58 SIOUAN TRIBES OF THE EAST

[

BUREAUOF ETHNOLOOV tbe Spanish

government

to keep tlie knowledge ofsucliexpeditions a secret; but from the vivid traditions still retained

by

the Cherokeeof North Carolina, asrecounted to the author,itisevident that theSi^an- iards

made many

expeditionsintothemountains

and

carriedon mining operationsin different places during the period oftheiroccupancyof Florida

and

tlie adjacent coast of Georgia

and

South Carolina.

The

next visittothe Saraofwhichrecords are

known was

130 years laterthan

De

Soto. In1G70 Lederer,afterpassing successivelythrough the territoriesof the Saponi, Occaneechi,Eno, Shoccoree,

and Wateree

arrived

among

the Sara.

He

describes their village as being near the mountains, whicli at this point

became

lower

and

turned from theirgeneral southwardor southwestward direction

and

veered west- ward.

As

the tribesnext

met by him

were the

Waxhaw

and Catawba,

it is evident that he found the Sara about

where De

Soto

had

found

them

in 1540.

He

states that the neighboring mountains were called Sara, which tlie Spaniards

made

Suala

—

another evidence of Spanish presence in this upper region.

Beyond

the mountains, west

and

north of tlie Sara, lived the Eickohockan (Cherokee).

From

these mountains the Saragot quantities of cinnabar, which they used as paint.

They had

.also cakes of whitesalt.

As

the Cherokee and gulf tribes generally used no salt,

and

no considerable salt deposits were foundin theircountry,it is probable that the Saraobtainedtheir supply from the

Mohetan

or

some

other tribe farther northward.

Lederer

made

no long stay with the ^tribe, perhaps, as already stated, on account of having

become

involved in a dispute with a youthful savage,

who

attemptedtoshoot thetraveler'shorseand

when

prevented turnedhisattentions to the travelerhimself(Lederer, 8).

Some

time after this the S.ara

removed

northward

and

settled on

Dan

^river. This removal

may

have been due tothe incursions of the Sj)aniards, asa

document

of 1054 indicates that the Eno, livingthen in central NorthCarolina, were doing their utmost to check the north- ernadvanceoftheSpaniards(Hawks,1).

As

early as 1G73,

and

perhaps

earlier, the Sara

had

acquaintance with English tradersfrom Virginia (Byrd, IG). Their village

was

onthesouthern

bank

ofthe

Dan,

shortly belowthe entrance of Irvin (Smith) riverfrom the opposite side, and about

due

north of the present

Wentworth

in Ivockingham county, NorthCarolina. Theirfields extended along both banksof the river for severtil miles below the village. Byrd,

who

visitedthe^sitein 1733, thus describesit

:

It innst have beenagreat misfortunetothemtobeoblig'd toabantlonsobeauti- fula dwelliug,where theairiswholesome, andthe soil equalin fertilitytoanyin the world. Theriverisabout80yards wide,alwaysconfin'dwithinitsloftybanks, androllingdownitswaters,assweetasmilk,andas clearas crystal. There runsa charming^level, ofmorethana mile square,thatwillbring forth like the lands of Egypt, without being overflow'd once a year. There is scarceashrub inviewto intercept your prospect, but grass as high as a manonhorseback. Towards the woods there is a gentleascent, till your sightisinterceptedbyaneminence, that overlooks thewholelandskape. Thissweetplace is bounded to the castbyafine

SIOIIA

MOONIfy]

8ARA EARLY

HABITAT.

59

stronin cnll'd Sauro creek, wlucli rnnimifi out of the Dfin, and tendini;" westerly, makesthewholea poninsiila (L5yrd,17).

There

amy

have been

two

vilhige^occupied

by

thetribein this neigh- borhood, as on a

map

of 1700

we

find this spotdesignated as

"Lower

Saura

Town"

^wliile about 30 miles above, onthe southern sideof the

Dan,

ami between ^it

and Town

fork, is another place

marked

^"IT])per

Saura Town." Thislatter

was

ontlie siteofthe present

Sauratown

in

Stokes county. North Carolina.

The two

towns thus designated, how- ever, were white settlements.

The

Sara werenot

met by Lawson

in 1701, as they livedwestof his lineof travel. Shortly after this date, finding themselves no longer able to w^ithstaiid the unceasing attacks of the Iroquois, they aban- donedtheir beautiful

home

on the

Dan

and,

moving

southeastward, joined the

Keyauwee

(Byrd, 18).

The

Eno, Shoccoree,

and Adshu-

sheeralso consolidated at the

same

timeforasimilar reason,the three being thenceforth

commonly known

under the single

name

of Eno.

TheSaponi, Tutelo, and Occaneechi,

who had

joined forces about the

same

time,

moved

eastAvard tothe neighborhood of the white settle-

ments on Albemarlesound,

and

were shortlyafterwardsettled

by

Gov- ernor

Spotswood

at Fort ChristannainVirginia, as alreadystated. In 171G healso undertook to settle the confederated Sara,

Keyauwee, and Eno

(probal)ly including alsothe Shoccoree and Adshusheer) at Enotown, on the fnmtier of the Tuskarora, on the upper

Neuse

in

North Carolina,

where

he intended thatthey should serve as aprotec- tion tothewhite settlementsagainst the incursionsof thehostile Tus- karora

and

theirallies from the north, and against thehostile

Yamasi and

their allies, Avho

had

lately killed their traders

and

inaugurated a

war

against the whites, on the south. This plan

might

have been successful had it not been defeated

by

thevigorous protest of thetwo Carolina governments, which insisted that the Sara were at that

moment engaged

inthe

war

againstSouth Carolina

and

thatthe

Eno and Keyauwee

were probably aiding them.

At

the

same

time,

by

request of the southern colony, NorthCarolina raised a forceof whites

and

Indiansto attack the Sara themselves (N. C.R., 6).

A

few weeks laterit

was

reported that a white

man and

an Indian slave

had

been killed on the South Carolina frontier

by

a party of Indianssupposed tobe Sara,

who

appeared to be well supplied with

arms and ammu-

nition. It

was

believed thatthey were

some

ofthosewith

whom

Spots-

wood had

latelybeen negotiating,

and

that they

had

obtained their supplies in Virginia;

and

a letter

was

accordingly forwarded to the governorofthat colony asking him to prohibit

any

tradingwith the Sara or

any

other southerntribes until they

had

first

made

peace with South Carolina.

About

the

same

timeGovernor Eden, ofNorthCaro- lina, declared

war

against the Sara,

and made

^formal application to Virginiato assist in prosecuting it.

To

this

Spotswood

replied, with the concurrenceof the Virginia council, that the Sara

were

under a treatyof friendship with Virginia, whicli

had had

the approbation of

60 8I0UAN TRIBES OF THE

EAST. _[cthnologv theyouthCarolinagovermnent;thatthey

had come

intoVirginia under apromise,ofsafety;

aud

thatin thelateencounter the Carolina people

had

been theaggressors

and had

attacked the Indians without provo- cation.

The

council therefore declined to take part in a

war

"so unjustly

begun"

(N. C. E.,7).

The war

against the Sara

and

their allies

was

carried on

by

the

two

Carolina governmentsuntil the final defeatand expulsion of the

Yamasi

from South Carolina.

Throughout

tliis

war

there were frequentcomplaints from SouthCarolina that tbe Sarawere responsi- ble for

most

ofthemischiefdonenorth of Santee river,

and

that they were endeavoring to

draw

the

Winyaw and Waccamaw

into the

same

alliance. Theirarms

and

ammunition were said to be supplied fromVirginia in return for skins, slaves,

and

goods plundered from SouthCarolina settlers,

and

it

was

openlycharged

by

Carolina that Virginia encouraged these depredations in order to monopolize the Indian trade, so thatoneof the South Carolinawriters

was moved

to declare, "I heartilywish Virginia had all our Indians, so

we

were but securedfrom

them"

(N. C. II., 8).

At

the closeofthe

Yamasi war

the Saratribe,

who now

begin to be

known

asCheraw, were located on the upper

Pedee where

itcrosses from North Carolina into South Carolina.

The

adjacent district in

South Carolina

was

for a long time

known

as the

Cheraw

precinct.

Accordingtotheold

maps

their village at thistime

was

onthe eastern

bank

of the Pedee, about opposite the present Cheraw, in Marlboro county. South Carolina. In 1715 they were reported to

number

510 souls (Rivers, 1). This estimate,

which

seems too high, probably includes the

Keyauwee, who

^still livedwith or near them. Accord- ing to the reports of Blount, chief of the friendly Tuskarora, they occasionally

made

inroads on his people

and

even attacked

and

plun- deredtheVirginia traders (N. C. K., ₉₎; butBlount'stestimonyisopen to suspicion, as he

was

constantly endeavoringto increase his imijor- tance with the whites

by

discovering hostile conspiracies

among

the other Indians.

However

this

may

be, the remaining Tuskarora in 1717 received permission to

remove

from theISTeuse to the northern side of the Eoanoke, in order to be

more

secure from the southern tribes.

The

SaraAvere stillexposed tothe attacksof the Iroquois, of which there are records so late as 1726 (N.Y., IG),

and

werefinally obligedtoabandon their settlement

and

incorporatewith theCatawba,

who

^at an earlier period

had

been their enemies, on

Catawba

river, farther westward. Being a considerable tribe, however, they ^still preserved their separate

name and

dialectfora long time.

They

are mentioned as living with the

Catawba

as early as 1739 (Gregg, _1),

and

their dialect is mentioned as existing distinct from thatof the

Catawba

as late as 1743 (Adair, 2). In 1751 they are again men- tioned asone of the southern tribes adjoining the settlements with

whom

it

was

desiredthat the Iroquois should

make

peace (N.Y., 17).

In the French

and

Indian

war

they

aud

the

Catawba

aided tlie

«'^™] LA8T OV THE

SARA.

61

English against the French

smd

their allies, an<l in 1759 a party of 45

"Charraws/'sonieof

whom,

undertheirchief,

King

Johnny,

had

been

in the expedition againstFort l)iiQuesne, broughtinto Charleston the scalp of a French Indian (Gregg, 2).

The

last notice of the tribe seems to bein 17G8,

when we

find

them

^still living with theCatawba, but soreduced

by

Avars and sickness that they nundjered only 50or

(>0 souls (Mass., 3).

The Catawba and

all their confederate tribes together then

numbered

only about 500 souls.