Posted in South Carolina January 17, 2021 by

More Than 300 Years Ago, A War Waged On South Carolina Soil That Forever Changed History

Long before the start of the Revolutionary War, a battle waged in South Carolina would determine not only the fate of the colony, but of America as a whole. The Yemassee War began with an unrest between the Native Americans in several nations (Muscogee, Cherokee, Catawba, Apalachee, Apalachicola, Yuchi, Savannah River Shawnee, Congaree, Waxhaw, Pee Dee, Cape Fear, and Cheraw) in which the Native Americans strived to push out the British settlers by any means.

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It was a war waged primarily in the South Carolina province, but also throughout the southeast.
Wikipedia/I, Pfly
From 1715 to 1717, the Native Americans killed colonists throughout South Carolina in a blatant attempt to destroy the colony.
Google Maps/Maureen Kilcoyne
It comes as no surprise that the Native Americans attempted to liberate their lands from the new colonists. Their chief complaints were regarding the trading system, trader abuses, the Indian slave trade, long established Indian links to Florida, power struggles among other Indian groups and regarding wealth among the colonists, and struggles of Indian power among distant tribes.
Wikipedia/Charles Bird King
Known as the Yemassee War, the more than two-year battle waged on as the Native Americans sought to regain control of the land in South Carolina.
Google Maps
For over a year, the colony faced total annihilation, as the many native Americans pummeled attack after attack on the colonists and their settlements.
Wikipedia/public domain
The frontiersman were forced to migrate to Charles Town (now Charleston) but soon faced starvation and illness amid the growing population.
Wikipedia
In the end, approximately seven percent of the colonists were killed. It was without a doubt the bloodiest battle on American soil in history.
Wikipedia/John Speed (1542-1629)/public domain

It took several years to attain, but the colonists eventually were able to overthrow the Lord Proprietors. The aftermath also lead to the establishment of the Georgia colony. Also, the Catawba confederacy would emerge from the war as the most powerful Native American force in the region.

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