The Indians of South Carolina

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THE INDIANS

OF

SOUTH CAROLINA

BY
EDWIN L. GREEN

University of South Carolina

Columbia, S. C.

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Printers

THE TRADE BINDERY

Binders

1920

COPYRIGHT 1904

BY
EDWIN L. GREEN

TO
THE BOYS

OF

SOUTH CAROLINA

PREFACE

Although not a few books have been
written in recent years upon South Carolina
and her history, there is very little that can
be used in the schools. And so it is hoped
that there is a place for a little book — the
first of a number — which tells for the boys
many things they would like to know about
the Indians of their own State.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

Indian Tribes in South Carolina— General
Characteristics 9

CHAPTER II.

Boyhood — Names — Sports — Initiation-
Marriage— Women— Slaves 14

CHAPTER III.

Indian Town— Houses— Furniture 20

CHAPTER IV.

Dress of the Men — of the Women 23

CHAPTER V.
Agriculture— Hunting— Fishing — Cooking 26

CHAPTER VI.

Trade— Money— Mr. Galphin and the In
dian Chief 35

CHAPTER VII.

Music— Dancing— Games— Writing— Reck
oning of Time— Canoes— Pipes _. _ 40

CHAPTER VIII.

Weapons— War Titles — War — Women -
Torture of Prisoners— Peace _. _ 47

CHAPTER IX.

The King- Great War Chief— Beloved Men
— Punishment for Crime _ 55

CHAPTER X

Medicine Man — Medicine— Tooth Pulling 59
CHAPTER XL

Burial Ceremonies— Good and Evil Spirits
— Heaven — Idols — Charms — Busk 62

CHAPTER XII.

Relations with the White Men— Indian
Wars_. _ 68

The Indians of South Carolina

CHAPTER I.

Indian Tribes in South Carolina — General
Characteristics.

When the English settlers first came to
South Carolina, the country was in the pos
session of the Indians, of whom there were
twenty-eight tribes. The most powerful
tribes in the neighborhood of the first set
tlements were the Savannahs and the Wes-
toes. On the lower Savannah River lived
the Yemassees. The whole of upper South
Carolina was occupied by the Cherokees,
east of whom, on the North Carolina line,
were the Catawbas. The Creeks were neigh
bors to the Cherokees on the west, in the
present States of Georgia and Alabama,
and still farther west dwelled the war-like
Chickesaws. Both of these nations were
closely connected by trade with South Caro
lina. Among the less important tribes were
the Congarees, Santees, Stonos, Waterees,

10 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

Waxhaws, Edistos, Pedees, Saraws (Che-
raws), Seewees, Wandos, Wjinyaws and
Saludas.

The Indians of South Carolina were of
a reddish brown or copper color. The men
were tall and straight, with well shaped
limbs and an almost perfect figure : the
Cherokees were the tallest of all. They
were never deformed or humpbacked, and
were very dexterous in the use of their
limbs. An old traveler, who has left us
the story of his journey through South Car
olina not many years after it was first set
tled, says that he never saw a left-handed
Indian. They were hardy and possessed
wonderful powers of endurance, but they
could not perform the labor of the white
man. The features, of the Cherokees are
described as regular: the cheekbone was
high ; the nose was inclined to be aquiline
or hooked; the eyes were small, black and
full of fire. No hair grew upon the face ;
if any did appear it was plucked out by
the roots. The head, which was covered
with long, coarse hair, black as a raven,
never became bald.

The women were tall, slender and

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 11

straight, but smaller than the men. They
were comely, and some of the young wo
men of the Cherokees were almost as fair
and blooming as the young women of Eu
rope ; but any beauty they may have pos
sessed in youth was lost as they grew old.
They were of cheerful and kindly natures.
Many of them became wives of white men
who had gone among the Indians to trade,
and finding the women so pleasing had
married, preferring to dwell in the Indian
country to going back to the settlements.
So much fascination was there in the life
of the woods that a story arose that there
was a certain spring in the Indian country
known as Herbert's Spring, from which if
any man should drink he could not pos
sibly quit the nation, as the Indian country
was called, for the space of seven years.

It is said of the natives that they were
grave and slow in conversation, shrewd in a
bargain and tenacious of what they con-
considered their rights. Their curiosity was
great. When Dr. Henry Woodward came
to the town of the Westoes, the house of the
chief, he says, into which he was conducted,
was too small to hold the crowd that came

1J THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

to see him, so that "ye smaller fry got up
and uncovered the top of ye house to satisfy
their curiosity." At Port Royal the Indians
cried "Bony Conraro Angles," when the
English came to land and stroked them
upon the shoulders with the palms of their
hands, at the same time sucking in their
breath. The kindness of the natives to the
newly arrived settlers often prevented suf
fering. When a native was in want of food
he went to the door of the first house he
came to in the Indian village, saying, "I
am come." The owner replied, "You are ;
it is well." At once the hungry man was
supplied with food and drink. After he
had satisfied his hunger and had smoked
and talked with his host, he rose and de
parted with the words, "I go," to which the
other answered, "You do."

When an Indian lost his house by fire,
he made a feast for the men of his tribe,
to which the invited guests brought pres
ents, so that it was no uncommon thing for
him to receive three times as much as he
had lost. The men likewise came to the
assistance of any one who wished to build
a cabin or make a canoe.

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 18

Old age was held in the greatest rever
ence. Sometimes old people who had be
come helpless and decrepit through age
were put to death, but only at their earn
est entreaty. Indians frequently lived more
than a hundred years.

The early settlers often complained that
the Indians killed and stole their hogs, cat
tle and horses. They considered it no crime
to steal from the English, although they
rarely stole from one another.

The Cherokees were said to have had
loud voices, "somewhat rough and very
sonorous." When an Indian orator made
a speech, he used his hands, his head, in
fact, every member of his body, to aid his
words. The young men did not always-
understand what the old men said, because
in debate they spoke with the fewest words
possible.

14 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

CHAPTER II.

Babyhood — Name — Sports — Initiation —
Marriage — Women — Slaves.

When a child was born, the Cherokee
Indian who wished to know whether the
baby was a boy or a girl asked, "Is it a
bow, or a sifter " or perhaps, "Is it ball
sticks (referring to the sticks used in a
favorite game of ball) or bread?" The
little Indian had a cradle made for it by
its father, a piece of flat board about two
feet long and one foot broad, to which it
was closely strapped. The strap around
its forehead caused the head to be flattened
and the eyes to be a great distance apart,
which was thought to be an advantage to
the hunter in sighting game. A string ran
from one corner of the board to the other,
so that the mother could sling the child on
her back. When it rained she threw her
cloak over her head, protecting both her
self and the baby.

The following is a song that was sung
to a Cherokee baby:

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. It

"Ha wiye-hyewe, Ha wiye-hyewe,

Yu we-yuwehe, Hi wiyehyu-uwe —

The bear is very bad, so they say;

Long time ago he was very bad, so they say ;

The bear did so and so, they say/'

The name give'n a child by its parents
remained his name only till he had arrived
at about the age of sixteen, when he took
a name for himself. This name was often
that of some animal, as Eagle, Hawk, Pan
ther, Alligator. A famous chief of the
Cherokees was Oconostota, or "Groundhog
Sausage," commonly called "Old Hop;"
another was Charity Hayge, "The Great
Conjuror of Tugaloo;" a third was Atta-
kulla-kulla, or "Leaning Wood," known to
the whites as "Little Carpenter." Haeg-
ler was king of the Catawbas. There were
Indians called by the English, "All Bones,"
"Long Hair," "Corn Tassel," "Acorn Whis
tler," "Shoe-boots." A young man could
win a war title by taking a certain number
of scalps from the enemy.

Before a boy was taught how to walk he
learned how to swim. Winter and summer
his mother took him to the river early every

16 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

morning. His chief sports were swimming,
playing ball like the "grown up" Indians,
and hunting with his little bow and arrows,
or with a cane reed several feet long from
which the joints had been carefully cleared,
so that he could use it as a blow-gun to kill
birds and squirrels. When an Indian boy
was born, the birds, it was believed, sang
in mournful chorus : "Alas ! the whistle of
the arrow! My shins will burn! The
birds knew that the boy would shoot them
with his arrows and roast them on a stick.
One duty of the boys was to keep off crows
and other mischievous birds from corn
fields. For punishment boys were "dry
scratched, " that is, scratched with a comb
made of a reed to which had been fas
tened teeth of gar-fish, or bits of glass,
without being allowed to wash the wounds.

When the young Indian had reached the
age of manhood, about sixteen, he was com
pelled to undergo a severe initiation, in
order to harden him against the fatigues of
every hardship of hunting or war. The
young man was shut up with others in a
strong cabin and given medicine, which
made them all howl and cry in a most dis-

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 17

mal manner. This lasted five or six weeks,
when the half-starved wretches were
brought out, at least those who were alive,
for some of the youths died, being fed on
very little meat and that the most loath
some. Girls were treated in a similar man
ner. Sometimes a boy would run away
to avoid this experience.

When a young man was ready to marry,
he chose a young woman who was not so
closely related to him as first cousin, and
if she agreed and her relatives consented,
he paid for her a sum which varied accord
ing to the beauty of the lady. If he could
not pay all down at once, but was a good
hunter, he was allowed to pay part down
and the balance during the following hunt
ing season. The marriage was to last as
long as the man and woman agreed. Among
some tribes there was a simple marriage
ceremony : the young man went to the home
of his beloved and in the presence of the
wedding guests stuck a reed of cane in the
ground. Soon the bride came out and set
up another reed beside his, after which the
reeds were exchanged as certificates of
marriage. Then followed feasting and

18 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

dancing, and the relatives of the bride and
groom made presents, while the men of
the town came together and built a new
home for the young people.

The young girls were very bashful, so
that when they came into a strange cabin
where they were not acquainted they never
asked for anything, however hungry they
might be ; but they sat quiet, saying nothing
until some one asked a question. An In
dian mother was usually tender and kind to
her children. A traveler who went through
South Carolina at the beginning of the
eighteenth century and knew the Indians
well, relates that he never saw but one
woman scold her children. Women did not
have to plant corn and make the crops as
among the Northern Indians. Their work
was to cook the food for the entire family,
to bring the daily supply of water from the
spring, at which lovers often met, to make
pottery of all kinds, to fashion baskets and
mats, to spin and weave and to make lace
and fringe for their dresses. Women went
along with the hunting parties to carry pro
visions and get firewood, the men being oc
cupied with hunting.

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 19

A woman did not have to pay any of her
husband's debts in case of his death ; but if
she married again, the new husband had to
pay all of them. The husband could trade
off his wife and have as many wives as he
desired.- If he parted from his wife, the
children remained with her, although he
had to care for their support. The young
men of the village were made to aid widows
in the support of their children by plant
ing and doing other work which could not
be done by the women.

Slaves were the prisoners taken in war,
who were kept for the purpose of working
in the fields and attending to the wants
of their masters. Sometimes a slave's feet
were permanently injured in order to pre
vent his escaping; but a slave's life was on
the whole not a life of cruelty. The Westo
Indians were great slave catchers and were
said to be man-eaters, and the very sound
of a Westo's footsteps caused the other In
dians to tremble.

20 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

CHAPTER III.
Indian Town — Houses — Furniture.

An Indian town was generally so situ
ated as to be convenient for hunting and
easily protected from sudden surprise by
an enemy, with a large tract of fertile field
close at hand, if possible, in a bend of a
river. A town near the coast is described
by one of the early writers as on the edge
of a forest, the houses of the inhabitants
straggling among fields of maize. On the
south side was a spacious meadow; before
the door of the Council House was a large
and broad walk with a row of trees on each
side. On the north a palisade of posts pre
vented the enemy from surprising the town
in that direction.

Houses, or wigwams, were made of poles
of pine, cedar, or hickory, the larger ends
stuck into the ground, the others bent in
and fastened together at the top. The whole
was covered with bark of cypress or cedar,
or even with moss. For summer use sheds
open on all sides were sometimes used. The
Cherokees built houses of posts, to which

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 21

canes were fastened inside and outside and
plastered with white clay. These cabins
were generally constructed with a width of
twelve feet and a length of twenty, with
one door, sometimes two, opposite each
other, and no windows. At one end of the
cabin was a fireplace with two bedsteads
on each side made of canes and covered
with bear skins.

Two or three families would unite to
build a "hot house" about thirty feet in
diameter and fifteen feet high, in the form
of a cone, to which there was no opening
except one small door large enough to crawl
through. A fire was kept burning in the
center of the building. Here the owners
slept during the cold winter nights on
couches round the walls.

The Town House, or Council House, was
a large building circular in form, having
opposite the entrance a high seat capable
of holding about six persons. On this sat
the chief, with his wife at his right hand.
Benches ran round the walls on either side
from the throne to the entrance. In the
center of the building was a fire which was

22 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

kept constantly burning under the direc
tion of the high priest.

The benches on which the people sat
during the day were at night covered with
bear skins and used for beds. Rugs or mats
also served as couches to sleep on. The
cabins were said to be as hot as ovens and
filled with dirt and vermin. The kitchen
utensils consisted of pots, bowls, or basins
made of clay, which the Indian women
were very expert in making. Spoons were
shells; gourds made excellent cups. A
sharp piece of flint served as a knife. Axes
were wedge-shaped stones weighing two
or three pounds, to which a handle was
fastened made of two pieces of hickory
twisted around the notched head of the ax.
A mortar for beating corn was made by
burning a hollow on the top side of a log.
Beating corn was the work of the girls,
four of whom usually worked /together,
keeping time as they beat.

After the coming of the white men the
Indians became dependent on them for iron
utensils and implements of work.

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 23

CHAPTER IV.
Dress of the Men — Dress of the Women.

In warm weather very little clothing was
worn. In severe weather men wore a coat
of hair, fur or feathers, which was known
as a match-coat. When made of feathers,
it was very pretty, having figures worked
in it and shining like silk. Sometimes these
coats were made of the green parts of the
skins of mallards' heads sewn together with
the sinews of deer divided very small, or
with silk grass. After the natives became
acquainted with the white man, some of
them adopted a costume resembling the
kilts of the Highlanders of Scotland. On
their legs were cloth leggins, ornamented
with beads, lace or tinsel ; their feet were
encased in shoes of dressed deer skin known
as bucks or moccasins, soft and fitting the
foot as a glove fits the hand. Around the
neck, suspended by a ribbon on the breast
were worn large silver crescents. The head
was bound with a very curious diadem
about four inches broad, decorated with
stones, beads, porcupine quills or feathers
of crane or heron. The young men as well

24 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA,

as the young women were fond of decorat
ing themselves.

The men shaved their heads, leaving a
narrow crest or comb about two inches
broad and the same height on the top of
the head widening towards the back, where
it was ornamented with silver quills and
plates. The middle plait of hair was wrap
ped in a silver quill, or run through a reed,
and ended in a tail. To the ears were fas
tened huge rings, and eagle, heron or other
birds' feathers were placed in the holes.

They rubbed themselves daily with bear's
oil to keep their limbs supple. For orna
ment they painted their heads, necks and
breasts with vermillion paint, which they
always requested in asking for presents
from the white man. They often tattooed
their bodies with figures of animals, stars,
flowers and pictures that formed a record
of their deeds in war, which would strike
terror in their enemies. Warriors who had
performed some gallant exploit in war
often had a tomahawk tattooed on the left
shoulder. The figure to be tattooed was
first pricked on the skin, after which pow
dered charcoal was rubbed in.

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 25

When the English first saw the Indians,
the women of the coast wore garments of
moss with beads of many colors about their
necks. They bound their hair in a long roll
like a horse's tail, wound with strings of
beads made from shells or even with a
leather string. Their shoes were similar
to those worn by the men, and like them in
severe weather they protected themselves
by means of match-coats. Skins of the bear
and of the deer carefully tanned, some
times colored and checkered with red and
black, also served to keep off the cold.
When they were able to obtain the goods
manufactured by the English, the women
began to dress in skirts and waistcoats of
calico, printed linen or fine cloth decorated
with beads and lace, and to plait their hair
and fasten it on top of the head in a knot,
to which were tied many streamers of col
ored ribbon, reaching almost to the ground.
All this finery was reserved for particular
occasions. They never used paint on their
faces.

26 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

CHAPTER V.
Agriculture — Hunting — Fishing — Cooking.

The whole town planted in one vast field,
in which the share of each family was
marked off by a strip of grass or some other
natural boundary. It very rarely happened
that anything was stolen from a family's
portion. To clear a field, the grass and
underbrush were burned, and the smaller
trees cut down ; the large trees were dead
ened by cutting the bark in a ring around
the base, and as they rotted down they
were removed from the field. The soil was
dug by means of sharpened sticks or shells
on the ends of sticks, until the hoe was in
troduced by the English. Although the na
tives cultivated only the poorest ground,
because they could not clear the best on
account of the timber, they raised good
crops of corn — two crops in a year — beans,
onions, pumpkins, watermelons and musk-
melons. They also cultivated a species of
peach. In the woods grew acorns, grapes,
strawberries, mulberries, many kinds of

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 27

nuts, persimmons, and wild potatoes.

The maize, or corn crop was the most
important. It was planted by the men, and
the Cherokees put seven grains in each hill,
and after the crop had been harvested, set
aside seven ears for the purpose of attract
ing the corn to next year's crop. When the
new corn had been worked for the last
time the priest and his assistant went by
night to the middle of the field and there
built an enclosure, in which the priest sang
songs for four successive nights calling on
the spirit of the corn. A loud rustling was
soon heard, caused, as they believed, by the
"Old Woman" bringing the corn into the
field. For seven days no one entered the
field, when the priest went again among
the corn and found the young ears. Care
was always taken to keep a clean trail from
the field to the house, in order that the corn
might be encouraged to stay at home and
not wander.

When the crops were ready for harvest
ing, the families of the village assembled,
and each carried away to its own store
house, or crib, the fruits of the portion of
ground alloted to it. The women perhaps

28 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

did most of the harvesting. A certain
amount was taken from each man's store
and deposited in the chief's crib as a sort
of public treasury to which each family
could go when its own stock was used up;
and from his crib provisions were taken
for the aid of neighboring towns, for war,
and for the entertainment of travelers.

The forests of South Carolina abounded
in bears, deer, hares, squirrels, opossums,
raccoons, turkeys, quails, and geese and
ducks in the winter season. Buffalos were
once very numerous, but disappeared be
fore the white man. Panthers, wolves and
other beasts of prey made night hideous
with their cries.

Hunting was the occupation of the men.
At the beginning of the winter they went
out in great numbers, often to great dis
tances, telling the direction by the growth
of a certain moss upon the trees. Women
went along to do the cooking and carry the
provisions. Cooking went on all day and
for a great part of the night, and during
these trips the Indians lived with all the
mirth and jollity of which they were
capable. It was not unusual in the early

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 29

days of the colony for a settler to hire an
Indian to supply his family with wild meat,
fish and fowl.

Deer were hunted by means of a disguise,
which enabled the hunter to come close to
his game. He put on a coat of deer skin
with the hair on and set on his head a
buck's head to which enough skin had been
left to cover the hunter's neck and fall over
his shoulders. The eyes of the buck were
in some way unknown preserved as if liv
ing. In this garb the hunter, on his hands
and knees, was able to creep as close to a
deer as he pleased. Sometimes it happened
that two hunters, each taking the other
for a deer, stalked each other, and one was
killed; for which reason this method of
hunting was not practiced in the more pop
ulous districts.

By firing the woods for many miles the
hunters drove the deer and other game into
a small neck of land, where they killed
what they pleased.

Bows and arrows were the weapons used
by the hunter until he obtained the gun
from the English colonists. But even then
turkeys, ducks, and other small game were

30 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA,

killed by means of the bow and arrow.

A young hunter never ate of the first
deer, bear, or any kind of game that he
might kill for fear that he would never
afterwards be fortunate. When a deer
was slain, a Cherokee hunter cut out the
hamstring from the hindquarter and threw
it away, because he imagined that if he
ate of it he would easily tire in traveling.
This same Indian would tell you that all
animals were divided into tribes like human
beings, and that the chief of the deer tribe
was "Little Deer/' who kept constant watch
over his subjects and saw that no one was
slain for mere sport. As soon as a deer was
killed he was supposed to come and inquire
of the blood spilled on the ground if the
hunter had asked pardon for the life he
had taken. If he had not said the proper
prayer over the dead deer, Litjtle Deer
tracked the man to his home and put into
his body the spirit of rheumatism. Once in
a lifetime, Little Deer, who was a spirit,
appeared as a small white deer, and the
hunter who was so fortunate as to kill this
deer and secure the antlers had in them a

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 31

charm that made him successful in every
chase.

The hunter avoided the wolf, because he
believed that if he should kill a wolf he
would spoil his gun. This animal could be
killed only by a professional wolf-killer,
who knew the proper charms and cere
monies. Likewise the eagle, which was the
sacred bird of the Cherokees, could be slain
only by the eagle-killer. Once a hunter who
did not know the ceremonies over the dead
bird killed an eagle and was, in conse
quence, haunted by dreams of fierce eagles
swooping down upon him so that he had
to go to a priest and undergo a long treat
ment before the dreams left him.

The rivers and ponds abounded in fish.
Oysters were plentiful in the waters of the
coast. The natives displayed great skill in
taking fish, which they did in most of the
ways known to us. A favorite method was
to shoot them with arrows, or to spear
them with cane reeds sharpened and the
points hardened in the fire. Fish were
usually speared in the night by the light of
a torch which was carried by a man or boy
accompanying the fisherman. Hooks of

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

bone and lines of the sinews of deer were
also used; but traps, wiers and nets were
the usual means employed to catch fish.
By means of horse-chestnuts pounded fine
the fish in ponds were stupified, so that
they floated apparently lifeless on the top
of the water and were thus captured. The
Indians living on the coast dried great
quantities of fish for winter use.

But the natives were not good at pro
viding against the necessities of the future,
and it not unfrequently happened that their
small stores failed. In this event they were
compelled to live on roots, the tender shoots
of plants, and whatever other edible things
they could find in the woods.

Before the Indians learned the use of
the flint and steel from the white man, they
obtained fire by rubbing two stacks to
gether. Over the fire thus made the wo
man prepared the food for the family. In
a large earthen pot she boiled beans and
venison together as a soup, of which all
were very fond, though it was said by some
tribes that soup caused shortness of wind,
so that it was avoided by them. Corn was
pounded in a mortar and, with the husks

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 33

removed, was boiled as hominy, or it was
mixed with bear's oil or hickorynut milk,
which was the oil obtained by boiling hick
ory nuts and walnuts and fried in cakes or

baked as bread. Corn was also parched
and pounded into meal, which was used
especially by parties going on long jour
neys. To bake loaves, the coals were re
moved from a part of the hearth, which
was swept clean, and the dough placed
upon it was covered with an earthen dish,
and over this coals were heaped. In this
way a very fair tasting loaf was baked.
Meat was also roasted as well as boiled.
Whatever was boiled was cooked until it
was well done.

There were no tables or regular hours
for eating; but each took his portion from

the pot with a spoon, which was generally
made of a shell, and ate it with his bread or
cake. The first bit taken at the meal was
cast into the fire as an offering of thanks,
as we ask a blessing before eating.

It was a common belief that a man was
like the food that he ate. Whoever fed on
venison was sure to be more swift than he
who lived on the flesh of the clumsy bear,

34 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

the slow-footed ox, or the heavy, wallow
ing swine. Some of the most renowned
chiefs entirely avoided the flesh of animate
slow in their movements.

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 35

CHAPTER VI.

Trade — Money — Mr. Galphin and the
Indian Chief.

The natives very early came into close
relations with the English through their
desire to possess many of the things which
they saw used by the latter, and also the
English found that they could make a great
profit from the deer skins belonging to the
Indians. Some of the earliest settlers ex
changed beads and old clothes with the
natives for deer skins, hens and earthen
pots. In a very short time traders had
visited the tribes several hundred; miles
from the coast. Goods were carried up
the rivers in canoes known as periaugoes,
or through the country on pack-horses.
These horses were driven by men called
pack-horse men, each of whom carried a
tough cowhide whip. When the sun was
already high in the heavens, the horses in
Indian file, an old one in the lead, began
the day's journey, and a trot was kept up
till the poor creatures could go no farther.
Each horse wore a bell, so that the con-

36 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

stant clatter of the bells, cracking of whips
and shouting of drivers, who used words
from the Indian language, caused a terrific
din and confusion. A trader owned a house
in some Indian town and often married a
woman of that place, especially that he
might have her influence in inducing the
Indians to bring their skins to him. Deer
skins took the place of money. The fol
lowing is part of a list of goods sent to the
Indian country in 1716, with the prices in
buckskins:

Guns: value of each, 30 buckskins.

Pistols: value of each, 20 buckskins.

Bullets: value of 50, one buckskin.

Blankets: value of each, 14 buckskins.

Calico dresses: value of each, 12 buck
skins.

Shirts : value of each, 4 buckskins.

Laced hats: value of each, 8 buckskins.

Hatchets: value of each, 2 buckskins.

Broad hoes: value of each, 4 buckskins.

Butcher knives: value of each, 1 buck
skin.

Cizars (scissors) : value of each, 1 buck
skin.

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 37

Salt, kettles, looking glasses, gunpowder,
"as you can."

The trader to whom these goods were
sent was instructed to give no credit. For
a long time it was against the law to sell
firearms or ammunition to the Indians, and
whiskey was also forbidden, of which they
were extremely fond. According to an
early history of the Indians of Carolina,
whiskey was at one time measured by the
mouthful, and the buyer made choice of
his man, who was one with the largest
mouth he could find. If he swallowed any
of the liquor, the man for whom he was
measuring was likely to give him a severe
beating, so that the bystanders were greatly
amused at the trading.

The current money among the Indians
of Carolina was peak, roanok, or wampum
made from conch-shells, which were broken
into pieces, and then each of these was
ground into a small cylinder. These cylin
ders were pierced and strung in strings,
about eleven feet of which would purchase
one buckskin. Peak was white or purple,
the latter beng the more valuable. It was
said that with this the Indians "buy off

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

murders; and whatsoever a man can do
that is ill, this wampum will quit him of,
and make him in their opinion, good and
virtuous, though never so black before."

When a present was made to an Indian,
he was desirous of securing another larger
than the first. A story of the famous trader,
George Galphin, illustrates this craving for
presents, and also the superiority of the
white man in outwitting the Indian. A
great chief from beyond the Savannah
River came to Mr. Galphin's trading store
and the next morning after his arrival said
to the trader, "Me dreamed last night/'
"Ah," said he, "what did my red brother
dream?" "Me dream you give me that rifle,
replied the chief, pointing to a fine rifle be
longing to Mr. Galphin. "If you dreamed
it," answered Mr. Galphin, "you must have
it;" and he handed the rifle to the Indian.
Next morning the white man said, "I
dreamed last night," and the chief wish
ing to know what he had dreamed, he told
him that he dreamed he had received as a
present the Chickesaw stallion, a fine horse
which the chief was riding. "If you dream
um, you must have um," said the Indian,

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 39

presenting the horse to the trader. Now
was the red man's turn to dream, and his
dream was for the red coat which Mr. Gal-
phin wore and for much calico. These he
received, for he had dreamed for them, and
he must have them. Then the trader
dreamed, and on the following morning
said, "I dreamed last night." "What you
dream?" asked the chief. "I dreamed,"
was the reply, you gave me ten miles
around the Ogeechee Old Town." "Wugh,"
exclaimed the chief, if you dream um, you
must have um; but I dream with you no

40 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

CHAPTER VII.

Music — Dancing — Games — Knowledge of

Writing — Reckoning of Time —

Canoes — Pipes.

The chief musical instrument of the Car
olina Indians were a drum made of an
earthen pot covered with a piece of dressed
deer skin, on which the performer beat
with a single stick, and a rattle or gourd
with a few beans in it. As one man drum
med, the other beat with his rattle on his
hand or against a post. A song accom
panied the music, which was admirable
for the exact time of the singers, but was
described as an "unsavory jargon." An
other instrument on which a hideous noise
was made, was a flute of reed or of the
bone of a deer's leg. This music was the
especial pleasure of young men.

Every evening during the summer
months the families of a village met to
dance and amuse themselves. The most
common step used by the dancers was a
sort of slow shuffling, both feet being
moved forward one after the other, the

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 41

right foot first. The young men moved
in a circle from left to right, and the young
women within this circle shuffled in the
opposite direction. At the end of each
stanza of the song that accompanied the
dance the young women clapped their
hands and raised their voices in answer to
a shout of the men, who also struck their
arms with their open palms. The Indians
were said to have been able to dance many
nights in succession without wearying.
They danced, in fact, so violently for the
purpose of accustoming themselves to great
fatigue. It is related of a French dancing
master who had settled near the coast that
he taught the Indians "country dances/'
and got a good estate.

All occasions were celebrated by dances
so that there were dances of a purely so
cial character, dances at the time of sow
ing seed and of harvest, dances at the
making of peace, dances in going to war
and on the return, dances at religious fes
tivals.

Every morning, summer and winter alike,
the men swam as one of the first exercises
of the day, in the river near the town.

42 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

Swimming was supposed to make them
straight. They engaged also in wrestling,
jumping, running, throwing and games of
ball. Football was a favorite sport; but
the game most loved and esteemed the no
blest and manliest was that now played in
Canada as lacrosse. One town having chal
lenged another, the players met on the
appointed day, and having exhorted to fair
play and to bring the glory of the victory
to their town, they gathered at the center
of the field. Here the ball, which was
made of deerskin and stuffed with deer's
hair, was thrown high in the air. As it
fell, the contestants on either side tried to
catch it in the net at the end of the ball-
stick and hurl it towards the opponent's
goal. To score, the ball had to be thrown
between the two poles. Young women
played this game as well as young men.

Ball players did not eat the flesh of the
hare, because it, so the Indians said, be
came easily confused in running.

Another game often played, and a favor
ite among all the Southern Indians, was
Chunge, or Chunkey. This was played on
the "yard" Or alley near the Council House

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 43

prepared for the game, being about two
hundred feet long, usually with a hard clay
surface. It was a game of the warriors,
two of whom played at a time. The two
started at a run; after a few yards one of
them cast with all his might a round stone,
rolling it towards the center of the opposite
end. As it rolled, both hurled the poles
well greased with bear's oil, which they
held in their hands, in the direction it was
going, with the view to making them stop
as near as possible to it when it came to
rest. If a player's pole touched the stone,
he was given two points on the game, other
wise the player whose pole was nearest
scored one point. Chunkey was so fasci
nating to the Indians that the players would
stake even the clothes they were wearing
on the result.

The Indians were great gamblers and
often, after losing everything else, risked
their very persons. The loser became the
servant of the winner until he could be re
deemed. They are said not to have quar
reled over their games. Dice were persim
mon seeds, and the winning or losing de-

44 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

pended on which side fell uppermost, and
how they happened to fall together.

The natives of Carolina had no system
of writing. They painted signs and figures
on skins and scratched rudely on wood,
bone, or stone, and could indicate in this
way the direction and strength of a war
party. When a treaty of peace was made,
belts of wampum were exchanged and
kept as records of the event, a narrative
of the transaction being in the figures
worked on them. Distances were reckoned
by sleeps, one of which was twenty-four
hours. A man was as old as the number
of winters he had lived. The year was
divided into thirteen moons, which had
names from the principal fruits gathered,
or animals hunted, or they would say, "we
will return when the dogwood blooms," or
"when the turkey cocks gobble." Thus the
first moon was the "Deer" moon ; the eighth
the "Turkey" moon, followed by the "Buf
falo" and "Bear" moons; the year ended
with the "Walnut" moon. There were
three divisions of the day, "the sun's com
ing out," "midday," and "the sun fallen
into the water." The time of day was de-

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 45

termined by the number of handbreadths
the sun was above the horizon. The Chero-
kees could count as high as a hundred. A
northwest wind was called "cold wind,"
while the south wind was known as the
"warm wind."

To build a boat, a tree, if possible a cy
press, was felled, and a part of it was
burned off the length of the boat. This
was hollowed out by means of fire and was
scraped smooth inside and outside with
the sharp edge of shells. Both ends were
frequently sharpened and curved upward.
Short paddles were used to paddle these
eanoes, which were sometimes large
enough to carry forty men.

The red man was never without his pipe,
originally a gift, it was said, from the Great
Spirit, and a sign of peace and friendship.
Women also smoked. Pipes were made of
stone and of clay. The common clay pipe,
which looked very much like the pipe of to
day, disappeared when the white man be
gan to sell his pipes to the Indians. The
choicest pipes were cut from stone, requir
ing months of labor in polishing and hol
lowing the bowl, as there were no iron tools,

46 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

only pieces of flint stone and perhaps a cane
reed, with sand and water, for a drill. But
Indians were never in a hurry over their
work. The bowls were of various shapes —
birds, animals, human heads. Stems were
originally cane reeds.

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 47

CHAPTER VIII.

Weapons— War Titles— War— War-
Women — Torture of Prisoners —
Peace.

The chief weapon of the warrior was the
bow and arrow. Even after the white
man's gun was placed in the hands of the
Indian he continued to carry his bow to
war with him. His arrows he could dis
charge in rapid succession and with deadly
aim, with such force that they could pierce
through an inch or more of pine board. A
frightened Spaniard at whom the Indians
of Florida had shot declared that their
arrows would go through a tree several
inches in diameter. The arrows were of
reed cane about three or four feet long and
tipped with a fish bone or stone chipped to
a point. The flight of the arrow was of
ten made more accurate by means of a
feather near the notch in the end of the
shaft. Bows were usually of hickory, or
locust, of which the choicest bows were
made, the length being about four feet. A
quiver of deer or panther skin hung over

48 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

the left shoulder held the arrows in easy
reach of the warrior's hand. A deer's
sinew formed the string for the bow.
Other weapons of war were clubs and axes
of stone, and after the whites came, knives
and hatchets, or tomahawks. The Chero-
kees were so skilful in throwing the toma
hawk as to kill with it at a considerable
distance.

The young Cherokee warriors were
known as gun-men and could be summoned
by the chief to act as his servants on the
march. After they had scalped a number
of the enemy, they received the title of
"slave-catcher," from which they could rise
to that of "raven," and from that to the dis
tinction of "man-killer". The highest title
was "warrior". At every promotion their
necks, cheeks and breasts were tattooed
with figures indicating their rank. The
"warriors," or "warrior chiefs," led the
war parties.

When it had been determined to go on
the warpath, the men rid themselves of all
superfluous flesh under the direction of a
medicine man, whose influence was almost
supreme even in directing the movements

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 49

of the party. The men had their hair
combed out by the women and greased
with bear's oil and colored with a red
powder. Eagle feathers decorated the
head and were also placed in the ears to
which strings of beads and rings of copper
were fastened. The face was painted
with vermillion, often all over, with a
circle of black about one eye and of white
about the other, or it was daubed with clay
of different colors, or with soot or black
lead. More hideous objects could scarcely
be imagined.

Before the party left the town the war
riors drank in the public square a drink
known as the black drink and danced the
war dance, in which they indicated by ges
tures what they were going to do to the
enemy.

The old men, the women and the child
ren were left at home. With a war party
of the Cherokees went one woman for the
purpose of cooking and looking after the
camp. After a few campaigns she was
given the title of "war-woman," or "pretty
woman," and all prisoners whom she
demanded became hers to do with as she

50 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

pleased. Her power was such that she
could declare war. There were only a
few "war-women" in the whole Cherokee
nation. Traders, in order to rescue a pris
oner, would bribe one of these women to
claim him as her slave, and afterwards
secure his release from her. In order to
claim him, she must get near enough to lay
her hands on him and say, "This is my
man," so that she often had to resort to a
disguise to prevent his being killed by his
captor, who might otherwise slay him, if
she was seen trying to approach.

A declaration of war was sometimes
made by setting up arrows along the path
to the principal town of the enemy, or a
defiance was sent to them in the form of a
verbal message or of a weapon painted red.
At other times war was begun without pre
vious warning.

When the leader was ready to start he
uttered the war-whoop, or fired his gun as
a signal to his followers, who came immedi
ately after him, all whooping or firing their
guns in token of defiance. The troop
marched after the leader in single, or In
dian, file, each man stepping in the tracks

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 51

of the warrior in front, the last man often
removing all traces of the march by cover
ing the tracks with grass or leaves. Very
little food was eaten during the march.
Each man carried a small bag of parched
corn ground to a powder. A handful of
this meal he mixed with a pint of water and
swallowed, and in this way he was able to
subsist for many days. To drink, he dip
ped up the water in the hollow of his hand
and tossed it in to his mouth. It is said
that when the party came to a fallen tree,
instead of crossing it, they went around.
At night they lay in a circle around the
camp-fire feet inside, their weapons ready
beside them. No one moved after a signal
from the leader. As a rule, no watch was
kept, inasmuch as every slight noise was
sufficient to arouse them and put them at
once on the alert.

War parties were always small, and a
pitched battle was rare. The Indians
always tried to take the enemy off guard,
attacking suddenly with frightful yells,
which were meant to strike terror into the
hearts of the foe. If repulsed, they came
on again; but a steady fight was unusual,

52 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

nor did the fighting last long. Every one
was slain without regard to age or sex.
Few prisoners were taken. The dead and
wounded were scalped, which the victors
accomplished by running a knife point
around the edge of the hair and then jerk
ing the skin off the head. This was care
fully dried and preserved as a trophy, in
some towns fastened on poles above the
Council House. On the return of the party
there was a dance known as the scalp
dance, in which the wives and sweethearts
of the warriors carried the scalps at the
ends of poles. The men gave an account
of what had been done on the exepedition.
Prisoners who were kept as slaves were
treated with a great degree of kindness, so
that even white prisoners sometimes pre
ferred to remain among the Indians to
going back to their own people. A captive
Indian was adopted into the tribe of his
captors; by his own people he was usually
regarded as dead. When a prisoner of
distinguished reputation was taken, in a
spirit of revenge and exultation, horrible
tortures were inflicted upon him, and his
life was prolonged as long as possible be-

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 53

fore death released him from suffering.
The chief tormenters of the tortured pris
oner were the women, who did all they
could to break his spirit and make him
show signs of weakness. It was no uncom
mon torture to stick pine splinters into his
body and set them on fire and make him
in this condition dance around a fire until
he expired.

To test the courage and endurance of a
prisoner, his captors forced him to "run the
gauntlet/' that is, to run around the public
square, or between two rows of Indians,
and receive from his tormenters blows from
sticks and clubs. If he succeeded in reach
ing a goal that was pointed out to him he
was safe for the time.

In almost every tribe or nation there
were several "peaceable" towns known as
"old beloved, ancient, holy, or white
towns," because they took a chief part in
all things relating to peace. Echota, near
the mouth of the Little Tennessee River,
was the great "white town" of the Chero-
kees. If a man had killed another and
could reach one of these towns he was safe
so long as he remained there.

54 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

Two things were necessary in making a
treaty of peace, the peace-pipe and belts of
wampum, which were both white in color.
The peace-pipe was decorated with eagle's
wings and served as a flag of truce to the
messengers carrying the peace proposals.
If the pipe was received, and both parties
took alternate whiffs from it, each knew
that the peace would be acceptable. The
terms of the treaty were then agreed upon.
No treaty was considered binding without
the delivery of a belt of wampum as a guar
anty and memorial. Various designs were
worked upon the belt to commemorate the
event. In the language of the red man,
the treaty was to remain in force so long as
the sun shone and the rivers ran into the
sea. Old Hop, the "great beloved man" of
the Cherokees, sent to the governor of Car
olina a pipe which he was to bring with him
to Keowee (on the border of the Indian
country) that they both might there smoke
it, and "the people of Charleston and the
Cherokees in the mountains might see the
smoke ascend and know that there was
peace."

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 55

CHAPTER IX.

The King — Great War Chief — Beloved
Men — Punishment for Crime.

In every town or tribe there was a head
man, chief, king, or cassique, as he was
known among the tribes near the coast.
This ruler was for the most part elected
by the people, but sometimes the office was
hereditary, in which instance the son of the
chief's sister was the heir. He presided
over the council of beloved men, composed
of subordinate chiefs, warriors and others
respectable for wisdom and valor, which
was the supreme governing body. He was
honored with every mark of love and re
spect, and in his absence no other could sit
in his seat. Yet he associated with the com
mon people as one of them, often not dif
fering in dress from the average man, and
his house not being superior to the others.
In the council his voice was no more than
that of any other member, and his advice
was taken as coming from the wisest and
best man of the tribe. The king of the San-
tee Indians had the power of life and death

56 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

over his subjects. A chief's office was for
life, or during good behavior. Occasionally
a tribe was governed by a woman.

Next to the king in power and dignity
was the Great War Chief, or Warrior Chief,
who led the forces of the tribe in time of
war. His voice was most important in mil
itary matters; but when the king went out
with a war party, he was in command. His
seat in the council was on the left of the
king.

The council of beloved men met in the
council house in matters that required
secrecy. Every day the king, the beloved
men and the warriors met in the public
square to smoke their pipes and discuss the
news of the day. The most slow and de
liberate debate was employed in all mat
ters. When an aged man was speaking, he
was listened to with the greatest attention
and with perfect silence. In fact, no orator
was interrupted in the midst of his speech.
After every man had given his opinion, of
all the opinions the one prevailed which
had most voices, or was found to be most
reasonable. There was no wrangling
among the members of the council.

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 5T

When a man was murdered, the nearest
relative was required to slay the murderer ;
but he could be bought off, and the mur
derer go free. If an Indian killed a white
man, his tribe refused to give him up until
forced to do so for the general safety. In
place of the murderer some relative could
suffer the penalty. A Chickesaw Indian
was demanded by the English that they
might put him to death for the murder of
a white man. His uncle offered himself in
his place and did actually cut his own
throat with a butcher knife. At the same
time he sent his nephew a message to be
have himself for the future, since he had no
more uncles to die for him.

The natives rarely stole from one of their
race. If an Indian was convicted of steal
ing from another's cornfield, he was com
pelled to work for the man whom he had
robbed until he had repaid all.

A person guilty of poisoning was con
demned to death with horrible tortures. He
was seated on the ground in the midst of
the assembled tribe, and the executioner,
cutting the skin of his wrists, pulled off the
skin of his hands like a glove. Then his

58 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

bones were broken, and he was beaten to
death with violent blows. After death had
put an end to his tortures his body was
burned, and the ashes were cast into the
river.

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 59

CHAPTER X.
Medicine Man — Medicine — Tooth Pulling.

A very important man in the village was
the conjurer, or medicine man, who was
also a priest. His knowledge of the healing
properties of plants gave him a decided ad
vantage over the others, besides his ability,
as the natives believed, to communicate
with spirits. With him were several junior
priests or students, who always wore a
white mantle and often carried on their
arm a stuffed owl. As they strolled about
town with solemn countenance and digni
fied step, they sang softly to themselves.
These "jugglers," or conjurers, professed
to be able to procure rain and seasons favor
able for the fruits of the earth, bring
droughts, expel evil spirits, direct thunder
and lightning, and predict the result of an
expedition.

Diseases were supposed to be caused by
evil spirits, and the doctor's efforts were
directed for the most part to driving these
away. A Cherokee tradition said that ani
mals and fishes had once decided to send

60 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

sickness and disease upon men, in order to
be revenged for the way in which they
were being slain. So men began to be sick.
But all the trees, plants, and moss and
grass took the side of man, and when a
man was attacked by a disease, the spirit
of the plant that could cure it made the
plant known, and so medicine came. The
Indian doctor had a wonderful knowledge
of the healing power of plants. Every other
day there was drunk by every one a
draught of a tea made from the leaves of
the yaupon, commonly called "black
drink." This drink was also taken before
any business of a public nature was begun.

When the doctor came into the cabin the
patient was laid on his back upon a mat.
After bleeding the sick man, the doctor
began to mutter and "cut capers," till you
would have thought that he was going
crazy, stopping now and then to draw more
blood. At last he made an end and told
the patient's friends whether he was going
to live or die.

There were no surgeons to cut off injured
limbs, and the man who was wounded
either recovered or died. Owing to the

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 61

hardiness of the red man, he often recov
ered from wounds that would have caused
the death of a white man; and also the
Indian medicine man had great skill in
healing wounds. For rheumatism and
stiffness of joints the patient was put in a
tight cabin with a fire and sweated. Rub
bing with bear's oil kept the limbs supple.
A tooth that had to come out was not
pulled, but it was knocked out by means
of a small reed with a bit of leather on the
end. This method of getting rid of an ach
ing tooth was said to be easier than pulling
as practiced by the white dentists of that
time.

62 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

CHAPTER XL

Burial Ceremonies — Good and Evil Spirits.
Heaven — Idols — Charms — Busk.

The funeral ceremonies varied accord
ing to the rank of the dead man. Women
were buried without any of the ceremonies
granted to men. When a great man died
his body lay for a day and a night in a
house built for the purpose, mourned over
by the nearest relatives. The persons in
charge of the burial then went into the
village and from the first young men they
met took such blankets and match-coats
as they needed. In these the body was
wrapped, and two or three mats rolled
around them. Over all was a large mat,
which was tied at both ends, for a coffin.
The dead man was now taken to the peach
orchard, where a medicine man delivered
a long oration to the assembled relatives,
in which he recounted the brave deeds of
their deceased relation, how great he was,
and what happiness would be his in the
next world. From here the whole nation
accompanied the corpse to the grave, which

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 63

was about eight feet long and six feet deep.
Into this it was lowered upon a layer of
bark and covered tightly with a sort of roof,
upon which was heaped the earth that had
come from the grave. After the flesh had
fallen from the bones they were taken up,
cleaned and jointed and, dressed in white
deer skin, laid away in the cabin where
the bones of the great men rested. If the
tribe moved, the bones were carried to the
new home.

Every night while the body lay in the
grave, the relatives of the dead man came
to it and wept and howled in a most dis
mal manner, their faces blacked with soot
and bear's oil. Tears were shed by hired
mourners, who were said to have been very
expert.

As life in the next world was supposed
to be like this, many tribes buried with
the dead man his gun, his best bow, a
quiver full of arrows, and everything that
would be of use to him.

All Indians believed in the existence of
a good and a bad spirit. The good spirit,
whom the Cherokees called "Great Man,"
and the Catawbas "Overseer," was regard-

64 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

ed as the creator of all things, who taught
men how to overcome the wild beasts of
the forest and make animals to be ser
vants of man. The bad spirit, they said,
tormented people with sickness, disap
pointment, hunger and all ill fortune that
came to them.

Heaven was supposed to be in this world
at a great distance, to which went those
men who had been good hunters, brave
warriors, just and upright, and had done
all the good they could. These lived in a
warm and pleasant country, where were
green and flowery meadows and great for
ests filled with deer and all kinds of game.
They had everything that they could de
sire. On the other hand, Indians who had
been lazy, had stolen from other Indians,
or had been bad hunters and warriors and
of no use to the nation, these went to the
country where they were always hungry
and cold, and snakes and ugly women were
their companions.

The old traveler whom we have men
tioned before says that in the cabin where
the bones of the great men were deposited
were also kept idols; but in reality the na-

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 65

lives of Carolina were not worshippers of
idols: the great objects of their adoration
were the sun and the moon. Every morn
ing when the king rose, he went to the
door of his cabin and, as the sun came up,
he blew a puff of smoke from his pipe to
ward it in token of greeting. At the time
of planting corn and beans there was set
up in the field a sort of idol dressed up as
an Indian^ which the old men told the
young was the spirit of a famous warrior
come back to see how they did their work,
and if they had done well, he would go
back and tell the good spirit, who would
send them plenty of corn and make them
all skilful hunters and mighty warriors.

The Cherokees believed in a spirit peo
ple who would make themselves visible and
could not be told from real men and wo
men. There were spirits that dwelled in
the wigwams, though no one ever saw
them. Tsawasi was the name of a tiny
fellow who lived in the grass on the hill
side, and to him hunters prayed for skill
to creep up on the deer through the long
grass without being seen. A mischievous
little spirit was Detsata, who was fond of

66 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

hiding the arrows of the hunter and fright
ening up flocks of birds.

Every one wore a charm of some kind
to keep off evil spirits. The hunter who
was fortunate enough to possess some of

the powder from the madstone which was
found in the stomach of a deer could, it
was believed, put a little of it in his eye
and see much more clearly. The warrior
had his "war medicine" to prevent him
self from being slain. Some noted war
riors were supposed to be able to change
shape as they pleased; others, that they
could dive under the ground and come up
among their friends. It was said that a
few chiefs were able to put their lives up
in a tree while the battle was raging, so
that even if their bodies were struck they
would not be killed.

Almost every month had its festival ; but
the great religious festival was the cele
bration of the ripening of the corn, known
as the Busk, or "green-corn dance." Each
town held its own celebration at the ripen
ing of its corn. The old clothes, pots, pans
and household furniture were destroyed
and replaced by new; the old grain re-

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 67

maining from the preceding year was
burned ; the town was cleansed of all its
filth. Criminals were pardoned, and their

crimes were forgotten. Every fire was put
out, and for three days the inhabitants
drank black drink and fasted. On the
morning of the fourth day the chief priest
made a new fire in the public square by
rubbing two sticks together, and every
cabin was supplied with a new clean fire.
Then the women went out into the fields
and gathered fruits and corn, with which
they prepared dishes for the men, that
they might eat of them in the town square.
What was left the women and children ate
in their homes. The entire night follow
ing was devoted to dancing and singing.
And four days were then spent rejoicing
with their friends and in receiving and
paying visits.

68 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

CHAPTER XII.

The White Mian and the Red Man — Indian
Wars.

A Spanish expedition landed in 1520 on
the coast of South Carolina, or Chicora,
as the natives called the country. Here, so
the sailors were told, lived a race of giants
and a people with tails. These giants were
said to be made by being fed on a special
kind of food and by having their limbs
stretched when they were infants to make
them large. When the Spaniards sailed
away, they carried off some of the Indians
to sell as slaves. This cruel treatment was
afterwards the cause of much suffering to
the Spaniards who returned to this part of
America.

Half a century later a Spanish priest,
Father Rogel, came from the Spanish set
tlements in Florida to the country north
of the Savannah River in order to convert
the natives to Christianity. In six months
he was able to preach to them in their own
language. His congregation was beginning
to show signs of earnestness, and he was

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 69

dreaming of success when his whole flock
suddenly disappeared in the forest. They
had gone to gather acorns for the winter.
He followed them and in eight months de
cided that they were ready for baptism
and called a council of the chiefs, to whom
he proposed that the tribe should accept
the new faith. To his amazement they
unanimously cried out that they preferred
to keep the evil spirit, for they adored him
because he made men valiant. Father
Rogel then gave up trying to convert these
Indians.

The famous explorer Hernando de Soto
seems to have crossed the Savannah into
what is now South Carolina near where
Augusta stands. A powerful queen lived
here, whom the explorer forced to follow
him and to furnish him with carriers ; but
she escaped taking one of the Spaniards
with her. Soto was in search of gold and
silver and was perhaps looking for the
mines in the upper part of the State. About
the time that Father Rogel was trying to
convert the Indians the Spaniards opened
gold mines and worked them, as the old
shafts have proved.

70 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

The English did not try to Christianize
the natives, but entering into friendly re
lations with them began at once to ex
change goods for such produce as they
raised and for skins. As early as 1700
the Indian trade was so good that those
who engaged in it were said to become rich
sooner than in any other way. Not many
years after the beginning of the eighteenth
century the traders had reached more than
a thousand miles inland. A commission
was appointed to control and regulate this
trade, which grew to large proportions and
lasted until shortly before the Revolution,
when the settling of the up-country by the
whites drove out all game.

Indians were used as slaves by the plant
ers, who bought them from neighboring
tribes. They were mostly captives taken
in war. Indian slaves were also sold for
service in the West Indies and New Eng
land.

The Kussoes were the first of the Indian
tribes to act in a hostile manner towards
the English. They declared themselves
friends of the Spaniards and said that with
their help they intended to destroy the Eng-

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 71

lish settlements. Captains Gray and God
frey, who were placed in command of the
two companies that were quickly raised,
within one week invaded the territory of
the Kussoes and took many prisoners. This
bold stroke put an end to the hostilities.

The dreaded Westoes, the most power
ful tribe between Charles Town and the
Savannah River, kept the colonists in a
state of fear for several years. It finally
became necessary to order that none of the
friendly Indians should guide them to the
settlement, and that if they came near it
would be at their peril. The Westoes were
slave-catchers, taking captive their more
feeble neighbors and selling them as slaves,
often to the planters. Finally the Savan
nahs or Yemassees who lived on the Sa
vannah River, defeated the Westoes and
drove them from the province.

In the autumn of 1711 the Tuscaroras
from across the North Carolina border sud
denly attacked the settlements in South
Carolina and "flying like demons from
house to house" massacred one hundred
and thirty settlers of all ages. Colonel John
Barnwell was despatched with a small

72 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

band of whites and numerous friendly In
dians, Cherokees, Creeks, Catawbas, Yem-
assees and others to punish them. After
a long march through the wilderness the
expedition reached the stronghold of the
Tuscaroras, having killed and captured
many^of them on the way. The stronghold
was a town surrounded with a breastwork
of wood. Here Colonel Barnwell, who had
been wounded, made peace and returned
to South Carolina. The South Carolinans
had scarcely reached home when they
were again called out to take the field :
the Tuscaroras had begun a second mas
sacre. From the Congarees Colonel Moore
advanced to meet them in December, 1712,
with forty whites and eight hundred In
dians and after a trying march found a
large force of the Tuscaroras well provided
with arms and well fortified on the Taw
River. After a siege of a few hours Col
onel Moore took the fort, killing two hun
dred and capturing eight hundred of the
enemy, whom he turned over to his savage
allies. These sold the captives as slaves on
their return to South Carolina.

Three years later the Yemassees, uniting

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 73

with other tribes from St. Augustine to
Cape Fear and so completely surrounding
the English broke out into a war that
threatened to destroy the colony. Having
knowledge of the approaching danger,
Governor Craven sent Captain Nairn and
Mr. John Cochran to find out the cause of
the uneasiness among the Yemassees and
to offer them immediate satisfaction. The
Indians pretending to be friendly prepared
a good supper for the visitors ; but at day
break they began a massacre of the whites.
More than ninety persons, among them
Captain Nairn and Mr. Cochran, were
killed at Pocotaligo and the vicinity. The
planters in the neighborhood of Port Royal,
warned in time, to the number of three
hundred, escaped by going on board a mer
chant vessel that happened to be in the
harbor.

When Governor Craven heard of the
massacre on his way to Pocotaligo, he gath
ered as many men as he could and marched
at once on the enemy with orders to Col
onel Mackay to meet him at the Yemassee
Town. He encamped at night sixteen miles
from the town and was attacked early next

74 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

morning by five hundred Yemassees ; but
in spite of the surprise he put his men in
order and routed the enemy after a short
fight. He then returned to Charles Town.
Colonel Mackay on his part surprised the
Indians and drove them from the town.
Two hundred took refuge in another fort.
"A young stripling named Palmer" scaled
the walls of the fort. Driven back, he
returned and drove out the Indians, who
were shot down by Colonel Mackay's men.

A party of four hundred Indians came
down towards Goose Creek, where they
were met by Captain Barker, whose treach
erous Indian guide led him into an ambush.
Several of his men were killed, and the
rest were compelled to retreat. On one
plantation seventy white men and forty
negroes who rashly listened to an offer of
peace were butchered almost to a man. The
Indians were met by Captain Chicken and
the Goose Creek militia and after a long
engagement were defeated and driven
back.

It began to look very dark for the col
ony. Plantations and settlements beyond
twenty miles of Charleston were deserted ;

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 76

but help came from Virginia. Governor
Craven established a line of garrisons for
the protection of the capital while the
rangers were ever on the alert for a skirm
ish. The Yemassees were finally driven out
of the province and moved to Florida.

Three classes of pioneers ipushed> out
into the wild "Back Country" opening the
way for the permanent settlers. The first
class was the hunters, who penetrated into
the forests in search of skins, forming no
lasting settlements, but making friends
with the red man. After the hunter came
the Indian trader, who often married a
wife from one of the tribes with which he
was trading. Cattle drivers, the third class,
followed the trader and the hunter. They
often owned immense herds of cattle, for
which they built huge pens in clearings
in the forest for the purpose of rounding
up their cattle at certain times. Many of
these pens grew into settlements.

In 1730 the English government sent Sir
Alexander Gumming with an embassy to
the Cherokee country. Six of the leading
chiefs went back to England with Sir Al
exander, where they were most hand-

76 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

somely entertained and were received at a
special reception by the king, who put
around the neck of the oldest chief a neck
lace taken from his own neck. Presents
were exchanged, the Indian spokesman giv
ing a bunch of feathers as a sign that the
words of the Cherokees were true. The
treaty that was made was to last "as long
as the rivers shall run, as long as the moun
tains shall stand."

Every effort was put forth to keep the
peace. The Indians became more and more
dependent on the whites for clothes, house
hold utensils and weapons, even the toma
hawk, which was bought from the white
man. They urged insistently that the Eng
lish should build a fort near Keowee, a
principal town of the lower Cherokees, as
a protection to the Indian trade. Gover
nor Glen at last in 1753 bought land and
built the fort, to which he gave the name
Fort Prince George. He is also said to
have obtained from the Indians in this year
the greater part of the "Up-country," so
that it was made secure for the white set
tlers who began to pour in from the older
colonies and even from Europe.

\

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 77

During the French and Indian War some
of the Indians who had accompanied the
South Carolina troops to Virginia deserted
and committed a number of murders, while
others stole horses from the white settlers
in the back country of Virginia. Several
Indians were killed. Thereupon the sav
ages massacred the settlers on the border.
Governor Lyttleton, the successor of Gov
ernor Glen, did not understand the Indian
character and treated with indignity the
Cherokee chiefs who came to Charles Town
to hold a talk for the purpose of avoid
ing war. These the governor carried with
him as prisoners on his march to the Con-
garees and from there to Fort Prince
George, where they were imprisoned. Some
of the murders were brought in. A treaty
of peace was made with six of the chiefs
by which the chiefs imprisoned at the fort
should remain there until an equal number
of the murderers were surrendered.

Governor Lyttleton had scarcely returned
to Charles Town when white men were
killed within a mile of Fort Prince George.
The fort was itself besieged, the comman
der was slain, and a massacre of the pris-

78 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

oners in consequence took place. The
furious savages fell on the unprotected
whites and slew without regard to age or
condition. To protect the "Back Country,"
as this part of the colony was called, seven
companies of rangers were authorized by
the General Assembly. North Carolina and
Virginia were called on to furnish aid
against the Indians. Colonel Montgomery,
who arrived in Charles Town at this time
with 1,200 troops, united with the pro
vincials and moved against the Cherokee
towns killing and burning all in the way.
Paying no attention to Colonel Montgom
ery's demand for peace, the Indians am
bushed his army, but met with defeat. At
this juncture, however, Colonel Montgom
ery received orders to proceed to the north
ern colonies, which he did, leaving a force
of men at the Congarees for the protection
of the "Back Country."

Fort Loudon on the Tennessee River
was taken by the Indians. The garrison,
surrendering on promise of safe passage,
had scarcely left the fort when they were
set upon and massacred. Fort Prince
George was threatened. The Carolinians

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 79

were fortunately reinforced by 1,200 regu
lars under Colonel Grant, who led the com
bined forces into the Cherokee country.
The Indians attacked him in force on June

10, 1761, but were beaten off after a fierce
battle. A number of towns were laid waste ;
corn fields and stores of grain were de
stroyed ; the Indians were driven into the
mountains, where many of them died from
starvation. For thirty days the army
marched unchecked through the country
of the Cherokees. The Indians were com
pletely humbled and begged for peace.
The chiefs who came to Fort Prince George
were given a safe conduct to Charles Town
to talk with the governor. When they met
him at Ashley Ferry, all smoked for a long
time in silence. Then old Atakullakulla,
who had tried his best to keep his people
from the war path, spoke. "I am come,"
said he, "to see what can be done for my
people. They are in great distress. As to
what has happened, I believe it has been
ordered by the Great Master. He is the
father of the whites and of the Indians.
As we live in one land, let us live as one
people." Governor Bull granted the old

80 THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

man's plea, and the war was at an end.

When the Revolutionary War began, the
British through their agents stirred up the
Cherokees to attack the border settlements.
The Indians, who had agreed to an uprising
at the same time that the fleet was to strike
at the coast, took up the war club as soon
as they learned that the British ships had
arrived. They poured down upon the fron
tiers and killed without regard to age or
sex. Among the families that suffered were
the Hamptons, who had moved to the
Tyger River from Virginia. The settlers
fled in every direction.

Major Williamson marched against the
Indians at the close of July, 1776, but had
his force surprised and scattered. Later
he advanced into the Indian country and
destroyed several villages and all the corn
on this side of the middle settlements, so
that the Indians had to live on berries, roots
and wild fruits. Virginia and North Caro
lina now sent troops to aid Major William
son, who was also further strengthened by
troops from home. In the campaign that
followed all the lower towns, the middle
settlements, and many settlements in the

THE INDIANS OF SOUTH CAROLINA 81

mountain vallies were destroyed. The
Cherokees, who lost about two thousand
warriors, were forced to sue for peace.
Part of their lands, the present counties of
Anderson, Pickens, Oconee and Greenville,
was ceded to South Carolina.

As the war was coming to a close the
Cherokees again became troublesome; but
a campaign by General Pickens reduced
them to a state of peace.

The Catawbas were the only Indians left
within the borders of South Carolina. Their
descendants still live near Rock Hill.

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