Larry E. Ivers - This Torrent of Indians: War on the Southern Frontier, 1715–1728

This Torrent of Indians

This Torrent of Indians

War on the Southern Frontier 17151728

Larry E. Ivers

THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA PRESS

2016 University of South Carolina

Published by the University of South Carolina Press

Columbia, South Carolina 29208

www.sc.edu/uscpress

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
can be found at http://catalog.loc.gov/

ISBN: 978-1-61117-605-6 (hardcover)

ISBN: 978-1-61117-606-3 (paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-61117-607-0 (ebook)

Front cover illustration: Complete Description of the Province of Carolina in 3 Parts, detail, courtesy of the Library of Congress

Contents

List of Illustrations and Maps

Illustrations

Maps

Preface

This is a study of the frontier war waged by the Yamasees, Creeks, Catawbas, and several other Indian groups of southeastern North America against the British colony of South Carolina during 171528. The conflict is commonly known as the Yamasee War. The purpose of this work is to fill a void that exists in the history of the war. The intent is to provide a detailed narrative and an analysis of military operations, introduce the antagonists principal characters, and discuss the organization, equipment, and tactics of South Carolinians and Indians. Such a study was beyond the scope and intent of the excellent studies of the war that have been previously published.

The mainstays of research for this study were original documents, letters, and maps. I am grateful to all of the libraries and archives that have been so helpful to me during the past forty years. During service with the United States Army, I spent many weekends and vacations in South Carolina at the Department of Archives in Columbia and in the South Carolina Historical Society Library in Charleston. I also spent some time at the Georgia Department of Archives and the Georgia Surveyor General Department mining their resources. Many trips were made by my family and me on the back roads of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida visiting old forts and battle sites. Over the ensuing years, I have continued to visit the Southeast to conduct research and explore the terrain involved in the war. I have often used the resources of the University of Iowa and Iowa Historical Society libraries. Libraries across the United States provided rare works via the interlibrary loan service through the Public Library of Eagle Grove, Iowa. John E. Worth, an expert regarding the Yamasees and certain other southeastern Indians, generously gave me critical items of his research from Spanish archives. Nathan Gordon, a graduate student at the University of Colorado, kindly helped me by translating early eighteenth-century Spanish letters. My wife, Kristin, deserves special thanks for being tolerant of my research and terrain explorations and for giving me constructive criticism of this work. Lynne Parker used her graphic-design skills to prepare the maps. I am especially indebted to my editor, Alexander Moore, a historian in his own right, who made timely and astute suggestions and patiently instructed me in twenty-first-century publication techniques and requirements.

While evaluating research materials and studying the relevant terrain, I relied a great deal on my own experience. For more than a decade I trained as an infantry soldier, served as an instructor in the Army Ranger School, and fought alongside South Vietnamese provincial troops during primitive combat in the Mekong Delta. Those experiences provided insights into the tactics, techniques, and psychological effects of combat actions like those that occurred in South Carolina, Florida, and present-day Georgia three centuries ago.

The text of this work locates forts, plantations, battles sites, and Indian towns in relation to present-day counties, towns, highways, and streams. Therefore events in the text can be followed by referring to detailed present-day maps of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

During the early eighteenth century, Spain and much of Europe used the modern Gregorian calendar. Great Britain and its colonies used the old Julian calendar. To avoid confusion, dates in the text and notes are cited according to the Julian calendar. Under the Julian calendar, the new year began on March 25 rather than January 1 and was eleven days behind the Gregorian calendar.

For consistency I refer to European Americans as white, African Americans as black, and Native Americans as Indians. I believe that using the term group is more accurate than the term tribe when classifying south-eastern Indians. I apologize to anyone whom these characterizations may offend. It has been my goal to avoid showing favoritism or allegiance to any culture. That is obviously a difficult task, especially when interpreting three-hundred-year-old records. I have given it my best effort based on my education and my experience as a farm boy, soldier, and country lawyer.

CHAPTER 1

Warnings of War, April 1014, 1715

On Sunday, April 10, 1715, two South Carolinians, Samuel Warner and William Bray, saddled their horses in preparation for a long, difficult ride to Charles Town, present-day Charleston. They were in the Upper Yamasee Indian town of Pocotaligo on the mainland of southwestern South Carolina. The town was located about 13.5 miles northwest of the present-day city of Beaufort. Both men were in a hurry. Their lives and the lives of their fellow South Carolinians were in danger. Several prominent Yamasees and men from other Indian groups had recently conferred in Pocotaligo and debated whether to declare war on South Carolina. The Yamasees had already completed their war-making ritual. Warner and Bray crossed the adjacent Pocotaligo River to the east, probably in a dugout canoe, while their horses swam behind or alongside. They rode north and then east for about a dozen miles, across the head of swamps and through savannahs. Their route lay along an unimproved dirt path, through the Yamasee reservation, commonly known as the Indian Land. They crossed the Combahee River on Joseph Bryans Ferry and rode east into Colleton County.

Samuel Warner was an Indian trader. He sold British guns, ammunition, iron tools, and cloth to the Yamasees and to the nearby Lower Creek Indians of Palachacola. Warner seems to have been an honest man; there are no records of any Indian complaints against his trading practices. While he was in Palachacola during early April, some warriors informed him that they were distressed because of the abuse and threats meted out by their white traders. They were angry with the government of South Carolina for its refusal to discipline the traders. They vowed that they and