CHERAW TRIBES IN SOUTH CAROLINA

CHERAW IS AN IMPORTANT TRIBE OF SIOUAN LANGUAGE WHO HAVE LIVED IN CENTRAL CENTRAL SOUTH CAROLINA. BY 1540 THEY WERE MENTIONED MENTIONED BY DE SOTO WHO CALLED THE XUALA, THE CHEROKEE REMEMBERED THEM AS AN ANCIENT TRIBE WHO LIVED BEYOND THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAIN. PRIOR TO 1700 THEY SETTLED ON THE DAN RIVER NEAR THE SOUTH LINA OF VIRGINIA. ON A MAP OF 1760 THERE WERE TWO VILLAGES CALLED LOWER SAURA TOWN. AROUND 171O THEY WERE HARASSED BY THE IROQUOIS AND MOVED SOUTHEAST TO THE TO JOIN KEYAUWEE. AT THE CLOSE OF THE YAMASEE WAR THE CHERAW LIVED ON THE UPPER PEE DEE RIVER BETWEEN THE TWO CAROLINAS. IN 1715 THEY HAD 5100 PEOPLE. IN 1726 THEY WERE INCORPORATED WITH THE CATAWBA WITH WHOM THEY HAD AT ONE TIME BEEN AN ENEMY. THE LAST WRITTEN RECORD OF THEM WAS IN 1768 WHEN THERE WERE 50 LIVING WITH THE CATAWBA.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS SAY THE PEE DEE BECAME EXTINCT BY 1808. HOWEVER THE WRITER BELIEVES IT IS NOT TRUE SINCE THERE ARE RECORDS THAT SHOW DESCENDANTS FIGHTING IN THE EARLY 1900'S. THE MILITARY RECORDS PROVE THEY ARE NOT EXTINCT. THEY WERE LISTED AS MULLATO, CROATON, AND SOMETIMES AS INDIANS. THE FACT THAT THESE PEOPLE LIVE IN THE SAME LOCATION AS THE PEE DEE ANCESTORS DID SERVES AS PROOF THAT THEY ARE NOT EXTINCT. THEY SAID THEIR TRIBE WAS ALMOST DESTROYED IN 1800 BY DISEASE AND ATTACKED BY WHITES. BY 1830'S THEY BUILT LOG CABINS AND ADOPTED SOME OF THE WHITE MAN'S WAY. THE CHEROKEE WERE REMOVED FROM SOUTH CAROLINA ON A TRAIL OF TEARS.

THE PEE DEE WERE FARMERS, HUNTERS, FISHERMEN, AND GATHERERS. THEY HAD A FIRE CIRCLE CEREMONY WHERE THEY GAVE THANKS TO THE CREATOR FOR EVERY THING HE PROVIDED THEM. VERY FEW OTHER CEREMONIES WERE PERFORMED.

XFINITY .COMCAST