Westo

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The Westo were a 17th century Iroquoian Native American tribe. They were called Chichimeco by the Spanish, and the Richahecrian by Virginians. Their first appearance in the historical record is as a powerful tribe in colonial Virginia. Anthropologist Marvin T. Smith suggests that the Westo were a group of Erie who had lived south of Lake Erie until forced to migrate south to Virginia during the Iroquois wars of 1654-1656. As Virginia expanded, the Westo migrated south to the Savannah River shortly before the founding of South Carolina in 1670. The Westo became the region's most powerful military force until destroyed around 1680.

Virginia established a trading relationship with the Westo, exchanging firearms for Indian slaves. When the Westo migrated to the Savannah River, they quickly became known for their military power and their slave raids. Before their destruction, the Westo wrecked havoc on the Spanish missionary provinces of Guale and Mocama. That the Westo had ties with Virginia did not mean they would be friendly toward the Carolinians. In 1673 the Westo attacked coastal Indians and the Carolina colony. The colony depended on the Esaw tribe for defense until December of 1674, when some Westo visited Dr. Henry Woodward and made peace. The peace became an alliance after the Westo escorted Woodward to their towns on the Savannah River, giving many presents and encouraging friendship.

From 1675 to 1680 trade between the Westo and South Carolina thrived. The Westo provided Carolina with slaves, captured from various Native American groups, including the Spanish-allied tribes in Guale and Mocama, the "Settlement Indians", supposedly under the protection of Carolina, and probably the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and various tribes that would later become the Creek Confederacy.

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. A group of Shawnee Indians migrated to the Savannah River region and met with the Westo while Henry Woodward was among them. These Shawnee became known as the "Savannah Indians". Woodward apparently witnessed the first meeting of the Shawnee and Westo. Using sign language, the Shawnee (Savannah) warned the Westo of an impending attack from other tribes, earning the goodwill of the Westo, who began to prepare for the attack.

The Savannah later approached Woodward themselves and established a relationship that would doom the Westo. Through their relationship with the Savannah, the Carolinians realized the value of trading beyond the Westo. When war broke out between Carolina and the Westo in 1679, the Savannah assisted the Carolinians. The Westo were defeated and destroyed in 1680 and the Savannah moved into their lands and took over their role as the chief Indian trading partner with Carolina. The fate of the surviving Westo was probably enslavement and shipment to work on sugar plantations in the West Indies.

[edit] References

• Gallay, Alan. The Indian Slave Trade (2002).
• 1681 Joel Gascoyne map with 'Westoh' village on what is labelled the R. May. Within a few years both town and river would be renamed after the Savannah.