Hampton County, South Carolina Native Americans

Map of Distribution of Native Americans near Hampton Co., SC before the intrusion of the British.

The Catawba tribe, just to the north of Augusta, appear to have been a Canadian tribe, who migrated to SC c1650 (map adapted from a map contained in "History of the Old Cheraws: by Rev. Alex. Gregg, The State Company, Columbia, SC 1925.).  Most of the Native Americans in SC were killed by a small pox epidemic in the winter of 1759 (ibid p16).

The  Catawba and Pedee tribes owned slaves!  In 1748 an article appears in the Gazette of Charleston describing a slave who gave his name as "Fortune" although those in whose hands he found himself did not believe this to be his true name.  He says he belonged to a Mr. Fuller, who sold him to Billy, King of the Pedee Indians, that the Catawba Indians took him from King Billy, and to their nation, and that he escaped from them and became lost (ibid page 13).

"The Westoe tribe lived in what became Beaufort district.  They were driven out at an early period by the Savannahs, or Yamassees, who belonged to the Lower Creek Nation" (A Sketch of the History of South Carolina, Rivers, McCarter & Co., Charleston, 1856, p87, 88).  Rivers writes: "At the close of the Westoe war in 1681, many individuals had added to their traffic the purchase of captives, and the proprietors (FOC: Lords Proprietors) endeavored to check abuses of this kind ... by taking under their protection (nominally) all the Indians within four hundred miles of Charleston."

Rivers states that the Yamassees and Tuskaroras were "warlike and adventuresome" (ibid p38) and that the Yamassees belonged to the Lower Creek Nation (ibid p87, 88).  Rivers further states that the Tuskaroras once dwelt between the Savannah and the Altamaha, but after conflict with the whites, removed to North Carolina, and thence to the frontiers of New York (ibid p38, 39).  Some Tuskaroras were still in Port Royal in 1721.  The Yamasees removed to Beaufort District c1680-90, until they were expelled in 1715. Fragments of the Yamassees then removed to the Catawbas in 1743, but the majority retreated to Florida, from whom the Seminoles are said to be descended.

Indian Population of Hampton County

As you grow up you grow to appreciate the history and the stories behind it especially when you find proof of such extinctions. Such is the Indian population in the Hampton County area. Stories of Indian relatives or ancestors run rapid through most families. Some I think are fictional while others I take as the truth. Along the county there runs a road called Old Saltkehatchie Road - it runs the length of the Town of Yemassee toward almost Fairfax. Along the Early Branch area of this road you see high banks of red clay that run a great distance along the highway. After a good rain and a day or two of drying out you can walk the road along the bank of clay, which in some areas are as high as, or over, your head. Digging into the earth you will always come away with an arrowhead or two. People that have hunted or leased this property have other Indian artifacts that they have come upon or unearthed during fishing and hunting. The road that we use today and where we see the clay is where Indians had settled before the major population of white people came to live. Maps from the Archives in Columbia show where the Indian Fields are around Hampton County. For as long as I can remember the land along this river called Salkehatchie or (old Salt-ket=cher) has been owned by Westvaco, and leased to clubs for hunting and fishing rights giving members right of way down to the swamp area. The clay in this area would have been essential for pottery, the stones found there are just right for arrowhead making, and other instruments used by the Indians. Pipes, bowls, arrows, utensils, and weapons of different arrowhead sizes, perhaps some tools, have been found in this area close to the swamp. This gave the Indians water and food such as fish, deer and turkeys, which are abundant in this area. I have seen some items found in this area, while I myself have taken my children to dig for arrowheads along the clay hills, we always found some. Further up the road is a Plantation or Farm called The Frampton Place. As I grew up I never knew there was a cemetery behind it. Someone in the past year put a beautiful sign close to the road that reads: The Frampton Cemetery. Of course, my natural reaction, was that it was a cemetery containing people who had owned the land. On further discovery, I learned that this cemetery is of blacks who had been workers for the plantation and their family members. Also the land was an old Indian burial ground. If one travels down the old dirt road, you find that it leads to a beautiful setting in the woods with access to the swamp or Saltketcher River. It has been well taken care of, I know there are several small mounds in the land surrounding the black part of the cemetery, more so to the west of the cemetery next to the wooded area. I assume by talking to one of the Frampton descendants that these were Indian burial sites. It is a huge area with above ground graves. So yes the Indian population was alive and well in that part of Hampton County before population and growth of settlers moving in. Now the area of land where you could go in and find such artifacts has been bought by a family that has taken to cutting down the growth up and down the length of most of the eastern tip of the Saltketcher all the way down to the swamp and building an estate there. Rights to property now belong to them and are not leased to the public starting this year. Hunters and fishermen will have to find new ways in to the swamp. I was looking forward on going with my brother who had promised to take me into the land and woods area to take pictures of old home sites and Indian grounds he knew existed in the woods. I still hope to get some pictures and idea of what went on a time ago in history, but for now this is all I have that I know is the truth about the Indians in my part of the County.

Yvonne Carrol DeLoach 6-11-2005

There is a web site devoted to Native Americans in South Carolina (off site).  Obviously, not all were forcibly removed.  Many of us have native american ancestorys, including me (at least by oral tradition).

The Allendale PaleoIndian Expeditions (off site, use your backarrow button to return)

There is an interesting, rather lengthy, web site at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Netherlands (my old stomping grounds!) on Geronimo, in his own words.  Geronimo was thought by his own people to have supernatural powers given to him by the Great Spirit.

Geronimo himself!  Now he was one interesting looking guy!