Indians of the South Carolina Lowcountry, 1562-1751 / by Gene Waddell
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For those looking to do in depth research, this book is not only a great read; but the annotated sources are a vast wealth of information specific to the original inhabitants of our state. Mr. Waddell has done the public a great service by creating a timeline of events for each tribe and took the time to transcribe the primary source information he used. The annotated bibliography is available online through College of Charleston's website at the links below:
Note that the largest print on the map is for the nineteen tribes who lived in this area from 1562 to 1751. Starting from the top of the chart (i.e., northeast), the tribes were Sewee, Sampa, Wando, Etiwan, Kussoe, Kiawah, Bohicket, Stono, Edisto, Ashepoo, Stalame, Combahee, Kussah, Wimbee, Escamacu, Mayon, Touppa, Witcheaugh, and Hoya.
Not all tribes survived that long. Their numbers were diminished by inter-tribal conflicts (usually against non-Coast Indian tribes), warfare with the Spanish, French, British, Scots, and disease. The locations of the tribes on the map are their summer villages. In the wintertime, they moved inland and upstream and formed smaller communities. However, they seldom went more than 80 miles inland for fear of encroaching on lands inhabited by tribes in the Appalachian Mountains, like the Cherokee. Timeline of the Lower Coast Indians
Based on Waddell’s extensive discussion, this is my synopsis of 200 hundred years of European contact with these tribes.
1562
The French and Spanish occupation begin in the southern end of the Lowcountry. The Escamacu War (1576 – 1579) and other European conflicts caused all indigenous tribes to move further north toward Charleston. By 1580, the Indians deserted the area between the Savannah River and the Broad River. For the next 100 years, the Indians came and went seasonally, as they’d always done, from the Atlantic in summer to the inland forests in winter. 1675
Skirmishes with the English in Charleston picked up, and the individual tribes began to demand land be ‘reserved’ for their use. While this was done, there was no enforcement by the British to keep Europeans, including British settlers, out of the reserved land. By 1683, Scottish emigrants were settling in the Port Royal area. Also, the Yemassee tribe moved there. This made the area a hot spot. Conflicts arose with the Spanish to the south and with coastal tribes who had gradually returned to their ancestral Port Royal area. The Lord Proprietors reacted by declaring all lands from the Appalachians to the Atlantic belonged to the Proprietors. Tensions eased as Coastal Indians moved further north to St Helena Sound. Unlike one hundred years earlier, the English settlers filled the void by acquiring the deserted land. In light of this development, Indian reservations were established. 1712
The first Indian reservation in South Carolina was established on Polawana Island for the Cusabo tribe. Historians have disagreements about whether ‘Cusabo’ referred to a distinct tribe or all tribes that lived along the Coosaw River. By 1738 the Polawana Reservation is empty. The Indians living there had either died or left the area. The island is re-reserved for a new immigrant tribe called the Notchee or Natchez. They were not part of the nineteen indigenous coastal Indian tribes. The English brought in Natchez Indians to serve as lookouts/scouts against Spanish invaders encroaching on Port Royal.
1751
The last indigenous coastal tribe mentioned in the Commons House of Assembly of SC’s historical records is the Etiwan. The Coastal Indians, all nineteen tribes, were on the brink of extinction. 1783
When William and Elizabeth Sams move to Datha Island, all indigenous peoples’ remnants are gone, except for the middens (i.e., shell mounds).
The lifestyle of the Lower Coast Indians
On the Lower Coast, the tribes subsisted on agriculture (e.g., corn, peas, and beans), hunting in fall and winter (e.g., deer and turkey), gathering (e.g., roots, acorns nuts, hickory nuts, berries, shellfish), and fishing (e.g., sturgeon, bass, drum, mullet, trout).
Clothing was optional. The only surviving drawing of Lower Coastal Indians shows them without clothes. This was typical for tribes elsewhere in the Southeast also. Since the main problem this presented was biting insects, they oiled themselves with bear oil. This was also used to clean their hair. It’s reported that the oil had no smell. Of course, this did not please the Spanish missionaries. When the Indians did wear clothes in the colder seasons, it was made of deer and bearskins. They painted their faces and wore feathers and beads to intimidate and celebrate.
One notable difference in their culture, as recorded by the Europeans, was the status of women. Waddell says, “At least two tribes had women chiefs, and a third tribe had as many women leaders as men. A fourth tribe had women presiding to receive visitors.” This was not common in other places in the Southeast.
The coastal tribes were also unique in that they were monogamous.
One enduring mystery is their language. No texts have survived for any of these tribes. As best we can tell, at least two languages were used on the Lower Coast. One language is known to have been Siouan, but the other is still unknown. Siouan was spoken north of the Ashley River, and a different language(s) was used south of the Ashley. Whether the second was several languages or one with distinctly different dialects is still unknown. Records from the 1560s reveal that missionaries had to be assigned to specific geographic areas to ensure they could eventually learn the local language. They then had to start over when set to a different location. We know Yemassee Indians spoke either Creek or Muskhogean language, but they were not indigenous to the Lower Coast like the other nineteen tribes. The Decline
In researching this article, I was surprised by the population of American Indians in the Lowcountry. Waddell relies on a census taken in 1682 of the number of archers in six coastal tribes. Based on how many family members were supported per archer, he estimated 1,000 Coastal Indians existed in 1682. Mr. Waddell then works backward and postulates about 1,750 Coastal Indians (men, women, and children) in 1562. By 1751, no more than 250 Indians are left from the original indigenous coastal tribes. In 200 years, the American Indian population in our area fell by 85%. For every seven Indians alive in 1562, there was only one in 1751. Waddell’s concluding statement is elegantly depressing. Sources
Rowland, Lawrence S., Moore, Alexander, Rogers Jr., George C. – The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina, Volume I, 1514 – 1861, 1996
D. Andrew Johnson, "Enslaved Native Americans and the Making of Colonial South Carolina" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2024)
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