CATAWBA IN TENNESSEE

THE CATAWBA WERE DIVIDED SEPARATELY. THEY ARE FROM EASTERN SIOUAN TRIBES. IN PREHISTORIC TIMES THEIR LAND WAS KNOWN AS 'KADAPAU'. THIS NAME WAS APPLIED TO A SMALL BAND THAT WAS IN THE SOUTHEAST OF TENNESSEE THAT IS CALLED ESAW. THEY LIVE ALONG THE THE IOWA RIVERS. SOME ANGLOS VISITED THEM IN 1881 AND OBTAINED THEIR VOCABULARY, SHOWING NUMEROUS CONNECTIONS TO THE SIOUX. THE SIOUX TRIBE APPARENTLY ORIGINATED FROM THE U.S. THE CATAWBA WERE IN A CONSTANT STATE OF WARFARE WITH THE NORTHERN TRIBES.

IN 1579 VANDERA CALLED THEM ISSA IN HIS WRITINGS OF PARDO'S EXPEDITION'S. IN LAWSON SAYS THEY WERE A POWERFUL NATION AND THEIR VILLAGES HAD MANY PEOPLE. THE TWO DIVISIONS WERE KADAPAW AND ESAW. ONE OF THEIR ANCIENT CLEARED FIELDS WAS 7 MILES LONG! IN 1728 THEY STILL HAD 6 VILLAGES ALONG THE CATAWBA RIVER WITHIN 20 MILES. THEIR MAIN VILLAGE WAS IN SOUTH CAROLINA. IN 1700'S THEY WERE FRIENDLY TOWARD THE ENGLISH AND KEPT PEACE WITH THE U.S. THEY WARRED WITH THE IROQUOIS, SHAWNEE, AND DELAWARE, CHEROKEE, AND OTHERS IN OHIO VALLEY. BECAUSE OF THIS WARFARE AND ATTACKS BY ENEMIES THEY WERE REDUCED IN POPULATION WITH DISEASE AND EPIDEMICS OF SMALLPOX. THIS ACCELERATED THEIR DESTRUCTION. BY THE END OF 1700'S THEIR TRIBE HAD FEW PEOPLE. THEY SENT THEIR WARRIORS TO HELP THE COLONISTS IN THE TUSCARORA WAR OF 1711 -1713.

IN 1738 SMALLPOX RAGED AND WORKED ITS DESTRUCTION AMONG ANGLOS AND NATIVES. IN 1759 IT KILLED NEARLY HALF OF THE CATAWBA. THE SIX NATIONS OF THE CATAWBA MADE A PIECE TREATY BETWEEN THE TWO TRIBES INCLUDING THE IROQUOIS. IN 1762 A PARTY OF SHAWNESS KILLED THE NOTED CHIEF OF THE CATAWBA.

IN 1826 THEIR RESERVATION WAS BOUGHT FROM THE ANFGLOS FOR $1000 ON WHICH THE CHIEF'S DEPENDED. THEY HAD ONLY A SQUARE MILE ON WHICH THEY RESIDE. IN 1841 THE CATAWBA MOVED TO THE CHEROKEE IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA.

IN 1881 THEY HAD 85 ON THE RESERVATION INCLUDING 35 EMPLOYED ON NEIGHBORING FARMS, WHICH TOTALED 120.

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