CHERAW INDIANS IN NORTH CAROLINA

THEY ARE FIRST MENTIONED IN THE DESOTA WRITINGS OF 1540 BY A NAME XUALA WHO THE CHEROKEE REMEMBERED LIVED IN THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS. BY 1710 THEY WERE HARASSED BY THE IROQUOIS AND ABANDONED THEIR HOME ON THE DAN RIVER AND MOVED SOUTHEAST AND JOINED KEYAUWEE. THEY WERE GIVEN ARMS FROM VIRGINIA. BETWEEN 1726 AND 1739 THEY BECAME INCORPORATED WITH CATAWBA BUT SPOKE THEIR OWN DIALECT. POSSIBLY THEY HAD 1200 PEOPLE IN 1600. IN 1715 THEY HAD A POPULATION OF 140 MEN AND 510 INCLUDING THE KEYAUWEE. BY 1768 THEY WERE REDUCED BY WAR AND DISEASE TO 5 OR 6 STILL LIVING WITH THE CATAWBA

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