Keyauwee Indians. A small tribe formerly living in North Carolina, affiliated with the Tutelo, Saponi, and Occaneechi. Nothing retrains of their language, but they perhaps belonged to the Siouan family, from the fact of their intimate association with well known Siouan tribes of the east. In 1701 Lawson found them in a palisaded village about […]
Cherokee Indians. A powerful detached tribe of the Iroquoian family, formerly holding the whole mountain region of the south Alleghenies, in southwest Virginia, western North Carolina and South Carolina, north Georgia, east Tennessee, and northeast Alabama, and claiming even to the Ohio River.
Coosa Indians. A small tribe, now extinct, which lived about the mouth of Edisto or Combahee River, South Carolina. Its name is preserved in Coosaw and Coosaw-hatchee rivers. According to Rivers they lived northeast of Combahee River, which separated them from the Combahee tribe. They appear to be identical with the Couexi of the Huguenot
The two small tribes bearing the above designations are hardly known except in connection with the Catawba Indians, with whom they were afterward incorporated. They may be treated together. The tribes lived, respectively, about Waxhaw and Sugar (i. e., Sugeree) creeks, two small streams flowing into Catawba River from the northeast, within, what is now
While we know nothing positively as to the linguistic affinity of the Sara, all the evidence goes to show that, like most of the tribes of the central region of Virginia and Carolina, they were of Siouan stock. Their name is probably from the Catawba word sara, signifying a place of “tall grass or weeds”
The Santee and its branches, the Wateree and the Congaree, were held by the Sewee, Santee, Wateree, and Congaree tribes, whose territory extended to the neighborhood of the Waxhaw and Catawba. Nothing is known of their linguistic affinities, but their alliances and final incorporation were with the Catawba. Sewee Indians The Sewee occupied the coast
The Sewee, Santee, Wateree, and Congaree Indians Read More »
When the French and English established their first permanent settlement in America they found the whole country in possession of numerous aboriginal tribes, some large and powerful, others restricted to a single village and its environs. The variety of languages and dialects at first appeared to be well-nigh infinite; but on further acquaintance it was
These small tribes lived on the lower Pedee and its tributaries in South Carolina and the contiguous border of North Carolina. Nothing is known of their language and very little can now be learned of their former daily life or their religious system of belief, as they were never prominent in history. For the “Hooks”
The Pedee, Waccamaw, And Winyaw; The Hooks and Backhooks Indians Read More »
Santee and Congaree rivers probably formed the approximate southern limit of the Siouan tribes of the east. There is no reason for assigning to this stock any tribes farther southward along the Atlantic coast. As the history of all these Indians is closely interwoven, however, a few notes on the remaining tribes of South Carolina
The name of the Keyauwee has no connection with that of Kecowee town of the Cherokee on Keowee River, in western South Carolina, nor apparently with that of Kiawah Island, south of Charleston. Of their language nothing remains, but the evidence of alliance and history goes to show that they were Siouan. They were never
Local Names From Siouan Tribal Names in Virginia and Carolinas Catawba A river of North Carolina and South Carolina, known as the Wateree in its lower course, joining with the Congaree to form the Santee. A creek in Botetourt county, Virginia. A county of North Carolina. A town of Catawba county, North Carolina A town
The population of an Indian tribe at any early period in its history can not be determined with exactness. In the case of the Creeks we have to consider not only the Muskogee or Creeks proper, but a number of tribes afterwards permanently or temporarily incorporated with them, and the problem is proportionately complicated. Fortunately
The earliest known home of the Shawnee was on Cumberland River. From there some of them moved across to the Tennessee and established settlements about the Big Bend. As we have seen, Henry Woodward was a witness, in 1674, to what was probably the first appearance of members of the tribe on Savannah River. Although
The dominant people of the Creek Confederacy called themselves and their language in later times by a name which has become conventionalized into Muscogee or Muskogee.
The honorary name of this tribe in the Creek Confederacy was Kasihta lako, “Big Kasihta.” According to the earliest form of the Creek migration legend that is available – that related to Governor Oglethorpe by Chikilli in 1735 – the Kasihta and Coweta came from the west “as one people,” but in time those dwelling
Little as we know about these people, it is a curious fact that their territory was one of the first in North America on which European settlements were attempted, and these were of historical importance and even celebrity. They were made, moreover, by three different nations, the Spaniards, French, and English. The first visitors were
Ethnological information regarding the Cusabo is scanty and unsatisfactory, the interest of the colonists having been quickly attracted to those great tribes lying inland which they called “nations.” Such material as is to be had must be interpreted in the light of the fuller information to be gathered from larger southern tribes like the Creeks,
The Chiaha were a more prominent tribe and evidently much larger than the Osochi. While the significance of their name is unknown it recalls the Choctaw chaha, “high,” “height,” and this would be in harmony with the situation in which part of the tribe was first encountered northward near the mountains of Tennessee. There is
This historical account explores the Chickasaw tribe’s encounters with European explorers, their territorial conflicts with other tribes such as the Shawnee, and their alliances, particularly with the British. The article notably discusses the tribe’s interactions with Hernando de Soto and his army in 1540-41, wherein the Chickasaw nearly wiped out the entire expedition. Later historical events include the tribe’s involvement in the Natchez uprising of 1729 and subsequent French expeditions against them. The text concludes by describing the tribe’s significant reduction in size due to continuous warfare and forced resettlement.
