Savannah River

The River that Divides Two States

Most of the boundary between Georgia & South Carolina is defined by a great river known today as the Savannah. Any ancient name for the river is not known although the USGS mentions a handful of contemporary names. Most of the area is said to have been uninhabited for centuries before European contact. Spanish sailors referred to the river's mouth as Bahia de Los Bajos or Bay of Shoals.

The Erie Indians

When the Westo Indians inhabited the region of today's Augusta, Georgia, between about 1659 to 1681, the river was called the Westobou. Even the Westo Indians were called different names. Their dialect is thought to be of the Iroquoian language group; but they were not part of the League of the Iroquois. Some suppose the Westo were a remnant of the Erie (Erieckronois), a tribe who once lived in an area below "Erie, ou Du Chat" or Lake Erie). The Erie were offered a chance to join the Iroquois League; but they did not. Instead, they angered the Iroquois by accepting in Huron & Neutral refugees who had been forced from their homelands by the Iroquois.

Armed with weapons provided by the Dutch, the Iroquois consequently attacked & eventually decimated the Erie along with the refugee remnants they had been protecting. As with other tribes, the Erie became broken & scattered by the Iroquois; but they were not exterminated. Since they were kindred to the Huron, the Wyandot & the Susquehannock, it is likely some of them scattered thence.

The Savannah Shawnee Indians

Other tribes were experiencing similar aggression from the Iroquois' "war of extermination". The Shawnee of the Ohio Country were also victims. Some were scattered east among the Delaware & Susquehannock in eastern Pennsylvania. Some retreated west towards southern Illinois where they became known to the French as Chaskp (Chaouesnon). Other Shawnee went south & joined with the Creek on the Tallassee & Tallapoosa rivers of Alabama.

Around 1660 the Cherokee were having their own problems with the Iroquois & offered help to the Shawnee. They allowed the Chillicothe & Kispoko Shawnee to settle in eastern Tennessee's Cumberland Basin (as a buffer against the Chickasaw). They allowed another group of Shawnee, the Hathawekela & some Piqua, to cross the Appalachians & settle on the Savannah River (as a buffer between the Cherokee and the Catawba on their east) (See below). The Shawnee are Algonquin. The Algonquin word "shawun" (shawunogi) means "southerner." In the Ohio Valley, the Shawnee were south of Algonquin tribes of the Great Lakes region. Variant names of the Savannah include Shawano, Shawanoe, Shawaneses, Savannah & Savannuca.

The Westo Indians

As previously stated, the Westo are thought by some to have been part of those Erie who fled the aggression of the Iroquois League. Some feel it was the Westo whom the Virginians called the Richahecian (said to have once been near the falls of the James River in Virginia). (This is in dispute since some anthropologists feel the Richahecian were Cherokee.) Eventually, a business partnership evolved between the Westo and the Virginians. Contemplating advantages in having slaves work in the Virginia tobacco plantations, Jamestown traders used the Westo to gather them in.

Being one of the first Indian groups to have European weapons quickly elevated the Westo to a position of dominance within Native American cultures. It also elevated the importance of the English to the Westo. In order for the Westo to get more guns and ammo, they were required to bring in more slaves, which they did. Armed & encouraged by the English, the Westo assaulted indigenous groups in Georgia, Florida & the Carolinas in search of slaves. In 1661 the Westo descended the Altamaho River and attacked Santo Domingo de Talaje (Darien, Georgia). Survivors relocated to St. Simons Island.

The Spanish called the Westo the Chichimeco. The Westo are known to have wreaked havoc on the Spanish missionary provinces of Guale & Mocama especially. For about four years Spanish mission communities along the Georgia-South Carolina coast had been taking in refugees by the hundreds. Altho from various tribes, collectively these became known as the Yamassee.

As Virginia expanded, the Westo pushed their way south, making a new home in an area of the Savannah River (then called the Westo) near present day Augusta. Augusta is positioned where the river meets the fall line. The City of Savannah would become a second major city along the Savannah River. At Savannah the river is tidal. Many first-time visitors who see it in the morning and return again in the evening are surprised to find it flowing in the opposite direction.

South Carolina Growth

In 1664 the Lords Proprietors divided Carolina into three counties: Albemarle (along the northern coast of North Carolina, adjacent to Albemarle Sound, nearest to Virginia); Clarendon, on the Cape Fear River & surrounding region (the southern coast of North Carolina (only lasted until 1667); and Craven on the Ashley River (South Carolina). Proposals to grant lands on a quit-rent basis helped attract settlers. Between 1664-1689 the colonists drove five Albemarle governors from office. The Carolina elected assembly felt they had insufficient support against Indians and pirates. The Proprietors vetoed most of their early measures.

First to Clarendon came emigrants from Massachusetts in 1665. Then John YEAMANS led a band of colonists from Barbados to Cape Fear. He purchased from the Indians a tract of 32 square miles & settled Old Town (Brunswick), afterwards known as Clarendon Colony. Clarendon quickly grew with settlers primarily from Bardados; but they got little support from the Lords Proprietors. Homesteads were scattered along 60 miles of the Cape Fear River.

An expedition from Barbados led by Captain Robert SANFORD & Dr. Henry WOODWARD (surgeon) in 1666 explored the South Carolina coast & landed at Port Royal. WOODWARD did not want to return back home. Instead he stayed behind at the Yamassee town of Santa Elena (Spanish settlement on Parris Island).

Although the Westo had been strong enough to hold off the Spanish, the newer wave of Carolinians proved a more serious threat. The Westo had been friends of the plantation owners of Virginia. Now the Lords Proprietors in Carolina declared exclusive trade rights for themselves with the Westo. This ploy did not work, however. What the Lords Proprietors failed to realize was that, since the Westo were enemies with nearly every other tribe in the region, the alliance with Carolina effectively blocked the colony from establishing any other relationship. But from 1675 to 1680 trade between the Westo & South Carolina thrived. Slavery commerce in South Carolina replaced Virginia as the primary market for Georgia Indian slaves. The Westo were alien to the Carolina tidewater. They lived in a single, large, fortified village near present day Augusta, Georgia.

For a time the Westo enjoyed the reputation of being the region's most powerful & most feared military force. They were well known for their strength & also for their slave raids. Greatly feared by the resident Siouan tribes (Catawba, Santee, etc.), the English locals were initially told the Westo were cannibals. "For about ten years the Westo on the Savannah River (Westobou) were so troublesome that most of the exposed plantations, such as Giles & Mepkin, had to be fortified against Westo attacks. Southern settlers & Indians alike were very concerned about the Westo. They may have had only one village; but it was powerful; and it was situated way too close (for comfort) to other settlements.

Charles Town was founded in 1670 on Albemarle Point on the Ashley River. A moat and a palisade fence protected the village. The tribe closest to the settlement, the Cusabo (of the Muskogean language group), was friendly. (By 1679 settlers had decided this spot was too unhealthy and hard to defend. They moved their town to the present site at Oyster Point between the Ashley and Cooper rivers. With the new town came a new name. Charles Town became Charleston.)

The Cherokee Indians

The Cherokee now had firearms & were raiding Spanish settlements in Florida. In 1673 the Cherokee attacked coastal Indians such as the Cusabo. English traders were becoming a constant presence among the Cherokee. Some were marrying Cherokee women, fathering their children and living in their Nation. Also in 1673 General Abraham WOOD from Fort Henry (near Petersburg, Virginia) sent James NEEDHAM & Gabriel ARTHUR to the Cherokee Overhill capital of Echota and other villages over the Appalachian Mountains along the Little Tennessee and Tellico rivers in North Carolina. WOOD was interested in peltries, beeswax and bear oil for exporting to England. (ARTHUR called these Cherokee "Tomahians".)

The Cherokee welcomed the men to the Overhills. They were especially fascinated by the one horse NEEDHAM brought. The Cherokee did not have large domestic animals (such as horses and cows). HASECOLL (Indian John) killed NEEDHAM. ARTHUR stayed on and became friends of the chief. ARTHUR accompanied him on raids against Spanish settlements in Florida and fought the coastal Shawnee in Carolina. He was captured by the Shawnee in 1674 but released back to the Cherokee when it was discovered he was a white man. The chief of Echota brought him back to Gen. WOOD.

In December 1674 some Westo met with Dr. Henry WOODWARD & made peace. WOODWARD had been staying at the Spanish settlement of Santa Elena on Parris Island, South Carolina, (a Yamassee town) for several years. WOODWARD (a rival of Abraham WOOD) was escorted to Westo towns on the Savannah River where a treaty was signed. A group of Shawnee migrated to the Savannah river while WOODWARD was still among the Westo. These would be called the Savannah Indians. WOODWARD apparently witnessed the first meeting of the Savannah Shawnee and the Westo.

By 1677 the Savannah Shawnee were already leaving, beginning with the Piqua faction who joined the Delaware. The move was gradual. It took over thirty years, until about 1708, to move out entirely. It is thought the main reason the Shawnee left was because of their many losses at the hands of the Catawba, allies of the English. (Later, the Shawnee persued their old enemies with "unrelenting vengence" until the Catawba were almost exterminated.) Before the Shawnee left South Carolina, however, they helped destroy the Westo.

Dr. WOODWARD led Carolina colonists, Westo & other allied tribes (would this have included their new neighbors the Savannah?) in a raid against Georgia missions. About 300 warriors attacked the Yamassee town & mission of San Simon on St. Simons Island. The Appalachee, the Yuchi & the Chickasaw settled near the westward boundary of the established settlements known as the fall line. (The fall line is a unique geological feature of land where rocky terrain meets soft, sandy soil, or the upland region meets the coastal plain. The fall line marks where the upland rivers of the Piedmont fall to the lower Atlantic Coastal Plain.)

The Westobou River Becomes the Savannah River

Not long after the initial meeting of the Savannah Indians and the Westo, the Savannah approached WOODWARD themselves. A powerful group of settlers from Charleston known as the Goose Creek Men saw an opportunity to break the monopoly held by the Lords Proprietors. They came to realize the value of trading beyond the Westo. And they took action. War broke out between Carolina and the Westo in 1679. In 1680 the English traders armed the Savannah Shawnee and sent them to attack the Westo village. With the advanced weaponry of the Shawnee, the Westo were nearly exterminated. The Savannah took over the Westo lands at the river, including the village near Augusta which grew into a major hub for slave & deerskin trade. Savanno Town (Augusta) would become one of the most important Indian trade centers in South Carolina. and from that day forward the river has been called the Savannah River.

Most Westo who survived the attack from the Savannah were captured and disappeared into the slave system. A map published in 1715 shows a town labeled "Westas" on the Ocmulgee River above the Towaliga River confluence. Probably some the the Westo escaped death or enslavement and continued to live a subdued existence. Charlestown now had a population of about 1,000. On today's highway system the distance between Charlestown, South Carolina & Augusta, Georgia is about 180 miles going thru Columbia.

Savannah River Stuff

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