Waxhaw tribe
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (none as a tribe) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 United States (historically North Carolina, South Carolina) | |
| Languages | |
| Siouan-Catawban languages | |
| Religion | |
| Indigenous |
The Waxhaw Tribe (also referred to as Wisacky[1], the Gueça[2] and possibly Wastana[3]) was a tribe native to what are now the counties of Lancaster, in South Carolina; and Union and Mecklenburg in North Carolina, around the area of Charlotte. The Waxhaw were related to other nearby Southeastern Siouian tribes, such as the Catawba and Sugeree although it is speculated that they were culturally influenced by the Mississippian culture[4]
Some scholars suggest the Waxhaw may have been a tribe of the Catawba rather than a separate people, given the similarity in what is known of the language and customs. A distinctive custom which they shared was flattening of the forehead of individuals. Flattening of the head gave the Waxhaw a distinctive look, with wide eyes and sloping foreheads. They started the process at birth by binding the infant to a flat board. The wider eyes were said to give the Waxhaw a hunting advantage.
The typical Waxhaw dwellings were similar to those of other peoples of the region. They were covered in bark. Ceremonial buildings, however, were usually thatched with reeds and bullgrass. The people held ceremonial dances, tribal meetings and other important rites in these council houses.
There is uncertainty concerning the time of the tribe's disbanding with historians Peter Moore and William Ramsey postulating that they disbanded immediately following the Yamasee War with Moore raising the possibility that the Waxhaw either merged with the Cheraw or traveled south with the Yamasee. Other theories state that they tribe lingered on until a smallpox epidemic in 1741.
The Tuscarora War
During the Tuscarora War of 1711 the South Carolinian John Barnwell listed 27 Waxhaw warriors[5] under the command of a Captain Jack as taking part in his expedition to attack the Tuscarora along the Neuse Riveer. Captain Jack's unit was referred to as the Essaw Company and contained Wateree, Sugaree, Catawba, Sutaree, Waxhaw, Congaree and Sattee totaling 155 men and was possibly the only company on the expedition to be commanded by a Native American[6]. Barnwell describes using Captain Jack's company in an enveloping maneuver through a swamp during his fight with the Tuscarora town of Kenta. This company was also listed as being involved in the taking of Fort Narhontes. Captain Jack's entire company (which would include the Waxhaws) abandoned John Barnwell's expedition in early February, taking advantage of an event that caused them to spend the night separated from Barnwell by a river. Barnwell claimed that they left in order to sell the slaves they had captured during the fighting with the Tuscarora.
Historian William Ramsey has speculated[7] that the Waxhaw's involvement in this war antagonized the Tuscarora's Iroquoian allies in the Seneca and Mohawk of New York and caused them to launch raids against the Waxhaw that may have lasted all the way up to the Yamasee War in 1715. Ramsey cites the lack of protection that the colonists provided to the Waxhaw as a possible catalyst for the Waxhaw's decision to join the Yamasee in their war against the South Carolina colony.
The Yamasee War
During the Yamasee War of 1715, the Waxhaw were aligned with the Yamasee Confederation as were their Catawba neighbors. Rev. Francis Le Jau, is his letters to a missionary organization based in London, recounted an attack launched by the Catawba and their neighbors on May 17th, 1715 against the South Carolina settlement at Goose Creek. Though Le Jau did not mention the Waxhaw by name it is likely that they are included in the band he was referring to when he wrote "..that Body of Northern Indians being a mixture of Catabaws, Sarraws, Waterees &c"[8] This group met with original success at Goose Creek, ambushing and defeating 90 men under the command of Col. James Moore's son-in-law Thomas Barker. Barker and his men had been led into the ambush by a Native American slave who had been freed by Col. Moore. Barker and 26 of his men were killed. The defeat of Capt. Barker was quickly followed up by besieging of a small fort containing 30 men, both white and black which quickly fell. Ultimately this group was defeated and driven out of Goose Creek by George Chicken in July. It was shortly after this defeat that the Catawba made peace with South Carolina and in the process turned on the Waxhaw and most likely destroyed them.
References
- James Mooney, Siouan Tribes of the East, 1894
- https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext99/nvycr10.txt
- John M. Redwine, The Monroe Journal, 23 October 1925
- ↑ Lederer, John; Cumming, William (1958). The discoveries of john lederer: With unpublished letters by and about lederer to governor john winthrop, jr., and an essay on the indians of lederer's discoveries by douglas L. rights and william P. cumming. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.
- ↑ Beck, Robin (2013). Chiefdoms, Collapse, and Coalescence In the Early American South. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ↑ Winsor, Justin (1884). Narrative and Critical History of America. Houghton, Mifflin and Company. p. 346.
- ↑ Moore, Peter (2007). World of Toil and Strife. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press.
- ↑ Barnwell, John (1898). "Journal of John Barnwell". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 5: 391–402.
- ↑ Beck, Robin (2013). Chiefdoms, Collapse, and Coalescence in the Early American South. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. p. 198.
- ↑ Ramsey, William (2008). The yamasee war: A study of culture, economy, and conflict in the colonial south. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
- ↑ Le Jau, Francis (1956). The Carolina Chronicle of Dr. Francis Le Jau, 1706-1717. Berkeley: University of California. p. 163.