. Abraham Anderson in the forks of the Broad
and Saluda advertised his oflFer to cure "CONSUMPTION, CANCKER, or in-
ward IMPOSTHUMES" (SCG, June 19. 1762). On the fall line were Dr.
Benjamin Farrar, in 1757 (Mesne Conveyances, 2T, 538-541), Dr. William
Tucker, in 1765 {ibid., 3E, 383-389), both of the Congarees, and Dr. J. J.
Sturzennegger, in New Windsor in 1765 (advt., SCG, June 8, 1765).
^ See above, pp. 143, 145, 155, 158. The importance of the church in the
back country was further emphasized by the South Carolina law which required
performance of the marriage ceremony by a minister, whereas in North Carolina
the justices of the peace had this right {Stats., II, 289, Col. Recs. of N. C, I, 601,
VIII, 208).
Back Country and Frontier 181
damage suits and collection of taxes were thus provided for, while serious
offenses could be tried only by sending the criminal to Charleston to jail,
and by forcing witnesses to make the long and expensive trip.
For the present, however, Indians were a greater danger to the back
settlers than lawless persons of their own color, and the fourteen captains of
militia resident among them were charged with the duty of registering
every white male from sixteen to sixty. The officers had the authority to
summon the men for drill when they should see fit up to six times in the
j^ear, and to call out any number needed to repel an Indian attack.**^
Slender as was this political machinery it sufficed surprisingly well until
the Cherokee War; the country was too thinly settled for the inhabitants
to have much need of courts for civil relations. As yet the idle and lawless
elements had not resorted to it in large numbers, while the militia sj'stem,
supplemented by occasional troops of rangers, gave the back country almost
as much protection as that enjoyed by the coast. The settlers themselves
complained little — perhaps because they realized how small was the like-
lihood that courts would be granted them.^"
Whether viewed from economic or social angles, the South Carolina back
country in 1759 presented problems and possibilities as interesting as im-
portant. Good land that was practically free and a mild and healthful
climate were developing a sturdy and independent population of small
farmers, while lack of markets prevented the rise of a wealthy class. A
few indomitable and enterprising spirits might gain the status of small
planters and lay the foundation of an effective organization and leadership
for the future, but this was no serious disturbance to the rule of substantial
equality. The processes of immigration had brought to the region a popu-
lation which was on the whole very desirable, and a goodly number who
lacked only polish and wealth to vie with the ruling class on the coast.
However, though its make-up was essentially sound, and its economic
conditions gave it a common denominator, this back country society was no
society at all; it was rather a mixture of various racial and religious
elements with half a dozen rudimentary centers and few unifying in-
fluences. The back country was separated from the tidewater and its well
established institutions by the wide and thinly settled middle country, and
by other barriers even more serious. Indeed, many of its interests and con-
nections drew it to the piedmont settlements of the colonies to the north,
and the problems of the South Carolina tidewater, as of the coast country
^^¥oT the justices of the peace see Stats. Ill, 17, 131-132, 268-269. The
militia act of 1747 {ibid., IX, 645-663) was in force until the Revolution {ibid.,
p. 663, IV, 206-209, 294-297).
^^ An anonymous letter from the Broad and Saluda in 1762 {SCG, Apr. 3,
1762), protesting the injustice to the dissenting back country involved in the
Anglican establishment, listed only one other grievance, and that incidentally — the
burden of the land tax which taxed all lands alike. Disposing of property by will
involved probating it in Charleston, and few did so, depending instead, apparently,
upon deeds — see for instance, JC, July 3, 1753.
182 The Expansion of South Carolina
of the other colonies, were being made more complex and difficult by the
rise of an American back country section. Nevertheless economic im-
provement demanded access to capital and markets, which in the eight-
eenth century could be found only on the coast. Already progress had
been made toward establishing these connections, although it was far
from clear whether their development in this province would answer its
needs.
There were thus two great issues at stake in South Carolina — what
would the back country itself develop into, and what would be its relations
with the tidewater ? Both proved to be of vital concern to the low country,
and from time to time during the next fifty years forced themselves upon
the attention of its leaders even to the obscuring of their own proper
concerns. Both geography and the social and political situation threatened
to evolve a colony of totally dissimilar and separate sections, neither of
them constituting a well rounded economy or society, and neither large
enough to achieve any high development. The South Carolina tidewater
was one of the best governed units in the British empire, but its leaders
were at present absorbed in their own politics and in the unprecedented
expansion of their industry; the immediate problems and the future
/ ; significance of the back country made little impression upon them. But,
V \ as is common in such cases, military needs enforced a measure of unity
and strengthened organs of control which otherwise would have remained
weak. The same process was going on in other colonies, but in few were
the issues so critical as in South Carolina. The Seven Years War now
came upon the colony, and was to have potent influence upon the later de-
velopments of the back country, and on its relations with the tidewater.
The middle country in almost every important respect was a transition
from the tidewater to the piedmont section, and the problems just surveyed
emphasize the significance of its role. Its population of nine thousand
whites and near fifteen hundred slaves was spread out in long strips
paralleling the rivers and occasionally expanding as in Amelia and
Orangeburg. Slaveowner and small farmer were side by side in most of
this section, save that the swamp areas were left almost entirely to the
former. Frame houses with detached kitchens and smoke-houses were
common, and inventories indicate that the planters, but probably not
the farmers, used better methods than did the back countrymen. Crops
of piedmont and coast were grown and more cattle raised than in either of
the other two sections. No doubt many of the small farmers profited by
rice and indigo to some extent,'^ but the capital and type of labor required
largely restricted their cultivation to the plantation system. Transporta-
tion was a grave problem, but not so great a barrier to progress as in the
piedmont. On the Peedee, Wateree, Congaree and Savannah boats ran to
71
This is indicated by the rice and indigo advertisements.
II
Back Country and Frontier 183
the fall line, but, thanks to the greater directness of the roads and the ease
of building them, most of the traffic was by land.
Racially the middle country was as mixed as the back country, but the
South Carolina element was much larger than in the piedmont, and was
clearly dominant. As in the back country there was no barrier between ele-
ments, save that the language of the German-Swiss cut them off from the
English speaking groups. However, in contrast with the back country
situation, the scattered nature of the middle country German settlements
brought assimilation of the Switzers obviously nearer ; it might even be said
to have begun.
So far as schools were concerned the middle country furnishes no more
evidence of organized community work than does the back country. But
the number of ministers, the number of planters living near one another
who might together employ a tutor, and the comparative accessibility of
Charleston with its advantages, held out adequate promise for educational
development. The inventories of Tobler, Herman Geiger and others show
the means and desire of the leading men for the finer things of life, and
there were others besides — for instance William Seawright of Beaver
Creek, a few miles above Amelia, who had pictures appraised at forty-six
shillings, and two mahogany tables.'^ In religion the section was as much
a transition as in other respects, for while the tidewater was dominantly
Anglican, with a strong dissenter minority, the middle country was
dominantly dissenter although most of its leaders were Anglican.
In government the middle country had some of the advantages of the
tidewater, and most of the disadvantages of the back country. Its justices
of the peace were more numerous, and it was nearer the provincial court
in Charleston. In 1759 St. Mark's was the one parish in the middle
country proper; not until 1768 were two more established, St. David's and
St. Matthew's. With these slender systems of courts and representation
the middle country was not wholly content, and long before the worse
treated back country voiced a protest, Peedee settlers called for courts,
and Amelia, Orangeburg and Williamsburg asked for representation.^^
For the present the middle country seemed to be equidistant from the
other two sections, but the drift, for the time, at least, was toward the
tidewater: for a decade the small farmers coming into the province had
been clearly avoiding the entire low country and going to the cooler and
less swampy piedmont, while the phenomenal development of indigo, rice
and slave-holding was steadily pushing the plantation system up the rivers
toward the fall line. Nevertheless, even if this process continued apace,
the origin and the continued existence of small farmers in the middle
■^2 Inventories, 1758-1761, pp. 469-470.
"^^ Stats., ly. 35-37, 230-232, 298-3p2, JCHA, Mar. 17, 1752. Williamsburg and
Purrysburg, tidewater rather than middle country townships, were within reach of
Prince Frederick's (1734), and St. Peter's (1747).
184 The Expansion of South Carolina
country guaranteed a certain amount of sympathy for, if not connection
with the piedmont, and was one of the best promises of provincial unity.
In this respect alone it would have stamped the settlement program of the
thirty years preceding as a conspicuous success, for otherwise the middle
country probably would have gone largely unsettled until the piedmont
had grown into a populous and utterly isolated section.
CHAPTER XIV
The Southern Indians and their Trade, 1731-1759
The back country was primarily the product of internal conditions in
the province and in the colonies or countries which contributed its immi-
grants, but problems of frontier defense constantly affected its growth and
sometimes profoundly influenced its institutional development. The danger
from the Indians and the warfare with them retarded the settlement of one
district and thus indirectly encouraged that of another; it kept out some
types of settlers, and for the others increased their dependence on the
provincial government while it forced them to a more effective organization
and community cooperation than would have been possible under other
circumstances.
For the most part the role of the backcountryman in this business was
altogether passive. In the painfully worked out diplomacies and innumer-
able intrigues which were the Englishman's, the Frenchman's and the In-
dian's way of getting along with one another he was never consulted and
seldom considered. Nevertheless he was a potential factor of great impor-
tance, for when diplomacy and intrigue failed he must defend the colony
or lose his home.
When Governor Johnson reached Charleston in December 1730, the
province had recovered most of the ground lost in the collapse of 1715.
The Indian trade was larger that it had been in the years immediately
preceding the Yamasee War, although relations with the Creeks and Chero-
kees were uncertain and the French had taken advantage of the troubles of
their rivals to establish Fort Thoulouse, or the Alabama Fort, as the Eng-
lish called it, at the forks of the Alabama River. ^ The Carolina leaders
now attacked the old problem with renewed vigor, the Commons as usual
seeking peace and security, the council listening to merchant and trader
and their schemes for enlarging trade and empire.
The Indian trade act of 1731 provided for a commissioner with a salary
of a hundred pounds a year, who, subject to the orders of the governor,
was to visit the Indian nations and Fort Moore, hear complaints of Indians
against traders, and, if he found it necessary, fine the trader and take his
license from him. To enforce his authority he could summons other traders
as constables. The trader as principal paid an annual license fee of four
^ See above, pp. 13-14, and Crane, Southern Frontier, ch. XI, and pp. 256,
328-331. The Spanish threat was through the danger of slave insurrection rather
than through their slight influence with the Indians.
185
186 The Expansion of South Carolina
pounds six shillings, with the privilege of taking two white men with him,
but paying for others in proportion. Each trader was restricted to the
Indian town named in his license."
In 1734, following the murder of traders by Creeks and a threat of
some of the Cherokees to kill their traders if they did not lower prices,'
the House was strongly tempted to repeat the 1716-1721 experiment of
government operation of the trade. But the protests of the merchants had
weight with the council and caused a compromise.'* Already steps had
been taken looking toward the building of forts in the Indian nations, and
the colony of Georgia was now brought into the South Carolina plans.
In a conference of committees of both houses with Oglethorpe in March
1734, the latter agreed to put a garrison of twenty-four men among the
upper Creeks, increasing the number to thirty the second year, if the South
Carolina government would pay to Georgia the equivalent of about £570
the first year and £640 the second — probably the entire cost of the proposed
garrison.^ Meanwhile the offending Cherokees were brought to terms by
a resolution completely stopping their trade, and at the time they made
their submission they sold a piece of ground for a fort which was evidently
located near Chauga, a lower town on the Tugaloo River where the
Georgia Cherokee path converged with a branch of the Ninety Six path.®
For building these forts and for securing a more responsible type of
Indian trader the two houses agreed in November 1734 upon an act which
added seven pounds three shillings to the license each principal trader had
to pay, and imposed a duty of nearly a penny on every skin they bought.^
If this law could have been enforced and the southwestern trade kept
under a single control it would have been a potent factor in maintaining
peace and British influence among the Indians of this troubled frontier.
Oglethorpe sailed from Charleston in April 1734, immediately after
the agreement for the Creek garrison. He was present at the meeting of
the Georgia Trustees the following January when an act for the regula-
tion of the Indian trade was adopted which for the most part accurately
copied the wording of the South Carolina act of 1731, with a clause ex-
^ Stats., IV, 327-334. Chickasaw traders, because of the distance and the need
to supply those Indians as cheaply as possible, were exempted from the license fee.
This act was the last of a series which, after the experiment of 1716 with a
government owned trade, brought the system back to the model of 1707 {ibid., II,
309-316, Crane, Southern Frontier, pp. 193-200).
^JC, Aug. 16, 1732, SCG, May 11, 1734 (see also "Publicola", Jan. 27, 1733);
PR, XVII, 189 (Johnson to Board, Nov. 9, 1734), JCHA, Dec. 7, 1732, Dec. 11,
1733.
*JUHA, May 29, 31, 1734; JCHA, May 21, 22, 24, 28, 1734.
^ JCHA, Mar. 9, 1734, Mar. 18, 21, Apr. 18, 28, 1735; Stats., Ill, 402. Compare
the cost of the Fort Moore garrison — ibid., p. 390.
^'JCHA, Nov. 22, 1734, PR, XVII, 189-191 (above, n. 3); JUHA, Nov. 23,
1734; Haig, Map of the Cherokee Country; SCHGM, XIX, 157-161; see also
JUHA, Feb. 21, 1734.
^JCHA, Nov. 13-16, 21, 1734, JUHA, Nov. 14, 1734 Stats., Ill, 399-402. The
duty was sixpence currency, the act was to be in force two years.
Back Country and Frontier 187
eluding all traders not licensed by Georgia from the territory of that prov-
ince. Enforcement of the act was provided for by orders from Oglethorpe
and the Trustees to Captain Patrick McKay, the officer who had been
commissioned to establish the Creek garrison. McKay at once began a
drastic reorganization of the Carolina trade and traders in the Creek,
Chickasaw and Cherokee towns.*
The Carolina protests against this attempt at a monopoly of the Indian
trade were first directed to the Trustees. Oglethorpe was not suspected
until a letter was received from him expressing his determination to en-
force the act, and intimating that a few men engaged in the Indian trade
were trying to force their own interests at the sacrifice of those of the
public. A patched-up truce failed to bring even temporary peace,® and it
was not until 1738 that the matter was settled by an order of the crown
to the Georgia authorities to issue certificates without charge to all traders
licensed from South Carolina.^" As a consequence the South Carolina as-
sembly in 1739 set the license fee of traders at twelve shillings with no
extra charge for employees. Traders were forbidden to credit Indians
for more than six buckskins worth of goods ; the commissioner's salary was
reduced and no provision was made for him to visit the Indian nations.
Otherwise the act was essentially the same as that of 1731. It was con-
tinued till 1751.^^
The results of Oglethorpe's venture into Indian trade regulation and
Indian diplomacy reflect no credit on any of the parties to the controversy,
and least of all upon himself. Instead of using his prestige to strengthen
the hand of the South Carolina assembly in its promising move for effective
regulation and frontier defense, his efforts were bent to transferring the
trade to the village of Savannah and its control to the inexperienced and
wretchedly organized Georgia government. To the officials of South
Carolina his conduct had all the appearance of double-dealing and his send-
ing an armed force to eject English traders, without previous attempts to
efifect a peaceable settlement of the dispute, thoroughly warranted the re-
mark of a Creek headman "that he had never seen such doings by the
White People before." Cordial relations between the two governments
8 Jones, History of Ga., I, 171, 174; Col. Recs. of Ga., I, 25, 31-43, 184-185,
197-198; JCHA, Mar. 19, 1735, Dec. 15, 1736 (Appendix no. 5). See also JCHA,
Mar. 5, 7, 21, 22, 25, Apr. 24, 25, 1735 and JUHA, Apr. 25, 1735; PR, XVII, 396-
444 (Broughton to Board, October, 1737).
''PR, XVII, 381-382, 442-444 (Georgia Trustees to Capt. Patrick McKay,
Oct. 10, 1735— see Board Trade Journal, Dec. 17, 1735) ; above, n. 8; JCHA, May
6, 25, June 26, July 13, 15, Dec. 15, 1736; JUHA, May 27, June 26, 1736; Stats.,
Ill, 448-449; Col. Recs. of Ga., XXI, 118, 184, 195, 206-207.
lojCHA, Dec. 15, 1736, Dec. 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 14, 1736; JUHA, Dec. 11, 1736,
Oct. 7, 1737, Col. Recs. of Ga., I, 282-283, PR, XVIII, 118-152 (Board of Trade
Journal, May 19, June 6, 9, 18, 21, Aug. 3, 1737), 289-297, XIX, 79-84 (Board to
Council Committee, Sept. 4, 1737, Order in Council, May 25, 1738).
^^ Stats., Ill, 517-525, 587, 646, 754. The commissioner's salary was not set in
the act, but he was paid £14:6 a year — for instance, ibid., p. 538, IV, 70.
188 The Expansion of South Carolina
were destroyed and they now began to compete in laxity of trade regula-
tion. A number of traders moved over to Augusta for convenience, but a
Savannah official despondently noted during the controversy that when the
newly licensed traders came down with fifteen thousand pounds sterling
worth of skins to trade they were forced to go on to Charleston with
them/"
The South Carolina frontier defenses at this time were primarily de-
vised for protection against the Indians, and from 1731 to 1733 were
manned by seventy-seven men. Garrisons were stationed at Fort Moore
and the Pallachuccolas, sometimes called Fort Prince George, guarding the
crossing of the lower Creek path over the Savannah. The crew of a scout
boat and a troop of rangers likewise covered that exposed district. From
the founding of Georgia till the Indian trade dispute the scout boat and
a detachment of rangers were put under Oglethorpe's orders, and served
south of the Savannah. But in September 1736 their pay came to an end,
despite Broughton's urgent request that they be continued — both for pur-
poses of defense and lest the colony of Georgia "give some ill turn thereof
at Home". In this year the Fort Moore garrison was reduced to sixteen
men.^^
In February and March 1737 the prospect of a Spanish attack on
Georgia from Havana caused hurried preparations for defense of the broad
inlets and the thin settlements from Port Royal to the Altamaha. At Port
Royal a small fort, afterwards called Fort Frederick, and a troop of
rangers were placed, and orders were given for bringing four or five hun-
dred Creeks and their traders, the Uchees, and the New Windsor Chicka-
saws to defend the Altamaha and the Savannah. It was designed to have
three or four hundred Cherokees lie in reserve on the Santee, to overawe the
slaves "more dreadful to our Safety," Broughton said, "than any Spanish
Invaders". Though this alarm subsided there was still danger from the
Spanish forces at Havana, which could use St. Augustine as a base for an
attack upon the isolated English colonies. In 1738 therefore the British
government sent a regiment of troops to the Georgia coast, and in September
Oglethorpe arrived as general and commander-in-chief of the royal forces
in Georgia and South Carolina.^^
The war with Spain, of which these alarms were the precursors, was
at last declared in 1739. Oglethorpe wished to seize the opportunity to
capture St. Augustine and thus end forever the Spanish peril to the south-
ern coast. Despite the prevailing depression in the rice industry, the as-
i-See, for instance, JC, May 11, June 7, 1750; JCHA, Dec. 7, 1749; Col Recs.
of Ga., XXI, 186. For the headman's remark see JCHA, Dec. 15, 1736.
^'■^ Stats. Ill, 316, 359, 390-391, 446, 481; JC, Jan. 26, 1733; JCHA, Jan. 19,
1733, Mar. 18, Apr. 13, May 29, July 17, 1736, Jan. 18, 1737; JUHA, Apr. 8,
May 27, 1736, Jan. 14, 1737.
"JUHA, Feb. 8, Mar. 19, 1737; PR, XVIII, 172-173 (Broughton to New-
castle, Feb. 6, 1737); Stats., Ill, 510, 537; Jones, History of Ga., I, 258-260.
Back Country and Frontier 189
sembly entered heartily into the project, for the Carolinians attributed
the Stono insurrection and their other slave troubles to the Spaniards. A
regiment of five hundred whites was raised, fifty volunteers added them-
selves to the force and there was an indeterminate number of Indians, in-
cluding the New Windsor Chickasaws, under the command of William
Gray/^ There were also five men-of-war, mounting altogether a hundred
and twenty guns, and several smaller vessels. The failure of the expedi-
tion in July 1740 caused an investigation by the assembly, charged now with
a debt of over seven thousand pounds. A committee of fourteen of the
leading men of the Commons and the council finally presented an ex-
haustive report, with an impressive array of documents and depositions,
which were as plain evidence of Oglethorpe's lack of resolution as of the
timidity or indifference of the commanders of the vessels.^^
In the counter-attack of the Spanish two years later on the forts near
the mouth of the Altamaha Oglethorpe acquitted himself with great credit
and complete success. For this defense he asked no aid from Bull, "since
you can spare none but think myself Obliged to give you this notice that
you may prepare to prevent any Revolt amongst the Negroes." The as-
sembly, however, had already provided nine thousand pounds for the de-
fense of the two provinces, but the eight vessels, carrying seventy-eight
guns and six hundred men, arrived too late for action.^^ Spain had now
shot her bolt, and was thereafter only a minor problem on the southern
frontier.
With the passing of this menace the external military problem of South
Carolina became primarily a matter of rivalry with the French in main-
taining and extending the Indian trade and Indian alliances. Until 1748
the chief theatre of this rivalry was in the southwest, involving the Creeks,
Choctaws and Chickasaws, for during that period the French activities
were directed to the Gulf region rather than to the Ohio Valley area.
Thomas Broughton and the elder William Bull, who administered the
government from 1735 to Glen's arrival in 1743, were experienced and
capable advocates of a vigorous expansion. ^^ The trade with the Creeks
belonged to the English beyond any dispute, but the French, enforted at
^^ See Report of the Committee . . . on the St. Augustine Expedition {SCHSC,
IV, especially 19-21, 26, 30, 32, 46, 115-116, 126-127, 149, 150, 165-167, 171), Stats.,
III, 551-552.
'^^ Stats., Ill, 546-553, 577-579; JCHA, July 18, 24, 1740, Feb. 26, July 1, 1741.
The money was to be raised by annual levies, 1741-1745. The JUHA report (July
2, 1741) has only 37 of the 139 documents of the appendix; it is printed in SCHSC,
IV, 9-177.
^"JC, June 18, 19, July 4, 16, 24, 30, 1742; Stats., Ill, 595-597, Jones, History
of Ga., I, 344-352, above, p. 71.
^^ Compare the aggressive proposals of the council in 1742 — JC, Aug. 14, 19,
Sept. 3, 1742, PR, XXII, 3-4 (Board of Trade Journal, Apr. 23, May 8, 1745),
40-56 (Representation of John Fenwicke, Apr. 9, 1745). For Fenwicke, see PR,
XXI, 30-32 (from Charleston, Mar. 3, 1743), JCHA, Dec. 18, 1740, Crane,
Southern Frontier, pp. 193-194.
190 The Expansion of South Carolina
New Orleans, Mobile and at the forks of the Alabama, kept the traders
and their goods in perpetual danger, and were in position to block English
expansion to the west. Oglethorpe's essay into Indian affairs resulted in
nothing, for the garrison which marched into the Creek countrj^ did not
build a fort. The Creeks were very well pleased, for the French could not
prevent their trade with the English, yet offered a protection against them;
as they blandly remarked to Glen not long afterward, "they were better
supply'd with Goods when they lived well with both French and English."
One of the motives of those desiring a Creek fort was better access to the
five thousand Choctaw warriors whose market, ill supplied by the French,
might be gained by the English. But the French with their forts had the
Choctaws nearly surrounded, and by a judicious use of force and gifts, and
by making it perilous for English traders to enter, kept the nation
firmly bound. Nevertheless the bolder spirits among the English traders
constantly planned to disrupt this control. ^^
Early in 1737 the Commons, fearing the possible destruction of the
Chickasaws by the French and Choctaws and the consequent upset of the
balance of power in the southwest, urged that an alliance be sought with
the latter. The indefatigable trader Alexander Wood and his associate
John Campbell were the chief instruments in the negotiations. But the
French though weak in trade were strong in position ; they nipped this at-
tempt in the bud, and even had the Choctaws ambush the traders on their
way to the Chickasaw towns.~° In 1743 the Commons was for the moment
so far aroused to the apparent danger from the French that it asked the
lieutenant-governor to get permission again from the Creeks to build a
fort. Bull promptly reported, two months later, that he had secured per-
mission for a fort near Okfuskee town (on the upper Tallapoosa River, the
first of the Creek towns on the trading path) ; he had also the promise of the
Creeks to give assistance in building it, and with the advice of the council
he had authorized some expenditures for the purpose. Wood, in turn
exceeding his own instructions, sent out a hundred men to build the fort,
and asked a suitable reward for them according to the number of French
and Choctaw scalps they might bring in. The Commons receded from its
plan of building a fort, however, and the over-zealous trader was repri-
manded by the newly arrived Governor Glen and the council."^
Wood was a partner in the firm of Archibald McGillivray and Com-
pany, the leading trading organization in the southwest. Both men seem
i^C, July 29, 1735, May 22, 1745. Note Alexander Wood's plan of 1731 (JC,
July 20, 1731).
2«JCHA, Mar. 5, 1737, June 1, 1738; JUHA, June 1, Sept. 12, 1738, Jan. 17,
18, 1739, Feb. 2, 1740. See PR, XXII, 45 (above, n. 18), and note the suggestion
of the Commons that the Chickasaws be settled on the Savannah above Fort
Moore fJCHA, Feb. 23, 1738).
21 JUHA, Mar. 17, 1741, Jan. 22, 1745; JCHA, Oct. 8, Dec. 13, 14, 16, 1743;
JC, Dec. 15, 1743, Mar. 21, Apr. 20, 1744, Jan. 25, 1745; Crane, Southern Frontier,
p. 135; Swanton, Creek Indians, p. 246.
Back Country atid Frontier 191
to have withdrawn soon after 1743, McGilHvray leaving the province,
Wood retiring to live on his plantation at Goose Creek, near Charleston,
while their former partners, Patrick Brown, William Studders, George
Cussings and Jeremiah Knott, continued the trade. Brown was now the
dominant figure, and peace and conciliation became the guiding principle
of the combination of which he had control.'^
Because of the strategic position of the Cherokee country the South
Carolina leaders kept a watchful eye upon that tribe. The Cherokees,
however, were usually hostile to the French, though from time to time
they received them and took their presents, for their prime desire was to
maintain their independence, threatened by the exposure of their Overhill
towns to attacks from the Mississippi. Bull, reporting that they had asked
swivel guns to enable them to protect themselves, urged the crown to fore-
stall the French by building a fort among them.^^
By 1744 the southern Indian trade had made its adjustments to chang-
ing political and economic conditions, and had assumed the lines to which it
held closely until the Seven Years War. Traders secured their licenses
from the Georgia and South Carolina governments as suited their con-
venience. Little of the trade went to Georgia, however, and that probably
came chiefly from the Lower Creeks, the only towns with which the prov-
ince had much to do. The Spanish had ceased to be a considerable factor in
the trade ; the French usually commanded the output of the Choctaws, but
only a small part of that of the Creeks, while the English had the Chick-
asaw, nearly all the Creek, and all the Cherokee trade. The last, formerly
so little regarded, had become quite as important as that of the southwest;
in 1751 in a list of 37 principal traders there were 17 to the Creeks, 16 to
the Cherokees, 2 to the Catawbas, 1 to the Chickasaws (who also had a
license to trade to the Choctaws), and 1 to the Breed Camp of Chickasaws,
a town of that people settled on the northwest portion of the Creek lands.
There were about 150 traders and packhorsemen among the Cherokees in
1756, and the total of Carolina traders in the Indian nations at this period
must have been more than 300.^*
Patrick Brown's great Indian trade organization had no counterpart in
the Cherokee country,""" but throughout the middle of the century there
were in that nation unusually capable traders. With few exceptions they
lived among the Indians, though James Maxwell, most important of them
during the 'forties, was a planter and a member of the Commons House.
-2 See above, p. 71, SCG, Sept. 26, 1741, PR, XVII, 430 (Affidavit of Knott,
July 4, 1735, see above, p. 187, n. 8); Col. Recs. of Ga., XXI, 67, JC, Nov. 11,
1747, Adair, American Indians, p. 325. For Wood see also above, p. 70.
-3 See above, p. 43, JC, Oct. 14, 1743, July 30, 1745; JCHA, May 21, 1741,
Oct. 7, 1743 (see also June 2, 1742); Mereness, Travels, pp. 246-247, Adair,
American Indians, pp. 240-243.
"*JC, June 15, 1751, Oct. 1, 1756, Laurens, Letter Books, July 4, 1755, Indian
Books, II, pt. 2, 150-151; Swanton, Creek Indians, p. 418.
-"Above, p. 69.
192 The Expansion of South Carolina
Until 1746 he was the usual spokesman of the provincial government for
the Cherokees, but the decline of his political and economic fortunes began
about the same time, and in 1751 he w^as bankrupt, owing ten thousand
pounds to a Charleston merchant.^^ James Beamer, probably a native of the
province, entered the Cherokee trade in 1724, but in 1741 he was unable
to appear in the settlements for fear of arrest for debt. In this, the normal
state of the trader, he lived at Eastatoe, in the Lower Towns, with his
Cherokee wife and half-breed sons and daughters, his slaves and cattle.^^
Cornelius Daugherty, in the Overhllls, counted his stay in the nation
from 1719. Illiterate and rougher than even the average of his fellows, he
was nevertheless one of the largest traders to the nation, and liked by In-
dians and whites. Ludovick Grant, who traded near him, entered the
Cherokees in 1725. Like Beamer he was a man of education; his care-
fully written letters were Governor Glen's chief dependence for Cherokee
affairs and good evidence that he was the "Gentleman" Glen declared him
to be. Others almost as interesting as these were Robert Bunning, the
senior of them all, who had been in the Cherokees since the year before the
Yamasee war, and Robert Goudey who traded only a few years in person,
about 1750, then established his store at Ninety Six.^® Tucked away in their
narrow valleys among the Indians with whom they had cast their lot, the
traders found the great mountains that shut them off from their own color
and civilization a not unwelcome barrier. This wild commerce and life
which had tempted them from their people and ruined nearly every one of
them, had in recompense given them an existence so easy-going, yet so far
removed from monotony, such bountiful if simple comforts, that their
regrets seem to have been few.
As the settlements moved to the fall line, and the roads became easier,
the competition between traders and between merchants became keener.
The Indians were thus better and better supplied, and in turn became more
and more dependent on the whites. One year's kill varied from another,
and there were periods of decline — such as that between 1749 and 1751
which was doubtless due largely to the war between the Creeks and Chero-
kees, and to the troubles of the latter with other Indians. The export of
deerskins did not recover from the Yamasee War until 1722, when it
reached approximately 60,000. Rising irregularly to about 200,000 in 1745
when the skins were worth £35,000, it fell to 100,000 in 1750, and did not
reach 200,000 again until 1759. A petition in 1749 from the Charleston
26 See JCHA, Mar. 19, 1741, Jan. 22, 1742, JC, Mar. 29, 1748, SCG, Dec. 3,
1750 (advt. of Provost Marshal), Court Records, Common Pleas, Nov. 1752. He
later moved to Georgia {Col. Recs. of Ga., VII, 620).
"A. S. Salley, Jr., Warrants for Lands in South Carolina, 1680-1692 (Colum-
bia, 1911), pp. 69, 77; JC, Nov. 9, 1732, Mar. 1, 1744, Nov. 22, 1751.
2« Indian Books, V, 19; JC, Nov. 22, 1751, July 6, 1753, Aug. 29, 1755, above, p.
132.
Back Country and Frontier 193
merchants interested in the trade was signed by thirty-one individuals or
firms, the same number listed in a similar petition during the Oglethorpe
affair in 1735."^ Only two or three of the earlier list appear in the second,
but in both the names were those of the leading merchants of the town.
Samuel Eveleigh in the early period, followed by Thomas Lambton
and John McQueen in the 'fifties, made most of the advances to the
traders; they in turn resold some of the skins they received to others
in the business. The investment of the individual merchant in the
trade was not large, but on it he made a pretty profit, which he was un-
willing to forego. There were, however, many undesirable conditions;
indeed, the very increase of the traffic was based in no small measure upon
unregulated competition. In their petition of 1749 the merchants force-
fully described the evils of improper dressing which left horns, hoofs and
snouts on the skins to increase their weight, thus adding to the cost of car-
riage and breeding worms. Worse still were the selling of rum and allow-
ing reckless credit to the Indians, the abuse of the Indians by the traders
and the utter helplessness of the government. The traders came to town
in August, and returned shortly with their goods for purchase of skins. A
hundred and fifty pounds made a horse-load, and transportation of this to
the Indian country cost from three to five pounds sterling.^"
In December 1743 James Glen arrived in Charleston to begin his
thirteen-year administration and immediately developed an intense in-
terest in Indian affairs. At first he exercised both caution and tact, yield-
ing to the veteran councillors,^^ and working cordially with the leaders of
the Commons. But early in 1746 a crisis developed; the Cherokees were
being threatened and cajoled by the French and their Indians, the Cataw-
bas were in danger of destruction by the Six Nations, and the Creeks were
described as in dangerous mood. Glen now took matters in his own hands.
Ignoring the council he called the assembly and informed the Commons
that he had summoned the Cherokee headmen to meet him at Ninety Six
and that he also expected to confer with the Catawbas at the Congarees
and the Creeks at Fort Moore. A joint committee of Commons and
council, declaring the situation was grave, expressed disapproval of the
governor's action because it had not the sanction of the council, but since
he had committed himself, recommended that the assembly provide for
an escort of two hundred men to accompany him. The report likewise
-^PR, XVII, 421 (July 4, 1735, enclosed by Broughton— see above, p. 187, n. 8),
XXIII, 389 (Glen to Board, Aug. 12, 1749) ; Adair, American Indians, pp. 278-
281; JC, Sept. 5, 1749; see Crane, Southern Frontier, pp. 112, 329-333.
^^ Ibid., pp. 122, 127; JC, Sept. 7, 1749, Nov. 26, 1755; Laurens, Letter Books,
Apr. 7, Dec. 11, 1756; PR, XXIV, 349 (Glen to Board, July 15, 1751). On
the Indian trade see also above, p. 188, and JC, May 17, 1749. Childermas
Croft was Commissioner from 1736 to 1747, William Pinckney served from that
time to the Cherokee War (JCHA, May 29, 1747, JC, Feb. 7, 1760).
^^ See, for instance, JC, May 22, 1745.
194 The Expansion of South Carolina
recommended that the governor be asked to give orders to repair Fort
Moore.^-
Having formed the force, together with fifty gentlemen volunteers and
their servants, into a "Regiment" as he described it, Glen set out on the
twenty-first of April. At the Congarees he conferred with the Catawbas
who offered to escort him, but Glen, perhaps mindful of their recent
quarrel with the Chickasaws, discreetly declined. Here he reassured the
settlers, who feared an Indian war. At Ninety Six, attended by George
Haig and doubtless also by Francis and his neighbors, the governor met
the so-called "Emperor" and sixty other Cherokees, but reported nothing
conclusive from the interview. Thence he went to Fort Moore and talked
with the New Windsor Chickasaws and with the Creeks, returning to
Charleston after more than a month's absence. The expedition cost over
four hundred pounds in pay of the men alone.^^
The series of conferences, conducted by the inexperienced governor
without, apparently, any leader of the council or House to advise him,
constituted on the whole a grand but rather futile gesture. The Com-
mons received the reports of the expedition and accounts for its expense
in sour mood. James Maxwell was snubbed by the House when he pre-
sented a bill for certain of the expenses, and entirely lost his influence with
that body, while the Board of Trade, perhaps receiving unfavorable re-
ports from the province, answered Glen's account of his achievements by
recommending that in the future he avoid such expensive missions. A
conference committee of the upper and lower houses reported that the ef-
forts of the French to win over the Cherokees and the Creeks required that
an agent be sent to each tribe. The Commons agreed to provide for both
agents, but no action was taken until the new assembly met in September.^*
At that time the new House heard further reports of the presence of
French Indians in the Cherokee towns, and of "an Indian Fellow, called
the Little Carpenter" who was expected to bring two hundred more
shortly. George Pawley, recommended by the Commons for the agency,
was a member of the House from Prince George Winyaw, a former sur-
veyor of lands in the Welsh Tract, and colonel of the Craven County
militia regiment. He had apparently no connection with the Indian trade,
and Glen seven years later declared that the council considered him un-
suited unless an experienced man were sent with him. The governor de-
^^Ibid.; SCG, May 6, 1745; JCHA, Apr. 25, 1745, Mar. 13, 15, 21, Apr. 14, 15,
1746; PR, XXII, 149-153 (Glen to Newcastle, May 3, 1746).
^ Ibid., pp. 153-155, 199-204 and XXIV, 427-431 (Glen to Board, Sept. 29,
1746, Dec. 1751, enclosure), above, p. 119; SCG, May 26, 1746; JC, Jan. 22, 1747;
JCHA, June 7, 1746.
3* JCHA, June 6, 7, 14, 17, 1746, PR, XXII, 287-288 (Board to Glen, May 26,
1747), JC, Mar. 29, 1748. Each Commons House from 1731 to 1745 had lasted to
within a few months of its statutory life of three years, but of the first six of
Glen's administration (1745-1751), only one was allowed to run as long as a
year (Smith, S. C. as a Royal Province, pp. 108, 409).
Back Country and Frontier 195
layed for a month giving him his commission and instructions, and thereby
incurred the censure of the House.'^
There were many letters and papers from Pawley, but little more than
titles and dates were recorded. He was insulted by some Shawnees, two
white men and a negro of the party were wounded, and George Haig, who
was a member of the expedition, later paid with his life for his succor of
some settlement Indians. But the agent was able to send a deed signed
by thirty-four of the Cherokee headmen for the lands between Ninety Six
and Long Canes, thus fulfilling the provincial agreement with John and
Thomas Turk. At the next session of the assembly the conference com-
mittee appointed to consider the papers of the mission recommended that a
fort be established "about the Place recommended by Colonel Pawley, in
order to . . . protect our Traders, and keep those Indians in the British
Interest ;" with the proviso that it be garrisoned by a detachment from the
independent companies and that the Cherokees be required to exclude the
French and Northward Indians. The Commons resolution that the fort
be on the hither side of the mountains indicates that Pawley's proposal was
for one in the Overhills.^^
In November 1746 Glen succeeded in getting a new consent from a
few Creek headmen for building an English fort near the Alabama gar-
rison of the French. Five months later, in the midst of his fruitless ef-
forts to persuade the Commons to build the fort, there came news from the
southwest that showed that the sanguine governor, like more than one
Carolina imperialist before him, was preparing to burn his fingers in the
Choctaw business.^^ Jam.es Adair, who entered the Chickasaw trade in
1744, later declared that at that time Glen charged him to do all in his
power to win over the Choctaws. The Chickasaw traders always had an
eye on the Choctaw trade, and the Chickasaws themselves, in danger of
extermination by French and Choctaw attacks, aided in this wilderness
diplomacy. Thus it came about that Red Shoes, the leading Choc-
taw chief, was approached by Adair and his doubtless more useful
partner John Campbell, veteran of twenty years of this trade and one of
the prime movers of the 1738 Choctaw revolt. Red Shoes, with a per-
sonal grudge against the French, readily fell in with the plans, and in the
summer of 1746 sent three French scalps to the Chickasaw traders for
the governor at Charleston. The scalps failed of their destination, but in
April 1747 the Little King, brother of Red Shoes, at the head of a Choctaw
delegation arrived in Charleston to propose a Choctaw alliance and trade.
^^ JCHA, Sept. 17, 18, Dec. 11, 1746 and list of members, May 25, 26, 1747, Apr.
17, 1753; P, IV; JC, Apr. 17, 1744, Oct. 21, 1746, May 28, 1751. For Haig, see
above, pp. 58-59.
^MC, Jan. 22, Mar. 7, 1747, JCHA, Apr. 8, 11, 14, 1747, June 20, 1748, above,
pp. 123-125.
37 JC, Jan. 25, 1745, Nov. 3, 1746, Feb. 17, 1747; JCHA, Feb. 21, 1745, Feb. 17,
Mar. 28, Apr. 8, 14, 15, 16, June 9, 10, 1747, May 16, 1750; JUHA, June 11, 1747.
196 The Expansion of South Carolina
At the same time Adair and his two partners, John Campbell and William
Newbury, asked the assembly for a monopoly of the Choctaw trade.^^
Adair might have expected some countenance from Glen, for in his
report to the Board of Trade the following February the governor gave
the credit for the revolt to no one besides himself except Campbell and
Adair, and suggested that the Board recommend a reward of a hundred
guineas each for the two traders. But while Adair vainly waited in
Charleston for official favors the firm of Charles McNaire and Company
sent up two hundred horseloads of goods to the Choctaws. This is the
first appearance of McNaire in the South Carolina Indian trade records,
but his partner was the former Cherokee trader, James Maxwell, and in
all probability Maxwell's equipment was used. It appears that a loan
from Governor Glen financed or partly financed the expedition, for in
November 1746 Matthew and Francis Roche and James Maxwell made
a bond to Glen for one thousand pounds sterling to be paid a year later
with ten percent interest. The obligation was assumed in 1750 by Jordan
Roche, merchant and former Chickasaw trader, who had the provost
marshall sell Maxwell's property at auction the next year — part of it
Maxwell's share of the horses belonging to McNaire and Company. In
1752 Glen sued the widow of Jordan Roche for the principal and interest
and was accordingly paid over seventeen hundred pounds.^®
On his arrival in the nation McNaire found himself in a sorry plight.
The French and their allies among the Choctaws made war upon the Eng-
lish partisans. Red Shoes was slain, and the hard-put English party instead
of buying goods demanded presents of ammunition. McNaire added to his
troubles the hostility of the other traders, by pretending — with no ap-
parent denial by Glen — that the governor had given him a monopoly of
the trade. Glen seems to have kept most of these matters to himself, but,
the assembly not being in session, he now consulted the council. On the
advice of that body fifteen hundred pounds of powder and twice that
weight of bullets, half of it for the Choctaws, the rest for the Creeks and
Chickasaws, was delivered to Roche and Maxwell. For delivery they in-
trusted it to John Vann, one of McNaire's company, then or later of
the Ninety Six community.*" Instead of three months or less, the usual
trip to the Choctaws from Fort Moore, Vann took eight, excusing himself
on the ground of floods and lack of forage. On the advice of the council
^^PR, XXIII, 75-76 (Glen to Board, Feb. 3, 1748), Adair, American Indians,
p. 13, Mereness, Travels, pp. 293-294, JC, Mar. 28, 1747, May 17, 1750, JCHA,
Apr. 14, 1747, May 31, 1750.
^^PR, XXIII, 75-76 (above, n. 38), XXIV, 418-^20, 424 (Glen to Board, Dec.
1751, and John Vann's examination); Adair, American Indians, pp. 314-343;
Court Records, Common Pleas, Nov. 1752 (Glen vs. Admix. Jordan Roche; Mis-
cellaneous Records, Charleston Courthouse, MS, 1749-1751, p. 278, 1751-1754, p.
413; JC, Dec. 14, 1747.
*°JC, Nov. 13, Dec. 14, 1747, Jan. 9, 26, 1749, May 17, 1750, JCHA, May 23,
1750; above, pp. 121-122.
Back Country and Frontier 197
other traders were encouraged to go to the Choctaws, but it was too late;
the English cause was now hopeless.*^ Glen had made his usual grandilo-
quent report of his achievements and he now had explanations to make of
the relapse of the Choctaws to the French alliance. The Commons House
investigated the affair, and in May 1749 decided that McNaire had won
the Choctaws over. A resolution to allow him nearly £300 was lost by
one vote; the House voted him £150, instead, and recommended him to the
crown for reward. But a year later, on more careful investigation, a com-
mittee charged McNaire with fraud, Adair with lying, and Roche with
concealing evidence. A quarrel developed between the governor and Mat-
thew Roche, and as a result the latter wrote a pamphlet, entitled "A
Modest Reply to His Excellency", in which he used such terms that the
Commons House declared it slander.^^
Investment of a thousand pounds in the Choctaw trade, even under
these circumstances, may have appeared to Glen as fully within his rights,
or financing the needy Maxwell in an undertaking which could be of the
first importance to the empire, may have seemed to him a public service.
But whatever his motives the blunder cost him dear, and later years
showed that he did not profit by the lesson. In 1761 when he was trying
to get payment of certain expenses of his administration he stated that
when there had been a Scarcity of Goods in the Cherokee Nation & the
Merchants in Town did not care to Trust the Traders, he has many times
been obliged to procure Goods for them on his own Credit, twice to the
amount of Ten thousand pounds each time, & has Notes of Hand of the
Traders Bonds and Judgments to the amount of some thousands pounds,
which are now waste Paper.*^
These investments in the Cherokee trade are indicated at a few other points
in the records. He lent the trader Lantagnac money to enable him to
make a start in that nation ; soon after the governor's retirement the Little
Carpenter, in complaining bitterly of the abuses of the trader John El-
liott, said that he understood Glen was related to Elliott and concerned
in the trade with him. How gossip could make use of these reports is
indicated by the statement of Governor Dobbs, who had his own grudges
against Glen, that he had been told that Glen had become rich by the
Indians.**
"JCHA, June 1, 1749, May 23, 1750, JC, Jan. 12, Aug. 14, 1749, PR, XXIV,
424-427 (above, n. 39), Mereness, Travels, p. 282. Chickasaw traders continued as
before to carry on a small trade among the Choctaws, but at considerable danger
and with occasional loss — see Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 31-32, JC, May 17, 1750, May
29, 1754.
^2 PR, XXIII, 205-207, 446 (Glen to Board, Oct. 10, 1748, and enclosure with
his of Dec. 23, 1749), JCHA, May 23, 27, 1749, May 16, 23, 24, 1750; SCG, Feb. 26,
Apr. 9, 1750.
'*^ JCHA, Apr. 29, 1761; the amounts are in currency.
^* S. C. Williams, Early Travels in the Tennessee Country (Johnson City, 1928),
pp. 182-183, Indian Books, V, 155-157; Col. Recs. of N. C, V, 360.
198 The Expansion of South Carolina
Glen's role of aggressive imperialist guaranteed him more than enough
trouble with the planter controlled Commons House, for such plans in-
evitably involved heavy cost in money if not in men. His practice of con-
tracting debts not authorized, and of referring to other expenses as having
been paid by himself, his bitter opposition to proposals for disciplining the
Indians by stopping the trade, and these ill-advised investments added
greatly, and unnecessarily, to his difficulties. The extreme reluctance with
which the Commons empowered the governor to spend money in Indian
affairs, and the polite but obvious distrust with which that house received
his unauthorized bills indicate that the members at times questioned his
motives as well as his judgement.
The spectacular events in the southwest during 1747 and 1748 diverted
attention for a time from the Cherokees, but the situation there was only
temporarily improved by Pawley's mission, and the cause of the unrest of
the Indians was in no way removed. The Cherokees in the Overhill towns,
uneasily watching the French on the Mississippi, frequently attacked pass-
ing parties, and from time to time talked of an English fort for protection
against them.^'' The Creeks were an even greater danger than the French,
but of all the troubles of the Cherokees the worst came from the Shawnees
and Iroquois. The former — most inveterate wanderers of the eastern In-
dians— had formerly been in two branches. The smaller for a time lived
on the Savannah River, where Fort Moore was later established, and had
been called by the Carolinians "Savannahs", whence the name of the river;
driven out by the Catawbas they had removed to Pennsylvania during and
after the Yamasee War. The larger body for many years were on the
Cumberland River, but about 1730 moved to the Ohio above the mouth of
the Scioto, where about 1750 they were re-united with the smaller portion
of the tribe.^^
The endless feud of the Iroquois with the Catawbas entered a new
phase about 1748. At that time portions of several of the tribes of the
Six Nations were living on the Ohio near the Shawnees — Logstown (about
twenty miles below the site of the later Fort Pitt) being the chief town of
this newly formed confederacy. The Shawnees were not the only elements
of the group recently associated with the French. The Iroquois were al-
ways enemies of the Catawbas, the Shawnees usually friends of the Creeks,
and both were sometimes friends, sometimes enemies of the Cherokees.
But whatever their errand in the southern country, each found the Chero-
kee towns a convenient route and stopping place. The weakness of the
Catawbas invited attack, and the Cherokees themselves, afraid of their
fierce visitors and at the same time looking for allies, usually, whether for
^MC, Oct. 14, 1743, Sept. 4, 1749; PR, XXIII, 169-173 (Glen to Board, July
26, 1748); JCHA, Dec. IS, 1736, Apr. 27, 1751; Mereness, Travels, pp. 239-255.
*^ Fredeiick Webb Hodge, ed., Handbook of American Indians (2 vols., Wash-
ington, 1910), II, 530-535.
Back Country and Frontier 199
fear or favor, shielded them. The Carolina traders generally called the
Shawnees Savannahs or French Indians, the Iroquois chiefly Senecas or
Northward Indians, but the terms during the years leading up to the
Cherokee War were almost interchangeable ; most of the parties probably
contained warriors from several tribes, and seem, as a rule, to have come
from the Ohio settlement.*^
Early in 1748 the killing of a trader by the warriors of the Lower
Towns and the abduction of Haig by the Northward Indians precipitated
a crisis. Glen used the incidents to drive home his arguments for forts in
the Overhills, but the Commons instead provided for rangers and a fort at
the Congarees.*^ A half-hearted promise by the Commons of two hundred
pounds for the Overhills fort was followed by an agreement of the two
houses on a trade embargo to bring the Cherokees to terms. Upon this the
governor abruptly put an end to the session and the matter was dropped.*^
In February it was reported that the new Congaree fort was complete
and in May following, that Fort Moore was rebuilt at a cost of about three
hundred pounds; garrisons of thirty men each had already been sent to
these posts from the independent companies.^ In June 1749, when the
three South Carolina independent companies were discharged, three others
were organized from the Georgia regiment disbanded at the same time, and
detachments from these new companies replaced the old at Fort Moore and
the Congarees. The Commons continued to pay for the two hundred men
in South Carolina but refused money for those left in Georgia, and the
companies continued on this status until 1758.^^
The burden of defense moved the governor and assembly in January
1748 to petition the crown for reimbursement of an annual expense of
fifteen hundred pounds, representing this amount as being paid "for Treaties
and Presents", whereas it was in fact the total for presents and defense.
With surprising promptness a grant was made to the Georgia and Carolina
governments of three thousand pounds a year, not in money but in goods for
presents, the first shipment arriving in 1749. Some of the goods were en-
tirely unsuited for the purpose, however, and the need of the provincial
government for money suggested the sale of the undesirable presents and the
application of the money to other frontier expenses. This happy solution of
the problem was put into effect and a year later the crown, convinced by a
*^See JC, July 30, 1745, Mar. 29, 1748, Mar. 18, 1749, Nov. 14, 15, 1751.
*8 Above, p. 58, JC, Mar. 29, Apr. 7, 16, 21, 27, 1748, JCHA, Apr. 8, 28, 1748.
For the rangers see JC, May 11, 1748.
^MCHA, Apr. 30, May 3, June 20, 21, 25, 27, 28, 1748; JC, May 7, June 4, 13,
14, 22, 28, 29, July 12, 18, 1748; SCG, July 16, 25, 1748; JUHA, June 29, 1748.
^^^ JC, May 20, July 20, 1748, Feb. 8, 1749; JCHA, Apr. 16, 1746, Apr. 11, 1747,
May 25, 1749; Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 5. The Commons later paid £143 more
for the work on Fort Moore — see JCHA, May 26, Dec. 7, 1749, Feb. 10, Mar. 6, 9,
1750, Mar. 2, 7, 1751.
"JCHA, Feb. 6, 10, Mar. 2, Nov. 23, 1750, May 9, 1751, JC, June 16, July 4,
1749, May 9, 1751; see below, p. 216.
200 The Expansion of South Carolina
representation from South Carolina that the Georgia government was not
in position to handle the distribution of its half of the Indian presents, gave
over the entire amount to the older colony. This bounty was continued
until the outbreak of the next war, and afforded a welcome and needed
relief.'^
The year 1749 was one of comparative quiet in the Cherokee country,
but in the spring of 1750 the Northward Indians appeared again, killing
four traders as they were bringing away their deerskins from the nation.
Another party of them attacked the Catawbas, but had sixteen slain and
four taken prisoners. In January 1751 the traders in the Lower Towns
wrote to the "Gentlemen and Others" of the back country that there were
upwards of a hundred Northward Indians on their way to the settlements
who had declared that they would spare neither white nor red, and would
slay all cattle and hogs they could find. Shortly afterwards a group call-
ing themselves Nottawegas, doubtless a part of this band, had the ef-
frontery to inform the governor that as the Catawbas were their mortal
enemies they must follow them to the settlements, and if the whites har-
bored the fugitives they must expect their cattle to be killed.''^ During the
six months following there came a succession of reports which fully justified
the warning. In March the store of one of the Georgia traders to the
Creeks at Oconee was attacked, apparently by Northward and Cherokee
Indians, the store destroyed and one man killed. There was an exodus of
traders from the Cherokee towns, although some of the headmen strove to
reassure them.^
Later in the month a band, apparently from the Ohio, seized and carried
away four Notchees from a white man's home at the Four Holes, not
fifty miles from Charleston. Several weeks later others, or members of the
same party, insulted and frightened women at Moncks Corner. In April
Indians appeared in the Congarees, killing horses and cattle, and in May
came news of the murder of the Cloud family by the Savannahs.^^ During
the summer and autumn months parties of Cherokees or of Northward
Indians penetrated to Amelia Township, where they murdered a white man
and killed cattle; to the Santee, where they committed depredations; to
Lady's Island, near Beaufort, where they killed or captured five Uchees
and escaped by boat ; and to the seaside in Christ Church Parish, where in
a skirmish with a party of the militia two Indians were killed and one
^2JC, Jan. 27, 1748, Apr. 21, 1749; JCHA, Jan. 27, 30, May 14, 1748, May 26,
1749, May 31, 1750; PR, XXIII, 63-65 (Representation of governor, council and
assembly to crown, Jan. 30, 1748), XXIV, 384-385 (Memorial of James Crokatt,
provincial agent, Nov. 14, 1751), XXVII, 47 (Glen to Board, Apr. 14, 1756).
^^JC, May 22, 1750, Apr. 1, May 7, 1751, JCHA, May 26, 1750. See also JC,
Apr. 6, 1749.
^^''JC, Apr. 1, May 7, 23, June 5, 8, 1751; JCHA, May 8, 1751; Indian Books,
II, pt. 2, 7-9, 17-20.
^^JC, Apr. 1, 17, 1751; JCHA, Apr. 25, 1751; Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 4; above,
p. 122.
Back Country and Frontier 201
white man wounded. In only one of the affairs was the militia or any party
of men able to come up with the raiders, who skulked about the swamps
until they could find an undefended house.^
The initial reports of these raids caused consternation among the back
settlers from Ninety Six to the Congarees, and several hastily built forts
were thrown up. Doubtless these were very flimsy affairs, but John
Pearson asked for some swivel guns "to place in Each of our Flankers",
and James Francis wrote that "We . . . met the Generality of the Neigh-
bourhood, at the most convenient place, & Fortifyed our Selves So as to de-
fend us against any quantity of Indians as we Imagine could come against
us." The Saluda settlers, so John Fairchild reported, had entirely deserted
their homes, fleeing to the Congarees or betaking themselves to similar
forts. Except for the Cloud murders, the back country suffered little in the
raids. In December, however, a party of Indians passed through the fork
of the Saluda and Broad killing cattle, stealing horses, frightening and
insulting women until in desperation Samuel Hollinshed wrote: "If wee
must Suffer such Losses and Dammiges & have no Restitution wee cannot
Live here for it almost brakes us poor people the Loss of Cretors & Loss of
Time pray exsquse the Pen & Ink being bad." ^^
During the spring of 1750 the debates of the governor and the assembly
on means of defending the province and its Indian trade got no further than
a report agreed to by the two houses that there ought to be an Overhills
Cherokee fort built and garrisoned by the crown. But in 1751, from April
to June, as one lot after another of reports of Indian outrages came in, the
governor, council and Commons made earnest attempts to reconcile their
violently conflicting ideas. The Commons throughout the session urged
closing the Indian trade until the offending Cherokee towns came to
terms, but Glen opposed this with elaborate arguments on the value of
the trade, and the barrier against the French that the Cherokees con-
stituted. He pointed out that the alternatives, if the stoppage of the trade
failed to coerce the Indians, were devastation of the back country or an
expedition by the province into a region all but impossible to pierce.
Finally, in support of his favorite thesis that the Cherokees were well
inclined, he extolled the good deeds of the past seven years and, for the
most part, ignored their unfriendly acts."*^
^]C, July 2, Sept. 26, Oct. 1, 7, 1751; JCHA, Mar. 20, Apr. 17, 22, 1752;
Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 141, 146. The attack on the Uchees was probably by
Savannahs.
5"JC, May 13, 23, June 7, 1751, Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 254-255; see also pp.
21-23. The fort described by Francis was evidently on the Cherokee path above
Ninety Six (JC, May 23, 1751) and it is probable that Pearson described the
same fort.
^8 JCHA, Mar. 15, 16, 17, May 26, 31, 1750, Apr. 27, 1751; JC, May 2, 28,
1751. In 1753 a party of Northward Indians murdered a German near Four
Holes and ravished his kinswoman. The Commons thereupon resolved to pay a
reward for the next three months of fourteen pounds for each Northward Indian
202 The Expansion of South Carolina
After an angry controversy over this issue and over the revival of the
1739 trade act ^'^ the Commons had its way in stopping the trade, with the
provision that a force might be held in readiness in the back country in case
this measure failed. Accordingly letters were sent to the Cherokees
ordering all the traders out of the nation, and demanding delivery within
two months of two headmen from each of the offending Lower Towns,
and of some of the men concerned in the Oconee murder. Full assurance of
loyal support was given to friendly towns and headmen, but the threat was
made that if the offenders were not delivered they would be taken by force.
The Georgia government was asked to withhold the Cherokee trade of
that colony, but the raising of the reserve force was not undertaken. How-
ever, the Commons had provided in April for two troops of rangers for the
frontier, and the next month added two more.*'"
The Cherokees replied to the provincial demands with evasive promises
but refused to come to a conference until the trade was restored, their
attitude justifying the declarations of Robert Goudey and Patrick Brown
that the Indians held the province in complete contempt. Glen, however,
eager to smooth things over, declared that the Cherokee messages were an
acceptance of terms. His desire for conciliation was no doubt sharpened
by reports that forty Cherokees had gone to Virginia to ask a trade with
that province, and even the Virginia governor's reassurance did not allay
his suspicions of the ancient rival.®^ The chief Cherokee headman in this
move to reopen the Virginia trade was Atta Kulla-Kulla, the Little
Carpenter as the traders called him, of Tomotley, an Overhills town. He
had gone to England in his youth with Sir Alexander Cuming, and Goudey
charged that he had spent several years among the French, returning to
his tribe about 1748.*''
With positions reversed and apparently themselves on trial, the gov-
ernor, council and certain Commons members appointed by that body for
taken in the settlements dead or alive, with a standing oflFer thereafter of half that
amount. Governor Glen, however, attempted to confine the reward for the first
three months to the Indians guilty of the Four Holes affair (JCHA, Apr. 6, 7,
11, 16, 1753, JC, Apr. 7, 10, 1753). Six Savannahs were taken shortly thereafter
and imprisoned, but those who did not escape were released (JC, June 18, July 3,
Aug. 7, Oct. 2, Dec. 14, 1753, Jan. 1, Feb. 6, 1754, JCHA, Aug. 25, 1753).
^^JUHA, May 10, 1751; Stats., HI, 517-525. This act was the most objection-
able to the governor of several included in a revival bill (JCHA, May 4, 7-11,
1751). The act as finally passed differed little f.rom the one of 1739 save in the
provision for sending the commissioner to the Indian nations, at a salary of forty-
two shillings a day, or, in case he should refuse to go, an agent. The latter was
to be approved by the assembly if it were in session, otherwise by the governor
and council (JCHA, Jan. 16, Mar. 10, 12, 20, May 8, 9, 16, 1752, JUHA, Mar. 11,
1752, Stats., Ill, 763-771).
^JC, May 13, June 8, 15, July 2, 1751; Indian Books, II, pt. 2, 71; JCHA,
Apr. 27, May 10, 11, 14, June 14, 15, 1751.
«i JCHA, June 8, 11, 12, 14, Aug. 28, 1751, JC, Aug. 9, 16, Sept. 1, 11, 17, Nov.
13, 22, 1751.
62 Crane, Southern Frontier, pp. 279-280; JCHA, Sept. 17, 1746; JC, June 4,
8, 1751; SCG, Sept. 22, 1759.
Back Country and Frontier 203
the purpose, agreed to send a message to the Cherokees that the friends of
the Carolinians had nothing to fear. The guileless leaders accepted the
assurances for the friends as meant for all, and came to Charleston to
reopen the trade. After much difficulty they were persuaded to sign a
treaty in which they agreed to deliver up the Oconee murderer, to return
all stolen goods, to send down the Little Carpenter to answer charges, and
to do their utmost to prevent the passage of French and Northward Indians
into the South Carolina settlements. Traders were to go up at once with
goods, but no rum was to be carried. The presents provided for the
occasion of signing the treaty — including a hundred and thirteen guns —
were more, so Glen said, than ever before given.^^ Thus the half-hearted
threats of expedition or trade embargo were abandoned and the Cherokees
cajoled into making a set of empty promises. With the sealing of this treaty
by over-generous presents and restoration of trade the prospect of coercing
the offending towns became slight indeed.
The threatened destruction of the Catawbas by the continued raids of
their northern enemies, and the consequent exposure of the frontier so long
defended by these faithful friends, revived the project of a Catawba-Iroquois
peace. Perhaps the chief obstacle to this move was the pride of the Cataw-
bas themselves, who for a long time refused to go to New York for a con-
ference lest it appear that they were suing for peace. The Nottawegas in
May 1751 sent a talk to Glen, written at Keowee, relating the intolerable
insult they received when they sought a peace with the Catawbas. "Since
which time," declared the indignant Indians, "we are at War". At last
in 1751 a peace was patched up between the ancient enemies in a meeting
at Albany under the direction of Governor Clinton of New York.^* There
were occasional ruptures, however, for the old feud died hard, and in these
frays the Catawbas did not always come off worsted. But the Northward
Indians, having laid aside only one grudge, behaved little better than be-
fore in the settlements.*^^
For another group of their stout friends, the Chickasaws, the Carolina
government could do little. Periodically there came reports of threatened
attacks by overwhelming numbers of the French and their Choctaws, and
regularly there was given the expected present of ammunition with full
assurance that it would be effectively employed to keep the French amused
on the lower Mississippi and to that extent relieve the pressure upon
Creeks and Cherokees. The journal of one of the Chickasaw traders for
the year ending May 1753 listed 28 Chickasaws slain by the Choctaws and
«3JC, Sept. 2, 3, 11, 17, Oct. 25, 29, Nov. 2, 5, 6, 13-15, 20, 25, 26, 28, 1751.
There was also in this session an acrimonious dispute because of the unwillingness
of the governor to submit to the House the originals of papers on Indian affairs
(JCHA, Mar. 6, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, May 1, 1752, JC, Mar. 10, 1752).
«*JUHA, Oct. 6, 1737; JCHA, Jan. 29, 1742, May 17, 1751; JC, Jan. 12, 1743,
Aug. 10, 1750, May 7, 18, 20, Aug. 1, 16, 26, 1751.
«sjC, Oct. 7, 1751, Mar. 3, Nov. 15, 1752, May 28, Aug. 7, 10, 1753.
204 The Expansion of South Carolina
23 of the latter slain by the Chickasaws, who also captured 5 Frenchmen.
From June of 1753 to June of 1754 the Chickasaws lost 22 killed by the
Choctaws, but sent word to the governor that "we still Love our Land and
Libertys nor shall we Chuse ever to give it up but with the loss of our
Lives." They asked the governor to send "four of your guns that make
a great noise and will Kill our Enemies at a great distance we will either
keep our Land or Die a long side of them guns." At this time the trader,
John Buckles, said that there were 340 able warriors in the tribe, and so
many women that every fellow had two or three wives at least.""
The New Windsor Chickasaws were not so valuable an outpost as
either the Catawbas or the "Far Chickasaws", but did good service, direct
or indirect, during the troublous 'fifties. In a combined Cherokee and Sa-
vannah raid in 1752 two of their women were taken prisoner; "greatly
Irritated", so James Francis declared, by their neighbors' part in this affair
the Chickasaws raided the Cherokee towns in turn and returned with ten
scalps and three prisoners. Three years later from their temporary home
below Augusta they apprehended a party of Mohawk raiders, and killed
five of them."^
The experience of Glen's predecessor had shown how little profit was
to be had from meddling in Creek affairs, but in his role as peacemaker
among the friends of the English the governor in 1749 essayed to bring
the Creek-Cherokee war to an end. This move aroused the misgivings of
some of the traders who dreaded the release of energies of the surly Creek
warriors, the fastest growing tribe in the southwest."® A series of futile
efforts came to a climax in 1752 when, near Charleston, the Creeks mur-
dered four members of a Cherokee delegation. The Commons, finding
no little comfort in the troubles of the Cherokees, protested against any
interference in the war while their headmen ignored the provisions of the
treaty of 1751, but in the face of this opinion the governor and council
fell back upon the wording of the Indian trade act recently passed which
authorized the governor, on the advice of the council, to send the com-
missioner or an agent to the Indian country."^
The commissioner, however, found so much to do in Charleston that
he could not undertake this mission, and several others declined the honor.
In desperation the governor and council in June 1752 turned to the former
chaplain of Oglethorpe's regiment, Thomas Bosomworth and his half-breed
«« Indian Books, III, 150, 168-171, 196-202; PR, XXIII, 388-389 (Glen to
Board, Aug. 12, 1749) ; JCHA, Feb. 7, 1754, Jan. 27, 1756; JC, Sept. 4, 1749, May
29, July 3, 1754, July 1, 1758.
^^ See above, p. 71, Indian Books, III, 7-8, V, 36-37, JC, Mar. 24, 1752.
«*JC, Apr. 27, 1748, June 2, Sept. 4, 1749, Jan. 18, 1750; JCHA, May 25, 1749,
Mar. 15, 1750, above, p. 14. See also, for distress of the Cherokee Lower Towns,
JC, May 5, 25, June 24, 1752, JUHA, May 6, 1752.
«^JC, Sept. 4-7, 1749, Sept. 5, 1750, Mar. 31, Apr. 1-6, 16, 24, 28, May 25, 27,
1752. For opposition to this agency by House members, see JCHA, May 5-8, 1752,
Feb. 27, 1753.
Back Country and Frontier 205
wife Mary, sister of Malatchi, the chief headman of the Lower Creeks and
son of the great Brim of an earlier generation. Both had had troubled
careers in Georgia. With great boldness and skill the strangely assorted
pair of diplomats brought about the execution of the leader in the murder
of the Cherokee delegates, and even the pledge of Creek-Cherokee peace,
to be confirmed in conference with the governor.^"
Peace was finally made between the tribes about a year later, but in the
conferences with the governor that point was almost forgotten among the
angry demands of both Creeks and Cherokees for lower trade prices.
Alarmed by reports of French activities among the Creeks the governor
and assembly tried to work out a plan for reduction of the prices in re-
turn for Creek permission to build an English fort, but nothing came of
it.'^ Thus the decade of the 'fifties drew to a close with the Creeks still
maintaining successfully their policy of peace with all the white nations,
and thereby continuing to hold the balance of power in the southwest.
Meanwhile Glen was pushing his plans for the forts that were to
establish English control of the Cherokee country, the grand design which
became his all-absorbing ambition. In the early years of his administration
his schemes, like those of the previous generation of Carolinians, were
directed primarily at the lower Mississippi.'" But succeeding events turned
him more and more to the Tennessee. For some years he was chiefly
concerned with the ancient Carolina problem of holding the Cherokee
towns, the key to the Indian frontier of the province, but by 1754 it was
no mere scheme for frontier defense that the governor had in mind. Boldly
reversing the prevailing thought he conceived of the Cherokees and their
land as the key to the Ohio valley, and himself as the proper leader of an
aggressive movement which would thwart the French and secure the
region for Great Britain. In August of that year he wrote to the Secretary
of State proposing annexation of the Cherokee lands and, at a cost to the
crown or the colonies of twelve thousand pounds, the building of forts that
would command the mouths of the Wabash, the Tennessee and the Ohio.''^
'^°JC, May 27, June 2, 4, 11, 16, 24, 1752; Bosomworth's journal and letters
cover pp. 23-149 of Indian Books, III; the £317 due him (JCHA, May 9, 1754) was
paid in 1754— JCHA, Feb. 10, 27, 28, Mar. 1, Apr. 16-18, 1753, Jan. 16, Feb. 1,
Mar. 15, 1754. For the Bosomworths see also JUHA, June 6, 1747, JC, May 3,
1748, May 31, 1753, Crane, Southern Frontier, pp. 260-261, Col. Recs. of Ga., VI,
252-279, Jones, History of Ga., I, 384-399.
^iJC, May 28, 30, 31, June 2, 14, 28, July 4-7, 1753, Aug. 19, Sept. 1, 18, 20,
1755, Jan. 10, 12, 13,15, 19, 20, 1756 ; JCHA, Sept. 16, 18, 20, 22, 1755 ; Indian Books,
III, 191-194, V, 8, 60-75, 95; Stats., IV, 19-20.
^2 See for instance his letter to the Board of Feb. 3, 1748 (PR, XXIII, 77-78),
which proposed two forts in the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes, and one in the
upper Cherokees. Compare with this the proposals of a member of the council and
a veteran of the old school, John Fenwicke, in his representation to the Board,
Apr. 9, 1745 (above, n. 18).
^3 Aug. 15, 1754 (PR, XXVI, 101-102) ; see also pp. 52-55 (Board to Sir Thomas
Robinson, June 20, 1754), and JC, June 1, 1754.
206 The Expansion of South Carolina
Between the eager imperialist and his objective there lay, in air-line
distances, nearly a hundred miles of unsettled Carolina piedmont, over a
hundred miles of the highest and most difficult mountains of eastern
America, and beyond them two hundred miles more of Indian country.
The practicable routes were two or three times longer. The populous
colonies of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, on the other hand, had
settlements separated by a scant two hundred miles from the forks of the
Ohio, and a mountain region presenting not half the problems of the
southern Appalachians. Probably Glen himself had misgivings as to the
possibility of controlling the Ohio valley from South Carolina, for he
seldom pressed the point. Instead his immediate and constant goal came to
be the acquisition for the British empire of the entire country claimed by
the Cherokees, stretching north and northwest quite to the Ohio. But the
mountains, the course of the rivers, and the position of the Cherokees made
this aim scarcely more practicable than the other.
Nor were his schemes much better suited to the problems of defense.
The obvious policy for guarding the frontier of South Carolina was a fort
in the Lower Tow^ns which would be in reach from the settlements,
standing troops of rangers for pursuit of roving bands of hostile Indians,^*
subsidies of ammunition to the Cherokees for their own defense against the
Indian allies of the French, a strictly regulated trade which might keep
the Indians fairly satisfied when they were at peace with the English, and
suspension of the trade as the penalty for misdeeds. Tying the shifting
and vacillating assemblies to so consistent a policy and maintaining it
amid conflicting interests of this and the neighboring colonies would have
been no easy task, but it could hardly have been so difficult as the achieve-
ments he actually effected.
In March 1750 Glen informed the House that he had determined to
march with forty men of the independent companies to the Cherokee
country to make preparations for a fort, and asked the Commons to provide
for tents, tools and carriage of baggage. On the slender foundation of the
House resolution of 1748 — a resolution hedged about with conditions —
and the crown instruction to acquire a site and to make an estimate of
expense, he was probably planning to begin an elaborate plant and hoping
that crown or colony would finish it. The Commons in obvious suspicion
asked for the plans and orders which the governor had drawn up, and
finding that he had no promise from the crown refused to consider his re-
quest, proposing instead that the crown build and garrison a fort in the
northern part of the Cherokee country to keep out the enemy Indians.
Glen made the application to the crown but nothing came of it. The
next year, however, after Cherokee and Northward Indian raids in
the settlements, a conference committee recommended a fort in the Lower
''^ Compare Glen's letter to the Board, July 15, 1750 (PR, XXIV, 69-72).
Back Country and Frontier 207
Towns, and in November the House committed itself to an appropria-
tion of £428, called for by Glen's estimate, with the condition that
the Cherokees must cede all their lands from Long Canes to Keowee River,
the site of the proposed garrison/^
Glen had already told the Indians that he would build the fort in the
spring, but he allowed a year and a half to pass before making any move.
Finally in August 1753 Beamer and three other traders declared that if the
fort were not built the Lower Towns would move over the mountains that
fall for fear of destruction by their enemies, and the council advised the
governor to proceed at once. Failing to get men at the Congarees, he went
on to Ninety Six where Francis found enough laborers, at two pounds a
month, to bring his party to about one hundred men. On his return to
Charleston in December the governor produced a deed for the land on which
the fort had been built and a strip as wide as the fort extending to the Long
Canes.'"
In March Glen made a report to the assembly, declaring that the
building of the fort "really cost me in the whole upwards of five thousand
pounds" (in sterling about seven hundred pounds), and on request of
the Commons for an account of the expense, declared that if he were in a
private station he would not consider eight thousand pounds currency
adequate recompense for his trouble and expense. Instead of accounts,
however, he merely referred to a certificate signed by two captains of the
independent companies — his own subordinates — and stated that if the Com-
mons paid the amount asked he would deem that body "not only just but
Generous." A motion promptly passed appropriating five thousand pounds
currency to the governor "for building the Fort . . . and for his Excel-
lencys extraordinary services upon that occasion." The fort, called Fort
Prince George, was described by Glen as two hundred feet square with
walls and ravelins six or seven feet high; the former were reinforced by
earthen embankments above a ditch, while the latter were made of lightwood
posts. On the east side of the Keowee, it lay midway of the narrow bot-
tom that intervened between the highland and the river, and commanded
the ford leading to the town.''
No better move could have been made for strengthening the South
Carolina frontier defense than the building of the Keowee fort, and the
■^5 JCHA, Mar. 15-17, May 31, 1750, Nov. 23, 1751 (see also Jan. 25, 1752) ; PR,
XXII, 277-278 (Glen to Board, Apr. 28, 1747), XXIII, 121-122, 148-151 (Board
to Council committee, and recommendation thereon, June 9, 30, 1748), XXIV, 69-
78, XXVI, 98 (Glen to Board, July 15, 1750, and to Robinson, Aug. 15, 1754) ;
above, pp. 195, 199.
^«JCHA, Jan. 25, 1752; JC, Aug. 7, Dec. 14, 1753, Apr. 13, 1754; PR, XXV,
354-355 (Glen, Oct. 25, 1753, enclosed with his of same date to Board) ; Indian
Books, IV, 83-84.
''^ JCHA, Mar. 7, May 1, 10, 11, 1754. See description of the fort quoted from
PR, XXVI, 106-109 (Glen to Board, Aug. 26, 1754), and discussion of location,
D. D. Wallace, Life of Henry Laurens (New York, 1915), pp. 504-510.
208 The Expansion of South Carolina
cost was properly paid by the province. For Glen, however, it was merely
the first step in the realization of his plans, and he urged with renewed
vigor his proposal of an Overhills fort. It is not improbable that in these
schemes Glen hoped to duplicate or to surpass the program of the Ohio
Company, chartered in 1749 for trade in and settlement of the upper Ohio
valley. The development of that company's plans and the approach of the
French and Indian war now hastened a new clash of imperial interests
and renewed the former Virginia-Carolina trade rivalry. In securing the
approval of the Ohio Indians for the operations of the company of which he
was a member, Lieutenant-Governor Dinwiddie held a series of confer-
ences, gave large presents which were provided by the crown, and more
and more essayed leadership in Southern Indian affairs. While Glen was
building Fort Prince George the council received a letter from Dinwiddie
saying that he had invited the Catawbas and Cherokees to a general Indian
conference the following May, looking to defense of the Ohio country
against the French. The councillors, jealous for the South Carolina au-
thority over the Indians, and evidently thinking they smelt the rat of
Virginia intrusion in the Southern Indian trade, replied that invitations to
these Indians would best come through the South Carolina government.^^
On his return Glen was equally non-committal, contenting himself with a
vague proposal to the assembly for a "confederacy" of the colonies. This
plan contemplated conferences for present and future emergencies, but the
governor seems to have paid no attention to the Albany Congress, appointed
for June 1754.^'
Meanwhile reports from the Cherokees showed a growing unrest in
that tribe, due in part to abuses in the Indian trade. Ludovick Grant in
March 1755 declared that the nation as a whole had come to hate the
South Carolina traders because of mismanagement and cheating and the
extravagant credit given to the warriors, who were now ready for any
■^^ See Dinwiddie's letters of Nov. 8, 1752, May 23, Oct. 25, 1753 (JC, Dec. 19,
1752, June 13, Nov. 12, 1753), and PR, XXV, 70-74 (Glen to Board, July 27,
1752), JC, Nov. 19, 1751, Sept. 1, 1752, Nov. 12, 1753, JCHA, Nov. 23, 1751. See
also Hayes Baker-Crothers, Virginia and the French and Indian War (Chicago,
1928), ch. I and pp. 43-44, and W. N. Franklin, "Virginia and the Cherokee
Indian Trade, 1673-1752, 1753-1775", East Tennessee Historical Society's Pub-
lications, 1932, 1933.
^^JC, Feb. 28, June 1, Aug. 1, 1754, JCHA, Mar. 5, 9, May 2, 10, 11, 1754.
In March the crown ordered one of the independent companies to Virginia; ac-
cordingly a hundred men were sent with Capt. James Mackay and Peter Mercier,
commander of the Congaree garrison, lieutenant. Mercier was killed at Great
Meadows— see JCHA, Feb. 20, 1753, Indian Books, V, 1-4, A. S. Salley, The Inde-
pendent Company from South Carolina at Great Meadoivs (Columbia, 1932).
For the charges and counter-charges of Glen and Dinwiddie, see PR, XXVI, 84—
105 (Aug. 15, 1754), JC, Aug. 1, 20, 1754, JCHA, Sept. 3, 6, 1754. _ The instruc-
tions to the Cherokees to stay at home, complained of by Dinwiddie, came from
the traders, who took their cue from the desires, express or implied, of the
governor and council — see, for instances, JC, Apr. 13, June 20, 1754 (letters of
Sgt. Harrison, commanding Fort Prince George, and James Beamer).
Back Country and Frontier 209
measure, however desperate, which might relieve them of their debts/"
Even more alarming was the uneasiness among the Overhill towns because
of their exposure to the attacks of the Shawnees or "French Indians". The
most impressive of these letters or "talks" to the governor were those sent
by Connocortee of Chotee, "Old Hop", as the traders called the lame old
chieftain, at this time the most influential man in the Cherokees. The
danger in this situation was brought nearer home by the murder in
September 1754 of the families of John Guttery and a neighbor and of
several travellers, in all sixteen or seventeen. This occurred on Buffalo
Creek, near the border of North and South Carolina as later surveyed,
but then supposed to be in the northern province. The bodies, piled with
hogs and fowls killed by the Indians, were found by a couple who had
gone forty miles to be married and were returning to the waiting Guttery
household. The panic-stricken discoverers remained only long enough to
throw the bodies in a well. The Commons House in January provided
for a troop of rangers and a reward of four and a half pounds for any
white man or friendly Indian bringing in the scalp of an Indian found com-
mitting violence to person or property in the province. Glen gave orders for
raising the troop but questioned the statement of the House that there was
evidence that the murders were done by "our Insiduous friends the Chero-
kees", and remarked that offering scalp rewards in this manner was a
good way to start a war. He accordingly refused to issue the proclama-
tion.^^
At this point Glen's plans advanced a step nearer realization, for
there was put at his disposal for building the Overhills fort a thousand
pounds of the crown funds in Governor Dinwiddie's hands. Unable at
the moment to commit the Commons to an increase of the sum, he never-
theless undertook to get from the Cherokees authority to build the fort.
In May 1755 the Little Carpenter was coaxed to town with thirty-two
other Cherokees, but despite an unprecedented amount of presents, nothing
conclusive was said or done, and the governor found that he must confer
with Old Hop. Accordingly in June he set out accompanied by the troop
of rangers, about fifty men from the independent companies, and a few
volunteers. When he reached the Congarees he found that the Cherokees
were meeting him at Saluda, seven hundred strong. From the out settle-
ments therefore the governor raised his force to five hundred men. The
permission for building the fort became a mere incident of this colorful
meeting, for Glen here put in effect his cherished plan to have the Cherokees
cede all their lands to the king. Since there was no way to assert control
over the territory the transaction meant little save an excuse for more
^"Indian Books, V, 41-47; see also pp. 48-59, 80-82, 85-88.
^MC, Apr. 24, June 20, Aug. 1, Oct. 1, 19, 1754; Indian Books, V, 20-21; Col.
Recs. of N. C, V, 140; JCHA, Jan. 22, 25, Feb. 6, 7, Mar. 1, 5, 1755; above, p.
123.
210 The Expansioji of South Carolina
presents. The conference seems to have been given over almost entirely to
such vaporings.^"
The gifts to the Cherokees exhausted the royal store and Glen bought
£355 worth on his own credit. He asked reimbursement by the Commons
of this amount, and said that for repayment of further expenditures he
would apply to the crown; the House accordingly paid the bill. In 1761
Glen declared that at one time or another he had spent five thousand
pounds and more in the public service, but that if the Commons would
pay him £1,084 he would renounce further claims. This time he was
paid £500 as a final settlement. The Board of Trade recommended that
the crown pay the remainder, but apparently it was never done.^'
The Saluda conference was ill-timed for the Ohio campaign, for on
June 10th Braddock left Fort Cumberland to essay the wilderness, and
on July 9th his force was destroyed. Dinwiddie wrote Glen later in the
month that the Cherokees and Catawbas sent him a message that they
could not keep their promise to aid him because Glen had summoned them
to a meeting; otherwise, he said, they might have saved the day. The
Cherokees were not a warlike tribe and in their present wavering allegiance
it is extremely doubtful if they would have been of use in an expedition so
far from their nation. The governor's only effective defense, however, was
that the Cherokees would not go to war to the northward with their
Overhill towns exposed to their Indian enemies, a situation due, he pointed
out, to Dinwiddie's parsimony in remitting only a thousand pounds of the
crown money for their defense. Glen's contention was supported by the
application of the Little Carpenter the following December in which he
demanded the building of the Overhills fort, declaring that the Cherokees
were in grave danger of destruction the next spring by the French and
their Indians.^*
On the advice of the council Glen assured the chieftain that a force
would be in the nation by April to build the fort, and in January set the
Cherokee situation and his promise before the Commons. The House
voted a thousand pounds, "not doubting" its being refunded by the crown,
and at the end of the session resolved to add another thousand to the
amount, but here a quarrel with the council or Upper House caused a
deadlock. Glen sent John Pearson in advance to report on supplies in the
Indian country and to select a site for the fort. In May he set out himself,
82 JCHA, Mar. 7, 12, 13, 1755; PR, XXVII, 41-73 (Glen to Board, Apr. 14, 1756,
and enclosures) ; JC, May 21, 22, June 6, Aug. 29, 1755; Indian Books, V, 48, 51-59.
See also the account of the meeting in Col. Recs. of N. C, V, 359-360. In
February Glen vetoed a bill for the defense of the American colonies providing
for an issue of £40,000 currency, equal to about £5,700 sterling, to be retired in
seven years by annual taxes (JCHA, Jan. 14, 17, 21, Feb. 1, 1755).
»=*JCHA, Mar. 20, 1756, Mar. 22, May 14, 1757 (account of John McQueen),
Apr. 29, May 1, 8, 1761; PR, XXIX, 228-233 (report of Board, May 27, 1762);
Wallace, History of S. C, II, 13, n. 39.
8*JC, Aug. 12, 29, Sept. 17, Nov. 26, Dec. 6, 8, 1755, Indian Books, V, 53-59.
Back Country and Frontier 211
but was not allowed to put into effect his cherished plan. On June 1st,
a little more than a week after he left town, his successor William Henry
Lyttelton arrived in Charleston.®^
Thus ended Glen's long administration. In domestic affairs, by reason
of his considerable ability and wide range of information, his essential
integrity and sincere devotion to the public service, he made an excellent
record. But in his chosen role of imperialist his success was indifferent.
With his eye on far horizons he tried to use both the Indian tribes and the
province for purposes which often were not calculated to solve the im-
mediate problems of either. Master of neither force nor money, he usually
attempted to manoeuver the Commons House into such positions that it
must needs carry out his designs, while to win the Indians to his ends he
resorted to conciliation. The representatives of the colony, finding that he
did not deal with them frankly, suspected his motives and often thwarted
him. The contempt of the Indians for the South Carolina government,
which had so much to do with the disaster of the Cherokee War, was to a
real degree the result of tame submission to the insults of Creek and Chero-
kee embassies and to the grotesque deviltries of the wandering parties of
Shawnees and Iroquois. Fort Prince George was the governor's best
frontier achievement, but the projected Overhills fort, later known as Fort
Loudoun, was no credit to him or to anyone else associated with him in the
enterprise. In the imperial game some risks must be run, but the establish-
ment of a fort which could not possibly survive a real quarrel with the
Cherokees and French was an inexcusable blunder — inexcusable because
the nature of the country and the position of the Cherokees were notorious.
The service of the fort in keeping the Cherokees from going over to the
French at the beginning of the war, under pressure of French bribes and
the attacks of Indian enemies, was a real but hardly important factor in the
contest. In the main the Cherokees were not formidable fighters and it is
doubtful if their attitude would have mattered in the war as a whole. The
fact was that the French no more than the English were in position to
take the aggressive in the southwest ; therefore neither the Cherokee nor
the South Carolina frontier had any important relation to the war, and the
problems throughout the struggle were local.
S5JC, Dec. 17, 1755, Feb. 16, June 2, 1756; JCHA, Jan. 23, Feb. 3, 4, 7, Apr. 9,
1756; SCG, May 22, 1756, PR, XXVII, 105-107 (Lyttelton to Board, June 19,
1756).
CAda|ji:e-dLfvouv
Th\eBfi\CK Country In
The Cherokee War
a GayrUoried Fort s
o IvLdiatv Totw Tvj
CHAPTER XV
The Cherokee War
Governor Lyttelton profited by the flattering reputation which had
preceded him and the reh'ef of most of the province at being rid of Glen.
He promptly called the assembly, and pointed out to the Commons House
the great need for appropriations for the Cherokee fort. When the House
repeated its resolution for a loan of tvi^o thousand pounds to the crown he
called attention to an instruction which seemed to forbid his approving
such an appropriation. Upon this the Commons made the appropriation
without condition, and, generous beyond precedent, doubled the amount.^
Lyttelton recalled Glen and reorganized his expedition. The force,
consisting of two companies of provincials serving under regulations of
regular troops and about eighty soldiers from the independent companies,
in all about two hundred men, reached Tomotley in the Overhill towns on
October 1st. John Pearson, sent ahead by Glen, had selected a site which
was evidently on fairly level ground, but when the engineer, William
Gerard De Brahm, also appointed by Glen, arrived he declared the spot
commanded from three separate nearby heights. Amid bitter differences
and quarrels with the officers De Brahm proceeded to lay out the lines of
the fort; it was completed in the summer of 1757 by the commander.
Captain Raymond Demere, formerly in command at Frederica in Georgia.
The twelve guns for it, weighing three hundred pounds apiece, were
brought over the mountain passes by the energetic and resourceful trader
John Elliott.^
About a mile above the junction of Tellico River with the Little
Tennessee a narrow ridge extends from the higher ground toward the
latter stream, ending in a blufif fifty feet or more above the river. A
hundred yards back of this point a deep ditch, still plainly marked, was cut
1 JCHA, June 18, 22, 23, 25, 29, 30, July 1, 1756.
2 PR, XXVH, 126, (Lyttelton to Board, July 19, 1756), Indian Books, V, 194,
241-247, 249-253, 272-283, 290-294, 368, 375-379, VI, 74-78. P. M. Hamer, "Anglo-
French Rivalry in the Cherokee Country, 1754-1757", North Carolina Historical
Review, July 1925, notes the location of the fort, and quotes De Brahm's technical
description of it, which is likewise given in Williams, Early Travels, pp. 187-194.
See also Memoirs of Henry Timberlake (London, 1765), "Draught of the Chero-
kee Country". As the expedition reached its destination a force of Virginians
was preparing to depart, having constructed a small log fort on the opposite side
of the river. This was to carry out a pledge of the Virginia government made to
win the allegiance of the Cherokees; it was not garrisoned (Indian Books, V, 173,
JC, Mar. 29, 1756). For Demere, see JC, Mar. 16, 1756.
213
214 The Expansion of South Carolina
through the ridge to defend it against the slowly rising ground beyond.
On the steep face overhanging the river the rocks aided in making the
various works for commanding the wide stream, while on the south or up-
stream side other intrenchments, still to be seen, overlooked the level ground
which De Brahm included in the fort.^ It is easy to understand the mysti-
fication and anger of the officers at seeing a fort placed on two levels, with
the higher ground itself the lower end of a ridge. But the engineer was
doubtless directing his chief attention to guarding the river against passage
of armed boats and the event proved that the deep ditches, locust hedges and
other defenses were sufficient protection against land attacks.
De Brahm later declared that he pointed out to Glen in advance that a
garrison cut off from supplies and relief by "impregnable defiles" could
"but be accounted a hostage and sacrifice to a formidable and savage
nation". The route to which he referred was the easier, though longer
one, through the Tellico and Hiwassee valleys. By this way Fort Loudoun
was about 150 miles from Fort Prince George, and that in turn, by traders'
estimates, 300 from Charleston.* Indeed, the only practicable military
route from Fort Loudoun to the English settlements was that through the
Great Valley to distant Virginia, a colony which had no responsibility for
the fort, nor any considerable commercial connection with the Overhill
Cherokee towns. In the ensuing war with the Cherokees two British
expeditions of a thousand men or more each stopped in the Middle Settle-
ments, without attempting the major difficulties of the path, and in the
Revolution North and South Carolina forces amounting to five thousand
men confined their work to the middle towns and the Hiwassee valley,
leaving to a Virginia detachment the task of penetrating the Great Valley
to the Overhill towns. Modern highways through the region only add
force to De Brahm's remarks.
The fort was obviously intended to control the Cherokees as well as
to protect them, and Captain Demere soon reported great unrest in the
towns, even among the warriors formerly well affected towards the Eng-
lish, as the French played upon their fears of losing their lands.^ In
November a delegation from Tellico, the most exposed and disaffected
town, made a treaty with the French governor at New Orleans, and during
the year the French founded Fort Massac at the mouth of the Tennessee.'^
The South Carolina government, beset now with war-time problems, did
nothing about the Indian trade and complaints and feeling against the
traders became bitter. Soldiers and officers from the two forts had their
^ The description is from notes taken by J. H. Easterby and the writer, June 5,
1936.
* Williams, Early Travels, pp. 189-190, Salley, George Hunter's Map.
^ Indian Books, V, 229-230, 272-283.
^ Ibid., p. 6; photostat of treaty obtained by Professor D. D. Wallace (see
History of S. C, II, 15, n. 43), Library of Congress. See JCHA, Apr. 1, 1757,
for reference to this treaty.
Back Country and Frontier 215
part in the growing Cherokee hostility/ as did some of the new arrivals in
the South Carolina back country. Undesirable immigrants now appeared v
wandering about the frontier settlements or among the Indian towns, and /"
in December 1757 four Cherokees were killed and scalped near the Little I
Saluda. The Indians in turn burned houses and stole horses, and for their )
excuse pointed to the encroachments on their lands.® t^
Old Hop and the Little Carpenter, the two most influential men of the
nation, the one declining, the other ambitiously striving to increase his
power, tried hard to steer themselves and their people safely through these
troubled waters. Connocortee, old, clever, grim and elusive, held to the
English trade, but could not conceal an abiding fondness for the French
and their presents. The Carpenter, however, showed plainly that whatever
the French offers and the Cherokee drift, in his judgment the English were
the stronger and the Cherokees must befriend them. Occasionally he went
to war against the French or the Indians at the mouth of the Tennessee or
on the Mississippi.® But the situation was full of peril for white man or
red, and the demands of the war soon brought up new and graver problems.
In 1755 the assembly provided six thousand pounds for the general
North American defense, five-sixths of the amount being issued in bills
which were to be retired in five years, but the next year the Commons was
content to regard the four thousand pounds appropriated for the building
of Fort Loudoun as its contribution. In 1757 Pitt called upon the south-
ern colonies to raise forces for the defense of the southern frontier,
promising that the crown would arm, equip and feed the troops. Accord-
ingly in July the assembly passed an act appropriating nearly twenty-three
thousand pounds in bills, chiefly for raising a regiment of seven companies
of a hundred men each. Two of these companies were to consist of the
garrisons at Forts Loudoun, Prince George and Johnson, the remaining
five represented the quota of men for service outside the province as de-
termined at the Philadelphia conference held by Lord Loudoun, the com-
mander-in-chief. The pay of the privates was set at six pence a day. But
the regiment was recruited so slowly that by the following summer it
had only four hundred men, most of them, so Lyttelton said, enlisted from
the back country. James Francis, however, in a tour through the Tyger
^Indian Books, V, 194-196; see also pp. 106-107, and JC, Feb. 2, 1757. Note
the convincing statement of the captive Cherokee vyarrior in 1760 on the abuse of
the Indians by drunken officers from Fort Prince George, and on ill usage by the
traders (JC, June 20, 1760).
^SCG, Sept. 22, 1759, Indian Books, V, 365-366, VI, 99, 103, 123, 128, 131, JC,
Feb. 2, 9, 17, Dec. 14, 1757.
^Indian Books, V, 245-246, VI, 57-66, 114-115; JC, Apr. 10, 1758. A reward
of about five pounds in goods offered by the Commons in 1757 for the scalp of
any white man or Indian in the French interest taken in the Cherokee towns,
though offered to please the Cherokees, caused more trouble (JCHA, Feb. 3, 4,
1757, Indian Books, VI, 49-52, 68-74).
216 The Expansion of South Carolina
and Enoree region got only a dozen recruits.^" One means of very doubt-
ful value, used on Lyttelton's suggestion, was an act ordering the justices
of the peace to take up all vagrants and put them in the regiment. It is
not surprising that one of the companies on the march in 1759 to the
garrisons in the Indian country should have lost a fifth of its number by
desertion before it reached Ninety Six/^
The fact that Loudoun had spoken well of the service of the Cherokees
in the 1757 campaign caused the Commons in 1758 to divert nearly three
thousand pounds of the regiment fund to pay all expenses of a party of
those warriors to be sent to Virginia. It was an unlucky move, as the
event proved. A draft from the militia to fill the regiment, proposed by
the governor in 1758, the House considered unconstitutional; the next
year the Commons declared the burden of the regiment too great, and
resolved to provide for only three hundred men, who should, with the
independent companies, serve for the immediate protection of the
province.^"
The plan of 1758 to equip five hundred or a thousand Cherokees for
service was prosecuted with vigor by the Virginia and South Carolina
governments, and five hundred warriors set out for the Virginia frontier,
besides two hundred others who went down the Tennessee River. During
the spring months, however, a succession of letters and affidavits showed
how well these Indians had studied the lessons of the Shawnees and
Iroquois. Cherokee plunderings in southwest Virginia brought about
clashes with the militia and settlers there in which thirty warriors were
reported slain.^^
Lyttelton, asked by Lieutenant-Governor Fauquier to make up the
affair with the Cherokees, threatened the Indians if they persisted in their
bad behavior, and at the same time promised presents sufficient to satisfy the
relatives of the slain provided the warriors seeking revenge were recalled.
The Cherokee situation had meanwhile been further complicated by the
Little Carpenter who joined the expedition of General Forbes on his
slow march upon Fort DuQuesne. Two days before the army reached
the fort the Carpenter and his party deserted, were brought back and dis-
armed by Forbes and dismissed in disgrace. Serious as was the offense
the South Carolina government could not afford to make an enemy of the
little Napoleon, and Lyttelton, on the council's advice, solemnly forgave
^^ Stats., IV, 18-19, 45, JCHA, June 22, 24, 1757; JC, July 12, 1757; PR, XXVII.
349-352 (Circular letter Dec. 30, 1757), XXVIII, 105-106 (Lyttelton to Admiral
Boscawen, Aug. 22, 1758; see also his to Board and Pitt, Nov. 30, 1757, Aug. 7,
1758, XXVII, 332, XXVIII, 47-48); Indian Books, VI, 104-105. In July 1759
there were 386 men in the regiment (JCHA, July 7, 1759), although at one time it
had 500.
" JC, Sept. 17, 1759, JCHA, Apr. 28, May 2, 3, 1758, Stats.. IV, 51-52.
i-JCHA, Mar. 17, 18, Apr. 28, May 2, 3, 1758, July 5, 7, 9, 1759.
13 JCHA, Mar. 17, 18, 1758, JC, Mar. 13, 14, May 12, 1758, Indian Books, VI,
137-139, 153-162, PR, XXVIII, 79-82 (Lyttelton to Board, Oct. 2, 1758).
Back Country and Frontier 217
him. But all efforts at conciliation failed to make up the breach, and in
the last days of April Cherokees, chiefly from the town of Settico near
Fort Loudoun, fell upon the North Carolina settlers on the Yadkin and
Catawba and killed and scalped fourteen. At the same time three more
scalps were taken on upper Broad River, apparently by warriors from
Eastatoe, one of the Lower Towns. When the commander of Fort Prince
George, in accordance with Governor Lyttelton's orders, stopped the
passage of ammunition to the Overhills there was a general outburst from
the offended towns, and their traders fled to Fort Prince George, few of
them carrying anything whatever with them. The Lower Towns con-
ferred with the Creeks, expecting aid from them and French ammunition
and goods from the Alabama fort.^*
Although in every division of the Cherokees were to be found warriors
who had struck some blow at the whites, of the Lower Towns only could
it be said that the greater part were hostile ; in' the rest of the nation per-
haps only Settico and Tellico were inveterate in their enmity. There was
little complaint to make of the Valley which had a tradition of warm
friendship for the English, and from the Middle Settlements the "Round
O" of Sticoe in September 1759 led a large delegation of headmen to the
Lower Towns to threaten them into good behavior. In this situation lay
the only hope of arresting the drift toward war. In times past surprising
success had attended the efforts of those bold and capable agents who had
executed their missions in the heart of the Indian nations, and, as James
Adair pointed out years later, the divisions among the Cherokees invited
such an embassy. But when the clumsy diplomacy of the commanders of
the forts as well as the negotiations in the conferences at Charleston
failed, the new governor was not inclined to further talk. Glen had
been too pacific ; Lyttelton now proved rash.^^
With his council the governor took stock of the situation. Fort
Loudoun, now under Captain Paul Demere, brother of Raymond, had
scanty supplies of food and only 132 men, while Fort Prince George had
93 under Lieutenant Richard Coytmore. On the other hand the traders
had never been more active, and the nation was full of goods, one Charles-
ton firm having sent in the last year nearly £5,000 worth of goods besides
presents. John McQueen said he had sent 2,000 pounds of ammunition
to the traders since the first of June with orders for much more. Lyttel-
ton at once ordered a detachment of seventy men from the provincial
"PR, XXVIII, 226-230, 247-248, 257-260 (Lyttelton to Board, Oct. 16, 1759,
and Coytmore to him, Aug. 3, and Sept. 26, enclosed with his of Sept. 1, and Oct.
16); JC, July4, Nov. 1, 7, 8, 14, 16, 1758, Apr. 7, 1759; Indian Books, VI, 181-185;
SCG, July 14, Aug. 4, 25, Sept. 22, Oct. 6, 1759.
^^SCG, Sept. 22, 1759, Adair, American Indians, pp. 248-249. Note Lyttelton's
proposal for an attack, in the spring of 1759, upon the Alabama fort with a force of
2,000 men to be drawn from the garrisons and the militia (PR, XXVIII, 94-100,
Lyttelton to Pitt, Nov. 4, 1758).
218 The Expansion of South Carolina
troops to Fort Loudoun under Captain John Stuart, later superintendent
of southern Indian affairs, but it was a month before Stuart was able to
get farther than Fort Prince George. At Fort Loudoun Captain Demere
helped himself by killing and salting all his cattle, seventy head, and got in
all the corn he had planted. The Commons in July had provided two
troops of rangers until the first of November, but Lyttelton — perhaps the
council also — was already planning recourse to arms on a far larger scale. ^®
The news of more Cherokee outbreaks reached the governor on the
last day of September. The next day he met the council, five members
attending including the younger William Bull, and laid the problem before
them. The council advised him to send orders to the three colonels of the
middle and back country militia to assemble their regiments and to draft
and hold half the men for further orders. They further advised him to
call on the Catawbas, Chickasaws and Creeks for aid, to have all but
twenty of the troops in Charleston ready to march, and to apply to Virginia
to reinforce and supply Fort Loudoun by way of the Holston River.
These recommendations had been put in effect by the time the assembly
met, according to call, on the fifth. The governor recounted his moves
and plans and earnestly urged the Commons to make provision for pay-
ment of the militia, for purchase of half a dozen one-pounder field guns
which could be carried over the Cherokee mountains, and for a small
fort in the Catawbas which would enable those warriors to serve with the
expedition. He pointed out that the militia law empowered him to impress
supplies, but that provision for speedy payment would make the process
much easier. He announced that he would himself command the expedi-
tion."
Drastic as was Lyttelton's exercise of his authority in drafting the
militia for an expedition to the frontier and perhaps across the mountains,
the House promptly approved it; the proposal to pay the men for the
service, a provision not in the militia acts, doubtless made it more palatable
to the assembly as well as to the men themselves. A committee submitted
a report with thirty recommendations including provision for a force of
fifteen hundred with pay ranging from nearly fourteen pence a day for
privates to about six shillings for the two colonels. The House de-
bated the report for two days and with a few changes adopted the recom-
mendations.^^
i«JC, Aug. 13, 14, 1759, PR, XXVIII, 209-210 (Lyttelton to Board, Sept. 1,
1759), 256-260 (Coytmore and Stuart to Lyttelton, enclosed by him in letter of
Oct. 16, 1759 to Board) ; SCG, Nov. 17, 1759; JCHA, Jul. 12, 13, 1759. Raymond
Demere was succeeded by his brother Paul, Aug. 14, 1757 (Indian Books, VI,
76-78).
"JC, Oct. 1, 1759 (see also Sept. 17), JCHA, Oct. 5, 1759; PR, XXVIII, 266
(excerpts of letters of Speaker of Commons to S. C. agent, read by Board, Feb. 1,
1760) ; SCG, Oct. 6, 1759.
^«JCHA, Oct. 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 1759; see also Feb. 6, 14, 1760.
II
Back Country and Frontier 219
On the 13th of October letters from Fort Prince George announced
that two parties of Indians were on the way to Charleston, having set out,
Coytmore said, when their demand for ammunition was refused. When
they were received on the 19th they indicated that they were ready to make
peace, though they proposed no amends whatever, and Tistoe of Keowee
complained bitterly of Coytmore's abuse of their warriors and their women
when he was drunk. After four days debate the council divided equally,
four for carrying on the expedition, four for holding a number of the
embassy as hostages until the Cherokees gave satisfaction for the twenty
whites slain and the four wounded but not yet dead. The governor, how-
ever, remained unchanged in his opinion, and informed the delegation that
he was going to the nation to enforce his demands ; as for them, he promised
to see them safe home.^®
Lyttelton left Charleston on the 26th of October for the militia ren-
dezvous at the Congarees. When he found that the draft from the three
regiments did not bring out the fifteen hundred men, and that those regi-
ments murmured at the prospect of a further demand upon them, the
governor ordered a draft of five hundred men from four other regiments.
Desertions were frequent — especially of the new back settlers, so the
Gazette announced — and by the time Ninety Six was reached on November
21st, what with these losses and "Meazles, Purgings and pleuritic Com-
plaints", the effective force was reduced to 1299 men. To fill up the
ranks 200 of the new levies were ordered to follow at once. More than
a hundred wagons besides carts and pack horses constituted the baggage
train. At Ninety Six Lyttelton built a stockade ninety feet square around
Goudey's barn to make it serve as a fort and magazine. On the 29th the
expedition left Ninety Six in good spirits for Fort Prince George which it
reached on December 9th; arrival of the later militia drafts brought the
force up to 1700 men.^
The refractory towns of the Cherokees, representing about five hundred
warriors, were reported unchanged in their attitude, while the rest of the
nation desired peace. Lyttelton at once dismissed all the Cherokees who
had returned with him except twenty-eight of the leading men, but the fic-
tion was maintained that they were voluntary prisoners. After ten days the
^^PR, XXVIII, 246-247 (Lyttelton to Board, Oct. 16, 1759) ; JC, Oct. 15, 19-22,
1759. A few days before the governor, on advice of the council, issued orders for
stopping a cargo, reported to be one hundred horse-loads of goods and ammunition
bound from Virginia to the Cherokee towns by way of the South Carolina piedmont
(JC, Oct. 7, 14, 1759). Hewat says that the Great Warrior of Chotee, Old Hop's
town, tried to speak, and that Bull tried to get him a hearing, but that Lyttelton
would not listen and put an end to the conference (Carroll, Collections, I, 445).
It is only fair to Lyttelton to say, however, that further talk with this delegation
could have made no real difference in the course of events.
-""SCG, Nov. 1, 3, 10, 17, Dec. 1, 8, 22, 29, 1759; JC, Oct. 4, Nov. 10, 24, 26,
1759; PR, XXVIII, 280-282 (Lyttelton to Board, Dec. 10, 1759). There was an
abortive attempt of the North Carolina administration to reinforce Lyttelton by a
militia draft. Col. Recs. of N. C, VI 60-61, 136-137, 220-221.
/
220 The Expansion of South Carolina
Little Carpenter appeared, bringing a French prisoner, and talked about
peace but avoided all controversial topics. The governor reminded him of
the treaty which he and Tistoe, one of the hostages, had signed in London
in 1730, under which an Indian killing a white man was to be given up for
punishment. He therefore demanded twenty-four Cherokees — saying
that he expected them to be from the murder gangs — to be put to death or
otherwise dealt with as he might see fit. After a conference with the
hostages the Carpenter went away, but returned two days later and secured
the release of Tistoe, and the next day two murderers were delivered up by
the Keowee warriors. Then came three more days delay, during which
plans were made to destroy Eastatoe, a larger town above Keowee. But
Lyttelton's force was on the verge of disintegration. Six days after the
arrival of the expedition at Fort Prince George the Gazette repeated
reports that the smallpox had lately destroyed nearly half of the Catawbas
— and there were Catawbas with the expedition — spreading thence to the
white settlements at the Cheraws and the Waterees, and that it had been
found also at Keowee. Measles raged through the hapless camp, the men
deserted in increasing numbers, and on the 12th of December only 1,105
appeared at review. ''^
On the 26th, with three-fourths of his force apparently ready to
desert, Lyttelton made a treaty with the Cherokees. By it the treaty of
1730 was confirmed, and the further agreement made that whereas the
Cherokees had killed sundry persons since November 19, 1758 — at which
time the previous troubles in Virginia had been settled — and had yielded
up only two of the guilty warriors, twenty-two hostages should be held
as security until that number of offenders were surrendered. Traders
were to enter the nation at once. Six Cherokees, including the Little
Carpenter and the Great Warrior, signed the treaty, but the latter soon
repudiated his signature, and the Carpenter, adhering to it, lost his in-
fluence with the tribe. The treaty, poor substitute as it was for a real
settlement, came just in time, for the second day afterwards several men
of the expedition showed symptoms of smallpox. The governor "in-
timated" that those who cared to could leave; in an hour nearly seven
hundred had made up their packs "and filed off with great alertness," and
the expedition dispersed. That the scare was no idle one is shown by the
fact that within the next two months fourteen cases died in Fort Prince
George. The South Carolina Gazette in April following said that of
about six thousand persons who had had the disease naturally or by
innoculation since February, about 380 whites and 350 negroes had died.
According to Adair only the spread of the plague in their own towns
and their internal dissension kept the Cherokees from attacking the de-
^^SCG, Dec. 8, 15, 22, 1759, Jan. 12, 1760. If Tistoe went to England with the
Cuming mission he was presumably the "Tathtowe" of that group — see Crane,
Southern Frontier, p. 279, Williams, Early Travels, pp. 127-128.
Back Country and Frontier 221
moralized host. The governor reached Charleston on the 8th of January.
He tried to enter quietly, on this as on other occasions avoiding display, but
was received with salutes, parades and many congratulatory addresses.^^
The Commons House provided with reasonable promptness for paying
the cost of the expedition which a committee in 1761 put at nearly twenty-
five thousand pounds. Most of this amount, along with other expenses of
the year, was paid with orders which were to be retired within five years.
The pay of the militia came to about eight thousand pounds, and the
greater part of it and of the nearly six hundred small sums for food and
services went to the settlers in the middle and back country. This money,
along with similar receipts during the Indian troubles, afforded a small
recompense for their losses.^^
The expedition which ended so ingloriously is usually called Lyttelton's,
although the credit for it belongs almost as much to the council and Com-
mons. Under the best circumstances it could have achieved no more than
a demonstration before the Lower Towns, or the destruction of some of
them, without touching the centers of the Cherokee power. The collapse
of the expedition emboldened the war party in the nation, and the bad faith
in keeping the hostages increased its fury.
For three weeks after the treaty the Cherokees were "remarkably
assiduous" in their friendliness to the whites, doubtless waiting to supply
themselves from the traders and to disarm suspicion. In the ensuing plot
and first outbreak the Overhills appeared to have no part, but the Lower
Towns and Middle Settlements were deeply involved. On the 19th of
January James Beamer's half-breed son Thomas, a man of intelligence
and property and himself a licensed trader, at the request of the Young
Warrior of Eastatoe accompanied a party of seventy or eighty to Fort
Prince George. The Warrior pretended to be delivering up two men for
punishment, but Beamer discovered that though they made a show of
leaving their arms two miles from the fort, they still had hatchets under
their blankets, and Coytmore was able to frustrate the plot. On the same
day and by a detachment of the same party the killing of the traders began.
John Elliott, now in the Lower Towns, was perhaps their first victim.
The slaughter was general, but a number escaped, thanks to their skill and
hardihood, the timely warning of their Indian women, or some lucky
chance such as that to which James Beamer owed his life. His house near
Eastatoe was cut of¥ from the towns for two days by high water. When
^~SCG, Jan. 12, 19, Apr. 19, Aug. 23, 1760; JC, Jan. 11, 1760; below p. 224;
Indian Books, VI, 219-220, Adair, American Indians, pp. 247-251. Note also
SCG, Mar. 22, 1760 that not five hundred remained to take the smallpox.
^^ Stats., IV, 113-128, JCHA, June 20, 1760, May 20, 1761. Later accounts
added over two thousand pounds to the amount (JCHA, June 23, 1761). The pre-
ceding August the commissary stated that he had bought all the flour in the back
settlements and had contracted with the settlers for 70,000 pounds of their present
crop (JC, Aug. 14, 1759).
222 The Expansion of South Carolina
Thomas Beamer heard of the murders he hurried his father away to the
nearest settlement, and came back for his Cherokee mother and what goods
they could take away. He then went to Charleston and there on the
31st gave the first news of the outbreak."^
Failing in their attempt on Fort Prince George the Lower Towns
warriors turned out in a body, with a great many from the Middle Settle-
ments and the Valley, and fell upon the frontier. The day they started a
Cherokee wench set out from Fort Prince George in advance of five or six
hundred Indians. She arrived at Ninety Six on the 30th, two traders
reaching the post the same day, and the alarm thus given undoubtedly pre-
vented a massacre. Twenty men came in from the community that day,
and twenty more were expected during the night. Other traders were
reported to have gone towards Savannah Town to warn settlers in that
direction. Before the attack on Ninety Six Aaron Price, a Cherokee
trader, with a letter from Francis dated the 31st, set out for Charleston
which by an air line was a hundred and sixty miles away. On the 2nd
of February Lyttelton laid the letter before the council; the South Carolina
Gazette remarked that Price was on the road two days and a few hours.^^
The first blow fell upon the new settlers of Long Cane. About a
hundred and fifty of them, including the Calhouns, on February 1st made
the fatal mistake of trying, with their loaded wagons, to flee before the
savages. With a few hours work on a stockade the forty men could have
successfully defended their families in any house. But the day they started,
near the crossing of Long Cane Creek, on the way to Augusta, they were
attacked by a hundred Cherokees. In the wild confusion few of the men
could even lay hand on guns ; the Indians killed twenty-three, including
the mother of the Calhouns, and captured nearly as many; after half an
hour's futile fight the men fled to Augusta. Days afterward nine or more
children of the party were found ; some of them had been scalped and left
for dead, others had scurried to cover during the attack. Near Stevens
Creek there was a similar surprise of a score of fugitives, with like dis-
astrous results. The attack on Ninety Six materialized on the 3rd, but
after two hours of firing the Cherokees retired with a loss of two men.
Two others had been taken by a scouting party of the garrison the day
before. On the day of the fight at Ninety Six other settlers were gathered
at William Turner's under the command of Andrew Brown, captain of
the militia. While they were building a fort, doubtless on Turner's land
at the mouth of Bush River, they suffered a four-hour attack by the Indians,
with no loss to themselves, and killed several of the enemy.^®
2* PR, XXVIII, 311-312 (Lyttelton to Board, Feb. 22, 1760); JC, Feb. 4, 14,
1760; SCG, Feb. 9, 1760; Indian Books, VI, 222. On Beamer see Indian Books, II,
pt. 2, 150-151, Wills, 1760-1767, p. 42.
25 JC, Feb. 2, 1760, Indian Books, VI, 222, SCG, Feb. 9, 1760.
^^SCG, Feb. 9, 16, 23, 1760, above p. 133.
Back Country and Frontier 223
John Pearson wrote on February 8th that the Indians were reported to
have killed twenty-seven on Raeburns Creek, but this was not confirmed.
On Bush River Pearson said all the settlers had fled save a group with
Jacob Brooks; these were doubtless the builders of Brooks' or Rhall's
fort, which appears to have been on the middle course of that stream. On
receipt of later letters the lieutenant-governor and council agreed that
Brooks be offered a commission as commander of the fort with the provision
that if he refused, the garrison should elect a commander. In two forts
on the Enoree there were thirty-six men and nearly three hundred and
fifty women and children.^^
The attack on the Savannah River settlements above Augusta and
Fort Moore came somewhat later, but on the 15th of February Ulric
Tobler, the highly esteemed son of the elder John Tobler, was killed near
Fort Moore by a volley which was meant for some other person marked
out for special vengeance. Within a few miles of Fort Moore John Tobler
and George Galphin built forts, and on the Georgia side, above Augusta,
several were in process of construction, one of them designed for six
hundred persons. As far down as Buckhead Swamp on the Salkehatchie
and at Orangeburg and the Congarees there were other stockades.^^
The parties of Cherokees in this general onslaught varied from a dozen
to a hundred, and were estimated at about eight hundred altogether.
There were some murders in the back country of North Carolina, ^'' but the
Georgia settlements escaped serious loss. Only the stockade forts, which
within a week of the Long Cane affair dotted the frontier, prevented
wholesale slaughter in South Carolina. Constructed in desperate haste
these defenses were flimsy enough at first, but as time wore on and more
and more of the settlers ventured to return they were strengthened and im-
proved and increased in number until probably half the population of the ^
upper valleys of the piedmont was housed in them. From these rude
citadels the men sallied out to do a little work in the fields or to look after
the cattle that were left, and in more quiet periods families ventured to
their homes. The remainder of the population almost as far down as the
fall line abandoned the exposed regions and fled to the Congarees or
farther down the country.
The first attack of the Cherokees was over in a few days, and the
triumphant warriors hastened to their towns to exhibit their scalps and
their wretched captives, while the unlucky nursed their wounds and dis-
appointments. In this interval Abraham, a negro slave belonging to a
trader in Fort Loudoun, on promise of his freedom slipped through the
^■^JC, Feb. 11, Mar. 19, 21, Apr. 1, 30, 1760. For approximate location of
Brooks' Fort, see P, VI, 333 and index to Plats from which adjoining plats may be
located. For Pearson's letter see Indian Books, VI, 218.
^^SCG, Feb. 16, 23, Aug. 23, 1760, below, n. 59. Later smallpox afflicted the
people in Tobler's fort, SCG, Mar. 22, 1760.
^^SCG, Feb. 16, Apr. 12, 1760, Ashe, History of N. C, I, 300-301.
224 The Expansion of South Carolina
Indian lines to Charleston. He reported that the hundred and eighty men
were in good health and well supplied with all but flour for four or five
months. The Cherokees had cut off all communication with the fort but
had not attacked it.^°
The warriors were soon on the war path again, this invasion like the
first beginning with an attempt upon Fort Prince George. On the 14th of
February the Great Warrior of Chotee came to the fort and asked for the
hostages of the Overhill towns, with the implied threat that if they were
not released those towns would enter the war. Two days later he and
his warriors ambushed the commander, Lieutenant Coytmore, and mortally
wounded him, but in the ensuing five-day attack the Indians fired from such
a distance that no further harm was done. When the soldiers demanded
the death of the hostages, Ensign Alexander Miln, Coytmore's successor,
tried to pacify the men by ordering the hostages put in irons. While this
was being done a soldier was mortally wounded with weapons the Indians
had concealed, and the garrison, beyond control, fell upon the prisoners and
slew them to a man. On a rainy day, the Indians not appearing, Miln got
in a small supply of firewood, of which he had greater need than of
provisions. Far worse than the close siege, however, was the small-
pox, which by the 24th had caused fourteen deaths,^^
It was fortunate for the Ninety Six garrison that this time, too, there
was warning of the impending attack, for on the 22nd of February two-
thirds of the men were down with the smallpox. On the 2nd of March
two messengers from Prince George arrived and reported that on the way
down they came by Indian camps which appeared to have three hundred
warriors. The next morning, at sunrise, over two hundred attacked the
fort and fired furiously all day and night. Two of the garrison were
wounded, but in turn, so Francis wrote, several of the enemy were seen to
drop, "And we have now the Pleasure Sir, to Fatten our Dogs with their
Carcases, and to Display their Scalps, neatly ornamented on the top of
our Bastions." ^"
Leaving Ninety Six the Indians spread over the Saluda valley destroying
houses and crops, and killed or captured sixteen persons. A settler named
Michael, his wife and five children were made prisoners; a son was killed
in the encounter, and at Nuquassee in the Middle Settlements the man was
burned. The rest of the family were made slaves, but a humane chief
bought them, and it was reported that they were well treated thereafter.
At Rhall's fort a man was slain and scalped, but the garrison in turn
sallied out and drove ofif the Indians, killing and scalping two of them.
A party of the militia and a troop of rangers reached the Saluda-Ninety
Six region in the later stages of this attack, and probably prevented other
^""SCG, Feb. 16, 1760.
31 Indian Books, VI, 219-224, 226, JC, Feb. 4, 1760.
32 Indian Booics, VI, 227-228; SCG, Mar. 15, 1760.
Back Country and Frontier 225
and more serious losses, but throughout April and May there were oc-
casional surprises of persons away from forts, the most daring feat of the
Indians being the capture of the negroes of Henry Young, near Orange-
burg.^^'
When Price arrived in Charleston the 2nd of February with the
news of the impending Cherokee attack. Governor Lyttelton called a meet-
ing of the council. On their advice he sent pressing requests for aid to the
commander-in-chief at New York and to the North Carolina and Virginia
governments. The application to Virginia amounted to nothing. The
regiment raised by that province for royal service advanced slowly upon
the Overhill towns by the newer and safer route down the Great Valley,
and finally, two hundred miles from Fort Loudoun, came to a stop. The
North Carolina back country suffered from Cherokee raids, but that colony
did no more than maintain a fort and provide for an additional three
hundred men to defend its own frontier.^*
It was obvious that if the Cherokees succeeded in bringing the Creeks
into the war Georgia would be in danger of complete destruction and the
South Carolina frontier subject to a flank attack almost as ruinous. Every
effort was made by the new Superintendent of Indian Affairs of the South,
the Carolina councillor Edmund Atkin, and the active and capable Georgia
Governor Henry Ellis to bring the Creeks to the point of attacking the
Cherokees, or, failing in that, to keep them neutral. On the 14th of May,
however, trouble-makers among the upper Creeks fell upon the traders
and slew eleven of them, and to all appearance a Creek war had begun,
for this was the way the Cherokee war had started. The terror-stricken
settlers fled to Augusta and to strengthen that fort the detachment of in-
dependent troops at Fort Moore was sent across the river. The dilapidated
Carolina stronghold was promptly occupied by George Bussey and a
hundred and seventy other settlers. The Creek danger was made worse
by the trade from northern colonies to Pensacola and Mobile which sup-
plied the French, enabling them in turn to supply and corrupt the Indians.
After feverish activity, with many messages and presents, the storm blew
over, the great majority of the Creeks complacently holding to their policy
of neutrality for the tribe and freedom for the wilder spirits to slay or
plunder with impunity.^''
The Commons House, already due to meet the week following the
news of the attacks by the Cherokees, proceeded to consider the papers
set before it by the governor. Provision was made for seven companies of
rangers of seventy-five men each to patrol the frontier until July 1st, the
^^SCG, Mar. IS, Apr. 19, May 3, 10, 24, 1760; Indian Books, VI, 227-228.
^'■'JC, Feb. 2, 1760; SCG, Feb. 23, July 26, 1760; Ashe, History of N. C, I,
300-301; PR, XXVIII, 413 (Bull to Board, Oct. 21, 1760).
"■'SCG, Feb. 16, Mar. 1, 22, Apr. 7, 12, 19, May 10, 31, June 21, 1760; PR,
XXVIII, 348, 352, 359-361, 366-368 (Bull to Board, May 29, June 17, 30, 1760) ; JC,
June 5, 20, 1760. On Atkin see JC, Nov. 1, 1760.
226 The Expansion of South Carolina
men getting approximately forty-three shillings a month and furnishing
arms, supplies and horses. The provincial companies recruited under the
act of 1757 were likewise continued until July, and a reward of nearly
seventy-two shillings was oftered for each scalp of a Cherokee man. On the
governor's request ten days later the ranger pay was increased by a third.
Meanwhile on February 12th the Commons resolved that it would raise a
regiment to relieve Fort Prince George and chastise the Cherokees, but
declared that Fort Loudoun could not be relieved from this province.
This hard decision, which might have been anticipated in 1756, was but an
admission of a fact. The proposed regiment was to consist of a thousand
men with the same pay and provision for supplies as first set forth for the
rangers, the captains to begin their pay when their companies were half
full. A significant action came the next day when a motion to ask the
governor to command the regiment in person was lost.^''
The committee report on which these resolutions were partly based
recommended a regiment of five hundred, and the vote in the House to
double the number was eleven to ten. Christopher Gadsden, who was
chairman of the committee, two years later declared that over half the
members were kept away by smallpox then raging in town, and that the
measure was not well considered. Five hundred with proper pay, he con-
tended, could have been raised promptly. The fact that it had been impos-
sible to raise more than three of the five companies authorized in 1757 made
the resolution for another regiment little more than a gesture, and six
months later it consisted of a hundred and twenty-five men. It was, ap-
parently, the intention of the Commons to give the men of the exposed
regions an opportunity to protect themselves while being paid for it by the
(province at large.^'^
As a matter of fact the whole able-bodied male population of the back
country would scarcely have sufficed for the second regiment, while from
their number and from the middle country had been drawn most of the
men already in service. Furthermore the timid had taken refuge in safer
quarters, and the bolder souls who remained may well have had little en-
thusiasm for this service when they balanced the possibilities of a mountain
campaign against defense of their own stockade forts.
On the council's advice the militia colonels whose regiments included
^JCHA, Feb. 7-9, 12, 13, 19, 1760.
^"^ So7ne Observations on the Tivo Campaigns against the Cherokee Indians in
1760 and 1761 in a Second Letter from Philopatrios (Charles Town, 1762), pp.
17-18 (a copy of this pamphlet, written by Gadsden — see SCG, Feb. 26, 1763 — is
bound in with the manuscripts of the "Gadsden Miscellany" of the Smythe Col-
lection, Presbyterian College of South Carolina) ; above, pp. 215-216, Stats., IV,
128, JCHA, June 30, July 2, 1760. The uneasiness because of reports of negro insur-
rection plots doubtless made it more difficult to raise troops in the plantation area, al-
though this was not given as a cause (see JC, June 20, 1759, SCG, Aug. 18, 1759).
"Good Reasons have been suggested to us, for not inserting in this Paper any
Account of Insurrections, especially at this Time;" (May 31, 1760).
Back Country and Frontier 227
the back settlements were ordered to call out one or more companies for
local service and these did excellent work in patrolling exposed sections like
the forks of the Edisto and the Ninety Six region. The colonels were like-
wise authorized to impress provisions, not only for the men of the com-
panies but also for women and children in the forts. Lyttelton sent rein-
forcements from independent troops to Fort Moore and to Augusta and
"very large Quantities" of ammunition to Orangeburg, the Congarees and
Pinetree Hill.""
To save time Lyttelton instructed the militia colonels to appoint cap-
tains of the ranger companies which with their higher pay and mounted
service made the chief appeal to the prospective soldiers. In two weeks
Colonel Richard Richardson of St. Marks on the upper Santee wrote
from the Waterees that he had appointed Thomas Bosher captain of one
company and hoped to persuade Pearson to take the other. The sixty
Catawba warriors, he reported, were ready for service. In March Chevil-
lette reported one troop of rangers under Captain John Grennan nearly
filled and another under Charles Russell about half full. The 7th of
April the Gazette stated that most of the seven troops were complete.
Almost all the commanders and evidently most of the men were from the
middle and back country.^®
The letters from the frontier forts brought the government to the
realization of their needs and their place in the provincial defense system.
Earlier in the year Governor Lyttelton had assured the men in the Ninety
Six garrison of pay on the basis of provincial troops. In April there came
a petition from the two Enoree forts, showing their desperate plight.
Beset as they were by the Cherokees and weakened by losses in scouting
parties, they declared themselves unable to hold the forts longer without
aid. They were accordingly promised a reinforcement of fifteen men each,
and were warmly commended for their long and brave defense. In May
Turner's fort was given more ammunition and twelve bushels of salt, and
directions were issued for a militia officer to impress provisions for it.
Godfrey Dryer's fort near the Congarees, with a hundred and twenty-one
women and children in it, was ordered similarly provisioned. Finally in
June the Commons appropriated about seven hundred pounds for relief
of the people in the frontier forts.**'
Meanwhile, with the defense of the frontier in a measure provided for,
the governor and council addressed themselves to the task of relieving Fort
Prince George. Colonel Richardson, now commander of the new pro-
38 Above, p. 223, JC, Feb. 11, 12, 14, 1760; SCG, Feb. 9, 23, Mar. 1, Apr. 19,
May 10, 1760; PR, XXVIII, 313 (Lyttelton to Board, Feb. 22, 1760).
^^ SCG, Dec. 6, 1760, Indian Books, VI, 224-227. Bosher seems to have been
from the Georgetown section — see Register . . . Prince Frederick, index, P, I,
159, II, 46; Pearson accepted the command (JC, Apr. 1, 1760).
^<*JCHA, June 24, 30, July 2, 1760, May 29, 1761; JC, Apr. 30, May 20, 23, 24,
June 9, 18, July 3, 1760.
228 The Expansion of South Carolina
vincial regiment, was ordered to Ninety Six and instructed to make the
attempt if, with the rangers included, he could raise five hundred men.
Patrick Calhoun appeared to offer the services of the Long Canes settlers
and became an officer in the regiment. The scalp money was increased to
about seven pounds but neither this nor other inducements sufficed, and the
requisite force could not be raised.^^
On the 19th of March William Bull presided over the council meeting,
explaining that the governor was about to depart for England. A month
before Lyttelton had produced a letter from the Board of Trade announc-
ing his promotion to the governorship of Jamaica, and the appointment
of Thomas Pownall as governor and Bull as lieutenant-governor of South
Carolina. Pownall never came to the colony ; his successor, Thomas Boone,
did not reach Charleston until December 1761. While Lyttelton's ad-
ministration was no great success, his vigor, his plain, direct dealing, his
usual courtesy and his apparent disinterestedness retained for him the
confidence of the province. Bull's appointment was well received. His
father's record and the standing of his family gave him prestige, and his
own service as member and speaker of the Commons and in the council
brought him, on his first meeting with the assembly, a flattering address.*^
On the 1st of April a war vessel and six transports arrived in Charles-
ton harbor with twelve hundred troops on board sent by General Amherst.
The men — half of them Highlanders, the others of the First or Royal
Scotch regiment — were commanded by Colonel Archibald Montgomery.
The assembly enacted an ordinance for impressment of wagons, horses
and drivers ; the force, marching by way of the Congarees, reached Ninety
Six on the 25th of May. Here preparations were made and the expedi-
tion reorganized for the march into the enemy's country. Richardson
retired from the command of the provincials and Montgomery took three
hundred and fifty rangers and foot soldiers, leaving the others to guard
the frontier.*^
With twelve hundred and fifty pounds appropriated by the Commons
Bull equipped about forty Catawbas, whose families were to be maintained
at Pinetree Hill, and as many of the former New Windsor Chickasaws
now resident on the Georgia side of the Savannah below Augusta. The
Commons authorized payment likewise of five pounds reward for each
scalp taken by any person not in pay of the crown or province. James
Adair volunteered to lead the Savannah River Chickasaws without pay,
but the Commons provided for him about seven pounds a month ; he and
his party joined with some of the western Chickasaws under Captain John
^iJC, Feb. 29, Mar. 3, 6, Apr. 7, July 17, 1760; JCHA, July 9, 1760.
*-See JCHA, Mar. 11, 14, Apr. 16, 1760, JC, Feb. 14, Mar. 19, 1760; PR, XXIX,
54-55, 210 (Order in Council, Mar. 20, 1761, Boone to Board, Dec. 24, 1761);
Lyttelton embarked April 4th {SCG, Apr. 7, 1760).
^''SCG, Apr. 7, May 31, 1760, JCHA, Apr. 16, 17, 19, 1760; PR, XXVIII,
328-333 (Bull to Board, May 6, 1760).
Back Country and Frontier 229
Brown, who though the half-breed son of a Cherokee mother, was an active
and responsible trader to the distant tribe and their leader in defense
against the Choctaws. The Indians did not accompany Montgomery be-
yond the Lower Towns but served irregularly about Fort Prince George
during the summer. In September Adair's party claimed to have taken
four Cherokee scalps and the Catawbas in October produced a prisoner and
six scalps.**
On the 28th of May Montgomery left Ninety Six with his force of
regulars and provincials; his lieutenant-colonel was James Grant who
acted as correspondent for the expedition. Bull, with little hope of success
for the expedition, said that in two weeks he expected news of the burning
of the empty towns and the supplies of the "volatile" enemy. At this time
the negro Abraham, now freed for his services, again brought news of the
wretched Fort Loudoun garrison with its ration of two ounces of "rotten
meat" and a pint of corn a day, and only enough of this for six weeks.
He also reported the sufferings of the prisoners in the towns. Miln had
recently decoyed Tistoe of Keowee and nine other Cherokees to the fort,
seized them and exchanged two for several white prisoners.*^
On the fifth day after his departure from Ninety Six Montgomery
reached Twelve Mile Creek and there left the baggage in charge of a small
party, while he attempted to surprise Eastatoe, the largest of the Lower
Towns, several miles above Keowee. Forced to turn aside to destroy a
small outlying village where they killed most of the men, the troops dis-
closed themselves to the enemy and Eastatoe was found deserted with the
beds still warm. In Sugar Town nearby they found the dead body of a
man tortured the preceding morning, and burned that town and the several
smaller towns making up the lower division of the Cherokees, together with
their plentiful stores of food. On June 2nd, after an uninterrupted march
of sixty miles from Twelve Mile Creek, the force reached Fort Prince
George. Here Montgomery waited for the Indians to sue for peace, while
Grant wrote condescending dispatches to Charleston in which he even
praised the rangers. It was at this time that the Catawbas started home
with thirty horse loads of plunder.*"
On the 5th Montgomery released Tistoe, who now for the second time
^*PR, XXVIII, 330-331 (Bull to Board, May 6, 1760); JCHA, Apr. 19, 28,
1760, Indian Books, V, 339-340; SCG, July 19, Aug. 2, 1760; JC, Sept. 3, 5, Oct. 6,
1760.
■'^PR, XXVIII, 353-354 (Bull to Board, May 29, 1760); JCHA, June 12, 1760,
SCG, May 24, June 7, 10, 1760. This was Abraham's third trip through the Chero-
kee country; he had meanwhile had smallpox in Charleston. For Grant, see below,
p. 237.
^SCG, June 10, 14, July 5, 1760; JC, June 10, 1760. On his return Mont-
gomery brought 1 man and 32 women and children prisoners (SCG, Aug. 13,
1760). By his failure to destroy the growing crops he neglected his best opportunity.
Later in the year, when the Middle and Overhill settlements developed a food
shortage the fields" of the Lower Towns became an invaluable supply {SCG, July
5, Aug. 2, Sept. 13, 1760; JC, June 30, 1760).
230 The Expansion of South Carolina
in six months went out from confinement in Fort Prince George a dubious
envoy of peace. He carried from the commander a threat that if the
Indians did not come to terms within ten days he would destroy the other
towns, but this availed nothing, for the Middle Settlements were not yet
touched, and the hostile Overhills had Fort Loudoun at their mercy." On
the 24th therefore Montgomery started on his mission of destruction of the
Middle Towns, frankly admitting that he could not attempt the relief of
Fort Loudoun. Forty of the rangers, even more disillusioned than he,
deserted the night before the march. A provision train with supplies for
thirty days — cattle, and flour loaded on packhorses — accompanied the
expedition. Crossing the Keowee at the ford below the fort the little army
advanced along the trading path over high rolling hills, following Oconee
Creek to its head. They climbed Oconee Mountain, descended to the
Chattooga River and crossing it ascended the narrow and rugged valley of
War Woman Creek. At no point of the fifty-mile stretch of broken
country between Keowee and the nearest of the Middle Towns did the
Cherokees offer resistance, apparently preferring to stand nearer their own
homes and perhaps wishing to cut the invading force off from retreat.*®
On the 27th, anticipating trouble, Montgomery marched at four in the
morning hoping to surprise the Indians. Turning due north he passed
Rabun Gap and entered the narrow but pleasant valley of the Little
Tennessee. Following the west bank of the stream, at ten o'clock he
reached the site of a former Cherokee town, Tassantee, thirteen miles from
his camp of the preceding night and five miles from Echoe. Here he ap-
proached a low and thickly covered stretch, the river a short distance in
front, to his left a steep mountain, and on the right a hill. As John Mor-
rison of Amelia, captain of one of the provincial companies and leading the
advance guard, plunged into the thicket to reconnoitre he was fired on from
all sides and fell dead. The grenadiers and light infantry at once charged
into the thicket, while the Royal Scotch were moved to the rising ground on
the right and the Highlanders toward the mountain on the left. The
Cherokees retiring to the steep slope of the mountain, the troops faced to
the left, apparently with their backs to the river, and suffered a galling fire
from the rifles of the Indians which carried further than their own muskets.
Then, after four or five hours of fighting, the force faced to the right, filed
over the ford to the east bank of the Tennessee, and made their way to
Echoe five miles away. Some of the Cherokees had gone ahead and warned
the town, which was empty when Montgomery arrived, but others at-
tacked the provision train which was guarded by about a hundred men.
^'' SCG, June 7, July 5, 1760; PR, XXVIII, 364-366 (Bull to Board, June 30,
1760) ; JC, June 30, 1760.
^^ SCG, July 5, 12, 1760; Some Observations etc. (see above, n. 37), pp. 81-82;
PR, XXVIII, 365 (Bull to Board, June 30, 1760). For the route see Haig, Map of
Back Country of S. C, and Bartram, Travels through N. and S. C, pp. 331-348.
Back Country and Frontier 231
Beset on all sides, these men barricaded their wounded with the bags of
flour, and eventually beat off the enemy. They met the reinforcement sent
back from Echoe and reached the town after midnight. 16 regulars were
killed and 66 wounded, while of the provincials there were 3 slain and 10
wounded. The dead were left on the field, and covered, if at all, too
slightly to give the bodies any protection. '*'*
The regular troops apparently remained in close formation and the
Indians, themselves suffering little, declared later that they shot down the
soldiers like turkeys. The provincials and rangers in part protected them-
selves by trees, and Grant afterwards charged the latter with cowardice.
His accusation was refuted by the losses of these companies which were in
equal proportion to those of the regulars, and reflected little credit on the
author whose letters showed that the main force, including himself, left
the rear guard of rangers, wagoners and regulars to shift for itself, and
that this mixed company fought its way through the enemy and saved the
supplies.^**
At Echoe Montgomery camped for the night and the following day,
the Indians making two attacks which apparently inflicted no loss. Then
at midnight, leaving lights in the houses to deceive the Indians, and with
the wounded in litters, the troops began a return march that brought them
the following night to War Woman Creek, twenty-eight miles away.
Grant's truculent statement later that the Indians dared not come near
them was, under the circumstances, somewhat unnecessary. On the 30th
there were skirmishes with the Indians with slight loss, and at the end of
that day the army camped within twelves miles of Keowee.°^ Mont-
gomery's position after the fight at Echoe was unenviable, and his argu-
ment that it was impossible to continue the campaign without sacrificing
his wounded was not without force, but the need of preserving some shred
of respect for the whites demanded that he at least attempt the destruction
of the towns which lay within easy reach a few miles down the Little
Tennessee valley. The flight by night capped the failure of the expedition
and, coming on the heels of Lyttelton's expedition, gave the Cherokees
such confidence in themselves and their hills that not even another year of
^^SCG, July 5, 12, 19, 1760; Some Observations etc., pp. 82-86. The dis-
tances and description of the ground indicate that the battle occurred on a
stretch of the path nearly a mile long which cut across from one end to another of
a half-circle described by the river. The lower end of that half-circle was at or
near the ford marked approximately by the present Smith's bridge, half a mile
above the mouth of Tessentee Creek. The "rising ground" appears to have been
the hill partly enclosed by the river, the "mountain" probably the slope to the
northwest of the hill rather than the steeper ascent to the southwest (Haig, Map of
Cherokee Country, and United States Geological Survey, North Carolina "Cowee
Quadrangle" — Washington, 1907; notes made by J. M. Lesesne and the writer,
Oct. 10, 1936).
^°SCG, Oct. 25, 1760; Some Observations etc., pp. 26-27.
^^SCG, July 12, 1760, JC, July 11, 1760, Some Observations etc., p. 85.
232 The Expansion of South Carolina
war and another invasion brought them to terms. The province was much
the worse for Montgomery's coming.
The expedition reached Fort Prince George on July 1st and, leaving
six months supply of flour and forty bullocks, marched the next day for
Ninety Six. The garrison was so near to mutiny at the prospect be-
fore it that a show of force was necessary to restore order and a rein-
forcement of twenty-six men from the regulars was left in the fort. At
the Congarees Montgomery left three hundred men, but, despite the urgent
pleas of Bull and the assembly, he embarked in August with the remainder
of his troops, carrying out Amherst's orders for a return to the north as
soon as the Cherokees were chastised. The commander-in-chief properly
reminded the provincial authorities of their obligation to fill the South
Carolina regiments before asking a permanent force of regulars.^^
The failure of Montgomery's expedition assured the fall of the hap-
less Fort Loudoun. Though under close siege since the beginning of the
war, it had not often been attacked, and by sale of petty trifles to the In-
dians Captain Demere had obtained small quantities of supplies. But as
the war spirit in the Overhills mounted and the news of the death of the
hostages at Fort Prince George came to them the lines were drawn closer.
The distress of the garrison, with its allowance of a pint of corn a day for
each soldier, caused the resourceful lieutenant-governor to form a scheme
for temporary relief. He succeeded in getting a parcel of ribbons and
paint to the fort, and with this small but precious cargo Demere bought
two weeks provisions from the Cherokee wenches, "above 30 of whom
constantly resorted to the fort". The services of these women, whether
for love of the soldier or for his gewgaws, no doubt had much to do with
the increasing hostility of the warriors. Despite the shortage of supplies
Demere ransomed a woman and three children from the Indians, the
former shortly afterwards dying of the abuse she had suffered. At the
last the fort subsisted on the flesh of horses or of lean hogs and the beans
which the women, with the Little Carpenter's aid, brought in on rainy
nights. But finally that too ceased.^^
As July wore on the occasional despatches told of the despair of the
garrison "abandoned and forsaken by God and man." On the 6th of
August a council of war decided that the fort could not be held longer,
and Captain Stuart and Lieutenant James Adamson went to the Great
Warrior for terms. In return for the surrender of the fort and all guns,
spare arms and ammunition, the Indians granted permission for the gar-
rison with arms and ammunition to go to Virginia or Prince George while
^-Ibid., p. 88, SCG, July 19, 1760, JCHA, July 11, 30, 31, 1760; PR, XXVIII, 372-
380, 388-391 (Bull to Board, July 20, Aug. 15, 1760, with enclosed letter).
Apparently Montgomery left, in all, 400 men — see below, p. 237.
•'^=*PR, XXVIII, 331-333, 362 (Bull to Board, May 6, June 17, 1760), SCG,
June 7, 21, Aug. 23, 1760.
Back Country and Frontier 233
the sick were to be cared for in the Indian towns. The Cherokees thus
came in possession of 14 cannon, 80 small arms, 1,000 pounds of powder and
2,000 pounds of ball/"
From the time that these despatches were received till the 31st of
August nothing was known at Fort Prince George of the fate of the gar-
rison, and the details of the massacre reached Charleston a month later by
way of Virginia. The soldiers marched out of the fort on the 9th and
camped that night sixteen miles away. As they resumed their journey the
next morning the Indians attacked the advance guard. Demere, who was
bitterly hated by the Indians, whether for his position or his behavior does
not appear, was wounded, scalped at once and then tortured horribly to
death on the spot. It was reported at the time that only 25 others were
killed, but Bull later declared that there were slain 4 officers, 23 privates,
and 3 women. 7 others were reported drowned in attempting to escape
and two to have burst themselves eating. The remainder, about 120,
brought the number of prisoners from the frontier of the two Carolinas to
near 300. Stuart was spirited away by the Little Carpenter; months later
when he reached Charleston by way of Virginia, he was commended highly
by the lieutenant-governor and the Commons and voted a gratuity of about
two hundred pounds. ^"^
The destruction of the hated and feared Fort Loudoun establishment
satisfied many Cherokees, and started talk of peace, but the majority
were inspired to a renewed blockade of Fort Prince George, determined,
so Bull reported, to have the officers who commanded when the hostages
were put to death, and to get the presents and the six thousand pounds of
powder left there by Lyttelton. The lieutenant-governor acted promptly
to cover the frontier with what forces he had. One troop of rangers he
placed a few miles above the detachment left by Montgomery at the
Congarees. The other six he stationed in pairs between the Catawba and
the Broad, the Broad and Ninety Six, and between Ninety Six and the
Savannah and Fort Moore. At Ninety Six he placed fifty men and four
swivel guns, primarily to keep lines open to Fort Prince George. The post
continued the base of operations until the campaign of 1761 but the pro-
vincial regiment remained at the Congarees.^®
^*PR, XXVIII, 361-362, 389, 394-396, 413-414 (Bull to Board, June 17, Aug.
15, 31, Oct. 21, 1760), SCG, June 14, Aug. 2, 23, 1760. Adamson was from the
Waterees (above p. 105).
^^SCG, Sept. 6, 27, Oct. 4, 11, 18, 1760; PR, XXVIII, 401-^03, 409-411 (Bull
to Board, Sept. 9, Oct. 21, 1760); JC, Oct. 22, 1760; JCHA, Jan. 22, 23, 1761.
^^SCG, Sept. 27, 1760; PR, XXVIII, 396-397, 402 (Bull to Board, Aug. 31,
Sept. 9, 1760) ; JCHA, Aug. 14, 1760, Mar. 28, 1761. During August one of the
garrison was killed and two captured {SCG, Sept. 13, 1760). In February 1761
Miln and the other officers at Fort Prince George who had been there when
the hostages were killed were recalled, Miln being replaced in command by
Lieutenant Lachlan Mcintosh, appointed by Bull because he was "greatly re-
spected by the Indians" and thus could facilitate peace talks (letters of Aug. 15,
1760, Jan. 29, 1761, PR, XXVIII, 390-391, XXIX, 23-24, SCG, Mar. 7, 1761).
234 The Expansion of South Carolina
It was not until October that the relief of Fort Prince George was
undertaken. Meanwhile that garrison, reduced to sour flour and the
flesh of an occasional horse, had become desperate and fearful that the fate
of the Overhills fort would also be theirs. "For God's sake," wrote a
correspondent, "tell me, what are they about? have they no compassion for
us, for themselves, or for their posterity? shall scarce 2000 savages now
give law to Carolina, when 12 or 15,000, 45 years ago, could not? Oh!
my country! " But on October 11th Major
William Thomson set out from Ninety Six with a detachment of 268
picked rangers driving pack horses loaded with 2,500 pounds of flour, each
ranger carrying on his own horse 40 pounds of salted jerked beef. Arriving
on the 15th, Thomson likewise supplied the garrison with firewood. In
November and again in February the lieutenant-governor sent up more
supplies in wagons, escorted by the rangers."
In this collapse of the ambitious and expensive imperial structure it
was not the ranger troops alone who held the South Carolina frontier.
The defeat of Montgomery's force threw the back country settlers into
"such dreadful apprehensions" that many, so the Gazette declared, fled to
the now safer northern colonies, while some took refuge in the fall line
settlements or in the low country. But others held their ground. Renewed
activity in building stockades made more demands upon the provincial
administration for swivel guns and blunderbusses, and there was even re-
settlement of the Long Canes where a fort was built under guard of a
party of the "far Chickasaws". Another was built for the Catawbas at
the expense of the province, enabling them to return to their homes from
their refuge at Pinetree Hill.^^
There were more than a score of these forts dotting the country from
the Salkehatchie forks to the Indian boundary, but probably the dozen in
the exposed region between Fort Moore and the mouth of the Tyger River
contained the fifteen hundred persons referred to by Lieutenant-Governor
Bull in January 1761.^^ The seven hundred pounds given by the Commons
"PR, XXVIII, 411-412, XXIX, 23-24 (Bull to Board, Oct. 21, 1760, Jan. 29,
1761) ; SCG, Sept. 27, Oct. 18, 25, 1760, Feb. 21, 1761 ; JC, Nov. IS, 1760. On the last
expedition 133 of Thomson's horses were killed or taken by the Indians when they
strayed from the fort {SCG, Mar. 7, 1761).
^SCG, July 26, Aug. 13, Nov. 15, 1760; JCHA, Oct. 14, 17, 1760; JC, Aug. 7,
Oct. 8, 15, 1760, Sept. 12, 1761; Howe, Presbyterian Church, I, 307-308.
53 JCHA, Jan. 21, 1761; PR, XXIX, 89 (Bull to Pitt, Apr. 28, 1761). The
following is a list of forts named in the records:
1. Ashepoo, Fort at head of (JC, Apr. 7, 1760).
2. Aubrey's (Samuel), Enoree River, apparently abandoned for Musgrove's,
two miles away (JC, Apr. 30, June 18, 1760).
3. Barker's, Salkehatchie River {SCG, Oct. 10, 1761— advt. of Joseph Glover).
4. Bedon's, Buckhead Creek, Salkehatchie River; Bedon's and Barker's may
have been the same (JC, Mar. 27, 1760).
5. Brooks' (Jacob), or Rhall's, Bush River (Indian Books, VI, 218, above, p.
223).
6. Bull, Fort, Orangeburg (JC, Apr. 30, 1760).
Back Country and Frontier 235
in June to these civilian soldiers and their families fell so far short of the
needs of the frontier that in January 1761 twice as much again was ap-
propriated for the purpose."" This was scanty aid for the stout-hearted
frontiersmen who held the back country for two bitter years and saved the
province from the economic and moral damage that would have followed
complete abandonment of the piedmont. The money served the purpose,
however, for it eked out the partial crops of grain they planted and har-
7. Catawba Fort; Twelve Mile Creek, Catawba River (JCHA, Oct. 14, 1760;
JC, Oct. 8, 1760, Sept. 12, 1761; State Records of N. C, XI, 80, map).
8. Dryer's (Godfrev Dreher's), Congarees (JC, May 24, 1760).
9. Fletchall's (probably Thomas) or "Fletcher's", Sandy River {SCG, Sept.
27, 1760).
10. Gallman's (Henry), Congarees (JC, Mar. 27, 1760, JCHA, May 19, 1760).
11. Galphin's (George), Silver Bluff {SCG, July 12, 1760, above, p. 70).
12. Gordon's, Enoree (P, VH, 253; Stats., IX, 211).
13. Helm's, Wateree Creek, Wateree River (JCHA, May 25, 1764; P, VII, 501).
14. Lee's, head of East Fork Little River of Broad (JCHA, May 25, 1764, Dec.
1769, P, VII, 475, Stats., IX, 214).
15. Long Canes, {SCG, Nov. 15, 1760; note also Fort Adventure on Savannah
River— JCHA, May 25, 1764).
16. Lyles' or "Loyalls' ", Beaver Creek (JCHA, Schedule for 1762 appropriation
bill, names men supplying the fort; P, VIII, 184, 185, XVI, 353— plats of
Samuel and Clement Mobberly and John Liles).
17. Moore, Fort, occupied by settlers in spring of 1760 when the garrison was
moved to Augusta {SCG, June 21, 1760).
18. Musgrove's, later Fort William Henry; see also Aubrey's (JCHA, Schedule
for 1762 appropriation bill; JC, Apr. 30, June 18, 1760).
19. Nixon's (Edward), Little River, Broad River (JCHA, Schedule for 1764
appropriation bill; JC, Dec. 7, 1762; P, XVI, 512).
20. Otterson's, Tyger River (Howe, Presbyterian Church, I, 333. Perhaps
James Otterson, see ibid., p. 298 and his advertisement, SCAGG, July 17
1767).
21. Pearson's (John), apparently on his own land on Broad River (Indian
Books, VI, 218; above, pp. 156-157).
22. Pennington's (Jacob), Indian Creek {SCG, Aug. 8, 1761; JCHA, July 23,
1761; P, VI, 44, X, 248).
23. Raiford's (Philip), Little River, Broad River (Indian Books, VI, 225;
Robert Mills, Statistics of South Carolina — Charleston, 1826 — p. 555).
24. Stevens Creek (JC, Apr. 7, 1760).
25. Tobler's (John), near Fort Moore (JC, Apr. 7, 1760; Urlsperger, Nach-
richten, Ackeriverk, pt. 4, 148).
26. Turner's (William), mouth of Little Saluda {SCG, Feb. 9, 1760, May 30,
1761).
27. Waggener's (John), Beaver Creek, Broad River (JCHA, May 25, 1764;
Mills, Statistics, p. 555).
28. Wofford's, Fairforest Creek (P, VIII, 57).
There are likewise references to Burkhalter's fort (JCHA, May 25, 1764), and
to Ott's and Rowe's forts in the Orangeburg community (Salley, Orangeburg, pp.
190-191).
60 See above, p. 227, JCHx\, Jan. 22, 1761. Thomas Gill, miller of the Saluda
settlements (P, VIII, 599), disabled while serving in Fort Ninety Six, was
granted an annuity of thirteen pounds (JCHA, Jan. 23, 24, 1761). Frauds were
discovered in some of these accounts (JCHA, July 14, 23, 1761) and the Commons
refused to pay several others because the certificates and names of appraisers
were all in the same hand (JCHA, July 3, 1764).
236 The Expansion of South Carolina
vested at the risk and sometimes at the cost of their lives. With the Ninety
Six garrison the Commons were more generous. First under command of
Francis and then under Thomas Bell, it was continued in the provincial
service until April 1761, the pay for the preceding seven and a half months
amounting to nearly six hundred pounds.®^
When Bull learned in July 1760 that Montgomery's force must return
at once to New York, he proposed to the Commons that the four com-
panies of British troops left at the Congarees be used with the rangers to
defend the frontier, and that the province not attempt the offensive. In
view of Amherst's strictures he urged the House to fill the new regiment
provided for in February and to bring the old provincial companies up to
three hundred. But a House committee recommended more vigorous meas-
ures, and by a bare majority the Commons resolved to raise a new regiment
of a thousand men, the number including the independent troops and the
three provincial companies already in service.^^
Recruiting proceeded slowly in the province and neighboring colonies
despite the energetic efforts of Thomas Middleton, the Colonel, Henry
Laurens, Lieutenant-Colonel, and their subordinate officers, among them
William Moultrie and Francis Marion. In December there were 400 in
the regiment, the following April about 500.''^ No such difficulties handi-
capped the ranger service. In October 1761 the Commons approved
Bull's organization of the seven troops into a regiment of horse with
William Thomson as major, and in January authorized enlistment of an
eighth troop which the lieutenant-governor said he could immediately raise.
A uniform for the men, and pay for the officers equal to that of the regi-
mental officers, completed the evolution of Francis' and Fairchild's nonde-
script troops of the previous decade.*'*
Much of the lieutenant-governor's time for the six months following
the surrender of Fort Loudoun was taken up with futile peace talks, which
may, however, have saved Fort Prince George and the frontier more than
one attack.®' More to the point were the negotiations by which 115 prison-
«1PR, XXIX, 90 (Bull to Pitt, Apr. 28, 1760), JCHA, May 28, 29, June 13, 24,
1761, SCG, Apr. 11, 1761 ("Rayfords" Creek is evidently a misprint for Raeburns;
for location see P, X, 126, XIII, 290 — Edward and Robert Box and Jacob Brooks).
«2 JCHA, July 31, Aug. 1, 5, 6, 13, 14, IS, 19, 1760; Stats., IV, 144-148. The
"regiment" projected by the resolution of Feb. 12th preceding (see above, p.
226) was ignored; nine months pay for its 125 men was included in the appro-
priation act of July 31st {Stats., IV, 128).
^'^ Manuscript copy of [First] Letter of Philopatrios in "Gadsden Miscellany";
JCHA, Apr. 23, 1761; SCG, Sept. 27, Oct. 25, Nov. 8, 15, 22, 1760; PR, XXVIII,
447 (Bull to Board, Dec. 17, 1760). For Bull's delay in issuing commissions see
JCHA, Oct. 10, 13, 1760.
*^JCHA, Oct. 14, 17, 1760, Jan. 16, 17, 1761.
«^PR, XXVIII, 391-397, 409-415 (Bull to Board, Aug. 15, 31, Oct. 21, 1761),
JC, Oct. 6, 1760, SCG, Oct. 25, 1760.
Back Country and Frontier 237
ers were ransomed, about 70 of them soldiers, leaving perhaps 30 captives
in the nation.®''
The news of the massacre of the Fort Loudoun garrison and Bull's
application to General Amherst brought another detachment of regular
troops commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel James Grant, Montgomery's
adjutant and the chief correspondent of the 1760 expedition. The troops
arrived January 6, 1761, and with the men left by Montgomery at the
Congarees brought Grant's command to 1,600. Provision was made for a
depot of 500,000 pounds of flour at the Congarees and for sending 1,500
head of cattle to designated points.*'' Renewed application to Virginia and
North Carolina caused troops to be raised by both colonies, but neither of
these forces influenced the result of the campaign.®*
By the end of March Grant had his troops at Moncks Corner ready to
leave as soon as the woods afforded forage for horses and cattle. Marching
by detachments and delayed by rains the force reached Ninety Six on the
14th of May, where Major Moultrie had already finished a new stockade
for that fort. Here Grant organized his force for the campaign. He had
on the spot 1,400 regulars, 689 provincials under Colonel Thomas Middle-
ton, 401 rangers, and 57 Indians who were to serve as scouts, beside
wagoners and negro pioneers, making a total of nearly 2,800. There were
19 Catawbas under old Hagler, accompanied by a few Mohawks who came
with Grant, and these erstwhile enemies, now companions in arms, did well
in the campaign. Perhaps the Indian honors went to the Chickasaws led
by Colbert; fifteen of them as they set out for Ninety Six from Augusta
declared that if more Cherokee peace talks were listened to they would
never fight them again, "observing, that they often hear the white people
say 'God damn the Cherokees,' but never see them kill any". The western
Chickasaws were gone a 3ear from home.®^
Arriving at Fort Prince George May 27, Grant added to his force
the Fort Loudoun soldiers recently ransomed. Again, as on Montgomery's
approach, there was talk of peace, the Little Carpenter striving to make
terms. But the redoubtable Young Warrior and Cunnicatoka or the
Standing Turkey of Chotee, who later succeeded Old Hop as "Emperor",
««PR, XXIX, 21-24, 106 (Bull to Board, Jan. 29, May 16, 1761) ; JCHA, Jan.
22, 23, May 7, 1761; JC, May 6, 1761; SCG, Nov. 29, 1760, May 9, June 13, 20,
1761. Some prisoners were redeemed by the Virginia governor and others were
sent to the French {SCG, Dec. 6, 1760, May 9, 1761).
67 JCHA, June 24, Oct. 6, 1760, Jan. 19, Mar. 28, Apr. 2, 1761; PR, XXVIII,
436-438, 447-H8, XXIX, 17-21, (Bull to Board, Nov. 18, Dec. 17, 1760, Jan. 29,
1761) ; SCG, June 10, 1760.
«8 JCHA, Mar. 28, 1761, SCG. May 2, 1761.
«9JC, July 21, Sept. 12, Nov. 17, 1761; JCHA, Mar. 28, Apr. 2, July 21, 23, 24,
1761; SCG, Mar. 21, Apr. 25, May 2, 9, 23, 30, June 20, 1761. Part of the ranger
force had been reserved by Bull for protection of the southwest frontier against
the Creeks (JCHA, Mar. 28, 1761).
238 The Expansion of South Carolina
were still for war. Accordingly on June 7th, with about 650 packhorses
loaded with flour, salt and ammunition, but with no tents, Grant crossed
the Keowee leaving only invalids at Prince George.^"
At eight or nine o'clock on the morning of the 10th, as he marched
along the Little Tennessee, he was about two miles from the site of the
battle of the year before. Here where hills rose steeply almost from the
banks of the stream, the Cherokees attacked. Grant formed his regulars
in columns, and, evidently expecting a duplication of the former attack,
planned to have Thomson's rangers seize the hills on both sides of the river
from which the Indians could fire upon those troops. Behind him Colonel
Middleton and his provincial regiment had the provisions and cattle. The
Cherokees, however, with a fine grasp of the strategic points in the situa-
tion, while firing upon the regulars made their chief attack upon the pro-
vincials, probably intending to cut off the provision train. Middleton
sent out a party to the hills on his own right flank, and a reinforcement of
a hundred men to the rear to quiet the apprehensions of the troops there
who feared that, like Montgomery's rear guard, they might be abandoned.
Grant refused to send troops or to allow Indians to go to the rear.^^
After three or four hours of fighting the Cherokees drew off, having
inflicted a loss on their enemy of 11 killed and 52 wounded. It was sheer
weight of numbers rather than any difference in management by the officers
or behavior of the men that made the second battle of Echoe a better
story than the first. From the battle ground Grant marched his force to
the town where he camped for the night. Then, leaving Middleton with a
thousand men to guard the provisions, he proceeded to the destruction of
the fifteen towns and fourteen hundred acres of corn and beans in the
Middle Settlements. He encountered no resistance, and on the 9th of
July reached Fort Prince George again, after thirty-three days in the
Indian country.'^
A campaign against the Overhills would have been far more difficult
and dangerous than the one just finished, and the Valley Towns, almost
as far away though not as inaccessible, had been the least hostile of the
Cherokee divisions. The results of Grant's expedition, however, were
inconclusive. He had inflicted no considerable loss on the man-power of
^°PR, XXIX, 118-120 (Bull to Board, June 19, 1761); SCG, May 30, June 2Q,
1761. 20 or 30 rangers and 13 Provincials deserted at Ninety Six {SCG, May 30,
1761). For Standing Turkey see JC, Dec. 18, 1761, SCG, Jan. 5, 1760. Bull said
in May, 1760 that he had been elected (to Board, May 6th — PR, XXVIII, 331, and
see SCG, May 3, 1760), but either this election was not confirmed, or Little Car-
penter hoped to put it aside (JCHA, Sept. 15, 1761).
^^PR, XXIX, 124-126 (Bull to Board, July 17, 1761); SCG, July 11, 18, 25,
Aug. 1, Sept. 12, 1761.
■2 PR, XXIX, 124-126 (Bull to Board, July 17, 1761). In October Grant moved
his camp to Ninety Six; in November the Provincial Regiment, much reduced
by desertion and expiration of enlistment, was disbanded, but four companies of
Thompson's rangers were maintained (PR, XXIX, 199-201, Bull to Board, Dec. 5,
1761; SCG, Oct. 10, 31, 1761).
Back Country and Frontier 239
the Cherokees, and his destruction of crops so early in the season by no
means cut off all the food supply even of the Middle Towns. By returning
before any move for peace had been made, he threw away any assurance of
favorable terms. His force was large enough to secure his position in the
Middle Settlements and the transportation of supplies from the province.
The Virginia expedition was on the Holston River a hundred and fifty
miles from the Overhills towns, '^ and the two together would have consti-
tuted a wholesome influence on the Cherokees during the peace negoti-
ations.
The first news of the engagement caused smoldering resentments and
differences to leap into flame, and this was doubtless made worse by Grant's
condescending letters and the jealousy in the English province of Scotch
officials.^* The Charleston newspaper of Robert Wells, a Scot, carried
laudatory accounts while Timothy's correspondents attacked Grant for
failure to inflict serious loss on the Indians in the skirmish or to support
the provincial troops; they recalled the treatment of the rear guard the
j^ear before, and Grant's previous charge of cowardice against the rangers.
That prince of controversialists, Christopher Gadsden, speedily threw him-
self into the fray, and scored Grant for adopting a rigidly defensive policy
with evident set purpose to destroy the food and houses of the Cherokees
rather than their warriors: "who wou'd have expected" he asked, "to
have heard the forces run the Gauntlet through them, only to burn a parcel
of Indian huts, and pull up their corn ? Were we afraid these huts and
cornfields wou'd have sneaked off & not waited in their places, till the
Army had sufficiently revenged the Blood of our Butchered officers and
men of Fort Loudoun garrison?" Middleton was, so he and his partisans
claimed, completely ignored during the campaign, and withdrew from the
force when it returned to Fort Prince George. A bitter controversy arose
which resulted in a bloodless duel between Grant and Middleton and a
newspaper war in which Grant was championed by Lieutenant-Colonel
Laurens, Middleton's second in command.^^
In April Bull had sent to Grant a preliminary treaty in case the Chero-
kees sued for peace, but nearly two months elapsed after the return to
Prince George before the Little Carpenter appeared at the fort to ask for
terms. On hearing the first article which demanded execution of at
least one offender from each of the four divisions of the nation, he declared
that he must consult the Cherokee towns before he could consent to it.
Grant instead sent him to Charleston and himself urged the lieutenant-
^^ See Baker-Crothers, Virginia and the French and Indian War, pp. 150-151.
There were 600 in the force on July 26th (JCHA, Sept. 15, 1761).
'* Note Charleston News, SCG', Oct. 1, and letter to editor, SCG, Oct. 8, 1761.
''^ SCG, July 25, Aug. 1, 8, Sept. 12, 1761; [First] Letter of Philopatrios,
and letters of John Rattray, Jan. 7, 1761, Lt. Gov. Bull, Jan. 10, Apr. 10, 1761,
Middleton, July 19, 1761, Grant, July 10, 1761, included in "Gadsden Miscellany";
Letter of "Philolethes" [Laurens] MS.
240 The Expansion of South Carolina
governor to waive that provision. Bull called the assembly to deliberate on
the proposed treaty, and a committee of the Commons reported its opinion
that the omission of this article would make the treaty useless and dis-
honorable. The House, however, informed the lieutenant-governor that
in view of the burden of debt on the province, and the apparent uselessness
of expecting the commander to listen to sound advice it was constrained to
approve the concession. The terms thus agreed on were delivered to the
Carpenter to lay before a general meeting of the Cherokee towns, but not
until the 18th of December did the little chief and eight others sign the
treaty in Charleston. Far from granting terms like a conqueror, the
province was put in the position of suing for peace, and its predicament
reminded Gadsden of Sir John Falstaff's situation "with the prisoner he
took, who wou'd neither come along with him, nor let him come away
himself." ''
The articles called for the prompt yielding up of all prisoners, negroes,
horses and cattle held by the Cherokees, the surrender of Fort Loudoun
and permission to the English to build forts at any points in the nation,
exclusion of the French and, in the future, execution by the Cherokees of
any Indian who murdered an Englishman. The line between the whites and
the Indians should be drawn at forty miles distance from Keowee, a line
which was proposed by the Cherokees themselves, instead of Twenty-Six
Mile Creek which had first been stipulated. The trade was to be re-
opened when the Indians yielded up their prisoners.^^
Thus ingloriously the Cherokee War came to an end, having cost the
province over a hundred thousand pounds sterling,''^ between a hundred and
fifty and two hundred lives, and the devastation and partial abandonment
of a large part of its area. For this there was no compensating advantage
and neither province nor crown gained any prestige from it. Except for
the story of the frontier forts and the behavior of subordinate officers and
of the rank and file of troops, there was little to redeem the record.
7«JCHA, Sept. 15-19, JC, Sept. 10, 15, 1761; PR, XXIX, 182-185, 199-201
(Bull to Board, Sept. 23, Dec. 5, 1761), [First] Letter of Philopatrios. The next
Commons House declared that the war had been without "Real advantages" to the
Province (JCHA, May 28, 1762).
^'JC, Sept. 22, Nov. 13, Dec. 14, 16-18, 28, 1761. On leaving the delegation
was given, instead of the presents they expected, only the supplies necessary for
their return journey, and in disgust refused them (JC, Dec. 28, 1761). It was
June 1762 before the Cherokees gave up all their prisoners and the provincial
authorities felt safe in releasing the Indians in Charleston (JC, June 21, 1762).
Some of the prisoners were reported by one of their number to be unwilling to
leave the nation (JCHA, May 28, 1761).
^* Report of Committee of Commons, JCHA, Feb. 22, 1762; the amount was
£733,079 currency.
CHAPTER XVI
The Growth of the Back Country, 1760-1765
In more than one way the Cherokee War, and the great Seven Years
War of which it was a small phase, affected profoundly the development
of South Carolina and the thinking of her people. The collapse of the
worm-eaten Indian system of the colony was an effective rebuke to the
Charleston merchants and the other imperialists, the officials, while to the
planters was driven home the grim lesson that their slaves had made the
proud and flourishing province helpless before a couple of thousand
mountain-enforted savages.
Before Grant had reached the Indian country the Commons House
addressed itself once more to the unending negro problem. The South
Carolina Gazette of May 30th remarked that "The pernicious Conse-
quences of too free an Importation of Negroes into this Province, having
lately become the Subject of serious Consideration of some public-spirited
Gentlemen", a motion had been made in the assembly to impose a duty
which would nearly prohibit imports of slaves. On the second reading of
the bill the Commons ordered it printed in the Gazette; on the third it
raised the proposed duty from five pounds fourteen shillings to two and a
half times that amount, and set its duration at three years. On the third
reading in the council or Upper House, however, the bill was rejected.
The dispute was complicated by the fact that in trying to amend this bill
the Upper House was tampering with a tax measure, but the chief issue
was the slave duty. The Commons thereon resolved that it would do no
more business during that session, and the next day Lieutenant-Governor
Bull prorogued it for four daj^s that another start might be made.^
A new bill was introduced at once and the duty set at ten pounds, but
this too was rejected by the council. The Commons next made the negro
duty part of a new bill to finance the South Carolina regiment — pay for
that organization being in arrears — and set the duty at five pounds. Bull
indicated his approval of this action, but again the Upper House rejected
the measure, after protesting that the proposed duty was prohibitive.^
The Commons now prepared an address to the lieutenant-governor
declaring that it had attempted to fulfill its obligations for maintenance of
'^SCG, May 30, June 6, 13 (A Letter from the Country), 1761; JCHA, June 5,
12, 13, July 8, 9, 1761. See also the messages of the House of June 13, and of the
council of July 8 (JCHA, June 13, July 8, 1761).
2 JCHA, July 14, 17, 20, 22, 24, 27, 31, Aug. 1, 4, 5, 6, 1761.
241
^
242 The Expansion of South Carolina
the regiment by means which "equally regard the Security & Interest of
this Province", but that the council, with only three members present, had
"for reasons 'best known to themselves' " rejected the bill. On debate of
the message a motion passed to substitute for the words "best known to
themselves" the clause "too glaring to be concealed from the world," but
the further motion was lost which proposed to add: "Two of whom being
persons too nearly concerned in point of private Interest cannot be thought
altogether the most impartial Judges of this matter." The three members
present when the bill was rejected were Othniel Beale, senior member and
stickler for the rights of the council as Upper House, and John Guerard
and George Austin, both concerned in the slave trade. Thus the session
came to an end.^
When the Commons took up the other half of the South Carolina
problem, the encouragement of white settlement, the lesson of the war was
already apparent. Had the settlers been driven in to the fall line and the
middle country made the theatre of the war, the possibilities of slave
insurrection would have been disturbing indeed. The middle country,
which the provincial representatives and the administration had so earnestly
desired to settle was now, in effect, a part of the coast country, and the
more distant hill men, who had settled in their own fashion, and often
with scant regard for the government, were now recognized as the real
hope of the province. This was the first of a series of dear-bought lessons
in the value of the back country which, with consequent concessions over
the course of half a century, brought about the unification of the common-
wealth.
Without controversy the Commons and council replaced the act of
1752 with one which made sweeping changes in settlement policy. Citing
the fact that there was in the settlement fund over eight thousand pounds
sterling, the new law appropriated that fund as follows: four pounds
sterling to pay the passage from Europe "of every free poor protestant",
above the age of twelve, arriving in the next three years "who shall, in case
they come from Great-Britain or Ireland, produce a certificate under the
seal of any corporation, or a certificate under the hands of the minister and
church wardens of any parish, or the minister and elders of any church,
meeting, or congregation, of the good character of such poor protestant" ;
two pounds for those under twelve and over two years of age ; and one
pound for each immigrant over two years of age for the purchase of tools
and provisions. The act provided that the passage money should be paid
to the settler if he had paid his passage, or, if he had not, to the shipmaster.
2 JCHA, Aug. 6, 1761, JC, Aug. 3, 4, 5, 1761. On Beale see, for instance, JCHA,
May 5, 1761, JUHA, Jan. 31, 1765; on Austin and Guerard, see Elizabeth F. Donnan,
Documents Illustrative of the Slave Trade to America, IV (Washington, 1935),
pp. 372, 375.
Back Country and Frontier 243
The ten-year exemption of the bounty settlers from land taxes was likewise
continued.*
Thus the Commons abandoned its traditional opposition to immigrants
unable to pay their passage, and sought to guard against the dumping of
undesirables by demanding certificates of good character. No discrimina-
tion was made against German Protestants, but in view of the decline of
Germ.an migration to America they probably were of secondary considera-
tion. Any opposition the home government might have to this plan to
drain ofif the population of the mother country was, no doubt, to be over-
balanced by the need for strengthening the southern colonial frontier. The
law ran for three years; its expiration came shortly after the departure of
Governor Boone for England brought to an end a prolonged deadlock in
public business. Lieutenant-Governor Bull urged its continuance, and its
lapse for a few months preceding its three-year revival, in January 1765,
was due to pressure of business.^
In August 1764 a renewed effort to restrict slave importation met with
success. This bill added a duty of fourteen pounds six shillings to the tax
in the general duty law on every slave imported." Unfortunately in exag-
gerated tenderness for those who had already engaged in ventures, enforce-
ment of the act was delayed until the first day of 1766, and two weeks be-
fore that date Bull wrote that the purpose of the measure had thus in large \
measure been defeated, for more than eight thousand slaves had been im- j
ported during the year — a number nearly equal to a three-year importation.
The "unhappy consequences" which might come from this addition to a
number already too large for safety were soon foreshadowed in rumors of
insurrection plots.^
The prohibitive duty shut off the source of income for bounty pay-
ments, but the settlement fund had since the beginning of the Cherokee
War a large surplus. In September 1761 this was £10,200, and by the
end of 1765 at least as much again had been added to it.^ Meanwhile
^JCHA, July 18, 20, 23, 24, 25, 1761. The act is not to be found in Cooper's
Statutes, but is printed in the S. C. Gazette, Aug. 1, 1761. Bull gives the reasons
for the act but incorrectly states that £2 not £1 was to be given for provisions
and tools (PR, XXIX, 188-189— to Board, Sept. 23, 1761). The clause of the act
of 1751 setting aside a fifth for fees was not changed. For the tax exemption, see
above p. 30, n. 36, and Stats., IV, 190, 239, 269.
5 See JCHA, Apr. 16, 23, May 23, June 5, July 16, Aug. 25, 1764; Stats., IV,
209. The act expired Feb. 12, 1768 {SCAGG, Feb. 15, 1768), PR, XXX, 186, 225
(Bull to Board, Aug. 20, 1764, Mar. 15, 1765).
«JCHA, Aug. 14, 15, 21, 1764, Apr. 2, 1765; Stats., IV, 187-188. The S. C.
Gazette of Jan. 14, 1764, noted a determined effort to enforce the law requiring a
white man on the plantations for every ten slaves. Compare a similar move in
1768 {SCGCJ, July 12, 1768).
7 PR, XXX, 300-301, XXXI, 20-21 (to Board, Dec. 17, 1765, Jan. 25, 1766) ;
107 slaves were reported later to have left masters and to have fled to join run-
aways already in Colleton County swamps (JCHA, Jan. 14, 1766).
«JCHA, July 31, 1764, Treasurer's Books, 1748-1765. These Treasurer's
244 The Expansion of South Carolina
bounties paid to new settlers amounted to about £4,100, and payments
for fees probably left in the fund at the end of 1765 nearly £15,000 which
in two years more was exhausted.^
The settlement act of 1761 was not unwisely designed in its general
outline ; properly administered it should have filled up the northwest
frontier with fairly compact settlements of sober industrious immigrants,
and that within a comparatively short time. Unfortunately no effort was
made to assure effective administration of the law ; the settlement fund
therefore was in the hands of several authorities, no one of whom was
completely responsible — the governor and council, the commissary general,
a petty official who was not dependent on his office for his livelihood, and
the clerk of the council who seems to have been the chief dependence for
enforcement of the act. Thus the way was left open for fraud on the part
of authorities in Great Britain wishing to get rid of undesirable elements of
population, and on the part of ship-masters who might wish to squeeze
profits out of their wretched cargoes. It is significant that the protests
against fraud and ill-treatment came as occasional outbursts in the Com-
mons and not from administrative officials.^"
Like the Yamasee War, the Cherokee conflict brought about a reaction
against the merchants' policy of unregulated competition. Once more the
assembly embarked upon the experiment, first tried in 1716, of government
monopoly. The act which was ratified in May 1762 named five Charleston
merchants as directors of the Cherokee trade, and prescribed as their
commission two and a half percent of sales of goods and of skins. They
were to appoint a factor to reside at Fort Prince George who was to be
paid £225 a year, and was allowed two clerks and two porters; the
Cherokee trade was forbidden to all other persons whatsoever, on pain of
£75 fine or a year's imprisonment. The directors were to furnish the
factor with goods suited to the trade, bought from merchants or imported,
and sold to the Indians for no more than the cost of furnishing them and of
administration ; the skins were to be auctioned in Charleston to the highest
bidder in lots of not over £37 :10 each. The act was to run for three years,
but was in force only a few months when an order of the crown nullified
its exclusive features by ordering the governor to license, under certain
restrictions, all traders who might apply. Governor Boone protested vainly
against this action, urging that the crown extend the general plan of the
records show that the duties under the act of 1751 were collected without inter-
ruption to the end of 1765, although it does not appear when the act of 1751 was
continued.
^ Ibid., JCHA, June 24, 1766, Mar. 2, 1768. A loan of nearly £8,600 to pay
the rangers for their war service was replaced as it was needed for payments for
settlement expenses (JCHA, Jul. 31, 1764, Apr. 8, 1768).
^**See JCHA, Jan. 10, 16, 1755, for report on this office, and Apr. 7, 1759,
Mar. 2, 1768.
Back Country and Frontier 245
South Carolina act to the other colonies with uniform and drastic regula-
tions."
On the 5th of November 1763 the Southern Congress, planned by
Colonel John Stuart, recently appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs
for the southern district, convened at Augusta. The governors or lieuten-
ant-governors of Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia were
present, with chiefs from the Catawbas, Cherokees, Creeks, Chickasaws and
Choctaws; others attending brought the total to about seven hundred per-
sons. Of the Indians the Chickasaw headman was properly given the honor
of speaking first, and said of himself: "You must not look on him as on
other Indian Nations, for he is True and Trusty, he and his are few but
faithful." The Chickasaws, Creeks, and Cherokees urged the need of honest
and responsible traders to reside in their towns, the Cherokees pointing out
the hardship and inconvenience of having to resort from the Overhills, or
even from other Lower Towns, to Fort Prince George for their trade.
The Creeks complained of Georgia encroachments on their lands, and the
Catawba king represented the pitiful plight of his people for lack of hunting
space, and asked for a reservation thirty miles square. In the final treaties
the Georgia bounds were agreed upon, the Catawbas were confirmed in a
fifteen-mile square, already partly run, with their former rights of hunting
outside that area.^"
The congress did not allay the discontent of the Creeks. They had
suffered little in the conflicts of the preceding generation, and their diplo-
macy had hitherto been uniformly successful, but now they saw their
system topple about their ears, for the French and the Spanish, whom they
had so successfully played off against the English, were gone. As early as
July 1762 there were rumors of intended attacks on the Long Cane settle- <^
ments. A year later came reports of Creek depredations on Augusta
traders and of the murder of three traders to the Upper Creeks.^^ Finally,
on the heels of the Augusta congress came the news of the slaying, by a
party of Creeks, of fourteen settlers. The victims belonged to a settlement
on the east bank of the Savannah opposite the mouth of the Georgia Broad
River, where an Indian ford crossed the larger stream. Among them were
the wife and one child of James Dyer who was formerly to be found on
"JCHA, Feb. 20, May 27, 1762; Stats., IV, 168-173; n. 12 below; PR, XXIX,
259-264 (Memorial of Charles Garth, November 1762), 306-307, 395-404 (Boone
to Board, Jan. 9, Nov. 24, 1763; he had already pointed out the need of uniform
regulations advising that the home government take the initiative "as we are
more given to obedience to the Crown, than harmony with one another". — ibid.,
218-219— to Board, Feb. 28, 1762).
12 PR, XXIX, 345-347 (Board to Stuart, Aug. 5, 1763), XXX, 16-123, (Journal
of the Congress) ; State Recs. of N. C, XI, 178-206.
'^^SCG, Jul. 10, 1762, JC, June 3, Sept. 2, 1763. In August preceding raids—
probably by Northward Indians — above the Waxhaw section, in which Hagler,
the Catawba king, and several whites were killed, sent the Fishing Creek and
Waxhaw settlers scurrying to forts (JC, Sept. 5, 1763).
246 The Expansion of South Carolina
the Savannah near Stevens Creek; but he and the tw^o others named in the
report were evidently squatters."
Governor Boone issued orders for the scouring of the frontier by
parties of the militia and sent a supply of arms and ammunition to the
bounty settlers on the head of Long Canes, vv^ho complained that they were
abandoned by the older settlers. With the approval of the council, he
proposed to Governor Wright of Georgia the stoppage of the Creek trade,
but the latter refused, lest it bring on a war with the whole tribe in which
his colony would bear the brunt of the fight. Nor was Boone more success-
ful with his own Commons House, for that body adhered to its resolution of
December 16, 1762 to do no business with him until he should make
amends for his violation of its privileges in refusing to qualify Christopher
Gadsden as a member.^^
Profiting by the lesson of the Cherokee War the Long Canes settlers
did not attempt to leave the country, but resorted to stockade forts.
Patrick Calhoun's "Fort Boone" was reported to have 140 persons in it;
there were 139 in Arthur Patton's fort and about the same number at Dr.
Murray's plantation on Hard Labor Creek. For a time, Calhoun later
declared, the settlers ranged the woods themselves, or maintained "a
Scouting Company". On the departure of Governor Boone for England,
however, Calhoun repaired to Charleston, and was given command of the
troop of twenty-two rangers which the Commons provided on Bull's
request.^*'
Even before the Creek alarm had shown the need of a frontier defense
near Long Canes, the Commons had declared its desire to abandon Fort
Moore — now of little use because of the growth of Augusta — and to build
a brick or stone fort at or near Stevens Creek. Accordingly, in January
1765 Lieutenant-Governor Bull reported to the House selection of a site
that would command the Indian ford from the Creek country and protect
the new French and German settlements. Later, in submitting a plan for
the post, he announced his intention of naming it for the reigning Queen
Charlotte.^^
Archibald McClelland, a Long Canes settler, was employed by Dr.
John Murray and Andrew Williamson to build the fort. In December
1766 McClelland reported that he had completed the task, using "a
Cement of his Invention". The fort was placed fifty yards from the
"5CG, Dec. 31, 1763, JC, Dec. 30, 1763. This was John Vann's abandoned
settlement (above, p. 122). See P, V, 163, VIII, 7, 273, and JC, May 8, 1764, SCG,
Oct. 8, 1764.
^^SCG, Jan. 28, 1764; JC, Mar. 7, Apr. 2, 1764; JCHA, Jan. 6, 1764; Smith,
S. C. as a Royal Promnce, pp. 340-349.
".SCG, Dec. 31, 1763, JCHA, May 29, June 2, 5, 1764, Mar. 5, 1767. Nota-
tions on plats indicate that Fort Boone was on Calhoun Creek on the land first
surveyed for Mary Noble (above, p. 134). Patton's land was chiefly on Little
River to the west, and his fort was probably there — see P, VII, 27, IX, 41.
^MCHA, May 29, 1762, Jan. 10, 30, 1765; see also June 27, 1764.
Back Country and Frontier 247
east bank of the Savannah and a half mile below the mouth of the Georgia
Broad River. A rectangle fifteen yards wide and fifty feet long, with
bastions at the northwest end, can still be distinguished, the enclosed
ground elevated six or eight feet above the surrounding river bottom. The
portions of the wall remaining are two feet wide, made of rough field stone
set in clay mortar, or, as the House committee reported it, sand and
clay. The thousand pounds originally appropriated was paid accordingly,
but not without censure because the new stronghold had been built in a
swamp and on a sandy foundation.^® The fort was at once garrisoned by
an officer and twenty-five men of the crown forces from Fort Moore.^^
The directors of the Cherokee trade were allowed to continue their
hopeless effort to make the trade pay despite the competition of uncon-
trolled private traders until repeal of the act in October 1764, six months
before it was due to expire. When they finally closed up their affairs they
showed a loss to the public of about £560. It was to their credit and to
that of their factor at Fort Prince George, Edward Wilkinson, that this
loss was not greater, for the Cherokees, the directors found, were no longer
dependent on South Carolina trade. In the southwest the decline was even
worse. Pensacola, because of its nearness to many of the Indian towns,
developed a thriving traffic but the chief heir of Charleston was Savannah,
at last grown to such estate that its shipping could take care of the needs
of the trade. In 1760, when the South Carolina trade was at its height,
Georgia exported 65,000 pounds of deerskins, in 1770 more than four
times that amount.^"
When in 1729 the Crown acquired the province of Carolina there
began a long-drawn-out boundary quarrel. In January 1730 Governor
Johnson and George Burrington, who was during that month commis-
sioned for his second administration of North Carolina, appeared before the
Board of Trade and stated that they had agreed upon a line. After further
consideration the Board decided that the boundary should parallel the
Cape Fear the whole length of that river but thirty miles southwest of it.
On the 9th of June, however, the day before Johnson's instructions were
agreed upon, the Board read a memorial from him that "the same intent"
would be answered by the following addition : "But if Waccama River
lyes within 30 miles of Cape Fear River then that River to be the boundary
^«JCHA, Feb. 7, Mar. 13, Oct. 29, 1765, Jul. 2, Dec. 4, 5, 9, 1766. For Mc-
Clelland see P, VII, 300, VIII, 383. The description is from the present state of
the fort as noted by J. Rion McKissick and the writer, Oct. 28, 1936 — Lawrence
Hester, Jr., of Mt. Carmel, S. C, acting as guide.
^^PR, XXX, 269-270 (Bull to Halifax, Sept. 8, 1765) ; Fort Prince George was
largely rebuilt in 1765 {ibid.).
^ Stats., IV, 188-189; JCHA, July 19, 1764; Journal Directors Cherokee Trade,
MS, Aug. 22, 1764, Dec. 19, 1765, SCAGG, Mar. 18, 1768, PR, XXXII, 403 (Bull
to Hillsborough, Nov. 30, 1770) ; Leila Sellers, Charleston Business on the Eve of
the American Revolution (Chapel Hill, 1934), p. 43; Crane, Southern Fro?ttier,
p. 331. In July 1764 the price of goods for Indian presents was the same in
Charleston and Savannah (JCHA, July 16, 1764).
248 The Expansion of South Carolina
from the sea to the head thereof, and from thence to keep the distance of
30 miles Paralel from Cape Fear River to the head thereof and from
thence a due West Course to the South Sea." The addition was promptly
incorporated in Johnson's instructions."^
The Waccamaw rises within ten or fifteen miles of the Cape Fear, but
flowing southwestward enters Winyah Bay more than eighty miles from
that river. The proposed revision would have brought a long finger of
North Carolina territory within sixty miles of Charleston, and would
have given several hundred square miles of South Carolina sea coast and
river swamp in exchange for a smaller area at the head of the Waccamaw.
Johnson later claimed that the addition to the instruction should have pro-
vided that the Cape Fear be the boundary unless the mouth of the Wac-
camaw were within thirty miles of Cape Fear River, and it is possible that
this was the case. The fact, however, that the wording was the same in
each rendering of the clause indicates that the inadvertence was Johnson's
own, and that he failed to realize the construction that would certainly be
placed upon it. In October 1732 Burrington published a notice in the
South Carolina Gazette declaring that Johnson was granting lands within
the northern province, and quoted his boundary instruction, omitting,
however, the clause which stipulated that the line should, from the head
of Waccamaw River, parallel the Cape Fear River to its head. Two weeks
later Johnson replied in the Gazette with a vigorous argument in support
of his contention, but his letters to the Board of Trade were somewhat
unconvmcmg.
Finally in January 1735 Johnson and the council laid the matter be-
fore the Commons, and a joint committee of both houses went into the
question at length, putting the best possible face on the South Carolina
arguments for a line paralleling the Cape Fear. In March three com-
missioners were sent to meet those already appointed for North Carolina
and after six weeks of consultation "the Friendly interposition" of Gabriel
Johnston, now governor of North Carolina, brought about a compromise.
The boundary thus defined was to begin on the seacoast thirty miles south-
west of the Cape Fear, and it was to run northwest to latitude thirty-five,
thence west to the South Seas, with a provision that the Catawbas and
Cherokees should be included in South Carolina. For a strip of land
fifty miles long and from three to fifteen miles wide the southern com-
missioners yielded up a claim to the immense area north of the thirty-fifth
parallel and west of the Cape Fear River.^^
^^ A. S. Salley, The Boundary Line betivern North and South Carolina, (Co-
lumbia, 1929), pp. 3^, Col. Recs. of N. C, III, 84; PR, XIV, 134-136 (Johnson's
memorial).
22 PR, XV, 233-234 (Johnson to Board, Sept. 28, 1732), Salley, Boundary Line,
pp. 4-5.
23 State Recs. of N. C, XI, 20-22, 25-26, JUHA, Jan. 25, 1735, Col. Recs. of N. C,
IV, 294-296; Salley, Boundary Line, pp. 6-15.
Back Country and Frontier 249
When the South Carolina council had given its approval and the
Commons a tacit consent the commissioners in May 1735 began the survey
of the boundary. After running it a few miles inland they separated for
the summer with the agreement that if either party failed to return in
September, the other would run a line that should bind both. Accordingly
in the absence of the South Carolina commissioners the North Carolina
surveyors ran the line "about 70 miles" ; in October the other party traced
the line for forty miles, and, finding it so far correct, desisted. The Board
of Trade accepted the boundary thus irregularly established, but the filling
up of the Peedee country and disorder and tax evasion almost immediately
made the problem more serious than before. Both provinces were dis-
satisfied, and in 1755 Governor Dobbs and the North Carolina council
sought a change which would have made the Peedee the boundary, while
the South Carolinians, who had never been entirely reconciled to the
compromise of 1735, took advantage of the fact that the agreement had not
been formally ratified by the assembly, and proposed in their turn a
radical change. An ably written report of both houses in 1757 urged the
crown to grant to South Carolina, in compensation for the territory in-
cluded in Georgia, the upper portions of the Santee and Peedee valleys.
Arguments were offered to show that this would suit the needs of the
settlers of those regions, whose best market was Charleston, and that the
white population thus annexed to the colony would be an efifective counter-
balance for the slaves of the tidewater. The report was transmitted to the
Board, but the Seven Years War left little time for province or crown to
think of the boundary.^*
The Cherokee treaty of 1761 vaguely fixed the boundary between South
Carolina and that tribe at forty miles distance from Keowee without
indicating the directions it should take. When the line was surveyed in
1766 it was run direct from the Reedy River to the Savannah, crossing the
Cherokee road at right angles at the proper point. A year later Governor
Tryon of North Carolina, with commissioners and some Cherokee head-
men, ran the line north from the Reedy River fifty-three miles to Tryon
Mountain, and thus completed the boundary between both provinces and
the Cherokee country. Tryon found no settlers within the line, and only
two near it, but the Indians had previously complained to Bull that there
were whites within twelve or fifteen miles of their towns. He promised
them that they should be removed, and apparently this was done.^^
^^Ibid., pp. 11-13, 16-17; Col. Recs. of N. C, V, xxxvii-xxxviii, 276, 381-
382, 3 84, 1105, VI, 776-777; above, pp. 95-96; JCHA, May 3, Sept. 3, 1754, Apr.
28, 1757; PR, XXVII, 269-276 (Report accompanying Lyttelton's letter to Board,
May 24, 1757).
-5JC, Dec. 6, 1763; PR, XXXI, 70 (Bull to Board, June 9, 1766); Mouzon,
Map of N. and S. C, Col. Recs. of N. C, VII, 851-855; State Records of N. C,
XI, map opposite p. 80, SCAGG, July 10, 1767 (Tryon's line was ratified by the
Cherokees at Hard Labor Cittk—ibid., Oct. 28, 1768) ; PR, XXX, 184-185 (Bull to
250 The Expansion of South Carolina
The South Carolina hopes of annexing lands in the valleys of the
Yadkin, Catawba and upper Broad proved vain, for in 1762 the Board of
Trade recommended that the thirty-fifth parallel be made the boundary
to the Catawba nation. Accordingly in 1764 commissioners resurveyed
the existing line extending it to the point they calculated to be the thirty-
fifth parallel, and then ran it west until they struck the Salisbury road,
a few miles below the northeastern tip of the Catawba reservation.
Lieutenant-Governor Bull promptly informed the Board that the new line
fell far short of the western edge of settlement and therefore proposed
that it include the Catawbas, and thence follow the Catawba River to the
mountains. Governor Tryon of course urged that the line be continued
due west from its terminus. The arguments were taken up anew in 1769
by the Board and with it the findings of James Cook, who had been em-
ployed in 1767 as one of the surveyors to make a map of the province.
Cook showed that the surveyors of the line of 1764 had run it eleven
miles south of the thirty-fifth parallel, and compensation for this error was
all that the South Carolinians gained. In 1771 the crown ordered the
line run north of the Catawbas to the south fork of the river, thence west
to the recently run Cherokee line. The survey was made in 1772 and
the region thus annexed west of the Catawbas was called the New Ac-
quisition.
With this action the eventual limits of South Carolina were fairly in-
dicated, for when the later Cherokee cessions were made the line as com-
pleted merely . filled out the bounds already projected. Thus by a
combination of circumstances, perhaps the most important being Johnson's
blunder in 1730, South Carolina was confined within an area smaller than
that of any of the lower southern colonies or states, and was given a dis-
proportionately small amount of hill and mountain country — a fact that
was to be of great importance in extending the plantation influence over
the commonwealth.
That settlement under the act of 1761 should be slow to get under way
was inevitable because of war conditions in South Carolina and on the
seas. In anticipation, John Pouag, a Charleston merchant, applied im-
mediately after the act was passed for a certificate of the bounty that he
might transmit it to Ireland. A year later Pouag and six others in a
petition to the governor declared that there were many in Ireland who
would, with proper encouragement, come to the province. They asked
for a survey and reservation of forty thousand acres, to form one or two
townships, in such places as they might choose ; in addition to the bounty
they expected tax and quit rent exemption for the settlers for ten years.^^
Board, Aug. 20, 1764) ; JCHA, Jan. 17, 1766 (bill of Aaron Price "for assisting to
remove several persons who had encroached on the Indians Land at Reedy River").
2^Salley, Boundary Line, pp. 16-30; JC, June 29, 1764; Stats., IV, 262-264.
^MC, Aug. 29, 1761, June 9, 1762.
Back Country and Frontier 251
The Reverend John Baxter, first of the petitioners — formerly Presbyterian
minister near Charleston, later on the Santee and Black Rivers — had im-
ported some of the early settlers of Williamsburg from Belfast. In a peti-
tion for land in 1745 he stated that he had twenty-five negroes, and in
later years he added to his possessions in slaves and lands, most of the
latter in or near Williamsburg.^^ John Greg was a merchant of London,
John Rae had the name of the minister who had served Williamsburg from
1743 to 1761, and David Rae was doubtless a connection. John Torrans
and Pouag appear about this time as a merchant firm in Charleston.^^
On the advice of the council Boone gave the petitioners permission to
choose sites for two townships ; in October they reported that they had
found suitable places and in December the surveys were made. One con-
taining 20,500 acres lay on the head of Long Cane Creek, with its center
a mile below the crossing of the Cherokee path, its northwestern tip slightly
above the site of the present town of Due West, its northeastern line
paralleling and including the course of the later Columbia and Greenville
Railroad. This township was named Boonesborough, although surveyors
occasionally called it Belfast. The other township, 22,000 acres in area,
was named Belfast and later called Londonborough. Hard Labor Creek
entered it at the center of its northeastern edge and left it near the lower
end of its southeastern line, being at that point only about a mile from the
junction with Cuffytown Creek.^°
In February Governor Boone informed the council that about seventy
persons had arrived from Ireland on the encouragement of the act of 1761.
Besides the three warrants for a total of sixteen hundred acres for the
Reverend John Baxter there were forty-two petitions based on seventy-one
headrights. Plats for ten of these petitioners are not to be found ; six-
teen of them had their plats surveyed adjoining each other about the cross-
ing over Long Cane Creek; eight were in a group in the northwestern
corner of the township, some of them appearing to be entirely outside the
lines. None of the Reverend John Baxter's land was surveyed in the
Long Canes. In 1765 about a score of bounty immigrants applied for war-
^ Above, p. 79; JC, Feb. 27, 1736, Jul. 5, 1737, May 11, 1745, Jan. 7, Apr. 7,
1752, May 21, 1759; Howe, Presbyterian Church, I, 204, 255-256.
"^ Ibid., I, 254, 283, SCHSC, II, 101, SCG, Jul. 6, 1765, JCHA, June 5, 1764,
Jan. 27, 1768.
^°JC, Oct. 22, 1762; the instructions to Lyttelton and Boone authorized the
governor to set off new townships as they might be needed, (Nov. 4, 1755, Nov. 11,
1761). Both plats are in the state archives. For further location of the first see
P, VII, 467, VIII, 219, 238, XV, 110, XVIII, 182; for the second see P, XVII, 502,
XVIII, 446, XXA, 47 (plats on or near Calabash Creek). The Belfast-London-
borough township is treated as two separate townships in Wallace, History of S. C,
II, 44, the latter in the correct location, the former below it on Stevens Creek. The
marks on this plat and the plats of individual settlers referred to above show it
to have been on Hard Labor, while no individual plats have been found to identify a
township below. There was no room above the township, for it bordered Hamilton's
Great Survey.
252 The Expansion of South Carolina
rants which were surveyed in or near Boonesborough, their headrights
representing about fifty persons. This was the only considerable single
accession to the township.^^
The next township to be settled originated in a new movement of
French Huguenots. In July 1763 the crown referred to the Board of
Trade the memorial of the Reverend Jean Louis Gibert asking concessions
for settling a colony of Huguenots in South Carolina. The crown finally
agreed with Alexander McNutt, who proposed to transport the group to
South Carolina, directed the governor to lay out a township for them,
and ordered the expense of surveying their lands to be paid from the crown
quit rents. The 112 males and 61 females listed appear to have come to
England during the summer of 1763 in anticipation of aid. Those who
arrived in South Carolina were chiefly husbandmen, handicraftsmen and
vinegrowers, and beside Gibert himself there was another pastor.^^
After a seven-weeks voyage of hardship and danger they arrived in
Charleston April 14, 1764. Since the season was too far advanced for the
immigrants to get to their new homes and make a crop the governor and
council decided to send them for four months to Fort Lyttelton, near
Beaufort, where they could plant corn, potatoes, pumpkins and pease to
eke out their living. They were given a daily ration of a pound of flour
and a quart of corn, and for their meat a steer was promised for the group
each week. They were allowed to choose three of their number, who
would be provided with horses and a guide, to select land for their settle-
ment. Special warning was given them against dissension, Boone observing
that they had as many opinions as men in their number, but the anticipated
trouble began immediately and resulted in the sending of fourteen of them
to Purrysburg.^^
At the end of May the deputies returned to town with their guide
Patrick Calhoun; finally in July, with wagons to carry their baggage
and tools, most of the men set out from Charleston. Governor Boone,
giving up his struggle with the Commons, had returned to England and it
was Bull who sent the minute directions to Calhoun for purchasing pro-
visions and surveying town, township and lands for the settlers. The
worthy lieutenant-governor reminded the surveyor of "my present good
opinion of your honesty" and told him that he would be repaid for his
trouble by the surveying fees. The town Bull called New Bordeaux for
the city "from whence many of them came", the township he named for
the Earl of Hillsborough, then a member of the Board of Trade. The
^^ JC, Feb. 19, 1763, Nov. 5, Dec. 4, 1765. Among the forty-two petitions was one
of John Baxter.
^-SCHSC, II 82-93. Note that one of the Immigrants, Pierre Moragne, left
his home near St. Foy, July 30, 1763 {Address, Delivered at New Bordeaux. . . .
S. C, Nov. 15, 1854 . . . by W. C. Moragne, Charleston, 1857). The S. C. Gazette
of Sept. 21, 1763 stated that about a thousand Huguenots had lately come to Eng-
land from about Bordeaux.
^ Moragne, Address, JC, Apr. 16, 24, Aug. 2, 1764.
Back Country and Frontier 253
township — which contained 28,000 acres including 2,000 acres for earlier
settlers — was only six or seven miles from the mouth of Little River and
thus, like other piedmont areas so situated, was deeply cut by the large
streams. It was for this reason that the earlier settlers had taken up the
gentler slopes of the valley above, leaving this area vacant except for a
dozen plats. The land itself was for the most part quite fertile, being
generally a red clay overlaid by accumulated vegetable mould, and Calhoun
marked on the plat the "Valluable", Good, Middling, and Bad and Scrub
Oak land. Comparison of the plat with the face of the land today shows
that the soil underlaid by deep red clay he considered good. Half a mile
below the junction of Long Cane and Little River Calhoun surveyed the
town, 198 lots of an acre each; above it, on both sides of the stream, a
vineyard plot of 44 4-acre lots; below the town was a common of 195
acres, and a glebe of 300 reserved for an Anglican minister.®*
Bull's carefully made out instructions directed that the settlers build
first their homes and a palisade fort, the latter to be not less than a hundred
and twenty feet square and to serve likewise as a storeroom for provisions.
Roger, whom he had appointed justice of the peace and to whom he had
given Simpson's Justice as a guide, Pierre Boutiton, the minister. Due,
captain of the militia, and his lieutenant and ensign, were to be given the
first choice of lands and the five of them were to be a council for the settle-
ment.®^
On the 5th and 7th of August the two parties of Huguenots reached
their new home. Calhoun reported in October that they had set up six
houses, and that frames were ready for fourteen more, indicating that they
were building plank rather than log houses. For a time they were plagued
with boils and other ills, but three months later Calhoun wrote that they
were recovered of their "indisposition". The remaining settlers did not
leave Charleston until January, with wagons carrying the weak and in-
firm. With this group went also vessels for brewing and silk-making.
Pierre Moragne, one of their number who left a brief diary of the voyage
and the settlement, wrote that in February 1765, after completion of the
barracks, "I have begun to labor on my own land — on my half-acre, and
afterwards on my four acres. The 13th June I finished planting in corn
and beans all of the land which I had been able to prepare — being then
very feeble, having only a little corn to eat, and being placed under the
necessity of grinding it at an iron mill. Though we have not a sufficiency,
yet, with the aid of God, we may always have enough to keep us from
3*JC, May 28, Jul. 13, 1764, PR, XXX, 185 (Bull to Board, Aug. 20, 1764),
Plats of Hillsboro Township (there are two, identical except for shading and notes
to show quality of soil). The plats of the township do not show James Davis' plat
of ISO acres formerly surveyed for him at the mouth of Long Cane which was
bought for the site of the town (P, VI, 157, JC, Oct. 17, 1764).
®^JC, Jul. 13, 1764. See William Simpson, Practical Justice of the Peace
(Charlestown, R. Wells, 1761), "compiled for the Instructions of the Justices of this
Province." (Bull's letter of Mar. 15, 1765 — see n. 36).
254 The Expansion of South Carolina
starving till our little harvest comes in. . . . The 16th July, 1765. I
am married — " to Cecile Bayle, whose hundred acres had been in April
preceding surveyed adjoining his.^®
In January 1765 Bull reported that nearly £600 had been expended,
about £140 of it being paid out of the quit rents on order of the crown.
At that time £214 more was assigned from the settlement fund for purchase
of provisions for the colony. On April 18, 1764, immediately after their
arrival in Charleston, 81 of the French had applied for land and bounty;
50 of them were single men, 9 were single women; the other 22 petitions
represented 72 persons. 25 of those petitioning do not appear in the
records thereafter — death, departure from the province or inexpediency
doubtless accounting for their failure to take up the land. 4 of the others
had their land in or near Purrysburg; 3 are found near Hillsborough but
not in it. Plats representing the headrights of the other 73 were surveyed
in the township in little groups along Long Cane and Little River, and on
their smaller tributaries — the latter being preferred to the former, and the
groups of plats corresponding closely to the areas marked by Calhoun as
good land. Gibert's plat was not surveyed until 1768; Etienne and Marie
Thomas appear in 1769 near the township as Steven and Mary Thomas.^^
The Reverend Mr. Gibert, the original leader of the colony, did not
immediately settle at New Bordeaux, leaving the ministerial work to the
Reverend Pierre Boutiton. Instead he devoted himself for the ensuing
year, under the patronage of Gabriel Manigault, to raising silk on the site
of Governor Nathaniel Johnson's ancient venture — Silk Hope on the
Cooper River. Here he made in his first season 620 pounds of cocoons,
from which he expected to get 50 pounds of silk. With this he went to
England and persuaded some public-spirited gentlemen there to lend a
hundred pounds sterling towards building a silk filature in South Carolina,
and the Commons voted £143 from the township fund to that purpose. At
the same time a few more French immigrants appeared, said to be skilled
in silk culture, and were sent to New Bordeaux. A year later the Com-
mons appropriated £433 for purchasing silk cocoons. For a time the new
silk venture in South Carolina offered promise of success, but it was in
Purrysburg that the production centered. EiiForts at raising hemp and
wine eventually netted the same negligible results.^^
^''JC, Oct. 17, 1764, Jan. 30, 1765, SCG, Oct. 8, 1764, Moragne, Address, P,
VIII, 139, 140, JCHA, Jan. 18, 1765. Bull urged the French settlers as well as their
neighbors, the Germans of Londonborough, to plant hemp, and supplied each town-
ship with several bushels of seed (PR, XXX, 249— Bull to Board, Mar. 15, 1765).
^MCHA, Jan. 18, Feb. 11, 1765; JC, Apr. 18, 1764; P, VIII, 216, 447, 532, IX,
455 X 132 XI 175 XVI 54.
^^S'CG, 'Aug. 3, 'l765,' JCHA, June 7, 10, 24, 26, 27, 1766, Apr. 15, 1767.
See above pp. 36-37, and compare the later design of Jean Louis DuMesnil de St.
Pierre (PR, XXXIII, 91-92— his petition to Board, Nov. 15, 1771) ; SCGCJ, June 28,
1768, Apr. 6, 1772, JCHA, Feb. 24, Mar. 2, 1768). For hemp see also SCG, Oct. 8,
1764, Jan. 7, 1765, July 7, Nov. 10, 1766.
Back Country and Frontier 255
Under circumstances not unlike those of the French settlement there
came in 1764 a somewhat belated group of Germans. In September 1764
the crown heard the petition of benevolent Englishmen who had succored
about four hundred emigrants from the Palatinate and other parts of
Germany, led to England b\' a too hopeful immigration agent. The crown
accordingly issued an order for them to be sent to South Carolina with the
same exemptions and aids given the French. The first shipload, which
arrived in December, "were all sick," Lieutenant-Governor Bull said
tersely, "20 died on the Passage and 20 more within 3 days after their
landing." Others arrived afterward, and among all who landed there
were 45 deaths of those over two years of age. The bounty was paid on
262 others, and warrants were issued to 116 representing headrights of 272
persons. Since infants under three were allowed no bounty but were in-
cluded in headrights, it is probable that a considerable number of the
Germans did not apply for land. 17 of the petitioners cannot be found;
the others, on headrights of 233 persons, had their warrants surveyed on
the branches of Stevens Creek.^^
On receipt of the order of the crown for the settlement of these Ger-
mans Bull sent an express to Patrick Calhoun to build them a log hut at the
spot designated for their settlement; the surveying of the lands, however,
was to be done by John Fairchild. The first party which went up chose
land south of Ninety Six as being more secure from the Indians, although
the lieutenant-governor evidently wished to plant them fifteen miles beyond
Hillsborough near the Indian line, and remarked that they had chosen land
not so good. It was perhaps this disagreement which caused his reference
to "their Obstinacy in refuseing to go to their Lands till it was too late to
expect the Crops" although it may have been an unwillingness to go up
during the winter which occasioned the delay. The result was that some
were brought to want within the year. Andrew Williamson, who lived
near the proposed settlement, received Bull's further instructions about the
building of shelters for the settlers. The lieutenant-governor appointed
militia officers and made Frederick Nicholas Myer, "a Man of Learning",
justice of the peace, furnishing him with Simpson's guide. He sent several
bushels of hemp seed, urging the Germans, as he had the French, to go
"with their whole strength" next year on that crop. In March he reported
that the first party which went up in January had now finished their
"Huts".'°
Bull evidently had intended to set another township near Boonsboro
on or near the Indian boundary. But the choice of lands by the Germans
fell partly if not wholly within the limits of the thinly settled Belfast, and
on Hard Labor Creek, probably in this township, Fairchild laid out the
39 JC, Dec. 14, 24, 1764, Jan. 31, Feb. 27, 1765, PR, XXX, 234-235 (Bull to Board,
Dec. 21, 1764).
^]C, Dec. 24, 1764, Jan. 30, Feb. 26, Mar. 20, Oct. 11, 1765; PR, XXX, 248-
249 (Bull to Board, Mar. IS, 1765).
256 The Expansion of South Carolina
town which the settlers ignored. Bull therefore appears to have thought
it useless to survey another township, and named the settlement London-
borough. This name appears on plats in Belfast while the name Belfast
nearly disappears except on maps which attempt to resolve the discrepancy
of two names for one township by placing another on Stevens Creek.*^
The Germans were by no means willing to confine themselves to the
limits of the township, however, and were indulged in their choice of lands
in groups on nearly all the upper branches of Stevens Creek; a compara-
tively small number established themselves in the township, where a dozen
plats were surveyed on or near Hard Labor Creek. As many were sur-
veyed six or seven miles away on both sides of Horse Pen Creek between
its mouth and the crossing of a path to Ninety Six. Two plats surveyed
at the mouth of the creek were said to be "at the place called Cufifee Town"
and a dozen were on Cuffytown Creek near this point. But the chief
preference of the newcomers was for the network of small streams five or
ten miles east of the township near the point where Little Stevens, Sleepy,
Log and Turkey Creeks run together. Here in a three or four mile radius
fifty plats were surveyed, strung out along the small watercourses, usually
including both banks, in stretches two or three miles long.
The German settlements on the branches of Stevens Creek were so
situated as to invite association and eventually amalgamation with the
English settlers, and are to be compared with the Congaree, New Windsor,
and to a certain extent with the Orangeburg German establishments rather
than with the great isolated Dutch Fork.
With the exception of the Londonborough settlement the movement of
Germans into the colony under the bounty act practically ceased with the
Cherokee War, only about sixty others applying for land, a third of them
on the bounty. The warrants were sought chiefly on the Broad and Saluda
and in the German portions of the middle country.
During the years 1763 to 1765 about 300 individuals, besides those
already accounted for in the townships, were listed as applying in groups,
large and small, for land on the bounty. Except for a score of Germans
they seem to have been entirely immigrants from Northern Ireland. The
land records show them in striking contrast with the township settlers and
with the bounty immigrants before the Cherokee War. Less than 50 can
be identified in the provincial land records, and these are distributed rather
evenly over the area of the province. This is in full accord with the report
of the Commons committee of 1768 which charged that many of the im-
migrants for whom the bounty was paid were brought in as indented
servants, their headrights used by their masters, and the persons kept in
servitude, in double violation of the intent of the law.*^ These probably
" P, VIII, 105, plat of Philip Zimmerman, see note 30; for the name see Bull's
letter of Mar. IS, 1765 (n. 40).
42
JCHA, Mar. 2, 1768.
Back Country and Frontier 257
stayed in the settled areas after their terms expired, lacking the money or
perhaps the initiative to take up land. The wisdom of the Commons
policy in the early period, of discouraging the immigration of any but free
Europeans, was thus abundantly confirmed.
In addition to these bounty immigrants who came in groups there were,
chiefly between 1763 and 1765, about 50 individual applications for land
on the bounty by persons of British name whose headrights amounted to
about 120. Nearly all of them can be found on the land; half went into
the upper Savannah valley, most of them about the Long Canes ; the middle
country received nearly half of the remainder. There were about 30
petitions for the king's bounty, two-thirds of them for land in the middle
country, the rest in the back country. The headrights were about 50.
Thus the bounty act of 1761 had by the end of 1765 brought into the
colony about 700 persons, of whom probably 450, perhaps 500, settled in
the back country. The results for the expenditure of money compared but
ill with those of the period of the 'thirties; nevertheless the three town-
ships, especially Hillsborough, were valuable acquisitions.
Besides the bounty petitions there were about 2,500 applications for
land in South Carolina between 1760 and 1765^^ for a total of about 525,-
000 acres. 20% of the warrants, including, however, 30% of the acreage,
were for land in the tidewater region — a hundred of them in or near
Purrysburg and a fourth as many in Williamsburg. The headrights for
these tidewater warrants amounted to about 3,100 persons.** Two-thirds
of the warrants were for persons already landholders of the section, less
than 20% appearing clearly to be newcomers. Over half the warrants
were in 1764 and 1765, and few of them were for as much as a thousand
acres.
For land in the great and thinly settled middle country there were about
900 warrants, the acreage amounting to nearly 185,000; only three or four
petitioners applied for as much as a thousand acres. Somewhat more than
40% of these middle country warrants were for men who already owned
nearby land ; about the same proportion of the applicants were newcomers
to the province, and less than 10% came from other portions of the colony.
The total of headrights was about 3,300. Two-thirds of these warrants
were in 1764 and 1765.
A fifth of the middle country warrants were for the fertile and slightly
settled areas on and between the Black and Santee ; a sixth were for land
on the Peedee and its branches, with the Wateree, the Savannah, and
Lynches River taking each a somewhat smaller share, and Amelia, the
Congarees and the Edisto attracting each about 8% of the total. Scarcely
*^ This excludes about 500 warrants for which no plats appear to have been
surveyed, and which could not be identified by the warrant.
** Under the instructions of 1755 (above, p. 20, n. 9) the head of the household
received 100 acres, the headrights of the others were 50 acres each. Therefore in
the case of new settlers allowance for this must be made.
258 The Expansion of South Carolina
more than a score applied for land in the Coosawhatchie-Salkehatchie
region. Nearly 40% of the middle country applicants appear to have been
newcomers, the proportions — about 50% — being highest among those ask-
ing for land on the Savannah.
For back country sections there were nearly 1,100 warrants for a total
of about 180,000 acres, nearly a third of them for land in the Broad River
valley. The Enoree and Tyger, with their long branches and good land,
were sought by more than a hundred of the applicants, whose headrights
represented about 350 persons, 60% of them appearing to be new settlers.
A dozen families settled as far up as the three forks of the Tyger.
Nearly 200 headrights, 45% of them new settlers, were on the east side of
the Broad below Sandy River, while on the Sandy and on Turkey Creek
and their branches and the land between, there were 150 headrights of
whom 60% were new. Above Turkey Creek on the east side, and on the
Pacolet and Thicketty Creek on the west side there were few plats, and of
the 25 warrants for a hundred headrights 70% were for newcomers. On
the west side below the Enoree there were a score of warrants, representing
scarcely 40 headrights, less than half of the petitioners being new.
A score of Germans, chiefly bounty settlers, procured warrants for this
valley, and most of them settled elsewhere than in the German settle-
ments. Hardly 10% of the applicants for Broad River valley land can be
identified as coming from other portions of the province, most of them
from the middle country, the others from various parts of the back country.
Nearly 30% of the total were persons already owning land in the section
who were enlarging their holdings. The remainder cannot be identified.
Next to the Broad the valley of the Catawba-Wateree tempted the new
settler or encouraged the old to add to his lands. The 300 or more war-
rants here and on the upper waters of Lynches River to the east amounted
to over 40,000 acres, about 55% of the headrights representing persons new
to the province, while a third were resident already in the region. Nearly
40% of the warrants (over half for newcomers) were for land in the
Catawba valley, the long courses of Fishing and Rocky Creeks attracting
settlers, as did the Enoree and Tyger in the valley of the Broad. The
east side of the Wateree between the Waxhaws and Fredericksburg Town-
ship accounted for little over 15%, the Lynches River section a slightly
smaller number, the proportion of newcomers in each being about 40%.
The west side of the Wateree drew about 10% of the total, two-thirds of
them newcomers, and the Waxhaws, the best settled region in 1760, the
smallest number — somewhat less than 10%, half of them new settlers.
About 20 applicants came from the back country, Williamsburg, or the
middle country.
The Savannah valley, which showed such weakness during the Cherokee
War and the Indian troubles following, was the object of the solicitude of
the officials, and here were laid off and settled the three townships for
Back Country and Frontier 259
the 400 French, German and Scotch bounty settlers. There were in addi-
tion a score of bounty warrants on Long Cane or Little River representing
50 persons. Of the non-bounty petitions the Savannah valley drew 250,
with an acreage of about 43,000. Two-thirds of the petitioners, represent-
ing 500 persons, over half of them newcomers, asked for land on Little
River and Long Cane and their branches. On Stevens Creek and its trib-
utaries were to be found less than a fifth of the non-bounty headrights, over
half for new settlers, the headrights amounting to 125 persons; and on
Rocky River, beyond Little River were a score of families, half of them
new, with headrights of 50 persons.
A dozen of these Savannah valley settlers, perhaps more, came from
the middle and back country. Among them was Andrew Pickens, son of
the Waxhaw militia captain, who in 1762 had 250 acres surveyed on Little
River, and John Pickens, whose plats were run out on Little River and
Rocky River. Andrew Pickens' plat adjoined that of James Gamble, who
was himself probably from the Waxhaws.*^
On the Saluda, oldest of the back country settlements, there were about
185 warrants, amounting to 35,000 acres, with headrights totalling nearly
600. A third of the petitions — about 200 headrights — were for land on
Bush River and Little River and on the east side of the Saluda below
Reedy River, half of them by newcomers. A fifth were on Little Saluda
and the streams below Ninety Six Creek ; apparently less than half of these
were for newcomers, and the headrights represented about a hundred
persons. A sixth of the total was to be found on Ninety Six Creek, and
another sixth on the Reedy and its branches. But, whereas only a quarter
of the Ninety Six warrants were for new settlers, practically all of those
on the Reedy were newcomers; the headrights were respectively about 100
and 70. On the east side of the river, below Bush River, were half a
dozen warrants. 15 or 20 of the Saluda warrants were for settlers from
the middle and back country.
To the 1759 back country population of 7,000, there were added be-
tween 1760 and 1765, as far as the land records may be taken as an index,
about 3,600 persons, 700 of them brought in on the bounty. The land
records of course took no account of shifts of population by death or removal
to other colonies; on the other hand, the natural increase among the Ger-
mans was to a very slight degree represented in the land warrants, for few
of them took out additional warrants in this period.
It is obvious that most of the non-bounty immigrants were part of the
great movement of settlers south from western Pennsylvania and Virginia,
and probably the greater part of them were Scotch-Irish.*^ Prior to the
^5 See P, VII, 369, VIII, 363, SCG, Oct. 8, 1763, Dec. 1, 1766 (advts. of John
Pickens), above pp. 138-139, 145-146; J. B. Longacre and J. Herring, National
Portrait Gallery, (4 vols., Philadelphia, 1836), III.
^^ See Lieutenant-Governor Bull's statement about the immigrants in 1773 (PR,
XXXIII, 273-274, Bull to Board, June 14, 1773).
260 The Expansion of South Carolina
Cherokee War there seem to have been few who settled in the middle or
back country who did not speedily appear as headrights, but with the
partial removal of the Indian menace and the rapid increase of immigra-
tion from the north, the number of idle and landless persons increases, and
after 1764 perhaps rapidly/^ Included in the back country headrights
were probably 600 or 700 slaves, who with the 200 or 300 of 1759 made a
total of nearly 10% of the population/^ Some of these were acquired by
dubious means, no doubt, for James Parsons in 1763 complained that it
had lately become a pernicious custom for back settlers, when they met
with runaways, to publish deceptive advertisements and to keep the ne-
4ft
groes.
The four )'ears since the Cherokee treaty of 1761 had thus brought a
fifty percent increase in the population of the back country, which was
now a region of about ten thousand souls, with the vanguard of settlement
within fifty miles of the eventual South Carolina boundary. In the more
extensive but still thinly settled middle country were about twelve thou-
sand. The process of filling up and strengthening the province, begun at
the time of its acquisition by the crown, was in a manner complete. Pri-
marily the result of economic forces of the old and new world it had
nevertheless been due in part to government enterprise. The officials of
the provincial and royal governments had in the main served its purposes
faithfully. The planters, too, by fits and starts had given it earnest
thought : at one time they looked to it in joyful confidence ; at another they
turned to it in bitter discouragement and dread ; between times they forgot
about it in the press of their own affairs. Now, with the white population
of the middle and back country sufficient to insure protection against In-
dian and negro enemies, they turned their attention to other things. In
the new issues that successively faced the colony in the decade preceding
the Revolution the back country at times figured largely, but no longer
as a mere reserve of man-power. It was now a section of the province with
its own problems.
But the period of thirty-seven years since the appointment of Governor
Johnson had accomplished far more than the settling of two-thirds of the
area of the later state, and giving it — as far as concerned the whites — the
racial composition it was to retain through two centuries. The settlement
of the interior of North and South Carolina and the extension of popula-
tion along the coast had brought the rice country into close physical contact
with its neighbors to the north, and South Carolina, which in 1729 had
*^ See, for instance, SCG, June 8, 1765.
^^ Only the occasional references supplied by wills and inventories and news-
paper advertisements give hints of the number of slaves. Comparison of these
with similar references for the years preceding and with the headrights recorded
in land petitions before 1756 suggests this figure.
*^ See SCG, Jan. 29, Oct. 22, 1763.
Back Country and Frontier 261
much of the appearance of a West Indian colony, became like the main-
land settlements.
The most interesting result of this expansion, however, was the es-
tablishment in the back country of a population that in its economic condi-
tions and its social trends was very different from that of the tidewater.
In its essential characteristics, and to a less degree in its connections, it was
merely an extension southwestward of the piedmont society and population
of the more northern colonies, as the rice and indigo plantations in turn
were now a part of the wealthy and highly developed coast country of
the English mainland.
But the other forces — the artificial though real boundaries set up by
the British and provincial governments, the geographic situation that made
Charleston the trading outlet of the whole area between the Peedee and
the Savannah, the history of the last thirty years in which a vigorous and
capable government had partly determined the lines of provincial expan-
sion, and therefore had more than the usual influence over it — all tended
to mark off the South Carolina tidewater, middle country and piedmont as
sections or portions of a single commonwealth.
The tidewater and back country were indeed two commonwealths, one
highly developed, cultivated and confident; the other new, raw, slightly
organized and uncertain of itself. Nevertheless the good qualities that
characterized so large a part of the piedmont population promised to make
it a vigorous though sadly handicapped rival of the older society. They
were different and in many respects hostile, but not to such an extent that
it was altogether impossible for them to find common ground. They were
widely separated by distance and interests, but their connections were real
and the bonds already established were of some strength. Nor were the
areas and present and potential populations so large as to prevent effective
operation upon the two by the factors tending to bring about a closer union.
No situation better calculated to stimulate both groups and to challenge
leadership could have been devised.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES
State Archives of South Carolina
Historical Commission, Columbia
Commissions and Instructions, 1732-1742
Journal of the Commissioners of the Indian Trade, 1710-1718, 1 vol.
Journal of the Commons House of Assembly, 1692-1775, 40 vols.
Journal of the Council, and
Journal of the Upper House of Assembly, 1721-1775, together 38 vols, and
loose pages of photostats
Journal of the Directors of the Cherokee Trade, 1762-1765, 1 vol.
Memorials, 1711-1775, 15 vols.
Mortgages, 1736-1775, 15 vols.
Plats of Townships
Records in the British Public Record Office Relating to South Carolina, 1663-
1782, copies of, bound in 36 vols, as Public Records of South Carolina
South Carolina Indian Affairs, 1750-1759, 5 vols., bound as vols. 2-6 of
"Indian Books", the Journal of the Commissioners of the Indian Trade,
1710-1718 being vol. 1
Treasurer's Ledgers, 1725-1773, 4 vols.
Secretary of State, Columbia
Grants, 1732-1775, 46 vols.
Plats, 1731-1775, 23 vols.
County Archives, Charleston
Common Pleas, Minutes, 1733-1769, 14 vols.
Inventories, 1732-1785, 17 vols.
Mesne Conveyances, 1719-1775, 89 vols.
Miscellaneous Records, 1732-1776, 10 vols.
Wills, 1729-1779, 16 vols.
Library of Congress, Washington
Deed of Sale by Cherokee Indians, Feb. 12, 1747, copy — see Wallace, History
of S. C. I, 447--f48
Cherokee Treaty with Governor of Louisiana, Nov. 1756, copy — see ibid.,
II, 15
Fulham MSS, copies, N. C, S. C, Ga.
S. P. G. MSS, copies and photostats
Other Manuscript Sources
Gadsden, Christopher, "Gadsden Miscellany", Smythe Collection, Presby-
terian College of South Carolina, Clinton
Laurens, Henry, Letter Books, 1747-1782, 15 vols.. South Carolina Historical
Society, Charleston
Haig, George, Map of the Townships and of the Cherokee Country, photostat
of original — see Crane, Southern Frontier, p. 351
North Carolina, Anson County, Deeds, vols. I and V, Wills, vol. I
North Carolina, Raleigh, Grants, Office of Grant Clerk
263
264 The Expansion of South Carolina
Pearson, John and Philip, photographs (owned by Prof. E. L. Green, Univer-
sity of S. C.) of letters owned by W. B. Pearson, Strother, S. C.
Welsh Neck Church Book, Society Hill, S. C.
PRINTED SOURCES
American Husbandry, Containing an Account of the Soil, Climate, Production and
Agriculture of the British Colonies in North America and the West-Indies; . . .
by an American, 2 vols., London, 1775
Adair, James, History of the American Indians, London, 1775
Bartram, William, Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and
West Florida, Philadelphia, 1794
Carroll, B. R., ed.. Historical Collections of South Carolina, 2 vols., New York, 1836
Catesby, Mark, The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands
. . . , 2 vols., London, 1771
Chalkley, Lyman, Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, 3 vols.,
Rosslyn, 1912
Chalmers, Lionel, Account of the Weather and Diseases of South Carolina, 2 vols.,
London, 1776
Chesney, Alexander, Journal of, a South Carolina Loyalist in the Revolution and
After, ed. by E. Alfred Jones (Ohio State University Bulletin, October, 1921),
Columbus
Collections of the South Carolina Historical Society, 5 vols., Charleston, 1857-1897
"Documents in Swiss Archives relating to Emigration to American Colonies in
the Eighteenth Century", American Historical Review, October, 1916
Donnan, Elizabeth, Documents Illustrative of the Slave Trade to America, vol. IV,
Washington, 1935
Faust, A. B., Lists of Siviss Emigrants in the Eighteenth Century to the American
Colonies, vol. I, Washington, 1920; vol. II (by A. B. Faust and B. M. Brum-
baugh), Washington, 1925
Fries, Adelaide L., Records of the Moravians in North Carolina, 4 vols., Raleigh,
1922-1930
Georgia, The Colonial Records of the State of, compiled by Allen D. Candler,
26 vols., Atlanta, 1904-1916
Gibbes, R. W., Documentary History of the American Revolution . . . Chiefly in
South Carolina, 1764-1776, 1776-1782, 1781-1782, 3 vols.. New York, 1855 and
1857, Columbia, 1853
"Journal of William Calhoun", Publications of Southern History Association,
Washington, 1904
Memoirs of Henry Timberlake, London, 1765
North Carolina, Colonial Records of, ed. by William L. Saunders, 10 vols., Raleigh,
1886-1890
North Carolina, State Records of, vols. XI-XXVI ed. by Walter Clark, Winston
and Goldsboro, 1895-1906, vols. XXVII-XXX ed. by Stephen B. Weeks, Golds-
boro, Charlotte, Raleigh, 1909-1914
Records of the Welsh Tract Baptist Meeting, Pencader Hundred, Newcastle
County, Delaware, 1701-1828, Wilmington, 1904
Register Book for the Parish Prince Frederick Winyaw, Baltimore, 1916
Salley, A. S., Jr., Register of St. Philip's Parish, Charles Town, South Carolina,
1720-1758, Charleston, 1904
Salley, A. S., Jr., Journal of the Commissioners of the Indian Trade of South
Carolina, 1710-1715, Columbia, 1926
Salley, A. S., Jr., ed.. Narratives of Early Carolina, New York, 1911
Bibliography 265
Salley, A. S., Jr., Warrants for Lands in South Carolina, 1680-1692, 1692-1711,
Columbia, 1911, 1915
Simpson, William, Practical Justice of the Peace, Charlestown, 1761
Smith, D. E. Huger, and Salley, A. S., Jr., Register of St. Philip's Parish, Charles
Toivn, or Charleston, S. C, 1754-1810, Charleston, 1927
Statutes at Large of South Carolina, ed. by Thomas Cooper and David J. McCord,
9 vols., Columbia, 1836-1841
Tobler, John, "The John Tobler Manuscripts: An Account of German-Swiss
Emigrants in South Carolina, 1737", ed. by Charles G. Cordle, Journal of
Southern History, February, 1939
Urlsperger, Samuel, Ausfiihrliche Nachricht von den Saltzburgischen Emigranten,
[1734—1751], 18 series, Halle, v. d., and supplemental Nachrichten {Amercanisches
Ackcriverk Gottes, [1751-1760], 4 parts, Augsburg, 1754—1767, Lutheran Seminary,
Columbia
Weston, P. C. J., Documents Connected ivith the History of South Carolina, Lon-
don, 1856
Williams, Samuel Coles, Early Travels in the Tennessee Country, Johnson City,
1928
Year Book, City of Charleston, 1880, 1894, Charleston
CONTEMPORARY NEWSPAPERS
South Carolina and American General Gazette, Charleston, 1766-1775
South Carolina Gazette, 1732-1775
South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, 1765-1775
MAPS
De Brahm, William, A Map of South Carolina and a Part of Georgia . . . , Lon-
don, 1757
Faden, William, A Map of South Carolina and Part of Georgia . . . , London,
1780
Hunter, George, Map of the Cherokee Country — see Historical Commission,
Bulletins of
Mills, Robert, Atlas of the State of South Carolina, Philadelphia, 1825
Moll, H., Nciv Map of the North Parts of America Claimed by France under ye
Name of Louisiana . . . , n. p., 1720
Mouzon, Henry, Map of North and South Carolina, London, 1775
Plan von Neu Ebenezer, verlegt von Matth. Soutter, Kayser, Geog. in Augsburg —
Collection of H. D. Kendall, Camden, S. C.
United States, Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey,
North Carolina, "Cowee Quadrangle", Washington, 1907
SECONDARY WORKS
Ashe, Samuel A'Court, History of North Carolina, I, Greensboro, 1908
Baker-Crothers, Hayes, Virginia and the French and Indian War, Chicago, 1928
Bennett, Hugh Hammond, Soils and Agriculture of the Southern States, New York,
1921
Bennett, Susan S., "Some Early Settlers of Calhoun County", Proceedings of the
South Carolina Historical Association, 1938
Bennett, Susan S., "The Courtonnes of South Carolina", Transactions of the
Huguenot Society of South Carolina, 1934
Bernheim, G. D., History of the German Settlements and of the Lutheran Church
in North and South Carolina, Philadelphia, 1872
266 The Expansion of South Carolina
Boddie, William Willis, History of fVilliamsburg County, Columbia, 1923
Bond, Beverley W., Jr., Quit Rent System in the American Colonies, New Haven,
1919
Coker, William C, and Totten, H. R., Trees of the Southeastern States, Chapel
Hill, 1934
Crane, Verner W., "A Lost Utopia of the First American Frontier", Seijuanee Re-
vieav, January, 1919
Crane, Verner W., The Southern Frontier, Durham, 1928
Dalcho, Frederick, Historical Account of the Protestant Episcopal Church in South
Carolina, Charleston, 1820
Easterby, J. H., History of the St. Andrew's Society of Charleston, South Carolina,
1729-1929, Charleston, 1929
Essay on Currency, Charlestown, 173+
Elzas, Barnett A., The Jeivs of South Carolina, Philadelphia, 1905
Evans, Charles, American Bibliography, 3 vols., Chicago, 1905
Green, Edwin L., A History of Richland County, Columbia, 1932
Gregg, Alexander, History of the Old Cheraivs, New York, 1867
Gregg, Alexander, History of the Old Cheraivs, with Addenda by John J. Dargan,
Columbia, 1905
Hamer, P. M., "Anglo-French Rivalry in the Cherokee Country, 1754-1757";
"Fort Loudoun in the Cherokee War, 1758-1761"; North Carolina Historical
Revieiv, Raleigh, 1925
Hazelius, Ernest L., History of the American Lutheran Church, Zanesville, 1846
Hewat, Alexander, Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies
of South Carolina and Georgia, London, 2 vols., 1779 (Reprinted as vol. I of
Carroll, Historical Collections of S. C.)
Historical Commission of South Carolina, Bulletins of, by A. S. Salley, Jr.;
George Hunter's Map of the Cherokee Country and the Path Thereto in 1730,
Columbia, 1917
The Boundary Line betiveen North and South Carolina, Columbia, 1929
The Independent Company from South Carolina at Great Meadoivs, Columbia,
1932
Hodge, Frederick Webb, ed., Handbook of American Indians, 2 vols., Washing-
ton, 1910
Howe, George, History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, 2 vols.,
Columbia, 1883
Index-Journal, Greenwood, June 27, 1937
Johnson, Joseph, Traditions and Reminiscences, Chiefly of the American Revolu-
tion in the South . . . , Charleston, 1851
Jones, Charles C, History of Georgia, 2 vols., Boston, 1883
Kirkland, T. J., and Kennedy, R. M., Historic Camden, Part One, Colonial and
Revolutionary, Columbia, 1905
Logan, John H., History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, I, Charleston,
1859
Longacre, J. B., and Herring, J., National Portrait Gallery, 4 vols., Philadelphia,
1836
McCrady, Edward, History of South Carolina under the Proprietary Government,
1670-1719, New York, 1897
McCrady, Edward, History of South Carolina under the Royal Government, 1719-
1776, New York, 1899
Mereness, N. D., Travels in the American Colonies, New York, 1916
Mills, Robert, Statistics of South Carolina, Charleston, 1826
Mooney, James, Siouan Tribes of the East, Washington, 1894
Bibliography 267
Moragne, W. C, Address Delivered at Neiv Bordeaux, S. C, Nov. 15, 1824,
Charleston, 1857
Morgan, Abel, Cyd-gordiad Egyddoraiul O'r Scrythurua, Philadelphia, 1730
(Library of University of South Carolina)
Osgood, Herbert L., The American Colonies in the Eighteenth Century, 4 vols.,
New York, 1924
Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XXI, Philadelphia, 1897
Phillips, Ulrich Bonnell, American Negro Slavery, New York, 1918
Phillips, Ulrich Bonnell, Life and Labor in the Old South, Boston, 1929
Ravenel, Harriott Horry, Eliza Pinckney, New York, 1896
Salley, A. S., Jr., History of Orangeburg County, S. C, Orangeburg, 1898
Schaper, William A., "Sectionalism and Representation in South Carolina",
American Historical Association Report, 1900, 2 vols., Washington, 1901
Sellers, Leila, Charleston Business on the Eve of the Revolution, Chapel Hill, 1934
Smith, W. Roy, South Carolina as a Royal Province, 1719-1776, New York, 1903
South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, vols. I-XXXVIH, Charles-
ton, 1900-1938
The State, Columbia, Dec. 30, 1929
Swanton, John R., Early History of the Creek Indians and Their Neighbors,
Washington, 1922
Swanton, John R., Indian Tribes of the Loiver Mississippi Valley and the Adjacent
Coast of the Gulf of Mexico, Washington, 1911
Townsend, Leah, South Carolina Baptists, 1670-1S05, Florence, S. C, 1935
Turner, Frederick Jackson, The Frontier in American History, New York, 1920
United States, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Soils, Field Operations of the
Bureau of Soils, 1902-1925, Washington, 1902-1938
Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, Soil Survey of IVilliamsburg County, South
Carolina, Washington, 1931
Voigt, Gilbert P., German and German-Swiss Element in South Carolina, 1732-
1752, (Bulletin of the University of South Carolina), Columbia, 1922
Voigt, Gilbert P., "Germans and German-Swiss in South Carolina, 1732-1765",
Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association, 193 5
Wallace, David Duncan, History of South Carolina, 4 vols.. New York, 1934
Wallace, David Duncan, Life of Henry Laurens, New York, 1915
Wallace, James A., History of IVilliamsburg Church, Salisbury, 1856
Wardlaw, J. G., Genealogy of the Witherspoon Family, Yorkville, 1910
Weeks, Stephen B., Southern Quakers and Slavery, Baltimore, 1896
Wertenbaker, Thomas J., The Planters of Colonial Virginia, Princeton, 1922
Williams, Samuel Coles, ed., Adair's History of the American Indians, Johnson
City, 1930
Williams, Samuel Coles, Dawn of Tennessee Valley and Tennessee History,
Johnson City, 1937
INDEX
Note: Middle and back country settlers are identified by township,
e.g., Amelia, section, e.g., Congarees, or river valley, e.g., Broad.
Aberlin, Solomon, Congarees, 52
Aberly, John, Congarees, 52, 63 n.
Abraham, slave, Fort Loudoun, 223-
224; freed for services, 229
Adair, James, 220; and frontier, 121;
and Choctaw affair, 195; in Cherokee
War, 228-229
Adamson, James, Wateree, 105, 136,
175; Fort Loudoun, 232
Agriculture, Purrysburg, 38-39; Amel-
ia, 50; Congarees, 56; Williamsburg,
81-83; Saluda, 120, 131; Waxhaws,
142; clearing ground for, 165; meth-
ods, 166; back country, labor in, 174;
middle country, 182; Hillsborough,
252, 253
Aiken, James, planter, 81
Alabama Fort (Fort Thoulouse), 185,
190, 195, 217
Albany, 203 ; Congress, 208
Alder, Conrad, Broad, 148
Alexander, Aaron, Long Canes, 135
Alexander, Adam, Long Canes, 135
Alexander, David, 100
Alexander, Zebulun, Long Canes, 135
Allison, Robert, Lynches, 146 n.
Altamaha River, 6; fort on, 10; pro-
posed settlement of, 18, 20; defense
of, 188-189
Amelia Township, 101, 137, 161, 172,
182, 183, 230; map, 32; settlement,
42-44, 50-51; settlers from, 60, 149;
Germans in, 154; demand for repre-
sentation, 183; Indian raid, 200;
warrants, 1761-1765, 257
American colonies, proposed immigra-
tion from, 17, 20 n.
Amherst, General Jeffrey, 228, 232, 236,
237
Ancrum, William, Charleston, 104
Anderson, Abel, Broad, 157
Anderson, Dr. Abraham, Broad and
Saluda, 180 n.
Anderson, David, Black, 108, 145 n.
Anderson, Enoch, Saluda, 130, 133
Anderson, James, Congarees, 52
Andrews, James, Broad, 148
Anglican Church, 8, 47; Purrysburg,
40; Orangeburg, 47; Amelia, 51;
Congarees, 64; Williamsburg, 85;
Peedee, 97-98; Wateree, 107
Anson County, North Carolina, 138
Appenzell, Switzerland, 66, 67
Arledge, John, Wateree, 136
Arms and ammunition, 121, 125, 143,
162, 169, 201, 203-204, 206, 217, 227,
233, 234
Armstrong, Samuel, Cheraws, 94
Assembly, the, and early settlement pol-
icy, 5 ; composition, 6-7 ; and town-
ship plan, 21-22; petition for troops,
26; and plans for Purrysburg, 34;
reimbursed for Indian expenses, 199-
200; asks larger territory, 249
Atkin, Edmund, Superintendent Indian
Affairs, 225
Atkinson, Elisha, Broad, 148
Aubrey, Samuel, Broad, 234 n.
Augusta, 10, 72, 170, 228, 237, 246; and
Indian trade, 15, 69-71; founded, 66;
in Cherokee War, 222, 225, 235 n.
Augusta County Virginia, 134, 138-140,
148 n.
Austin, George, council, 242
Bachman, John Ulric, Congarees, 52,
54
Back country, map 112; settlement, 112-
158 {see Broad, Catawba, Lynches,
Saluda, Savannah and Wateree Riv-
ers) ; description, 113-115; Indian
trade in settlement of, 117-119, 162;
hunters in, 119-120; relation to pro-
vincial government, 133; significance
of church development, 144—145;
Germans in, 150-154; in 1759, 160-
269
270
Index
184; population and origin, 160-162;
settlement process, 162-165; industry,
165-169; trade and transportation,
169-172; manufacturing, 172-173;
labor, 173-174; life, 174-177; church
and education, 177-180; significance,
181-182; and imperial policies, 185;
Indian alarm of 1751, 201; in Chero-
kee War, 212-240 {see Cherokee
War); raids upon, 222-227; settlers'
forts, 223, 234-236; enlistments from,
226-227; growth of, 1761-1765, 241-
261; importance of, 242; warrants in,
258-259; settlers from, 259; popula-
tion and change in type of settlers,
260; significance, 1765, 261
Baden, Germany, 152
Baker, Elihu, Congarees, 52, 59, 63 n.
Baker, William, Congarees, 52, 55
Ball, David, Saluda, 119
Banks, Charles, Saluda, 119-121
Baptist Church, Euhaw, 39; Congarees,
64-65; Coosawhatchie, 74-75; Peedee
and Lynches, 74-75, 145, 180; Welsh
Tract, 96-98; Broad, 157, 180; prayer
meetings on Broad, 158, 180 n.; Fair-
forest, 158, 180
Barker, Thomas, Salkehatchie, 74
Barksdale, Isaac, New Windsor, 127
Barley, Congarees, 62, 174; Welsh
Tract, 91 ; Waterees, 106
Earner, Andrew, Congarees, 52, 62 n.
Barnwell, John, township plan of, 18
Barrow, Richard, Welsh Tract, 91
Barrow, Sarah, Welsh Tract, 91
Baskins, William, Virginia, 124
Bassett, Nathaniel, Savannah, 128
Bassett, Thomas, New Windsor, 128
Bassnett, John, Williamsburg, 84
Baxter, Arthur, Kingston, 87
Baxter, Rev. John, Cainhoy, 79, 88, 251
Baxter, John, Boonesborough, 252 n.
Bayle, Cecile, Hillsborough, 254
Beach Island, 68
Beale, Othniel, council, 242
Beamer, James, Cherokee trader, 119 n.,
132, 192, 208 n., 221
Beamer, Thomas, Cherokee trader, 132,
221, 222
Beans, Purrysburg, 38; Congarees, 56;
back country, 166; Hillsborough, 253
Bear Creek, Saluda, 147, 171
Bears, 38, 169
Beaufort, 38, 39
Beaver Creek, Broad, 235 n.
Beaver Creek, Wateree, 137, 141, 142 n.
Beaver skins, 122, 169
Beaverdam Creek, Saluda, 147, 153 n.
Beaverdam Creek, Stevens Creek, 129
Beckeli, Peter, 152
Beddingfield, William, Long Canes,
134 n.
Bedgegood, Rev. Nicholas, Welsh Tract,
96
Beech Branch (Coosawhatchie) Baptist
Church, 75 n.
Beer, 62, 175, 253
Belfast, settlers from, 79
Belfast Township. See Londonborough.
Bell, Thomas, Fort Ninety Six, 236
Bell Hall, Congaree, 44 n.
Bellville, Amelia, 50
Beresford, John, 54
Berlin, 36 n.
Berry, Thomas, Congarees, 52, 55
Beudeker, Henry Christopher, Conga-
rees, 62, 174
Binsky, Martyn, Orangeburg, 46
Black Creek, Peedee, 92
Black River, 90, 161; township pro-
posed, 20; Williamsburg on, 79-84;
settlement of upper waters, 107-109;
settlers from, 145; warrants, 1761-
1765, 257. See Williamsburg.
Board of Trade, 210, 228, 252; and
township plan, 19-20; and settlement
acts, 21-22; and land dispute, 23; and
Purrysburg plans, 34; and Hamilton
plan, 126; and Indian affairs, 194,
196; and Carolina boundary, 247-250
Boater, Nicholas, Broad, 150
Books, Purrysburg, 39-40; Saxe Gotha,
56, 63, 64 n.; Welsh Tract, 96; Wat-
eree, 106; Waxhaws, 143; back and
middle country, 177-178
Boone, Governor Thomas, 243, 251; ap-
pointed, 228; on Indian trade plan,
244—245 ; dispute with Commons, 246,
252
Boonesborough Township, map, 116;
settled, 250-252
Booth, John, Welsh Tract, 96
Bosher, Thomas, captain of rangers,
227
Bosomworth, Thomas and Mary, 204-
205
Index
271
Bounties to settlers, 25, 27 n., 28, 30, 34,
35, 56, 79, 89, 92, 100, 103-104, 151,
152, 155, 163, 251-257
Bourquin, Henry, Purrysburg, 38, 39
Boutiton, Rev. Pierre, Hillsborough,
253, 254
Box, Edward, Saluda, 236 n.
Box, Robert, Saluda, 236 n.
Boykin, Edward, Lynches, 145
Boykin, Henry, Lynches, 145
Brabant, Dr. Daniel, Purrysburg, 38
Brabant, Isaac, Purrysburg, 38 n.
Braddock's expedition, 210
Bradley, James, Black, 108
Brandenburg, 39
Brannon, Michael, Wateree, 105
Bready, Daniel, Wateree, 137 n.
Breed, Joseph, Broad, 158 n.
Brewery, proposed for Congarees, 62
Briar Creek, Savannah, 73
Bricks, at Fort Moore, 173
Brim, Lower Creek headman, 205
British. See English.
Broad and Saluda, 128; settlement on,
137, 180 n.; forts on, 168; wagons
from, 170 n.; complaint from, 181 n.;
Indian alarm, 201
Broad River, 143, 163; settlement, 147-
158; Germans on, 148, 150-155; set-
tlers from Raifords Creek, 148; set-
tlers from Northward, 148-149; settle-
ment of Enoree and Tyger, 149-
150; later English settlers, 155-156;
churches and education, 156-158, 180;
roads, 171; blacksmiths, 172; Chero-
kee raids, 217; defense of, 233-235;
in boundary dispute, 250; warrants,
1761-1765, 258
Broad River, Georgia, 122 n., 245
Brooks, Jacob, Saluda, 223, 234 n., 236
Broughton, Lieutenant-Governor
Thomas, 81, 90, 188; visits townships,
46; and imperial expansion, 189
Brown, Andrew, Saluda, 131, 222
Brown, David, 42 n.
Brown, Edward, Saluda, 130
Brown, John, Chickasaw captain, 228-
229
Brown, Lazarus, Lower Three Runs, 75
Brown, Patrick, Congarees, 52, 54, 132,
202; in Catawba trade, 53; in Creek
trade, 68 n., 191; leading trader, 69
Brown, Thomas, 51 n., 147, 170; in Con-
garees, 52-54, 57-58, 59 n., 63; estate,
58, 176 n.; Ninety Six lands, 118, 126
Brown, William, Congarees, 52, 53 n.,
58, 59, 175 n.
Brown, Rae & Co., Indian trade, 69
Bryan, John, 42 n.
Bryan, Thomas, Savannah, 128 n.
Buckhead Creek, Amelia, 42, 44, 50, 51,
101
Buckhead Creek, Salkehatchie, 74, 212,
223, 234 n.
Buffalo, 119, 169
Buffalo Creek, Broad, 209
Buffalo Creek, Lynches, 145
Bugnion, Rev. Joseph, Purrysburg, 40
Bull, Lieutenant-Governor William, the
Elder, and imperial expansion, 189-
190
Bull, Lieutenant-Governor William, the
Younger, 218, 243; appointed, 228;
on Montgomery's prospects, 229; and
defense of province, 232-233, 236; and
peace negotiations, 239-240; and pro-
vincial boundary, 250; instructions for
Hillsborough settlers, 252-253
Bunning, Robert, Cherokee trader, 192
Burgess, Benjamin, Saluda, 121-122,
130-131
Burghart, Jacob, Saluda, 155
Burnett, Daniel, Saluda, 125, 130, 131
Burrington, Governor George, North
Carolina, 19 n. ; and boundary dispute,
247-248
Busby, William, Congarees, 52
Bush River, 130, 133, 172, 222, 223, 234 n.,
259
Buss, Hans, Congarees, 52
Busser, Ulrick, Congarees, 52
Bussey, George, Stevens Creek, 129, 225
Butler, Major Hugh, 118
Butter and cheese, from townships, 83 ;
Wateree, 106; Waxhaws, 142, 143,
175; back and middle country, 168
Cainhoy Presbyterian Church, 79
Calabash Creek, Hard Labor Creek,
251 n.
Calhoun, Ezekiel, Long Canes, 134, 135 n.
Calhoun, Hugh, Long Canes, 134, 135 n.
Calhoun, James, Long Canes, 134
Calhoun, Patrick, Long Canes, 133-135,
169, 175, 246; and settlement of Hills-
272
Index
borough, 252-253; and Londonbor-
ough, 255
Calhoun, William, Long Canes, 134, 174,
176 n.
Calhoun Creek, Savannah, 135, 246 n.
Camp Creek, Catawba, 137
Campbell, Elizabeth, Stevens Creek,
126 n.
Campbell, Hugh, Williamsburg, 84
Campbell, John, Indian trader, 190, 195-
196
Campbell, Martin, New Windsor, 70, 71
Camping Creek, Saluda, 154
Cane Creek, Catawba, 137-140
Cane Hill, Long Canes, 134-135
Cane swamps, middle country, 75 ; back
country, 149, 150, 163, 166
Cannon, John, Broad, 149, 156 n., 157
Cannons Creek, Broad, 149, 153, 171,
172
Canomore, Jacob, Broad, 148, 157
Cantey, John, Santee, 109
Cantey, Josiah, Santee, 109
Cantey, William, Lynches, 146 n.
Cantzon, Dr. John, Waxhaws, 180 n.
Cape Fear River, 6; Indians, 12; in
boundary dispute, 247-248
Cardiff, Patrick, Savannah, 128 n.
Carey, Purmont, Broad, 148
Carter, Benjamin, Amelia, 43
Cartwright, John, London, 59 n.
Cashaway Baptist Church, Peedee, 96
Cassels, Henry, Black, 108
Catawba Indians, 71, 100, 104, 108, 137,
143, 165; in 1729, 11, 13; effect of
whites upon, 13, 142; entertainment
of, 43-44; decline of, 58, 136; trade of,
99-100; conferences with, 119, 142,
143, 194; encroachments on, 140, 142;
and Iroquois, 193, 200, 203; expel Sa-
vannahs, 198; and Virginia defense,
208, 210; fort for, 212, 218, 235 n.; in
Cherokee War, 218, 220, 228-229, 237;
and Indian Congress, 245; and South
Carolina boundary, 248-250
Catawba River, 96, 143, 170; settle-
ment, 136-145; description, 136-137;
conflict over lands, 137-140; migra-
tion from Virginia, 138-139; Wax-
haws settlement, 140-141 ; Catawba
troubles, 142; church and society, 142-
145; Cherokee raids on, 217; defense
of, 233; boundary dispute, 250; war-
rants, 1761-1765, 258
Catfish Creek, Peedee, 92; Baptist
Church, 96
Catholic immigrants, 152-153
Cattle and hogs, 200, 252; tidewater, 4;
frontier, 11, 12; Purrysburg, 38; forks
of Edisto, 48^9; Congarees, 56, 58,
62, 63 ; in southwest, 74, 75 ; Williams-
burg, 83; Peedee, 95; Wateree, 106;
piedmont, 115; Saluda, 120, 131; Ste-
vens Creek, 127; Waxhaws, 139, 142,
143; Lynches, 146; Broad, 149, 151 n.;
frontier, 162-163; back country, 166,
167-168, 175; middle country, 182.
See also Butter, Cowpens, Leather.
Causart, Richard, Waxhaws, 139
Caw, Dr. David, 127 n.
Cedar Creek, Broad, 148, 155, 156
Chair, riding, 64 n.
Charleston, 102, 125, 129, 133, 137, 164,
168, 169, 174, 175, 178, 185, 204, 207,
214, 222, 224, 228, 252-254; popula-
tion, 5 n., 6; provincial center, 6; In-
dian trade, 10, 192, 193, 197, 217; mer-
chants, 15, 68 n., 70, 84, 104, 151; 1740
fire, 26; club, 29 n.; treatment of im-
migrants, 79; North Carolina trade,
94; Peedee trade, 94; back country
trade, 143, 170; Germans in, 154; con-
nections with back and middle coun-
try, 162, 183; and new Indian trade,
244, 245, 247; merchants import set-
tlers, 251; in 1765, 261
Charleston Baptist Church, 91
Charleston Presbytery, 143, 144
Chattooga River, 230; map, 112
Chatwin, Joseph, Savannah, 128
Chavous, Matthew, 128
Cheraw Indians, 90, 93, 100; join Ca-
tawbas, 13
Cheraws (section), 90, 94, 97, 171; Little
Cheraws, 90
Cherokee boundary, 124, 133, 135; of
1761, 240, 249, 255
Cherokee Indians, 101, 103, 162, 185,
229; description of, 11, 13, 206; im-
portance of, 13, 14 n., 191, 201, 205;
Priber and, 43; entertainment of, 43-
44, 119; route to, 49; and Iroquois, 58;
Lower Towns, 117, 169, 186, 192, 199,
200, 204, 206; missions to, 118, 124,
144, 194; conferences with, 119, 130,
«
Index
273
132, 194; and Savannahs, 123; bound-
ary, 160; trade embargoes on, 186,
199, 201-203; and defense against
slaves, 188; trade with, 191-192; in-
trigues of French and enemy Indians
among, 191, 193, 198-199; Overhills,
192, 198, 201, 209, 210; war with
Creeks, 192, 204-205; traders killed
by, 199, 200; treaties with, 202-203,
212; attack on Chickasaws, 204; de-
fense of Virginia frontier, 208, 210;
cession of lands of, 209, 210; and the
Seven Years War, 211; war with,
212-240 {see Cherokee War) ; and In-
dian Congress, 245 ; boundary of, 248-
250
Cherokee path, 2, 10-12, 52, 54, 116, 132;
in Amelia, 42, 43 ; in Saxe Gotha, 52,
53, 170, 178; on Savannah, 117; at
Ninety Six, 117-119, 127, 201 n.; to
Fort Moore, 128, 129; to Fort Prince
George, 171
Cherokee War, 103, 143, 154, 166, 168,
170, 173, 176, 181, 199, 212-240, 256;
causes, 214-215, 221; Lyttelton's ex-
pedition, 217-221; Overhills in, 217,
221, 224, 225, 229, 230, 238, 239; Val-
ley in, 217, 222, 238; Lower Towns in,
217, 221, 222, 229; hostile towns, 219;
the hostages, 219, 221, 224, 232, 233;
Middle Settlements in, 221, 222, 224,
229 n., 230, 238, 239; prisoners, 223,
224, 229, 232, 233, 236-237, 240; Mont-
gomery's expedition, 228-232, 234, 236;
engagements near Echoe, 230-231, 238;
Grant's expedition, 237-239; peace ne-
gotiations, 236, 237, 239-240; results,
240-241. See also Provincial troops,
Rangers.
Chevillette, John, Orangeburg, militia
colonel, 46, 227 ; justice of the peace, 47
Chevis, John, Long Canes, 133
Chickasaw Indians, route to, 10; in 1729,
14; and the French war, 70, 195, 203-
204; trade with, 186 n., 191; defense
of, 190; in Cherokee War, 218, 228-
229, 234, 237; and Indian Congress,
245
Chickasaw Indians, New Windsor, 70-
73, 121, 188-190, 194, 204; in Cherokee
War, 228
Chisselle, Rev. Henry Francis, Purrys-
burg, 40
Choctaw Indians, route to, 10; in 1729,
14; attempts at alliance with, 121, 195-
197; French domination of, 190-191;
and Chickasaw war, 203-204
Chotee, Cherokee town, 209, 219 n., 224;
map, 212
Christmas, Jonathan, Wateree, 137
Church and religion, 19; Purrysburg,
40; Orangeburg, 47-48; Congarees,
64-65; New Windsor, 72; Williams-
burg, 86; Welsh Tract, 96, 97; state
of in back country, 179-180; and edu-
cation, 179; missionaries, 180; middle
country, 183; Hillsborough, 252-253
Clark, Daniel, New Windsor, 68 n., 69 n.
Clark, James, Lynches, 145 n.
Clayton, John, Edisto forks, 49 n.
Cleland, John, 81
Clever, Andrew, Catawba, 142
Clinton, Governor George, New York,
203
Clothing, Congarees, 59, 63 n. ; New
Windsor, 70; Wateree, 106; of immi-
grants, 162; back country, 167, 174—
175
Cloud, Isaac and Mary, Saluda, 122-
123, 178, 200, 201
Clouds Creek, Saluda, 122
Cobb, James, Catawba, 105 n.
Coffee, proposed for Saluda crop, 126
Coleman, Henry, Congarees, 56
Coleman, John, Congarees, 56
Coleman (Gallman), John Frederick,
Congarees, 54
Coleworts, Saluda, 120; back country,
166
Collier, John, Saluda, 121 n., 131
Collins, John, Wateree, 105
Collins, Samuel, Enoree, 149, 150
Collins River. See Enoree.
Colonels Creek, Wateree, 102, 103
Coltsons Branch, Salkehatchie, 75
Combahee River, 41 n., 73
Commissary-general, 100, 167, 244
Commons House of Assembly, 6-7, 91;
and paper money, 8-9; and Indian
relations, 16, 123, 193, 194, 201, 204;
proposed township representation in,
19-20, 85 ; arrest of surveyor-general
by, 23; attempts to settle coast, 27-28,
124; members of for St. Peter's, St.
Matthew's, and St. Mark's, 40, 51,
109; middle country demand for rep-
274
Index
resentation, 183; imperial aims, 185-
186; and Glen's plans, 194 n., 198, 199,
206, 207, 210; and Lyttelton, 213, 218;
and Seven Years War, 215, 216; pro-
vides rangers and troops, 225, 226,
236; verdict on Cherokee War, 240;
and negro problem, 241-242; new set-
tlement policy, 242-243, 256; quarrel
with Boone, 246
Congaree garrison, old, 2, 11-12, 52-54,
63, 66
Congaree Indians, 11
Congarees (section), 11, 99, 103, 117,
133, 136, 147, 148 n., 151 n., 165, 176,
194, 200, 207, 219, 223; early settlers,
12; map of, 52; settlement of, 52-65;
Raifords Creek settlers, 59-61 ; Ger-
mans in, 61-62, 154, 256; emigration
from, 62 {and see Saxe Gotha) ; mili-
tia, 156 n.; industry, 166, 170, 172;
river navigation, 182; Indian alarm,
201; in Cherokee War, 212, 223, 227,
228, 235 n.; troops at, 232, 233, 236;
supplies at, 237; warrants, 1761-1765,
257
Connocortee, Cherokee headman, 209,
215, 219 n.
Conoway, Thomas, Broad, 148
Constables, 84, 102, 132
Cook, James, and map of South Caro-
lina, 250
Cooke, John, 42 n.
Cooplett, R., Congarees, 52
Coosawhatchie Baptist Church, 74-75,
145 n.
Coosawhatchie River, 161; settlement
on, 74-76, 154; cattle industry, 162
Corker, Thomas, Charleston, 58, 175
Corn, 92, 100, 252; Purrysburg, 38; Or-
angeburg, 45, 46; Congarees, 54, 56,
173 ; southwest, 74, 75 ; Williamsburg,
80, 82; Welsh Tract, 94; Saluda, 120,
132; Waxhaws, 142; Broad, 156; and
fodder, back country, 165-166, 173,
175; Hillsborough, 253
Cotton, bounty for, 29, 167 n.; proposed
for Purrysburg, 34; gin for rough-
seed, 167 n.; back country, 173
Council, the, 163 ; position and policy,
7-9; and settlement, 23, 27 n.; impe-
rial policy, 185, 189 n.; and Glen, 193-
194, 196; and Virginia Indian trade,
208; quarrel with Commons, 210; and
Cherokee War, 218, 219; and slave
duty bill, 241-242
Counterfeiting, 55; in Orangeburg, 47
Courts and courthouses, Orangeburg, 47;
Augusta County Virginia, 138; lack
of in back country, 180-181; middle
country demand for, 183
Cowpens, location, 12; Amelia, 43; Or-
angeburg, 45; Edisto forks, 49; New
Windsor, 70, 72 n.; southwest, 73-75;
Williamsburg, 82; Peedee, 90; Stevens
Creek, 117; Broad, 148 n.; frontier,
162
Cox, Ezekiel, Amelia, 51 n.
Coyte, Hercules, 37 n.
Coytmore, Lieutenant Richard, Fort
Prince George, 217, 219, 224
Craig, John, New Windsor, 70 n.
Crawford, John, Cheraws, 94-95, 168 n.
Crawford, Thomas, Lynches, 146 n.
Crebs, John, Broad, 155
Credy, Julius, Congarees, 55 n.
Creek Indians, 74; route to, 10; on Sa-
vannah, 12, 73-74; divisions of, 14;
relations with, 185-186, 189-191, 194,
205, 211; use of against Spanish, 188;
policy, 190, 205; war with Cherokees,
192, 204-205; missions to, 194; in
Cherokee War, 217, 218, 225, 237 n.;
discontent of, 245-246. See also Forts,
proposed.
Crell, Joseph, Congarees, 52, 55, 56, 153,
165 n.
Crell, Stephen, Congarees, 52, 55, 56
Crim, Peter, Broad, 149, 156, 172
Crime and punishment, 131; Beaufort,
38; southwest, 75; Kingston, 87-88;
Catawba, 142; Saluda, 155, 215
Crims Creek, 149, 150-153, 157, 171
Crims Creek Church, 64, 155, 171
Crockatt, Archibald, Waxhaws, 139, 140
Crockatt, John, Waxhaws, 141
Croft, Childermas, Commissioner Indian
Affairs, 193 n.
Croft, George, Congarees, 52
Crokatt, James, provincial agent, 52,
200 n.
Crooked Creek, Peedee, 92
Crouch, Abraham, Congarees, 52
Crown, authority of, 7
Cuffy Town, Stevens Creek, 129 n., 256
Cuffytown Creek, Stevens Creek, 129;
Index
275
name, 127, 256; settlements, 128, 251,
256
Cumberland River, 198
Cuming, Sir Alexander, 44, 202
Cunnicatoka, Cherokee headman, 237,
238 n.
Currency, provincial contest over, 8-9,
210 n.; amount and value of, 9; set-
tlement of dispute over, 19; British
merchants oppose, 22; letter on, 38 n. ;
war issues of, 215
Cussings, George, Creek trader, 191
Cussoe Indians, 12
Customs duties, 8, 21, 27-28, 30
da Costa, Solomon, London, 126
Dade, John Townsend, Coosawhatchie,
74
Dargan, John, Wateree, 109
Dargan, William, 118 n.
Daugherty, Cornelius, Cherokee trader,
132, 192
Davies, Robert, Waxhaws, 138, 140, 144
Davies, Rev. Samuel, Virginia, 144
Davies, William, Waxhaws, 138-140
Davis, Evan, Welsh Tract, 91
Davis, James, Long Canes, 253 n.
Davis, John, Saluda, 130
Davis, Thomas, Saluda, 120 n.
Dawson, John, 168 n.
De Beaufain, Hector Berenger, Purrys-
burg, 38-39
De Brahm, William Gerard, 213-214
Debts, planters', 8; protection for debt-
ors, 11; Congarees, 58, 62 n., 63; New
Windsor, 68, 69, 71 ; Williamsburg,
84; Wateree, 103 n., 137; Saluda, 120,
133; Indian trade, 132, 192, 196-197;
Broad, 158; back country, 170
Deep River, North Carolina, 158
Deer and deerskins, in Congarees, 56;
Savannah River, 121-122; back coun-
try, 169, 175; duties on, 186; exports
of, 192
Delaware, 90
Deley, Alexander, Broad, 148
Delmestre, Peter, Purrysburg, 39
DeLoach, William, Lynches, 145
Demere, Captain Paul, Fort Loudoun,
217, 218, 232, 233
Demere, Captain Raymond, Fort Lou-
doun, 213-214, 217
Democracy, economic basis for in back
country, 164, 167, 179, 181-182
Denly, James, Congarees, 52
de St. Pierre, Jean Louis, 254 n.
de Saussure, Henry, Purrysburg, 39
Desertion from provincial troops, 216,
219, 230, 238 n.
Detring, Herman Christopher, Con-
garees, 52
Devonal, Daniel, Welsh Tract, 92
Dial, Thomas, Lynches, 146 n.
Dick, John, New Windsor, 67
Dickert, Peter, Broad, 155
Dining Creek, Fairforest, 158 n.
Dinwiddle, Lieutenant-Governor Robert,
and Cherokees and Catawbas, 208, 210
Dixon, John, Wateree, 103
Dobbs, Governor Arthur, North Caro-
lina, 95-96, 135, 167, 175, 197, 249
Dobell, John, 83
Dogs, back country, 142, 169, 224
Donaldson, Rev. William, Kingston, 88
Dorchester, 10, 72 n.
Douglas, David, New Windsor, 68 n.
Douglas, George, Waxhaws, 138
Douglas, John, Waxhaws, 139, 142
Dowey, David, Cherokee trader, 120 n.
Dreher, Godfrey, Congarees, 235 n.
Dues, Christopher Jacob, Broad, 153
Dugette, Anne, Wateree, 101 n.
Duncan, John, Broad, 150
Duncans Creek, Enoree, 150, 157
Dungworth, Henry and Anne, Wateree,
102
Dunlap, Samuel, Waxhaws, 144
DuPont, Abraham, 49 n.
DuPra, Peter, Purrysburg, 38 n.
Dutch Fork, 130; prospect for assimila-
tion, 256. See Broad River.
Dyer, James, Savannah, 245
Eastatoe, Cherokee town, 217, 220, 221,
229
Ebenezer, Georgia, 32, 36 n., 37, 39, 40,
55, 64 n., 169, 173 n., 177
Echoe, engagements at, 212, 230-231, 238
Edgefield District, 127 n.
Edisto River, 127 n.; township proposed,
20; North Fork of, 44; settlement of
forks of, 48-49; cattle industry in
forks of, 162; roads, 172; forks of in
Cherokee War, 227; warrants, 1761-
1765, 257
Education, Purrysburg, 39 ; Welsh Tract,
276
Index
96; Broad, 157; back country, 177-
179, 180 n.; middle country, 183
Edwards, Job, Welsh Tract, 92 n.
Ellerbe, Thomas, Welsh Tract, 94, 97 n.
Elliott, John, Cherokee trader, 197, 213,
221
Ellis, Gideon, Welsh Tract, 93
Ellis, Governor Henry, Georgia, 225
"Emperor," Cherokee, 194, 237
English, Joshua, Wateree, 103
English settlers, 153; Purrysburg, 35;
Orangeburg and Amelia, 47, 48; Con-
garees, 56, 61, 65; New Windsor, 67;
Salkehatchie, 74; Welsh Tract, 96;
Wateree, 104; Stevens Creek, 129;
Waxhaws, 144; and Germans on
Broad and Saluda, 155-156; middle
country, 160; and Scotch, 160-161, 257
Enoree River, 131, 163, 167, 172; descrip-
tion, 149; settlement, 149-150, 156;
roads, 171; Cherokee War, 216, 223,
234 n.; warrants, 1761-1765, 258
Epting, John Adam, Broad, 151, 153, 155
Erwin, Hugh, Black, 108
Eutaw Springs, Cherokee path, 11
Evan, Annie, Welsh Tract, 91
Evan, Nathaniel, Welsh Tract, 91
Evan, Thomas, Welsh Tract, 91
Evans, Joseph, Wateree, 103
Evans, Thomas, Welsh Tract, 92
Eveleigh, Samuel and George, Indian
trade of, 70, 193
Fairchild, John, Congarees, 52; lands of,
60; surveyor, 62, 157, 255; lieutenant,
captain of rangers, 64, 103, 123, 236;
and Indian alarms, 201
Fairforest Baptist Church, 158, 180
Fairforest Creek, 112, 156, 158, 235 n.
Fallowfield, John, New Windsor, 70, 178
Farrar, Dr. Benjamin, Congarees, 180 n.
Farrell, William, 105 n.
Fauquier, Lieutenant-Governor Francis,
Virginia, 216
Fees, dispute over township, 23, 25, 29;
for land grants, 163-164, 244
Fenwicke, John, council, 189 n., 205 n.
Ferries, Joyner's, 44, 51, 107; McCord's,
51; Friday's, Myrick's, Howell's, 52,
63, 171; New Windsor, 72; Murrays,
84; Ancrum's, 104; Beards, 106;
Wright's, 107; Little Saluda, 119; Sa-
luda, 147, 194; Kirkland's, 171; Sand
Bar, 172
Fielding's Joseph Andreivs, 178
Finley, Robert, Williamsburg, 84
Fishdam Shoals, 172
Fishdams, 169, 172 n.
Fishing, 169
Fishing Creek, 138, 141-143, 258
Fishing Creek Presbyterian Church, 143,
144, 180
Fitzpatrick, Garret, Amelia, 51 n.
Flax, bounty for, 29 ; proposed for Or-
angeburg, 45, for Saluda, 126; in
Congarees, 62, 63 n.; linen in Wil-
liamsburg, 82-83; Welsh Tract, 91;
Wateree, 106; Waxhaws, 143; back
country, 167, 173
Fleming, John and Janet, Williamsburg,
83
Fletchall, Thomas, Broad, 235 n.
Food and drink, supplies for settlers,
28 n., 34, 89, 92, 100, 252, 253; Amelia,
43; Congarees, 58, 59, 62, 63; New
Windsor, 70, 71; Kingston, 88; Wax-
haws, 142; back country, 165-166, 175-
176
Fordyce, Rev. John, Prince Frederick's,
97
Fords, Land's (Catawba), 140, 144; Sa-
luda, 147; Lyles' (Broad), 149, 172;
Fishdam (Broad), 172. See also Fer-
ries.
Foreign languages, persistence of, Pur-
rysburg, 40-41; Orangeburg, 47-48;
Welsh Tract, 96 n.; Congarees, 178
Forests, 114
Fort Adventure, Savannah, 235 n.
Fort, Ashepoo, 234 n.
Fort, Aubrey's, Enoree, 212, 223, 227,
234 n.
Fort, Barker's, Salkehatchie, 212, 234 n.
Fort, Bedon's, Salkehatchie, 212, 223,
234 n.
Fort Boone, Long Canes, 246
Fort, Brooks' (Rhall's), Bush River, 212,
223, 224, 234 n.
Fort Bull, Orangeburg, 212, 234 n.
Fort, Burkhalter's, 235 n.
Fort, Catawba, 212, 235 n.
Fort Charlotte, Savannah, 116, 246, 247
Fort, Congaree, 63 n., 64, 149, 199
Fort Cumberland, Maryland, 210
Fort, Dryer's (Dreher's), 212, 227, 235 n.
I
Index
277
Fort DuQuesne, 216
Fort, Fletchall's, 212, 23 5 n.
Fort Frederick, Port Royal, 188
Fort, Gallman's, Congarees, 212, 235 n.
Fort, Galphin's, Savannah, 212, 223,
235 n.
Fort, Gordon's, Enoree, 212, 235 n.
Fort, Hard Labor Creek, 246
Fort, Helm's, Wateree, 212, 235 n.
Fort Johnson, Charleston harbor, 215
Fort, Lee's, Catawba, 212, 235 n.
Fort, Long Canes, 212, 235 n.
Fort Loudoun, 62, 211, 217, 225, 236, 237,
239; building of, 210-211, 213-215;
map, 212; and garrison of, 217, 218,
224; siege of, 224, 229, 230, 232; at-
tempts to relieve, 226, 232; surrender
of, 232-233; in peace treaty, 240
Fort, Lyles' ("Loyalls"'), Broad, 212,
235 n.
Fort Lyttelton, Beaufort, 252
Fort Massac (French), 214
Fort Moore, 2, 71, 119, 123, 173, 174, 185,
186 n., 196, 198; settlement and In-
dian trade at, 11; and frontier de-
fense, 16, 66, 188; and Cherokee trade,
117; conference at, 193, 194; rebuilt,
199; in Cherokee War, 223, 225, 233,
234, 235 n.; abandoned, 246, 247
Fort, Musgrove's, Enoree, 212, 223, 227,
234 n., 23 5 n.
Fort Ninety Six, map, 116, 212; built,
219; attacked, 222, 224; pay for gar-
rison, 227, 236; rebuilt, 237
Fort, Nixon's, Little River, Broad, 212,
235 n.
Fort, Otterson's, Tyger River, 212, 235 n.
Fort, Ott's, Orangeburg, 235 n.
Fort, Patton's, Long Canes, 246
Fort, Pearson's, Broad, 212, 235 n.
Fort, Pennington's, Enoree, 212, 235 n.
Fort Pitt, 198
Fort Prince George, 130, 131, 173 n..
211, 214, 217-219, 230, 232, 233, 238,
239; building of, 207, 208; map, 212;
garrison, 217; smallpox in, 220; at-
tacks on, 221, 224, 233 n.; relief of,
226, 229, 234, 236; discontent in, 232;
and nevy Indian trade, 244, 245, 247
Fort, Raiford's, Broad, 212, 235 n.
Fort, Rhall's. See Brooks'.
Fort, Rowe's, Orangeburg, 235 n.
Fort, Stevens Creek, 212, 235 n.
Fort Thoulouse. See Alabama Fort.
Fort, Tobler's, New Windsor, 212, 235 n.
Fort, Turner's, Little Saluda, 212, 222,
227, 235 n.
Fort, Waggener's, Broad, 212, 235 n.
Fort William Henry. See Musgrove's.
Fort, Wofford's, Fairforest, 212, 235 n.
Forts, proposed, for Cherokee country,
125, 186, 195, 199, 201, 205-207; for
Creeks, 186, 190, 195, 205; for Chicka-
saws and Choctaws, 205 n.
Forts, settlers', 166, 168, 201, 212, 223,
227, 234-236
Foster, Henry, Saluda, 119-121, 130
Foster, John, Saluda, 119, 120
Foster, Cunlifle & Sons, Liverpool, 151,
153
Fouquet, John, Amelia, 50, 166 n.
Four Hole Swamp, 200-202
Fowler, Benoni, Broad, 177
Fox, Henry, Wateree, 100, 102, 107
Francis, James, Ninety Six, 49 n., 131 n.,
132, 204, 236; and northwest frontier,
119-123, 125, 201, 207; importance of,
133; and Cherokee War, 215-216, 222,
224
Eraser, Alexander, 94 n.
Frasier, John, Congarees, 52, 151 n.
Frederica, Georgia, 43, 213
Fredericksburg Township, 136, 137;
map, 78; surveyed, 99; settlement,
100-101, 103, 105; Quakers in, 103-
104; warrants, 1761-1765, 258. See
also Wateree River.
Free, Lawrence, Broad, 148, 157
French, danger from, 13; and southwest
Indians, 14-16, 189-190, 203, 205; war
with, 26; advance of, 185; and Choc-
taws, 190-191, 195-197; and Chero-
kees, 191, 193-195, 198, 201, 210, 214,
215, 217; and Ohio Indians, 198; in
Cherokee War, 237 n.
French settlers, in Purrysburg, 35, 40;
in South Carolina, 162; in Hills-
borough, 252-254, 259
Friday, Martin, Congarees, 54, 55, 57,
62, 122, 165, 176
Friends' Neck, Wateree, 104
Frolick, Barbara, Orangeburg, 46
Frontier, and cattle raising, 12; settle-
ment of northwest, 116-135 {see Sa-
luda River, Savannah River) ; soci-
ety, 120-121, 133
278
Index
Frontier defense, after Yamasee War,
10-13; in 1729, 16, 18, 73; by Purrys-
burg, 34, 36, 41; Fort Moore, 71;
northeast, 79; northwest, 125, 133; by
Catawbas, 136, 142; and relations of
back and low country, 182; in 1731,
188; after Spanish war, 189; needs
of in 1750, 206. See also Forts.
Frontier forts. See Forts.
Fruit trees. See Orchards.
Furniture, Congarees, 57-59, 63 n. ; New
Windsor, 69, 70; Saluda, 122; Wax-
haws, 143; back country, 174; middle
country, 183
Furye, Peregrine, provincial agent, 22
Gadsden, Christopher, 95, 226, 246; at-
tacks Grant, 239-240
Galliser, John, Congarees, 52
Gallman, Henry, Congarees, 62, 235 n.
Gallman, Jacob, Congarees, 52, 54
Gallman, John, Congarees, 57, 60 n., 176
Galphin, George, Savannah, 69-70,
235 n.
Gamble, James, Williamsburg, 82;
Wateree, 105; Savannah, 259
Gasser, Rev. John, Broad, 154-155
Geiger, Abraham, Congarees, 55
Geiger, Elizabeth, Congarees, 63 n.
Geiger, Herman, Congarees, 55, 56,
59 n.; in Cherokee trade, 63, 120, 121,
132, 170; property and estate, 149,
172, 180 n., 183
Geiger, Jacob, Congarees, 63
Geiger, John, Saluda, 155
Geiger, John Jacob, Congarees, 52, 55
Geneva, Switzerland, 35
Georgetown, 89, 94, 227 n.
Georgia, 120, 186, 205, 249; origin of,
18; British aid to, 20; restrictions on
settlers, 20, 28 n.; and Spanish war,
26; emigration to, 35, 101, 122 n., 128;
silk industry in, 37; grants to South
Carolinians, 69, 70, 127; Orphan
House, 96; and frontier defense, 186,
199; Indian trade dispute, 186-188;
Spanish threat to, 188-189; and In-
dian trade, 191, 202; in Cherokee
War, 223, 225; and Indian Congress,
245
Gerald, James, Congarees, 52, 178
German settlers, 29; Purrysburg, 35,
39; Amelia, 43, 50; Congarees, 56,
61; southwest, 75-76; Wateree, 105;
Stevens Creek, 129, 246; Saluda, 130,
147; servants, 130, 174; Broad, 148,
150-156; immigration of 'fifties, 150-
156; change in type of, 153; middle
country, 160; in South Carolina, 162,
177 n.; illiteracy, 177; German books
of, 178; church on Crims Creek, 180;
assimilation of, 183, 256; in London-
borough, 254-256, 259; warrants,
1761-1765, 258, 259
Germantown, Pennsylvania, 69 n.
Germany, decline of immigration from,
26, 243, 256. See also German set-
tlers.
Gibert, Rev. Jean Louis, Hillsborough,
252, 254
Gibson, Dr. Daniel, 52, 54
Gibson, Gideon, Peedee, 90, 96
Gibson, Gilbert, Congarees, 52, 60
Gibson, John, Congarees, 52, 55
Gibson, John, Saluda, 147
Gibson, Luke, Wateree, 102
Gibson, Roger, Williamsburg, 84; Wa-
teree, 102, 103, 137
Giessendanner, Rev. John, Orangeburg,
47-48, 51, 64
Giessendanner, Rev. John Ulrick,
Orangeburg, 47
Gignilliat, Henry, 52, 54
Gilder, Gilbert, Broad, 150
Gill, Thomas, Saluda, 235 n.
Gill Creek. See Jacksons Creek.
Gillespie, James, Peedee, 93, 95
Glasgow, University of, 144
Glen, Governor James, 83, 123, 126, 140,
142, 178, 189, 190, 213, 214; Ninety
Six and Saluda Indian conferences,
119, 209-210; Fort Prince George,
130, 131; letters, 177; Cherokee af-
fairs, 192, 201-203; arrival and early
Indian policy, 193-194, 205; and Com-
mons, 194 n., 199, 207, 210-211; and
Choctaw affair, 195-197; Indian trade
investments, 197-198; Cherokee coun-
try plans, 205-211; and Dinwiddle,
208 n., 210; his administration, 211,
217
Glover, Joseph, 234 n.
Goats, New Windsor, 70
Goodwyn, Robert, Congarees, 61 n.
Goose Creek, 191
Gordon, James, 89, 90 n., 94
Index
279
Goudey, Robert, Ninety Six, 116, 118 n.,
169, 192, 219; and Ciierokee trade, 63,
132, 169, 192, 202; estate, 174
Governor, 163; position and influence,
7; authority, 25; and Indian trade,
185
Grannys Quarter Creek, Wateree, 171
Grant, Lieutenant-Colonel James, 229,
231, 241; Cherokee expedition of, 237-
239; feeling against, 239-240
Grant, John Rodolph, Purrysburg, 38 n.
Grant, Ludovick, Cherokee trader, 192,
208
Gray, William, New Windsor, 71, 123,
189
Great Britain, proposed immigration
from, 17, 29, 242, 244
Great Falls, Catawba, 137, 141
Great Meadows, battle of, 64, 208 n.
Great Warrior, Cherokee headman,
219 n., 224, 232
Green Hill, Congarees, 52, 59, 62, 63
Greenland, William, Congarees, 52
Greg, John, London merchant, 251
Gregory, Benjamin, Broad, 149
Gregory, John, Broad, 149
Gregory, Richard, Wateree, 136, 157
Grennan, John, captain of rangers, 227
Grierson, Jane, Waxhaws, 139 n.
Grimes, James, Black, 108
Grose, Felix, Broad, 156 n.
Guerard, John, council, 242
Gum Swamp, Wateree, 104
Guttery, John, Broad, 209
Habick, Daniel, Congarees, 52
Haghabucher, Jacob, Congarees, 52
Hagler, Catawba "King," 142
Haig, Elizabeth, Congarees, 58, 63, 64,
175. See Mercier.
Haig, George, 49 n., 71, 118, 119, 175 n.,
194, 195, 199; land of in Amelia,
42 n. ; in Congarees, 52, 57, 64; career,
58-59
Halfway Swamp, Amelia, 42, 50, 51
Halfway Swamp, St. Mark's Parish, 109
Hall, Richard, Williamsburg, 82
Hallman, Conrad, Amelia, 44
Hamelton, John, Congarees, 61, 131 n.
Hamilton, John, London, 125-127
Hamilton's "Great Survey," 5 n., 116,
251 n.
Hammerton, Secretary John, 90
Hancock, Ann, Broad, 148
Handicraft trades, Purrysburg, 38, 39;
Charleston, 42 n., 47, 54, 81, 84, 108,
137, 174; James Island, 45; Orange-
burg, 46^7; Congarees, 57 n., 62,
63 n., 174; New Windsor, 67-68;
Kingston, 88; Wateree, 101; Saluda,
131; Long Canes, 133; Catawba, 141;
Saluda, 147; Broad, 148; back coun-
try, 168, 172-173, 177; Hillsborough,
252
Hanging Rock, Lynches, 145
Hanging Rock Creek, Lynches, 145, 146,
169
Hanna, John, Saluda, 131
Hanover Presbytery, Virginia, 144
Hard Labor Creek, 127, 172; treaty of,
212, 249; fort on, 246; township on,
251; Germans on, 256
Harrelson, Paul, Wateree, 101
Harris, Michael, 100
Harry, David, Welsh Tract, 92
Harry, Elizabeth, Welsh Tract, 91
Harry, Evan, Welsh Tract, 91 n., 92
Harry, John, Welsh Tract, 91, 92
Harry, John, Jr., Welsh Tract, 91
Harry, Margaret, Welsh Tract, 91
Harry, Sarah, Welsh Tract, 91
Harry, Thomas, Welsh Tract, 91
Hasfort, Joseph, Wateree, 101
Hatcher, Seth, Orangeburg, 45
Havana, 188
Haverd, Thomas, Saluda, 130, 133
Haw Tree Creek, Stevens Creek, 128,
129
Hay, Hardy, Congarees, 61 n.
Hay, William, Congarees, 52, 60-61, 65
Hayle, Jacob, Broad, 153
Hayne, Nicholas, 52
Health, Purrysburg, 36; Congarees, 62;
Williamsburg, 79, 82; Fredericksburg,
106; conditions of piedmont, 114, 124,
125; Hillsborough, 253. See also
Smallpox.
Hearn, John, Orangeburg, 45, 47
Heartley, Henry, Broad, 156 n.
Heatley, William, Amelia, 51
Heigler, John, Broad, 150
Hemp, bounty, 29; proposed for Purrys-
burg, 34; for Saluda, 126; in Orange-
burg, 45, 46, 167; Congarees, 56, 62,
167; Williamsburg, 82; Welsh Tract,
280
Index
90; Wateree, 106; Catawba, 143; in
new townships, 254, 255
Hendrick, Moses, Broad, 175, 176
Henleys Creek, Saluda, 116, 118
Herron, Rev. Robert, Williamsburg, 84
Hicks, George, Welsh Tract, 94, 95,
97 n.
High Hill Creek, Amelia, 44
High Hill Creek, Saluda, 147
High Hills of Santee, 108, 175
Hillsborough, Earl of, 252
Hillsborough Township, 173, 175, 257;
map, 116; settlement, 252-254; gov-
ernment, 253; health, 253
Holcombe, Benjamin, Broad, 158 n.
HoUenshed, Samuel, Broad, 148, 172,
201
HoUenshed Creek, Broad, 148
Holman, Andrew, Broad, 149
Holmans Creek, Broad. 149, 155
Holston, Stephen, Saluda, 130-132, 165
Holston River, 218, 239
Holzendorf, Dr. John Frederick, Purrys-
burg, 38, 39
Hood, William, Waxhaws, 139
Hope, John, Black, 101, 104 n.
Hopkins, James, Congarees, 52, 54 n.
Horns Creek, Stevens Creek, 129
Horse Pen Creek, Stevens Creek, 127-
129; Germans on, 256
Horses, 194, 252; wild, Edisto forks, 49;
Congarees, 56, 58, 59, 62 n., 63; New
Windsor, 70; Welsh Tract, 95; Wa-
teree, 106; Saluda, 122, 131; Stevens
Creek, 127; Waxhaws, 143, 146; of
immigrants, 162-163; back country,
168-169, 215
Houses and buildings, Purrysburg, 38;
Orangeburg, 46; Edisto forks, 49;
Congarees, 52, 56, 60; southwest, 73;
Williamsburg, 79, 81; Kingston, 88;
Wateree, 102, 104, 105; log, 105, 176;
Saluda, 122, 131, 132; Waxhaws, 137,
139, 144; Catawba, 142; Lynches, 145;
Broad, 149, 157; back country, 164-
165; building of, 176; middle country,
182; Hillsborough, 253; Londonbor-
ough, 255
Hover, Adam and Barbara, Broad, 152
Howard, Edward, Wateree, 106
Howard, Thomas, Stevens Creek, 129
Howell, Arthur, Congarees, 60
Howell, Martha, Broad, 148 n.
Howell, Thomas, Congarees, 52, 60, 171
Howell, William, Congarees, 52, 60,
62 n., 65, 180 n.
Huber, Peter, Orangeburg, 56 n.
Hudson, John, Wateree, 138
Hughes, John, Broad, 148
Hughes, William, Welsh Tract, 92 n.
Huguenot Church, Purrysburg, 40;
Plillsborough, 252-254
Hummell, Peter, Congarees, 52
Hunter, Surveyor-General George, 23 n.,
81, 118, 126
Hunter, William, Kingston, 87-88
Hunters, Ninety Six and Saluda, 119-
120, 125; in back and middle country,
162, 169
Hyde, Mary, Congarees, 52
Illiteracy, Congarees, 60 n.; Wateree,
107, 136; Long Canes, 134; Germans,
153 n., 177; Broad, 157; back country,
177, 179
Imer, Rev. Abraham, Congarees, 64
Immigration, early, 17; decline of, 26,
28; increase of, 29-30; agents, 34, 48,
55, 56, 66, 79, 89-91, 150-151
Inabnet, Peter, Orangeburg, 56 n.
Independent companies, 206, 207, 209;
sent to South Carolina, 26-27, 199;
discharged, 27 n., 199; for frontier
service, 195, 199; in Virginia, 208 n.;
at Fort Loudoun, 213; at Augusta,
225; in provincial regiment, 236. See
also discharged soldiers of.
Independent companies, discharged sol-
diers of, encouraged to settle in prov-
ince, 27 n.; in Congarees, 61; on Sa-
vannah, 128 n.; on Saluda, 147; on
Broad, 148, 149; in middle and back
country, 161 n.
Indian Creek, Enoree, 175, 176; settle-
ment, 149-150, 153, 156, 157; roads,
171; Cherokee War, 235 n.
Indian "old fields", 93, 99, 102, 165
Indian trade, in 1729, 11, 15; Congarees,
54, 58, 59, 63 ; Fort Moore or Savan-
nah Town, 66, 69-71; Catawbas, 100;
and settlement of back country, 117;
Ninety Six, 132; 1731-1759, 185-211;
act of 1731, 185-186; act of 1734, 186;
effect of Georgia dispute, 187-188; in
1744, 191-193; abuses in, 194, 206,
208, 214-215; act of 1751, 202; dispute
Index
281
over prices, 186, 205 ; reopening of
Cherokee, 240; government operation,
244, 247 ; Southern Congress, 245 ;
Creek trade, 246; decline of Carolina
trade, 247
Indian trade. Commissioner of, 185, 187,
193 n., 202 n., 204
Indian Traders, 42, 51; at Fort Moore,
11, 128 n.; Chickasaw, 14, 187, 191,
195, 203-204; description of, 15; at
Congarees, 53, 58, 59, 63; New Wind-
sor, 67, 68 n., 71; Cherokee, 101, 119,
125, 169, 187, 190-192, 196, 197, 199-
200, 208-209, 213, 221; Ninety Six,
118, 120, 121; importance of in settle-
ment, 162; imperial schemes of, 185;
regulation of, 185-186; and southwest
trade, 190-191; Creek, 187, 191, 225;
number, 191; life, 192; and Choctaws,
197
Indian troubles, 64, 199 ; Wateree, 103 ;
Ninety Six, 119, 120, 122-123, 131,
132; Broad River, 150; Amelia, 175
Indians, agents and missions to, 202 n.,
204-205
Indigo, success with, 29, 168; proposed
for Purrysburg, 34; Orangeburg, 46;
Amelia, 50; Congarees, 62; Georgia,
69; Salkehatchie, 74, 75; Williams-
burg, 83; Kingston, 88; Peedee, 94;
Wateree, 106, 109; Saluda, 131; back
and middle country, 167, 182; Guate-
mala seed, 167
Inns, Amelia, 43-44; Orangeburg, 47;
Congarees, 63, 64; on Fort Moore
path, 67, 68; New Windsor, 70;
Kingston, 88; Wateree, 104, 136;
Charleston, 129
Ireland, immigration from, 17, 26, 29,
242, 250; Scots from, 33, 79; minister
from, 84; Quakers from, 103; settlers
from, 104, 137, 251, 256, 259; servants
from, 174, 175
Iron ore and use of, in Amelia, 44, 172;
Broad, 172
Iroquois, 199; and Catawbas, 13, 198;
raids, 64, 74, 119, 175, 199-203, 206,
216
Ittewan Indians, 12
Jacks Creek, Santee, 108, 137
Jackson, Philip, Congarees, 52, 59
Jackson, Richard, Congarees, 52, 60
Jackson, Thomas, Congarees, 52
Jacksons Branch, Salkehatchie, 74
Jacksons Creek, Congaree, 53, 59, 60
Jamaica, 6 n., 228
James, Abel, Welsh Tract, 92, 93, 97
James, Benjamin, Welsh Tract, 97
James, Daniel, Welsh Tract, 90, 91, 93
James, James, Welsh Tract, 91, 93, 96
James, James, Jr., Welsh Tract, 96
James, Mary, Welsh Tract, 91
James, Philip, Welsh Tract, 93, 96
James, Sarah, Welsh Tract, 91
James, Thomas, Welsh Tract, 92
James, William, Welsh Tract, 92, 93, 95
James, William, Williamsburg, 79, 82,
84
James Island, settlers from, 45, 72 n.
Jarvis, James, New Windsor, 128 n.
Jeffreys Creek, Peedee, 90, 93
Jenkin, Eleanor, Welsh Tract, 91
Jenkins, James, Congarees, 52
Jenkins, William, Saluda, 147
Jerman, Edward, 90 n., 94 n.
Jersey, East and West, settlers from,
101, 136, 145, 148-150, 161
Jews, proposed settlement of on Saluda,
126
John, Griffith, Welsh Tract, 92
Johnson, Governor Nathaniel, Silk
Hope, 254
Johnson, Governor Robert, 185; ap-
pointment and early career, 17; his
township scheme, 17-21, 85, 113;
crown instructions to, 19-21 ; charges
against, 23, 24; death and apprecia-
tion of, 24-25 ; and Purrysburg plans,
34; lands for in Purrysburg, 36; and
boundary dispute, 247-248, 250
Johnston, Andrew, 90 n., 94 n.
Johnston, Governor Gabriel, North
Carolina, and boundary dispute, 248
Jones, Ann, Welsh Tract, 91
Jones, John, Welsh Tract, 91, 92, 96
Jones, Ralph, Waxhaws, 137-139
Jones, Richard, Congarees, 52
Jones, Thomas, Edisto forks, 49
Jordan, Abraham, Kingston, 87
Jordan, Joseph, Kingston, 88
Jordan, Robert, Kingston, 87
Joyner, Joseph, Amelia, 43, 44
Joyner's (McCord's) ferry, 43, 51
Justices of the peace, 93, 216; appoint-
ment of, 6; and settlement Indians,
282
Index
12; middle country, 3 5, 45, 47, 50, 61,
70-72, 84, 88, 93, 95, 102, 104, 178;
back country, 120, 129, 146, 180-181;
Virginia, 138; North Carolina, 139,
180 n.; Simpson's guide for, 253, 255
Keat, George, Saluda, 168 n.
Keating, Edward, 118 n.
Kelly, Timothy, Wateree, 103, 104
Kennedy, John, Waxhaws, 138
Keowee, Cherokee town, 2, 117, 118,
203 ; in Cherokee War, 219, 220, 229-
231
Keowee River, 207, 230
Kershaw, Ely, Wateree, 104
Kershaw, Joseph, Wateree, 104, 106, 170
Kilcrease, John, Long Canes, 134 n.
Kilcrease, Nimrod, Long Canes, 134 n.
Kilpatrick, Alexander, Congarees, 52;
Catawba trade, 53, 54
Kinder, David, Purrysburg, 38
King, Mary, Kings Creek, Broad, 149
King, Mary, Wateree Creek, Broad, 149
Kings Creek, Enoree, 149, 150 n., 171
Kings Creek, Savannah, 32, 40, 73
Kingston Presbyterian Church, 87, 88
Kingston Township, 160; map, 78; set-
tlement, 86-88
Kingstree, Williamsburg, 80, 81, 84,
map, 78
Kirkland, Moses, 52, 136-137, 169, 171
Kirkland, Richard, Wateree, 136
Kitchen utensils, Congarees, 56, 58,
63 n.; New Windsor, 70; Wateree,
106; Saluda, 132; Waxhaws, 143;
back country, 174
Klein, John Martin, Waxhaws, 138
Knott, Jeremiah, Indian trader, 70, 71,
191
Kolb, Henry, Welsh Tract, 97
Kolb, John Martin, Welsh Tract, 97
Kolb, Peter, Welsh Tract, 97
Kolp, John, Welsh Tract, 93
Kreps, John George, Saluda, 153 n.
Lady's Island, 200
Lamar, John, Stevens Creek, 129 n.
Lambton, Thomas, Indian trade, 193
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 134 n.
Lance, Lambert, 104
Land, Thomas, Catawba, 141
Land, amounts of in warrants, surveys
and grants, Purrysburg, 35, 39;
Amelia, 43, 50; Orangeburg, 45; Saxe
Gotha, 56, 61 ; Congarees, 61 ; New
Windsor, 67; southwest, 73-75; Wil-
liamsburg, 80-81; Kingston, 86-87;
Queensboro, 90; Welsh Tract, 92;
Peedee, 94; Wateree, 103; St. Mark's,
108, 109; Saluda, 125; Stevens Creek,
129-130; Long Canes, 135; Catawba,
141; Broad, 156; Boonesborough, 251-
252; Hillsborough, 254; Stevens
Creek, 255-256; South Carolina, 1761-
1765, 257-259
Land system, Proprietary, 5, 11; royal,
19-20, 35, 60, 80, 126, 163-164, 257 n.;
for Georgia, 20
Landholdings, amounts, 5, 24, 28 n.; ex-
cessive, 19-20, 23-24, 27 n.
Land's ford, Catawba, 140, 172
Lang, Millicent, Congarees, 64 n.
Lang, Robert, 62, 119, 131; Senior and
Junior, Congarees, 52, 55
Laurens, Henry, 70, 83 ; provincial regi-
ment, 236, 239
Law and law enforcing agencies, Welsh
Tract, 95; back country, 133, 178; and
significance of, 180-181
Lawrence, Elisha, Long Canes, 165 n.
Lawrence, William, 168 n.
Lawyers, 81, 178; in Commons, 6
Leather and tallow, back country, 168,
174
Le Bas, James, St. John's, 43
LeBoeuf, Jerome, Amelia, 51 n.
Ledbetter, Henry, Lynches, 145
Lee, Francis, Catawba, 141 n.
Lee, John, Catawba, 141 ; Broad, 149,
172
Leslie, James, Congarees, 52; Broad,
62, 148, 156 n.; Virginia, 124
Lewis, David, Welsh Tract, 90
Lewis, Maurice, Charleston, 91
Lichtensteig, Switzerland, 47
Lide, John, Lynches, 146 n.
Life and customs, Congarees, 60, 64
New Windsor, 70-72; tidewater, 79
Kingston, 88; Welsh Tract, 96
Saluda, 64, 122, 123, 131-133; Wax-
haws, 139-140; back country, 176-177,
209
Liks, John George, Congarees, 52
Liles, John, Broad, 235 n.
Linder, John, Purrysburg, 36 n.
Lindsay, Charles, Wateree, 102 n., 107
Index
283
Lines, Samuel, Congarees, 52; Saluda,
62, 147
Lining, John, 74 n.
Linn, John, Waxhaws, 138, 140, 144
Linvell, John, Broad, 150
Linvells River. See Tyger River.
Liquor, still at Purrysburg, 40; Con-
garees, 59; New Windsor, 71; Indian
trade, 121, 203; Wateree, 136-137;
Waxhaws, 140, 142, 143 ; stills in back
country, 173, 176
Little Carpenter, Cherokee headman,
and French, 194, 203 ; and Cherokee
trade, 197, 202; and Fort Loudoun,
209; ally of English, 215, 216, 220, 232,
233; and peace treaty, 239-240
Little King, Choctaws, 195-196
Little Lynches River, 145
Little River, Broad, 148, 150, 23 5 n.
Little River, Peedee, 91
Little River, Saluda, 130, 131, 259
Little River, Savannah, 133-134, 169,
246 n., 253, 254, 259
Little Saluda River, 215; and Cherokee
path, 117-119; settlers on, 122, 130,
131, 163, 165; road, 172; fort on,
235 n.; warrants, 1761-1765, 259
Little Stevens Creek, 256
Livingston, William, 126
Lloyd, John, Amelia, 51
Loeff, Rev. John George, Congarees,
155 n.
Log Creek, Stevens Creek, 129, 256
Logstown, Ohio River, 198
London, 125, 151
Londonborough Township, 127 n.; map,
116; surveyed, 251; settled, 254-256
Long Cane Creek, 124, 126-128, 133-135;
Northwest Fork, 134; township on,
251, 254; warrants, 1761-1765, 259
Long Canes, 207; land purchase, 124,
195; settled, 133-135; population, 160;
roads, 171; fort, 212, 235 n.; mas-
sacre, 222, 223 ; return of settlers,
234; Creek attack upon, 245-246;
British settlers in, 257
Long Island, settlers from, 105
Loocock, Aaron, Charleston, 104
Lormier, Lewis, 52
Loudoun, Lord, 215
Love, James, Lynches, 177
Lower Three Runs, Savannah, 73, 74
Lowry, William, Williamsburg, 82-83
Lutheran Church, Purrysburg, 40; Con-
garees, 57, 64; Broad and Saluda, 155
Lyles' ford. Broad, 149, 172
Lynah, James, Wateree, 143
Lynches River, 95, 97, 99, 108, 161; set-
tlers from, 75, 259; settlement of upper
waters of, 145-146; road, 171; books,
177; warrants, 1761-1765, 258
Lynches River Baptist Church, 145, 180
Lyons, Joseph, Amelia, 43
Lyons Creek, Amelia, 42, 101
Lyttelton, Governor William Henry, ar-
rival of, 211, 251 n. ; and Cherokee
War, 213-221, 225-228, 233
Mackay, James, captain Independent
company, 208 n.
Maddox, Benjamin, Waxhaws, 137—139
Malatchi, Creek headman, 205
Manigault, Gabriel, and silk industry,
254
Manufacturing, back country, 172-173
Marion, Francis, provincial regiment,
236
Marion, James, 49 n., 167 n.
Marriage laws. North and South Caro-
lina, 180 n.
Mars BluflF, Peedee, 90, 94; church at,
96
Martin. William, Amelia, 51
Maryland, 206; settlers from, 137, 141,
161
Matthias (Matthews), John, Congarees,
52, 54
Maxwell, James, 119 n., 125, 191-192,
194, 196, 197
McAden, Rev. Hugh, 143-144
McClellan, James, Williamsburg, 83
McClelland, Archibald, Long Canes, 246
McClenachan, Robert, Waxhaws, 139,
140, 145
McConnel, John, Wateree, 101
McCord, John, Amelia, 50-51
McCorkle, James, Waxhaws, 140, 143,
173, 174 n.
McCorkle, Robert, Waxhaws, 140, 143,
165 n., 168
McCree, Alexander, Williamsburg, 81
McCree, Thomas, Williamsburg, 81
McCrellas, James, 102, 103
McCue, John, Stevens Creek, 126 n.
284
Index
McCulIoh, Henry, speculation of in land,
27 n.
McCutchin, Hugh, 100
McDaniel, Daniel, Peedee, 97 n.
McDaniel, Daniel, Wateree, 101, 140
McDaniel, Daniel, Waxhavvs, 140-142
McDougal, John, Kingston, 88
McGillivray, Archibald & Co., in west-
ern Indian trade, 69, 190-191
McGirt, James, Wateree, 102, 105, 109
McGowen, James, 100
McGraw, Edward, Congarees, 52
McGraw, Solomon, Congarees, 52;
Broad, 62, 148
McGregor, Alexander, 49 n., 129, 165 n.
Mcintosh, Lieutenant Lachlan, Fort
Prince George, 233 n.
McKay, Patrick, 187
McKee, William, Lynches, 145
McKelvy, James, 52
McKennie, Benjamin, Wateree, 101
McKerthlin, Joseph, Wateree, 105
McMullen, William, New Windsor, 70 n.
McNaire, Charles, Indian trader, 196-
197
McNutt, Alexander, 252
McPherson, Thomas, Congarees, 52
McQueen, John, Indian trade of, 68 n.,
193, 217
Men-of-war, St. Augustine expedition,
189
Merchants, English, and Johnson's plan,
19; opposition to duties on slaves, 22.
See Charleston, merchants.
Mercier (Haig, Webb), Elizabeth, Con-
garees, 52, 58, 64
Mercier, Lieutenant Peter, 64, 208 n.
Michie, James, 42 n., 102
Middle country, defined, 10; Indians of,
12; attempts at better settlement of,
27-28; maps of, 32, 78; township set-
tlement of, 32-109, 113; differences
between eastern and western town-
ships, 33, 79; importance of Congaree
settlement, 65 ; the southwest frontier,
73, 75-76; church and representation,
85; significance of Williamsburg, 85-
86; boundary controversy, 95-96; suc-
cess of Welsh Tract, 98; farmers and
planters, 106, 109; population, 1759,
160; origin of settlers, 160-161; cattle
industry, 162; orchards, 166; illiter-
acy, 177; relation to back country and
tidewater, 181; industry and society,
1759, 182-184; enlistments from, 227;
relation to coast country, 242; war-
rants, 1761-1765, 257-258; settlers
from, 259; population, 1765, 260; sig-
nificance, 1765, 261
Middleton, Arthur, 9, 73
Middleton, John, Lynches, 145
Middleton, Colonel Thomas, provincial
regiment, 236, 237, 238; duel with
Grant, 239
Migler, Daniel, Saluda, 131, 172
Militia, 194, 200-201, 222; appointment
of officers, 6, 7; Purrysburg, 35, 39;
Orangeburg, 46; Edisto forks, 48;
Amelia, 50; New Windsor, 72; south-
west, 76; Williamsburg, 83, 85; Kings-
ton, 87; Queensboro, 89; Peedee, 94-
96; Wateree, 102, 103, 105; Black
River, 108, 109; Saluda, 120, 131;
Saxe Gotha, 122; Stevens Creek, 128-
130; Waxhaws, 138, 139; Lynches,
146; Broad, 156; South Carolina,
160 n.; back country, 181; in Chero-
kee War, 216-220, 224, 226-227; in
Creek alarm, 246
Mill Creek, Amelia, 44
Mill Creek, Congaree. See Raifords
Creek.
Miller, Robert and Jean, Waxhaws, 144
Millhouse, Robert, Wateree, 103-105,
178
Mills, Amelia, 44; Orangeburg, 46;
Congarees, 52, 56, 61, 63; Peedee, 93;
Wateree, 101, 104, 105; Stevens Creek,
129; Saluda, 131; Long Canes, 135;
Broad and Saluda, 137; Catawba,
141, 143; Lynches, 146; middle and
back country, 173
Miln, Ensign Alexander, Fort Prince
George, 224, 229, 233 n.
Mines, Amelia, 44, 172; Cherokee silver
mine, 119 n., 149
Minnick, Christian, Edisto forks, 46,
48-49, 119 n.
Mint, Margaret, 156 n.
Mississippi, 191, 198, 203, 205, 215
Mitchell, William, Waxhaws, 140
Mobberly, Clement, Broad, 235 n.
Mobberly, Samuel, Broad, 235 n.
Mobile, 14, 190
Mohawks, 204, 237
Monck, Thomas, 109 n.
i
■
Index
285
Moncks Corner, 200, 237
Money, Thomas, Pennsylvania, 91
Montaigut, Samuel, Purrysburg, 38
Montgomery, Colonel Archibald, Chero-
kee expedition of, 228-232, 237
Moore, James, Waxhaws, 138
Moore, William, Congarees, 52
Moore, William, Waxhaws, 139
Moravians, 171 n., 176
Moragne, Pierre, Hillsborough, 252 n.,
253
Morf, Hans Jacob, Congarees, 173
Morgan, Abel, Pennsylvania, 91, 96
Morris, William and Elinor, Long
Canes, 134
Morrison, Captain John, Amelia, 230
Mote, Christian, Orangeburg, 46, 47
Motte, Isaac, New Windsor, 70
Moultrie, William, provincial regiment,
236, 237
Mountain Creek, Stevens Creek, 129
Muddy Creek, Peedee, 93
Mulkey, Rev. Philip, 64, 158
Muller (Miller), John Ulric, Congarees,
54
Murphy, Hugh, Congarees, 52
Murphy, Malachi, Welsh Tract, 90, 94,
97 n.
Murray, Dr. John, 90 n., 118 n., 127,
130, 246
Musical instruments, 176
Myer, Frederick Nicholas, Londonbor-
ough, 255
Myrick, James, Congarees, 52, 63 n.
Myrick, Richard, Congarees, 52, 55
Naval stores, proposed for Saluda, 126
Navel, Isaac, 90 n.
Navigation, tidewater, 4, 10, 35, 79;
middle country, 10; Edisto, 49; Con-
garee, 54, 58, 63; Williamsburg, 84;
Kingston, 86, 88; Peedee, 94, 98;
Wateree, 99, 106-107, 170; piedmont,
115, 163; middle country, 182-183
Negroes, free or of uncertain status,
Saluda, 122; upper Savannah, 128,
133; in Cherokee country, 195, 229
Neilson, John, 108
Neilson, Matthew, St. Mark's, 109
Neilson, Samuel, Black, 108
Nelson, Joseph, Savannah, 128
Nelson, Paschal, 38 n.
Neufchatel, Switzerland, 34
New Acquisition, the, 250
New Bordeaux, Hillsborough, 252, 254
New England, township system, 18, 20
New Orleans, 190, 214
New Windsor Township, 75, 76, 127,
135, 178, 180 n.; effect of sickness in,
26; map, 32; settlement, 66-72;
Switzers in, 66-68; John Tobler, 68-
69, 72; Indian trade, 69-70; Chicka-
saws, 70-71; and Fort Moore, 70-72;
Germans, 256
New York, 62, 203, 225, 236; settlers
from, 105
Newberry, John, Welsh Tract, 93
Newbury, William, Indian trader, 196
Newcastle, Duke of, 39
Nicholas Creek, Broad, 148 n.
Nicholson, Governor Francis, and paper
money issue, 8; and Virginia settle-
ment plans, 18
Nightingale, Thomas, 118 n.
Ninety Six, 103, 116, 122, 123, 126, 169,
172, 176, 207, 256; on Cherokee path,
12, 118; and Indian trade, 15, 63, 192;
survey at, 54; land purchase, 58, 123-
125, 138, 147, 195; courthouse, 116;
origin, 118; settlers, 119-120, 130; life,
131, 162; roads, 171-172; books, 178;
Glen's conference at, 193-194; Indian
alarm, 122, 201; Fort, 219; warned
of attack, 222; in Cherokee War, 227,
228, 232; defense of, 233; Grant at,
237, 238 n.; warrants, 1761-1765, 259
Nixon, Edward, Broad, 235 n.
Noble, Joseph, Stevens Creek, 129
Noble, Mary (Calhoun), Long Canes,
134, 246
North Britain Tract, 108-109
North Carolina, 120, 171 n., 260; popu-
lation, 5n. ; landholdings, 5n. ; boun-
dary, 95, 96, 142, 209; settlers from,
102, 161; dispute over grants, 138—
141; grants in South Carolina, 150;
indigo, 167; butter from, 168; Chero-
kee raids in, 217; and Cherokee War,
219 n., 223, 225; and Indian Congress,
245; boundary dispute with, 247-249;
survey of boundary, 248-250
Notchees, 61 n. ; at Congarees, 52, 61 n. ;
at Four Holes, 200
Nottawegas, 200, 203
Nuquassee, Cherokee town, 224
286
Index
Oats, Wateree, 106; back country, 166
Oconee, Cherokees, 200, 202, 203
Oconee Creek, Keowee, 230
Oconee Mountain, 230
Oglethorpe, James, 186-189, 193, 204
Oglethorpe, John N., 101 n., 176 n.
Ohio Company, the, 208
Ohio River, 198, 205, 206; Indians, 198-
199, 208
"Old Hop." See Connocortee.
Olives, proposed for Saluda, 126
Orange, France, 38
Orangeburg Township, 58, 83, 101, 176,
182, 234 n.; map, 32; settlement, 44-
48, 51; Germans in, 154, 256; demand
for representation, 183; Cherokee War
forts, 223, 234-23 5; in Cherokee War,
227
Orchards, in middle and back country,
50, 166
Orr, Robert, 79
Ortham, Thomas, Saluda, 177-178
Oswald, Richard, 126 n.
Oswald, Robert, 75
Otterson, James, Broad, 235 n.
Overseers, 74, 83, 89, 127, 128
Owen, Thomas, Broad, 148, 157
Ox Creek. See Lyons Creek.
Oxen, middle country, 168 n.
Pacolet River, Broad, 258
Padgetts Creek, 150 n., 153, 157
Paget, Peter, St. Thomas' Parish, 37 n.
Palatines, proposed as settlers, 18; im-
ported, 151, 153
Pallachuccolas, garrison at, 10, 11 n.;
Creeks at, 12; and frontier defense,
16, 73, 188; map, 32; Purrysburg
placed near, 34; garrison abolished,
35
Parmeter, Philemon, 117 n.
Parsons, James, 260
Paths, to Fort Moore, 10 n.; to Cataw-
bas, 12, 99, 136, 140, 144, 169, 171;
to Creeks, 66; to northern colonies,
99; Wateree, 107; Catawba-Cherokee,
124, 172; Broad, 150 n.; back country,
170-172; Catawba-Savannah Town,
172. See also Cherokee path.
Patricks Creek. See Jacksons Creek.
Patton, Arthur, Long Canes, 134, 135 n.,
246
Pavey, Joseph, Congarees, 52
Pawley, George, 58, 125 n., 194-195, 198
Pearson, John, Congarees, 52, 60, 65,
174, 175, 179, 223; surveyor, 60, 62, 65,
102, 163; Baptist Church, 65, 157-
158; Broad River, 156-158; frontier
defense, 201, 227, 235 n.; Fort Lou-
doun, 210, 213
Pearson, John, Jr., Congarees, 157
Pearson, Mary (Raiford), 60
Pearson, Philip, Congarees, 157, 158 n.
Peas, 252; Congarees, 56; Wateree,
106; back country, 166
Peedee Indians, 12, 93; join Catawbas,
13
Peedee River, 261; township proposed,
20; settlement, 89-98 {see Welsh
Tract) ; settlers from, 145; road, 171;
navigation, 182; demand of settlers
for courts, 183; and boundary dispute,
249; warrants on, 1761-1765, 257
Pelot, Rev. Francis, Purrysburg, 39
Pendarvis, Brand, Edisto forks, 49 n.
Pendarvis, James, 49 n.
Pennington, Abraham, Broad, 150
Pennington, Isaac, Broad, 156, 172, 173
Pennington, Jacob, Broad, 128, 149 n.,
150, 235 n.
Pennington, Mary, Broad, 157
Pennsylvania, 115, 118, 154, 171 n., 198,
206; immigration to, 18, 151; settlers
from, 89-92, 95, 97, 100, 102, 105, 109,
119, 120, 130, 134 n., 136, 148, 150,
157, 161; settlers from 1761-1765, 259
Pensacola, 247
Pepper, Daniel, commander Fort Moore,
71-72, 174
Pettinger, John, Congarees, 52
Philadelphia, 47, 62, 97, 104, 136, 149,
215
Physicians, Purrysburg, 38, 39; New
Windsor, 68; Charleston, 123; back
country, 180 n.
Pickens, Andrew, Savannah, 259
Pickens, Andrew, Waxhaws, 138-141,
143
Pickens, John, Virginia, 124; Waxhaws,
138, 139; Lynches, 145-146; Savan-
nah, 259
Piedmont, Italy, immigrants from, 36,
37
Pinckney, William, 69 n., 70 n.; Com-
missioner Indian trade, 193 n.
Pine barrens, 9, 36, 82, 87, 114
I
Index
287
Pine belts, upper and lower, 2-3 ;
description of, 9
Pinetree Creek, 99, 100, 104, 107
Pinetree Hill, Wateree, 107, 137, 143,
171, 176; settlement, 101, 104; Quak-
ers, 105; Kershaw store, 106; wheat
from, 166-167; in Cherokee War, 227,
228, 234
Pinson, Isaac, Wateree, 136
Pinson, Thomas, Catawba, 141, 143
Pitt, William, 215
Pittman, John, Congarees, 65 n.
Plantations, size of, 4—5; indentured
servants on, 27-28; Purrysburg, 38-
40; Amelia, 50; southwest, 73, 74;
Peedee, 89-90; Wateree, 106; Saluda,
127, 133; Santee, 137; Waxhaws, 140
Planters, interests of, 6 ; in Commons,
6, 16; desire for slaves, 24; Orange-
burg, 45; Amelia, 50-51; Congarees,
62; encroachments in Williamsburg,
81, in Kingston, 86-87; on Santee,
109; back country, 181; middle coun-
try, 182-183; and settlement policy,
260
Population, white, 6; Purrysburg, 39;
Orangeburg, 46; Edisto forks, 49;
Amelia, 50; Saxe Gotha, 56, 61;
Congarees, 61; New Windsor, 67, 72;
southwest, 76; Williamsburg, 80, 85;
Kingston, 87; Welsh Tract, 92; Pee-
dee, 94; Wateree, 103, 105 ; St. Mark's,
108; Saluda, 125, 130, 131; Stevens
Creek, 129-130; Long Canes, 135; Ca-
tawba, 141; Waxhaws, 142; Lynches,
146; South Carolina, 1759, 160; mid-
dle and back country, 1765, 259-260
Porcher, Isaac, 52
Port Royal, garrison at, 10; runaway
slaves from, 26; Fort Frederick, 188
Potatoes, 252; Congarees, 56; Saluda,
120; back country, 166
Pou, Gavin, Edisto forks, 48-49
Pouag, John, Charleston, 250, 251
Poultry, Saluda, 122; of immigrants,
163; back country, 175
Power, Andreas, Broad, 153
Powmin, Barbara, 152
Pownall, Thomas, appointed governor,
228
Poyas, John Lewis, Purrysburg, 37
Preacher, Conrad, Salkehatchie, 76 n.
Presbyterian Church, 47, 251; Cainhoy,
79; Williamsburg, 84-85; Salem, 108;
Jeffreys Creek, 108; proposed for
High Hills, 109; Waxhaws, 143-144
Priber, Christian Gottlieb, Amelia, 43 ;
Cherokee country, 43
Price, Aaron, Cherokee trader, 222, 225,
250 n.
Price, James, Welsh Tract, 92 n.
Prince Frederick's Parish, 85, 107, 145;
Church, 90, 97-98
Prince George's Parish, 194
Prince William's Parish, 41 n.
Pringle, James, 79
Pringle, Robert, 84
Proclamation money, 9 n.
Proprietors, Lords, 3, 5, 7, 11, 17; en-
couragement for settlers, 17, 34; land
titles under grants of, 21-22
Provincial troops, 130, 189; in Cherokee
War, 213, 215, 217, 226, 228, 230-231,
236, 238, 241. See also Rangers.
Puckett, Timothy, Wateree, 102; Ste-
vens Creek, 129 n.
Pugh, Rev. Evan, Welsh Tract, 97
Puhl, Philip, Congarees, 52, 57
Pumpkins, 252; Purrysburg, 38; back
country, 166
Purry, Charles, Purrysburg, 36, 38;
Beaufort, 38
Purry, Jean Pierre, 89; settlement plans,
18, 34; death of, 36; petition of, 40;
land of, 73
Purrysburg Township, 75, 160, 169, 173;
discontent of settlers, 26; map, 32;
settlement, 33-41; Swiss settlers, 33-
36; hardships, 36, 41; silk industry,
37; slaves, 39; St. Peter's Parish, 40;
and southwest defense, 42; settler
from, 46; Germans in, 154; and An-
glican Church, 183 n.; later arrivals
at, 252, 254; warrants, 1761-1765, 257
Quakers, Wateree, 103-105
Quit rents, 5, 164; instructions on, 19
1731 act for collection of, 21-22; ex-
emptions from, 30 n., 34, 100, 151, 152
appropriated for Hillsborough, 254
Queensboro Township, 91, 92; map, 78
settlement, 89; church, 96
Radcliffe, Charles, Wateree, 100-101
Rae, David, 251
288
Index
Rae, Fev. John, Williamsburg, 84-85,
251
Raeburns Creek, 112, 223, 236 n.
Raiford, Isaac, Congarees, 65
Raiford, Mary, Congarees, 60
Raiford, Philip, Jr., Broad, 62, 148 n.,
157, 235 n.
Raiford, Philip, Sr., Congarees, 52, 60
Raifords Creek, 92, 147, 148, 157, 158,
171 ; settlement of, 52, 59-63
Ralgebin, Rosina Barbara, 152
Ramsay, Robert, Waxhaws, 138, 140,
141, 144
Rangers, 64, 73, 100, 119, 123, 125, 181,
188, 202, 206, 209; Indian, 119; in
Cherokee War, 218, 224-228, 233, 236,
244 n.; on Montgomery's expedition,
228-231; on Grant's expedition, 237-
238
Rattray, Alexander, Wateree, 100, 103
Ravenel, Henry, 108 n.
Red Shoes, Choctaw headman, 195-
196
Reed, John, Saluda, 119, 130
Reedy River, 130, 249, 250 n., 259
Rees, Daniel, Broad River, 148, 172
Rees, Evan, Congarees, 52, 60 n. ; Broad,
157
Reformed Church, in Purrysburg, 40;
Congarees, 57, 64; Broad and Saluda,
155
Regulators, 176
Reimensperger. See Riemensperger.
Rentfro, Peter, Broad, 148 n.
Revolution of 1719, 3, 17, 18
Rhine River, 152
Rhod, J. J., Congarees, 52
Rice, John, Charleston, 84
Rice, transportation of, 10 n.; industry
expands, 24, 168, 260; depression in,
27; Purrysburg, 38; Orangeburg, 46;
Congarees, 52, 59; machine for clean-
ing, 68; southwest, 73-75; Williams-
burg, 82; Wateree, 109; middle coun-
try, 182
Richard, James, Purrysburg, 35, 38
Richardson, Edward, 103 n., 137
Richardson, Mary (Cantey), Santee, 109
Richardson, Richard, Santee, 109, 227,
228
Richardson, Rev. William, Waxhaws,
144
Ridgeway, William, Kingston, 87
Riemensperger, John Jacob, Congarees,
52, 55, 57, 150, 151, 178
Rifles, 106, 122, 169, 230
Riordan, Timothy, Saluda, 130
Riots and lawlessness, Welsh Tract, 95 ;
Rocky River, Peedee, 96 ; Wateree,
107; Waxhaws, 137-140; northwest
frontier, 177; Peedee, 249. See also
Crime.
Ritenour, William, Saluda, 172
Roads, petition for, Purrysburg, 40^1 ;
Edisto forks, 49; Congarees, 52, 117;
southwest, 76 n.; Wateree, 106-107,
109; piedmont, 115; Long Canes, 135;
Waxhaws, 140, 143 ; back country,
170-172; middle country, 183
Roberts, John, 73 n.
Robertson, Joseph, Orangeburg, 45
Roche, Francis, 196
Roche, Jordan, 196
Roche, Matthew, 196-197
Rocky Bluff Swamp, Black River, 108
Rocky Creek, Catawba, 103 n., 105 n.,
138, 141-143, 258
Rocky Creek, Stevens Creek, 129
Rocky River, Peedee, 94-96, 175
Rocky River, Savannah, 259
Rogers, James, Welsh Tract, 92
Rogers, John, Congarees, 52
Rogers, Robert, Amelia, 44
Rork, Bryan, Wateree, 101
Ross, Isaac, 161 n.
Roth, Peter, Orangeburg, 46
Rotterdam, 45, 67, 151
"Round O," Cherokee headman, 217
Rowan, Matthew, North Carolina, 139
Rowe, Michael Christopher, Orange-
burg, 149 n.
Rowell, Jeremiah, Welsh Tract, 91, 97
Rowell, Mary, Welsh Tract, 91
Russell, Charles, Amelia, 42, 43, 46, 50
Russell, Charles, Jr., captain of rangers,
227
Russell, George, Wateree, 109
Russell, Joseph, Edisto Forks, 49
Russell, Mary, Amelia, 43-44, 51
Russell, Samuel, Wateree, 103
Rutherford, Griffith, North Carolina, 139
Rutledge, Andrew, 81
Rye, Wateree, 106; Waxhaws, 142; back
country, 166; Congarees, 173
i
Index
289
Sabb, Thomas, Amelia, 51
Sabb, William, Amelia, 51 n.
St. Augustine, 188-189
St. Bartholomew's Parish, 72
St. David's Parish, 97, 183
St. Gall, Switzerland, 55
St. Helena Indians, 12
St. James Goose Creek, 51
St. John, Audeon, Congarees, 170
St. John, Surveyor-General James, and
township fees, 22-24
St. John's Church, Broad, 155
St. John's Parish, 43
St. Luke's Parish, 41 n.
St. Mark's Parish, 85, 97, 183, 227; set-
tlement, 107-109; established, 109;
warrants, 1761-1765, 257
St. Matthew's Parish, 32, 51, 183
St. Peter's Parish, 40
St. Philip's Parish, 123, 153; landhold-
ings of, 5
Salem Presbyterian Church, 108
Salisbury road, 250
Salkehatchie River, 234 n.; settlement of
forks of, 73-76, 154; fort on, 223, 234;
warrants, 1761-1765, 258
Salt, 168, 169
Saluda Old Town, 2, 64; origin, 118;
hunters, 119-120, 162; settlement, 119-
120, 123, 125, 133; Cherokee confer-
ence, 130; mill, 131
Saluda River, 152, 210; early plats and
settlers, 54-57, 62, 147; Indian alarms,
103, 201; settlement, 117-127, 130-133
(see Ninety Six, Saluda Old Town) ;
Weber frenzy, 155; militia, 156 n.;
population, 160; indigo, 167; roads,
171, 172; Cherokee attack, 224; war-
rants, 1761-1765, 259
Salvador, Francis, London, 126
Salvador, Joseph, London, 127
Salzburg, immigrants from, 36
Samsons Fork, Saluda, 131
Sand Hills, 2-3, 170; description of, 9-
10; Amelia, 44; Congaree, S3; Pee-
dee, 92; Wateree, 99, 101, 107, 113,
114; Lynches, 145
Sanders, Peter, 129 n.
Sandriker, John, Congarees, 52
Sandy River, 112, 156; warrants, 1761-
1765, 258
Sandy Run, Congaree, 44; Church, 57
Sarancy, Samuel, Welsh Tract, 91, 94
Satur, Jacob, 52
Savage, John, 161 n.
Savannah, Georgia, 38, 41, 47 n.; and
Indian trade, 188, 247
Savannah, New, 71, 204, 228
Savannah Indians (Shawnees), leave
Carolina, 10 n.; murders by, 122;
among Cherokees, 195, 198-200, 203,
204, 216; raids by, 202 n., 209
Savannah River, 73, 121, 122, 261; pro-
posed settlement, 18, 20; settlement of
lower, 73-75 ; settlement of upper wa-
ters, 125-130, 133-135, 154 (see Long
Canes, Stevens Creek) ; paths, 171-
172; navigation, 182; settlements at-
tacked, 223; defense of, 233; fort on,
235 n.; warrants, 1761-1765, 257-259
Savannah Town (at Fort Moore), 10,
133, 170, 222; Indian trade, 15, 66,
72, 128
Sawmills, saws and lumber, Orange-
burg, 46; Congarees, 57, 63; Wateree,
104-105; Broad and Saluda, 137;
Waxhaws, 143; back country, 165, 173
Sawneys Creek, Wateree, 99, 104, 136
Saxe Gotha Township, 122, 147, 151,
177, 178; map, 32; town, 52; settle-
ment, 52-65; name, 53 n.; description,
53; Swiss settlers in, 54—56; church
and industry, 56-57, 63-65; Brown
and Haig, 57-58. See also Congarees.
Saxony, 43
Scalps, and rewards for, 190, 195, 209,
215, 224, 226, 228, 229
Scheider, Daniel, Saxe Gotha, 122
Schneiss, Conrad, Congarees, 52
Schoolhouse Branches, Broad River, 157;
Black River, 157 n.
Schools and schoolmasters, proposed for
townships, 19; Purrysburg, 39; New
Windsor, 72; Charleston, 83, 144;
Broad, 155, 157; Congarees, 157; lack
of in back country, 179. See also Edu-
cation.
Scioto River, Ohio, 198
Scotch, Highland, 89 n.
Scotch-Irish settlers, in Williamsburg
and Kingston, 79-88, 100; immigra-
tion of, 81-82; importance of, 86; in
North Carolina, 95; encouragement
for, 109; in 1759, 160-161
Scotland, ministers from, 85, 144; set-
290
Index
tiers expected from, lOS-109; servants
from, 174
Scott, James, Saluda, 147, 171
Scott, John, Savannah, 128-130
Scott, John, Wateree, 102
Scott, William, Wateree, 102-103
Scout boat, southwest, 188
Seawright, Robert, 100 n.
Seawright, William, Amelia, 100 n., 183
Second Creek, Broad, 153, 156
Secretary of State, 205
Selwyn, John, London, 59 n,
Seneca Indians, 100, 199
Servants, indentured, for defense against
slaves, 17-18, 27; encouragement for,
20; Purrysburg, 38, 39; Amelia, 43;
Orangeburg, 45; Congarees, 63; Che-
ravps, 95; Wateree, 103, 136; Saluda,
125, 130; Lynches, 145; Broad, 149;
German, 151, 155; in advertisements,
161 n.; back country, 173-174; pro-
tection of, 180; importation of, 256
Settico, Cherokee town, 212, 217
Settlement fund, origin, 21 ; deficit, 25-
26, 54, 152; appropriation to, 29;
amount of, 30, 243
Settlement Indians, 12, 73, 74, 79-80,
195. See also Cape Fear, Cussoe, St.
Helena, and Winyaw Indians.
Settlement policy. Proprietary period, 5,
17 ; origin of new, 6, 9 ; encouragement
for debtors, 11; revision of, 25-30;
provincial mistakes in, 26; encourage-
ment for servants, 27; for developing
villages, 28; encouragement for dis-
charged soldiers, 27 n.; discourage-
ment of German immigration, 29;
new encouragement for settlers, 29-
30, 103; purchases of land for, 123—
125; after Cherokee War, 242-243;
defects of, 244, 256-257; results of,
257, 260
Settlement projects, Purry's, 34; Cart-
wright and Selwyn, 59 n.; on Savan-
nah River, 75; North Carolina, 95;
High Hills of Santee, 108 ; Ninety Six,
123-127
Shanks Creek, Wateree, 109
Shawnees. See Savannah Indians.
Sheely, John, Broad, 156 n.
Sheep, Congarees, 60 n.; New Windsor,
70; back country, 173, 175
Shillig, John, Congarees, 55 n.
Ship building, bounty for, 29 n., 152
Shire, Conrad, Broad, 156 n.
Shleppy, John George, Congarees, 52
Silk, bounty for, 29, 37; proposed for
Purrysburg, 34, for Saluda, 126, for
Hillsborough, 253, 254; industry in
Purrysburg, 37, 254; Silk Hope, 254
Silver and jewelry, Congarees, 58, 59
Silver Bluff, 10, 32, 67, 69, 70, 73, 235 n.
Simmons, John, 49 n.
Simpson, Thomas, Waxhaws, 137, 138 n.,
142
Simpson, William, 118 n., 127
Simpson, William, Practical Justice of
the Peace, 253 n., 255
Sims Creek, Wateree, 101
Singleton, Richard, Wateree, 101-102
Singletons Creek, Wateree, 143
Sinking fund, 8, 19, 21, 28 n. See also
Settlement fund.
Slaves, 126, 167; number, 3; need for,
4; increase, 5; danger of insurrection,
6, 22, 185 n., 188-189, 226; runaway,
8, 13, 243 n.; in cattle industry, 12;
indentured servants for defense
against, 17-18; prohibited in Georgia,
20; duties on, 21-22, 241-242; imports
of, 24, 241, 243 ; importation pro-
hibited, 27-28, 243 ; Purrysburg, 38-
39; Amelia, 43, 44, 50; Orangeburg,
45, 225; Edisto forks, 49; Congarees,
56, 58-61, 63, 64 n.; New Windsor, 69;
Indian, 70; southwest, 73, 75; north-
east, 79; Williamsburg, 83-85; Kings-
ton, 87-88; Peedee, 94, 96; Wateree,
100-102, 104-106, 109, 136, 137; taxes
on, 124; Saluda, 125, 127, 130, 131,
133; Savannah, 128; Stevens Creek,
129; in Cherokees, 132, 192; Wax-
haws, 137, 140, 142, 144; Lynches,
145-146; Broad, 148, 150 n., 156;
South Carolina, 160; back country,
161, 165; imports of, 161 n., 173, 177;
middle country, 182; deaths from
smallpox, 220; in Grant's expedition,
237; in back country, 1765, 260. See
also Stono insurrection.
Sleepy Creek, Stevens Creek, 256
Smallpox epidemics, 1738, 26; 1759-
1760, 220, 223 n., 224, 226, 229 n.
Smart, Henry, Coosawhatchie, 75
Smart, Rev. James, Coosawhatchie, 75;
Lynches, 145
i
I
Index
291
Smith, Rev. Michael, Prince Frederick's,
97
Smith, William, Wateree, 105
Smithpeter, John George, Saluda, 155
Snell, Henry, Orangeburg, 46
Snelling, Henry, Congarees, 52
Society, classes of, Purrysburg, 38;
groups in Amelia and Orangeburg,
48, in New Windsor, 68; Wateree,
100; Saluda, 120; Waxhaws, 140;
tidewater and back country compared,
161-162; middle country, 175; back
country, 178, 179; significance of
churches in social organization, 179-
180; significance of back country, 181-
182; make-up of middle country, 183
Society for Propagation of the Gospel
in Foreign Parts, 40, 72
Soil, tidewater, 4; middle country, 9
Amelia and Orangeburg, 42, 45, 48
Congarees, 53, 59; New Windsor, 66
southwest, 73, 74; Williamsburg, 80
Kingston, 86; Peedee, 92; Wateree
99, 101, 136; St. Mark's, 107, 108
piedmont, 114; Saluda, 118; Savan-
nah, 127-129; Long Canes, 133; Wax-
haws, 137; Broad, 147, 148, 151, 153-
154; Dutch Fork, 154; choice of by
immigrants, 163; Hillsborough, 253
South Carolina, in 1729, 2-16; geo-
graphical sections, 2-4; population, 3,
160; compactness of, 6; local govern-
ment, 6; exports, 6, 24, 167-168;
Yamasee War, 10; Indian trade, 15;
proposals for defense, 18, 20; funda-
mental problem of, 30; disadvantages
for settlement, 33; boundary and the
plantation influence, 250; results of
settlement, 260-261. See also Tide-
water, Middle country. Back country.
South Carolina almanac, 68-69
South Carolina Gazette in middle and
back country, 179 n.
Southern (Indian) Congress, 245
Sower, Christopher, 69 n.
Spanish, danger from, 6, 8, 22, 185 n.;
and Indians, 15, 16; encroachments
on, 20; war with, 26; encouragement
to runaway slaves, 26; attack upon
and counter-attack, 188-189; decline
of influence, 191
Spencer, Richard, Congarees, 52; Broad,
148
Springs and wells, 163
Spuhl (Spear), Jacob, Congarees, 52, 54
Squatters, 119, 125, 141, 142, 164 n., 246,
260
Squirrel King, Chickasaw headman, 71
Stack, Anthony, 52
Stainor, Hans, Congarees, 52
Standing Turkey. See Cunnicatoka.
Starratt, George, Kingston, 87
Steill, Robert, Congarees, 52, 63, 142 n.,
147, 170
Sterling, George, Amelia, 43
Sterling, William, 118 n.
Stevens, John, Stevens Creek, 117
Stevens Creek, 102, 126, 133, 163, 171,
176, 251 n.; name, 117; settlement,
127-130; store on, 169; roads, 171; in
Cherokee War, 222, 235 n.; fort for,
246; Germans, 255-256; warrants,
1761-1765, 259
Stitsmith, Thomas, 52
Stolea, Hannah Maria, Congarees, 52
Stono insurrection, 12, 26, 27
Stony Run, Black, 108
Strain, Adam, 100
Stratham, Rowland, 42 n.
Strawberry, on Cherokee trade route, 11
Strother, William, Congarees, 63 n.
Struck, John, Congarees, 55 n.
Stuart, Captain John, Fort Loudoun,
218, 232-233; Superintendent Indian
Affairs, 245
Stuart, Robert, Lynches, 145
Stubbs, John, Wateree, 136
Studders, William, Creek trader, 191
Sturzenegger, Dr. John Jacob, New
Windsor, 68, 180 n.
Sugar Town, Cherokees, 229
Summerford, Jeffrey, Wateree, 100
Summers, Adam, Broad, 156 n.
Surveyor-General, 164. See also St.
John, James; Hunter, George.
Surveyors, deputy, 25, 52, 58, 60-62, 104,
128, 139, 163, 194
Swift Creek, Wateree, 100, 104
Switzers, proposed as settlers, 18, 100,
151; Purrysburg, 33-41; Orangeburg,
45-47; Saxe Gotha, 54-56, 61, 65;
New Windsor, 66-69, 72; compared
with other Germans, 153; Broad, 154;
Saluda, 155; assimilation of, 183
292
Index
Tassantee, Cherokee town, 230
Taverns. See Inns.
Taxes, provincial, 5, 7, 21, 164; exemp-
tion from, 30 n., 152, 243; back coun-
try, 181 n.
Taylor, John, Broad, 148
Taylor, John, Congarees, 52, 61
Taylor, Michael, Saluda, 123-124, 147
Taylor, Peter, 100 n.
Tellico, Cherokee town, 212, 214, 217
Tellico River, Tennessee, 212, 213-214
Tennant, Rev. William, 165
Tennessee, Little, 212, 213, 230, 231, 238
Tennessee River, 205, 214-216
Terrapin Creek, Saluda, 118, 125
Terrel, William, Welsh Tract, 92
Theiler, John, Congarees, 52
Theus, Rev. Christian, Congarees, 57, 64
Theus, Jeremiah, Charleston, 57
Thicketty Creek, Broad, 258
Thomas, Steven and Mary, Hills-
borough, 254
Thompson, John, Jr., Prince Frederick's,
90, 93, 95 n.
Thompsons Creek, Peedee, 94 n., 95 n.
Thomson, Moses, Amelia, 50-51
Thomson, William, Amelia, 50-51;
Major of rangers, 234, 238
Three Runs. See Upper Three Runs.
Tidewater, 4, 166; landholdings in, 5,
24; immigration, 24; settlers from, 43,
93, 105, 109, 161; expansion, 113;
population, 160; connections with back
country, 181-182; warrants, 1761-
1765, 257
Timothy, Peter, printer, 239
Tistoe, Cherokee headman, 219, 220, 229
Tobacco, Saluda, 120, 122; back country,
176
Tobler, John, New Windsor, 55, 100,
176-179; account of, 67; store, 68,
170; almanac, 68-69; death and estate
of, 69, 72, 183; fort of, 223, 235 n.
Tobler, John, Jr., New Windsor, 68, 72,
179
Tobler, Ulric, New Windsor, 68, 129,
223
Tobler, William, New Windsor, 68, 71
Todd, John, Wateree, 102
Toggenburg, Switzerland, 55
Tomlinson, Josiah, Wateree, 103
Tomotley, Cherokee town, 202, 212, 213
Tool, Matthew, Catawba trader, 142
Tools and implements, for bounty
settlers, 28 n., 34; Congarees, 56, 57 n.,
60 n.; Waxhaws, 143; of immigrants,
162; back country, 165-166, 169, 172
Torrans, John, Charleston, 251
Towns, plans to encourage, 11, 28; in
Purrysburg, 36, 38, 41; Amelia, 42;
Orangeburg, 44, 47; Saxe Gotha, 52,
53; Williamsburg, 80, 84; Kingston,
86-88; Queensboro, 89; Fredericks-
burg, 99; in new townships, 252-253,
255
Townships, 119; Johnson's plan for,
17-21, 24-25; surveying of, 22-23;
development of, 25; non-resident
grants in, 26; western, 32-76; en-
croachments on, 36, 80, 81 ; eastern,
78-109; new townships surveyed,
250-253
Trade and stores, Purrysburg, 38;
Orangeburg, 47; Congarees, 56, 63;
New Windsor, 68-71; Williamsburg,
84; Cheraws, 94-95; Wateree, 104,
136; Ninety Six, 132; Catawba, 143;
back and middle country, 169-170
Transportation, back country problem
of, 169-172; middle country, 182-183.
See Navigation, Paths, Roads, Wag-
ons.
Troops, British, in Georgia, 189, 199,
204; Cherokee expeditions of, 228-232,
237-238. See also Independent Com-
panies.
Truan, Jacob, Purrysburg, 38
Tryon, Governor William, North Caro-
lina, and boundary, 249-250
Tryon Mountain, 249
Tucker, Dr. William, Congarees, 180 n.
Tugaloo, Cherokee town, 121
Turk, James, Saluda, 125
Turk, John, Saluda, 119, 123-125, 130,
133, 195
Turk, Thomas, Saluda, 123-124, 195
Turkey Creek, Black, 108
Turkey Creek, Broad, 258
Turkey Creek, Stevens Creek, 129, 135,
256
Turkeycock Creek, Broad, 148 n.
Turner, William, Saluda, 120 n., 130,
133, 222, 235 n.
Turnips, Purrysburg, 38; Waxhaws,
139, 142; back country, 166
Tuscarora Indians, 12
!
Index
293
Twelve Mile Creek, Catawba, 235 n.
Twelve Mile Creek, Keowee, 229
Twelve Mile Creek, Saluda, 55, 131, 147
Twenty-five Mile Creek, Wateree, 176
Tyger River, 158; settlement, 148-150,
156; roads, 172; in Cherokee War,
234; warrants, 1761-1765, 258
Tyler, John, Wateree, 101 n.
Uchee Indians, on Savannah, 12, 73-74,
128, 188, 200, 201 n.
Uchee Island, Savannah, 127-128
Ulmer, Henry, Salkehatchie, 76 n.
Upper Three Runs (Steel Creek), 11, 32,
70, 74, 75
Vagrants, to be enlisted, 216
Vann, John, Saluda, 121-122, 196;
Savannah, 246 n.
Varnido, Leonard, Edisto forks, 49 n.
Vaughan, Evan, Welsh Tract, 91
Vaughan, Robert, New Windsor, 71
Verdity, Elizabeth, 52
Vernezobre, Daniel, London, 38
Virginia, 103, 172, 206, 214, 232-233;
and Indian trade, 11, 14, 202, 208,
219 n.; and frontier settlement, 18;
settlers from, 45, 61, 93, 94, 97, 105,
109, 119, 120, 123-125, 128, 130, 131,
133-134, 136, 138-141, 145, 147, 148,
161, 177; and frontier defense, 208;
Cherokee depredations in, 216, 220;
and Cherokee War, 218, 225, 237 n.,
239; and Indian Congress, 245;
settlers from 1761-1765, 259
Volk, Conrade, Broad, 156 n.
Wabash River, 205
Waccamaw Indians, 12
Waccamaw River, 94; township pro-
posed, 20; in boundary dispute, 247-
248. See Kingston.
Wade, Thomas, Lynches, 169, 170 n.
Waggener, John, Broad, 235 n.
Wagons and carts, Congarees, 55, 56,
63 ; Catawba, 143 ; of immigrants,
162-163; back country, 170-171; Cher-
okee War, 219, 228, 234
Wales, proposed immigration from, 92
Walker, Philip, Waxhaws, 138, 140
Wallace, Richard, Stevens Creek, 129
Wallexellson, Thomas, Congarees, 52,
60, 61
War Woman Creek, Chattooga, 230,
231
Ward, John, 60 n.
Wateree Creek, Broad, 148, 151, 153-
156, 171
Wateree Creek, Wateree, 112, 136, 141,
235 n.
Wateree Indians, 59 n., 101; absorbed
by Catawbas, 13, 99
Wateree River, 147, 163, 170, 175, 178,
227; township proposed, 20; settle-
ment, west side, 102-103, 105; origin
of settlers, 105-106; wheat, 106, 166;
land riots, 107; settlement of upper
Wateree, 136-137; Germans on, 154;
population, 160; road, 171; warrants,
1761-1765, 257, 258. See also Fred-
ericksburg.
Waters, Richard, 168 n.
Waxhaw Church, 143-144, 172, 180
Waxhaw Creek, Catawba, 137-139
Waxhaw Indians, 137
Waxhaws (section), 107, 134, 145, 161;
settlement, 136-145, 180 n. {see Ca-
tawba River) ; settlers from, 259
Wealth and inequality in back country,
163, 169, 181
Webb, David, Congarees, 64 n.
Webb, Elizabeth (Mercier), 64 n.
Weber, Jacob and Hannah, Saluda, 155
Weekly, Thomas, Amelia, 43
Weiser, Conrad, Pennsylvania Indian
agent, 59
Wells, John George, Broad, 153
Wells, Robert, printer, 239
Welsh, on Peedee, 90-98; language, 96;
population, 160; in South Carolina,
162
Welsh Neck, 78, 92, 93. See Welsh
Tract.
Welsh Neck Baptist Church, 75, 96, 145
Welsh Tract, 78, 143, 161, 194; settlers
from, 74-75, 145; settlement, 90-98,
140; Welsh reservation and migra-
tion, 90-92; Welsh Neck, 93; Peedee
trade and industry, 93-94; churches,
96-97
West Indies, 161 n.
Whaley, William, 161 n.
Wheat, bounty, 29; Amelia, 44; Or-
angeburg, 45, 46; Congarees, 56, 60 n.,
62, 63, 174; Williamsburg, 83; Welsh
Tract, 91, 93; Wateree, 105, 106,
294
Index
170; piedmont, 115; Saluda, 131;
Waxhaws, 139, 142, 143; Broad, 149,
ISO, 156; back country, 166, 173, 175,
221 n.
Whitaker, Benjamin, attorney-general,
chief justice, quarrel with Johnson, 23
White, Henry, Waxhaws, 144
White, William, Wateree, 105
White Hall, Stevens Creek, 127
Whitefield, George, 96
Whitford, Robert, Amelia, 43
Wilds, Mary, Welsh Tract, 91
Wilds, Samuel, Welsh Tract, 90-92
Wilkinson, Edward, Cherokee trade
factor, 247
Wilkinsons Creek, 148, 156, 157
Wilks, James, 161 n.
William, Margaret, Welsh Tract, 91
Williams, James, Saluda, 130
Williams, Fev. Robert, Welsh Tract,
94 n., 96
Williamsburg Presbyterian Church,
84-85
Williamsburg Township, 98, 100, 143,
160, 251; discontent of settlers, 26;
settlers from, 67, 85, 101, 105, 106,
108, 136, 137, 140; map, 78; settle-
ment, 79-86; Scotch-Irish in, 79-82;
hemp and flax, 82-83 ; indigo and
slaves, 83-84; significance, 85-86;
Indian troubles, 93; demand for rep-
resentation, 183; warrants, 1761-1765,
257
Williamson, Andrew, Stevens Creek,
126 n., 127, 246, 255
Wilson, David, Williamsburg, 79
Wilson, Robert, Black, 108
Wilsons Creek, Saluda, 118, 120
Wine, bounty for, 29; proposed for
Purrysburg, 34, for Orangeburg, 45,
for Saluda, 126; in Congarees, 176
Winyah Bay, 248
Winyaw Indians, 12
Witherspoon, David, Williamsburg, 83
Witherspoon, Gavin, Williamsburg, 79
Wood, Alexander, 70, 191; in western
trade, 69; and southwest expansion,
190
Wright, Anthony, Wateree, 102
Wright, Governor James, Georgia, 246
Wright, Thomas, Waxhaws, 138
Wiirttemberg, immigrants from, 151-153
Wyly, John, Wateree, 103
Wyly, Samuel, Wateree, 103-105; 137-
139, 170
Yadkin River, 105, 143, 217, 250
Yamasee Indians, 12, 17, 63 n.
Yamasee War, 7, 10, 17, 18, 137, 185,
192, 198, 234, 244
Young, Francis, Peedee, 90, 97 n.
Young, Henry, Orangeburg, 225
Young, Jacob, Congarees, 52
Young, William, Edisto forks, 48
Young Warrior, Cherokee headman, 237
Zimmerman, Philip, Londonborough,
256 n.
Zouberbuhler, Bartholomew, Jr., Or-
angeburg, 47
Zouberbuhler, Bartholomew, Sr., New
Windsor, 67
Zouberbuhler, Sebastian, New Windsor,
66-67
Zubly, David, Purrysburg, 39, 40 n.
Zubly, John Joachim, 39, 69 n., 152
Zurich, Switzerland, 55, 57
VITA
The author of this work was born at Allendale, South Carolina, in
1890. He attended public schools in the state and graduated from Wofford
College in 1912 with the degree of A,B. He received the degree of A.M.
from Columbia University in 1914 and since that time has done further
work in that institution and in the University of Chicago. Since 1919 he
has been a member of the staff of the History Department of the University
of South Carolina.