"If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men… [no] controls on government would be necessary." — James Madison

Their "Finest Performance”—
The Catawba Indians during the American Revolution

During the French and Indian War, most coastal American Indian tribes were forced to choose between siding either with the British or with the French. The Catawba Indians (who called themselves "The People of the River," and lived in the Piedmont region of North and South Carolina) found themselves in a similar situation as the American Revolution drew near. Their skills in tracking, scouting, and hunting would be beneficial during a war between Britain and the Thirteen Colonies. In addition, the Catawba were renowned warriors, feared by both colonists and other tribes like the Cherokee, which made their allegiance highly valuable (ironically, their fierce reputation had an adverse affect on the Catawba because other tribal warriors would try to prove themselves in combat with a Catawba warrior. Their scalps were considered among other tribes as "exceptional prizes," and warriors would come from as far away as the Great Lakes region to obtain them)¹. And since the Catawba lived near both Patriots and Loyalists, neutrality would be next to impossible.

Allegiance to the Patriot Cause
Loyalist John Stuart—superintendent for the southern district of the British Indian Department— summarized the Catawba predicament best when he stated, "...they are domiciliated and dispersed thro’ the settlements of North and South Carolina, it is no wonder that they should be practiced upon and seduced by the Inhabitants with whom they live."² Patriots well known to the tribe, such as William Henry Drayton (a lawyer who later became a South Carolina delegate to the Continental Congress), had been pressing the tribe to join their cause for some time. At this urging, the Catawba went to Charleston, South Carolina, in July of 1775 to speak to the Council of Safety there and learn more about the dispute and reasons for the pending war. The Catawba were then given a letter to share among themselves, explaining Patriot grievances against Britain and promising pay for any Catawba who fought against the British.

However, they were also given a warning when the Safety Council advised, "If you do not mind what we say, you will be sorry for it by and by."³ Although the tribe had sided with the British in almost every engagement since 1700, they chose to side with the Patriots during the American Revolution.

Thirty-four Catawba warriors entered into service under Captain Samuel Boykin in February of 1776.⁴ Their first mission was to locate and capture runaway slaves in South Carolina.⁵ In June, they served again under Captain Boykin and Colonel William Thompson at the Battle of Sullivan’s Island. The conflict began with a large naval bombardment by the British of Fort Sullivan. After he had landed on nearby Long Island, British General Henry Clinton later tried to support his naval assault with a marine advance onto Sullivan’s Island. Clinton thought that the water in the narrow strait between the two islands was only 18 inches deep. However, the depth was more than six feet, which severely hindered the advance. Taking advantage of the situation, the 750 Rangers—and about 35 Catawba Indians—under Boykin and Thompson opened fire against the 3,000 British troops in the deep water, forcing the larger military force to retreat.⁶

It appears that the Catawba were next tasked with scouting the Oconee area of South Carolina under the direction of Colonel Andrew Williamson. Then, on September 19, 1776, at the Keowee River in North Carolina (just south of Franklin in a gorge known as the Black Hole), Williamson’s troops were attacked by Cherokee Indians.⁷ The Catawba enjoyed a distinct advantage during the first parts of the engagement, as the Cherokee mistook them for their own. The Patriots, being careful to identify Catawba from Cherokee, had their allies place a deer tail in their hair for identification.⁸ Once the Cherokee noticed the tails, they attacked the Catawba warriors, killing one and injuring two.

Prior to the Cherokee attack, the Catawba warned leaders of the advance guard to wait for the rest of the army before advancing through the gorge, as the area was not safe. Unwisely, their warnings were ignored. According to one firsthand account:

"An advance guard was composed of 125 men, with 25 Catawba Indians, who were valuable auxiliaries in such a campaign as this. They were placed in the front ranks, and with the characteristic caution of their mode of warfare, would often pause in the march, and examine with the greatest care the bark on the tallest trees, to ascertain if they had been recently ascended; for it was the practice of the southern Indians, in their warfare, to have a certain number of "climbers" to look out, as well as "runners" to bring in news.

"It was not long before they descended a cove. Here the Catawba made a halt, and pointing to the wild peavine, and rank weeds freshly broken and trampled upon, which gave evidence that some number of feet had recently traversed this place, they advised that the advance guard should remain here until the main body of the army came up. But the Whites were impatient to go on; and, although the Indians insisted on going no further, they were finally overcome by persuasion, and again took up the line of march...Following the course of branch for a while, they came to the spring, around which large smooth rocks were lying in abundance. The quick eye of the savage warrior was caught directly by a few corn-field beans scattered here and there, which attracted their attention, a minute survey showed them on a flat rock the foot-print of a naked foot. It being noon-day, and the rock fully exposed to the scorching rays of a July sun, it was incontrovertible proof that the enemy was near at hand. The Indians now refused to go on until the remainder of the army came up...In spite of the Catawbas’ protests the White men went forward but they had not gone more than 400 yards when they were attacked by the Cherokees who routed them." ⁹

Changes For The Catawba Nation

Around this time, the Catawba and their loyalty to the Patriot cause were put to the test. Both the Cherokee and British agents continually tried to persuade the Catawba to side with the Crown, with the British reminding the Catawba of their prior services to the "Great King" who had secured their lands.¹⁰ However, as the tribe became more and more exposed to Patriot ideals, their views on kings and government started to change.

The Catawba had originally been ruled by elected "kings." However, once elected, a king’s authority was nearly absolute. The Catawba entered into the American Revolution under the leadership of King Prow, yet change was in the air; he and his title later became "offensive" to the Catawba.¹¹ In emulating the Patriots, especially General George Washington, the Catawbad chose a military name for their leaders, and thus the title of "king" became that of "general."¹² Prow was unseated as king sometime between July of 1775 and the summer of 1780 and was replaced by General New River, who had earned his name after killing a great Shawnee chief near the New River in Virginia in 1732.¹³

The Catawba resumed their war service again in April of 1779, when they assisted General William Moultrie in defending Charleston. After the fall of the city in May of 1780, the whole Catawba Nation—not just its warriors and scouts—served the Patriot cause by offering their lands, supplies, and food to the Americans. According to General Richard Winn:

"When we took the field after the fall of Charleston, we often encamped on their lands for days together. Those friendly Indians drove us beef from their own stocks and several times brought out their whole force and encamped near us..."¹⁴

In a rather remarkable feat for the time, the Catawba established their own unit of 41 men for General Thomas Sumter. Normally, the Catawba unit would have served under the direct leadership of an American officer. Yet perhaps as an indicator of the trust established between the Americans and the Catawba, their unit was led by General New River himself. Along with Peter Harris, who was perhaps the "most famous of all the Catawba veterans during the Revolution,"¹⁵ General New River and the rest of the Catawba soon found themselves in a series of battles and skirmishes: the Battle of Rocky Mount on August 1, 1780; the Battle of Hanging Rock on August 6, 1780; the Battle of Fishing Creek on August 18, 1780; and the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780. And although there remains no evidence that the Catawba engaged in combat, or were present during the Battle of Guilford Courthouse on March 15, 1781, they do appear to have been instrumental in scouting the area and positions prior to the battle. ¹⁶ They later again served in an unknown capacity in the Battle of Eutaw Springs on September 8, 1781.

Historian Douglas Brown expressly noted the value of the Catawba’s services during these series of battles, stating:

"The Catawbas proved highly useful as scouts. But for their friendship the course of the war in South Carolina might have taken another direction. There might have been no victory at King’s Mountain, had the Americans been forced to f ight on two frontiers and contend with two hostile tribes, Cherokees and Catawbas." ¹⁷

Without the Catawba, American resistance in the Carolinas most likely would have been far less successful.

Of course, the war caused a great deal of apprehension and safety concerns within the tribe. The Catawba were eventually driven from their homes and land, and forced to move north as Lieutenant Colonel Francis Rawdon and his British forces approached.¹⁸ As the Catawba reached North Carolina, the British once again tried to sway their loyalties from the Americans with promises of safety and protection. These promises of protection were accompanied with threats of destruction if allegiance to the Americans continued. Once again the Catawba did not waver in their loyalty to the Americans (for which they would pay dearly) and continued north into Virginia. Rawdon, true to his word, laid waste to the now abandoned Catawba lands, completely destroying anything of value.

The loyalty and camaraderie that the Catawba shared with the Americans certainly gained them independence and general acceptance among Americans, at least for a time. Immediately after the war, while the Catawba’s services were still fresh and remembered, they were given some due entitlements from South Carolina. In February of 1782, the Catawba were granted a food supplement by South Carolina’s state legislator. Two years later, the same legislator granted goods and supplies worth £299 sterling for their service in the Revolution, as well as a £125 sterling for livestock reimbursements.¹⁹ Eventually, "The People of the River" would struggle to save their land and culture in the new American nation—a nation for which they had sacrificed much. Indeed, the Catawba’s participation in the American Revolution was "...in many ways, the [Catawba] Nation’s finest performance."²⁰


References

Axtell, James. The European and the Indian: Essays in the Ethnohistory of Colonial
North America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.
Babits, Lawrence E., and Howard Joshua B. Long, Obstinate, and Bloody: The Battle
of Guilford Courthouse. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009. Brown, Douglas. The Catawba Indians: The People of the River. Columbia: The
University of South Carolina Press, 1966. Cullen, Joseph P. The Concise Illustrated History of the American Revolution. Eastern
Acorn Press, 1972. Fleming, Thomas. The Perils of Peace: America’s Struggle for Survival After Yorktown.
New York: Harper Collins Publishers, Inc., 2007. Hudson, Charles M. The Catawba Nation. Athens: The University of Georgia
Press, 2007. Lee, E. Lawrence. Indian Wars in North Carolina 1663-1763. North Carolina
Division of Archives and History, 1997. Merrell, James H. The Indian’s New World: Catawbas and their Neighbors from
European Contact through the Era of Removal. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1989. Pettus, Louise. “Peter Harris: Catawba Indian”. Fort Mills Times. www.movefortmillforward.
com/peter_harris_indian.pdf Stewart, Nancy. Site Supervisor. Guilford Courthouse National Monument Park. Swager, Christine. “Revolutionary War Timeline.” www.nps.gov/archive/cowp/ timeline.htm Wood, W.J. Battles of the Revolutionary War 1775-1783. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 1990. Notes 1 Lee, E. Lawrence. Indian Wars in North Carolina 1663-1763. North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1997.
2 Merrell, James H. The Indian’s New World: Catawbas and their Neighbors from European Contact through the Era of Removal. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1989.
3 Ibid.
4 Brown, Douglas. The Catawba Indians: The People of the River. Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press, 1966.
5 Ibid.
6 Cullen, Joseph P. The Concise Illustrated History of the American Revolution. Eastern Acorn Press, 1972.
7 Swager, Christine. “Revolutionary War Timeline.” http://www.nps.gov/archive/ cowp/timeline.htm (accessed on February 13, 2010).
8 Brown, Douglas. The Catawba Indians: The People of the River. Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press, 1966.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 Stewart, Nancy. Site Supervisor. Guilford Courthouse National Monument Park. (accessed January 23, 2010).
17 Brown, Douglas. The Catawba Indians: The People of the River. Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press, 1966.
18 Merrell, James H. The Indian’s New World: Catawbas and their Neighbors from European Contact through the Era of Removal. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1989.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid.

by Christopher L. Russell