Part 3 - Chapter 2

English explorations west & southwest of Jamestown and into the Carolinas.

Section One

                The English and their Explorations West & Southwest of Jamestown. 

Trade with the Indians was always of primary importance to the English government. As early as 1609 a glass-making plant was established at Jamestown in Virginia; however, during the following years when the colonists were starving, the plant was abandoned1. It was not until 1621 that the idea was revived and:

"Sixteene persons and others have beene provided and sent for the making of Beads for trade in the Countrie with the Natives, and for making Glasse of all sorts".2

During the first half of the century, the Virginians mainly traded with the Indians in the vicinity of Jamestown and did not venture forth on trading expeditions. Neither did these explorers nor the colonists who came to Virginia after the establishment of Jamestown leave any significant records dealing with the appearance of the Indians. Of the records that were left, many of the writers like N. N. Gent. (1655), Samuel Clarke (1670), and Richard Blome (1687) used previous accounts of the Indians' manners and customs, usually without citing their source.

Two major massacres by the Powhatans under Opechancanough in 1622 and 1644 held the colonists relatively stationary. After the massacre of 1644, forts were established on the fall line of certain rivers. Fort Royal was established on the Pamunkey, Fort James on the Chickahominy, Fort Charles at the falls of the James, and Fort Henry at the falls of the Appomattox.3 As a result of the Indian massacres and the victory of the English, the Indians were relegated to specific parcels of land.4

During this period of the development of the coastal land, the Virginians were banned from trading with the Natives north of the Piedmont. In addition, in 1633, due to a shortage of cotton and bays (a type of cloth), the local government in Virginia banned Virginians from trading these materials with all of the Natives. Also affected, was the exportation of skins because of a similar shortage; thus, the number became regulated.5 However, later reports from various traders do not allude to a measurable decrease in cloth.

Henry Fleete in 1631 traveled on the Barque Warwick up and down the mid-Atlantic coast. On the 21st of October in 1631, he claimed to have landed on the coast of Virginia. However, the Indians that he identified in his journal - the "Nacostines" (Nacotchtank, Hodge BAE 30, vol. 2, p. 1096) and the "Hereckenes" (Hodge BAE 30, vol. 2, p. 1060) came from the Potomac river area and further north. Even though they cannot be considered as Southeastern Indians, their familiarity and preferences in European truck (goods) is representative of the attitude of many of the Indian tribes. By 1631, these coastal Indians were very familiar with European trade goods and had definite preferences. Fleete wrote in his journal:

"I had but little not worth above 100 pounds starlinge & such as was not fitt for these Indians to trade with who delight in hatchetts, and k[n]ives of large size, broad-cloath & coats, shirts, & scottish stockins. The woemen desire bells & some kinds of beads."6

Since, as previously stated, trade by Virginians with Northern tribes was curtailed, the Virginians began looking for new avenues of trade. Obviously the only open avenues were to the West and South. The tribes targeted were: the Nottoway, Meherrin, Saponi, Occaneechee, Totero, and, later, the Chowan, and Tuscarora.7

All land east of the previously constructed forts was considered to be relatively safe and was to become the starting point for exploratory missions to the west and southwest.

During the beginning of the seventeenth century, Powhatan was cementing his dominance among the Virginia Indian tribes. According to Potter in his article "Early English Effects on Virginia Algonquian Exchange and Tribute in the Tidewater Potomac," Powhatan and other powerful werowances controlled the flow of English goods, especially much coveted copper, among the Indians. As the English gained political control of the area, the position of the werowances diminished and English goods became more widely distributed among the general Indian populous.8

Between 1607 and 1669, the Powhatan population was reduced by over 80%9 and these Indians became subservient to the English and "tributaries to the English government."10

In 1686, Durand de Dauphine, a French Huguenot, who was traveling in Virginia, saw very few Indians because most of the coastal Indians had been exterminated. Those that were left, he stated were in a "lamentable" condition.11

Some of these early traders took residence in the four Forts. In 1646, by order of the Assembly, the forts were removed from the public trust and turned over to individuals for maintenance and profit. These forts served not only as garrisons for protection but also as important trading establishments.

Captain Abraham Wood was given charge of Fort Henry which became a pivotal point in the origination of exploration and trading expeditions.

As early as 1649, books were published describing the state of the Indians and how they should be treated. William Bullock believed that their nakedness was not only physical but also a state of mind which had to be addressed:

"First that they are ignorantly naked in the knowledge of all things, but what they are prompt to by nature for self preservation."12

Although Bullock did not mention greed directly in his text, he must have considered it as a motivating force for human actions for he advised the English to create a rank of specially elevated Indians by decorating them with English goods.

"First, I shall advise that slight jewells be made at the publique charge of thirty or forty shillings price, and one better than the rest, or some such toyes as they shall most affect, which fitted with ribands to weare about their necks or their heads, as their custom amongst them is....

"For the second, I shall advise, that their nature be observed what way it most points at, and then fit them with what they most desire, and if by degrees you can bring some of them to weare slight loose Garments in Summer, or to keep them warme in the Winter, which if you can effect, the worke is half done, and this I am confident is very easie: for a little to the Northward of the place I write of, [New England13] they are fallen into a way of cloathing themselves with our Welch cloath of Blew and Red colours, and the better sort of the Indians in this place do weare Coats of skinn with the Furr side next to their bodyes in the Winter, and the skin side in the Summer; and that you may perceive them already comming, they have for the most part altered their old Fashion, of making their Coates, and now in imitation, make them like English Cloakes."14

He advocated dressing the most tractable Indian "Kings" in this manner so as to create a system of competition, a market for European goods, and a path toward civilization.

"The poor Indian being cloathed, his sight is cleared, he sees himself naked, and you'le finde him in the snare.

"For now they begin to vye who is the better man, which must be determined by their Cloathes, and to purchase them, they'le be at their wits end, since they have nothing valuable, and if you draw the net wisely they are sure."15

He, also, advocated paying the Indians, when necessary, in "Cloake, or Breeches, and Doublet, or the like."16 These perspectives were to have an important and profound effect on the future development of the Southeastern Native population.

The exploration of the trans-Allegheny region will only be discussed as it affected the Indians of that area. The internal politics which governed the Anglo-Americans will not be addressed in any detail. One of the first notable Anglo-Americans expeditions to venture forth from the relatively safe area east of the fall line was composed of Captain Abraham Wood and the merchant, Edward Bland.

The southwest path that Wood and Bland took in 1650 led them into the territory of the Nottaway, Nahyssan, Meherrin, Shakori, Tuscarora, Occaneechi, and a few other bands of Indians.

Unfortunately, Edward Bland's journal made only one reference to the Indian's appearance in which he stated: "Also we found many of the people of Blandina River to have beards."17 Swanton refers to the Blandina River as the Roanoke River.18

Bland and his party were not the first white men to have been involved with the Indians in the area. Traders had previously been amongst them.19

The next group to explore the area west and southwest of Fort Henry was the group commanded by John Lederer. John Lederer could be described as an intellectual, especially since he wrote his discourse in Latin. He is considered a controversial figure due to his descriptions of the terrain he transversed, especially on his second expedition. Even at the time, his observations could not be verified. Cyrus Thomas, among others, has questioned his credibility.20

Lederer led three exploration parties from 1669 to1670. The first and the third expeditions headed west and northwest toward the Shenandoah valley. His second journey encompassed the Indians towns and or tribes of: the Manakins (Monacon21), the Mahocks, the Nahyssans, Saponi, Akenatzy, Oenock (Eno), Shakory (Schaccore), Watary, Sara, Wisaky (Waxaw), Ushery, (Catawba and Esaw or Iswa Indians22), and Toskiroro (Tuscarora).

Lederer is, also, sparse in his comments pertaining to the Indians' appearance. His comments are extremely brief; the longest of which described a tribe that he did not meet but heard about from the Ushery Indians. These were called the Oustack or Westo.23 He depicted them as:

"A people addicted to Arms, that even their women come into the field, and shoot Arrows over their husbands shoulders, who shield them with Leathern targets. The men it seems fight with Silver-Hatchets: for one of the Usheryes told me they were of the same metal with the Pomel of my sword."24

He described the Ushery Indians who supplied him with the information about the Oustack as being:

".....reasonably handsome, and have more of civility in their carriage than I observed in the other Nation with whom I conversed; which is the reason that the men are more effeminate and lazie."25

It is interesting that Lederer equates being civil with being effeminate while he berated the Oustacks for being of "a cruel generation".26

Lederer finished his description of the Ushery women by stating that they:

"......delight much in feather-ornaments, of which they have a great variety, but Peacocks in most esteem, because rare in those parts."27

The only other area of Indian dress described by John Lederer dealt with various forms of adornment. These description are, also, sketchy. He stated that he saw four Indians from an unknown inland tribe who painted their bodies "in various colors with figures of Animals"28 whose likenesses he had never seen.

The Watery (more commonly spelled Wateree) Indians used a mineral to color their faces that, according to Lederer, was different from the traditional vermillion. He stated that it was Cinabar that they got from the adjacent mountains.29

When Lederer arrived at the main Tuscarora trading center of Katearas, he found that the inhabitants were:

".....prepared for some extraordinary Solemnity: for the men and the women of the better sort had decked themselves very fine with pieces of bright Copper in their hair and ears, and about their arms and neck, which upon Festival occasions they use as an extraordinary bravery."30

Lederer's journal deviates from the traditional by using his experiences (if they are valid) to advise those Englishmen who might be planning future expeditions.

"If you barely define a Home-trade with neighbour-Indians, for skins of Deer, Otter, Wild-Cat, Fox, Racoon etc. your best truck is a sort of course trading Cloth, of which a yard and a half makes a Matchcoat or Mantle for their wear; as also Axes, Hoes, Knives, Sizars, and all sorts of edg'd tools. Guns, Powder and shot etc. are Commodities they will greedily barter for: but to supply the Indians with Arms and Ammunition is prohibited by the English Governments."31

"To the remoter Indians you must carry other kinde of Truck, as small Looking-glasses, Pictures, Beads, and Bracelets of glass, Knives, Sizars, and all mannner of gaudy toys and knacks for children, which are light and portable. For they are apt to admire such trinkets....."32

The next group of explorers left the vicinity of Fort Henry in 1671. The group was under the auspices of Abraham Wood and consisted of, among others, Captain Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam. The journey is known as the Batts/Fallam expedition. These men headed straight west toward the Appalachian Mountains. Some of the tribes whose country they passed through were: the Nottaway, Saponi, Nahyssan, and Tutelo. The White men were not new to these tribes as evidenced by the fact that upon seeing the Batts/Fallam party, the Saponys fired guns in the form of a salute.33 Aside from a few comments about the Indians, the journal of this trip contained mainly geographic information.

While John Lederer skirted the area occupied by the Occaneechi Indians, the party of Needham and Arthur came into direct contact with them. For many years, the Occanneechi Indians had been acting as middle-men in the coastal to interior Indian trade. The Indian traders did not only carry Indian goods between the coastal area and the interior, but also brought European goods to the more inland Indians.34

The last of the four "famous" exploration groups was that of James Needham and Gabriel Arthur. Their trips of 1673 to 1674 followed a south west course into the Overhill Cherokee territory. The Overhill Cherokee towns were situated along the Tennessee and Tellico Rivers in eastern Tennessee.35 The trips of Needham and Arthur were the first documented expeditions by the English into Cherokee Territory.

These trips into the interior by the Euro/ Americans were becoming more and more unpopular to some of the Indian tribes, especially the Occaneechee. They were afraid that the Euro/Americans were usurping their status as middlemen to the Indian Trade.36 Near the junction of the present states of Georgia, South Carolina and, North Carolina, an Occaneechi Indian killed Arthur Needham.

Meanwhile, Gabriel Arthur had been left, from a previous trip, at a Cherokee Indian camp where he discovered "Spanish Flintlock muskets and other European implements."37 This collection of goods indicated that the Cherokees had been trading with the Spanish for many years. Although he spent much time with the Indians and accompanied them on raiding parties, the only information gleaned dealing with the appearance of these Indians was that the Cherokee braves had short hair so as prevent their enemies from grabbing them by the hair.38

"Ye Tomahittans [Cherokees] keepe theire haire close cut to ye end an enime may not take advantage to lay hold of them by it."39

The significant results of the Needham/Arthur expeditions were to open the Cherokee trading to the English in Virginia; to align the Cherokee with the English; and to place the English, especially those from Carolina, near the Mississippi River.40

One of the main trading routes was known as the Occaneechi path because it passed through the Occaneechi town which was located on the largest Island in the Roanoke River. By 1670 the Occaneechi, as stated earlier, controlled Indian trade for a distance of 500 miles. While the Virginia traders courted them, they, on the other hand, as exemplified by their murder of Needham, guarded their interests from the encroachment of the White man41.

Another obstacle to trade with the Piedmont Indians were the warring factions of Northern Tribes that started to descend south in the 1670's. Some of these tribes were driven by glory and some were driven south and west by the increasing encroachment of the Europeans and their settlements.42

The Indians were not dealing with a class of explorers similar to those Spaniards of the De Soto era. These men of the mid seventeenth century comprised a new class of adventurer/traders. Many of these "frontiersmen" settled permanently among the Indian tribes, even marrying Indian wives.43

During this period, as more and more Indians were exposed to European goods, the dependence of the Indians on European goods grew inversely to their distance from the European settlements. A trader had to know the preferences of these individualistic groups of Piedmont Indians.44

In addition, the further away the Indians were from the Euro/American settlements, the more they continued to pursue their own cultural patterns. One example given by Merrell describes the Waxhaw's substitution of bells for tortoise shell ankle rattles.45 During the seventeenth century, the British government, its representatives in Virginia, and/or the London Company imposed varying regulations on trade; these were often detrimental to the colony.

John Banister, an English newcomer to Virginia wrote to his friend Dr. Robert Morison in 1679 about the hardships caused and lives endangered by the curtailment of trade:

"My little experience will not let me say more of this at present nor much of ye Indian Trade once great & good, now dwindled almost into Nothing through the Jealousies and Panick fears of a Company, I had almost said a Country of fools. This tho it be esteemed by the People, that weigh not things aright, ye great Cause of all out troubles, is if rightly considered our Vinculum Pacis (bond of peace). For since there has been a way layd open for Trade & many Things which they wanted not before because they never had them are by that means become necessary both for their use & ornament: if Obstructions be made, so that they cannot supply their wants by Barter, no marvel if they attempt to do it by force."46

John Banister was a university trained naturalist, who arrived in Virginia from London and began to reside with William Byrd I in his home at the falls of the James River in 1678.47

Banister is responsible for much of the literature that is credited to other people whose writings post date his. Many similar references to Indians and natural science occur, for example, in Beverley's book on Virginia. It must be remembered, however, that Beverley did not return to Virginia until circa 1702 while Banister resided in Virginia from circa 1678 until his death in 1692.

While many similarities between the two authors are apparent, especially in choice of words and phraseology, Banister made it clear that he was describing the Indians as he saw them while it is often hard to distinguish whether Beverley was describing them at the beginning of the eighteenth century or at the beginning of the seventeenth century.

Banister should be credited with one of the few good descriptions of Indians in the latter part of the seventeenth century. He, according to the research of Ewan, did not name the Indians that he described. The only Indians identified by him are in relevance to the Husquenaw ceremony and were the Appomatox, an Algonquian tribe.48 However, it is probably safe to assume that he described the Indian who lived near the falls of the James River and were of Algonquian linguistic stock.

It seems obvious that Banister had read earlier reports by Smith and other for he refuted the claim that the Susquehannock Indians were giants and the Wicocomoco were dwarfs.

Even though Banister's narrative on the appearance of the Indians contains information similar to that presented by others, for the sake of thoroughness, it will be repeated in its entirety as it relates to the Virginia Indians. Similarities in dress, appearance etc. to other nationalities will be omitted.

Banister described the Indians (most probably of Algonquian stock) as being:

"generally straight, clean limbed, and well proportioned.... [with skin of] a chestnut colour. Their hair is black & straight, which the men cut in divers manners, but the women wear [it] long, hanging down their backs and bound up in one lock with a fillet of white beads. That of their beards and other parts they pull up with Muscleshells.

"The women go bareheaded, & so do the men too unless those of the better sort, who sometimes put on a border or Coronet of black and white Peak prettily wrought, but more for ornament than use, being open on top like the Peruvian feather crown. The beads of which this crown is wove are small Cylinders about [1/3]* of an inch long, & [1/4]*49 of an inch through with a hole drilled in the center; they are made by the Indians to the Northward, & are call'd Peaque & Wampom-peaque. About their neck they wear a broad belt or rather collar of the same, as also a round tablet of about 3 or 4 inches wrought out of a large Cunk shell, & some too wear a bracelet of great bulging beads made of the same shell, which the Southern Indians call Rantees: in their ears they hang a pipe about the bigness of the stem of a tobacco pipe smoothly worked out of the string or middle part of a Cunk drilled from end to end, or else a fingers length of smooth Roanoak, which is a kind of bead mony also, about the bigness of a large spangle.

"Their50 clothing was with skins which they sewed together with Deer sinews, like the ancient Britains, & other barbarous nations; but since the Europeans have traded among them, they cover their nakedness with a flap of red or blew cotton, & wrap themselves up in a mantle or matchcoat of Daffields [Duffields]. Those that wear coats after the English fashion, are very desirous of having them of divers colours, like Jacob made for his son Joseph, & therefore the traders have them cut partly from pale, gules, & azure.51 They wear no breeches; their buskins are of cotton or leather, without feet sown down with a wing on the outside of the leg about an inch wide, & their shooes of Buckskin all of a piece & drawn together in a purse with a running string on the top of the foot[.] The Indians call them Mockasins & therefore that sort of Helleborine which is called ladies-slipper we call Mockasinflower: those that wear leather coats and stockings, sew them with Deers sinews."52

In the colonial era, buskins were defined as a "sort of half-boot."53 "Indean Stockings", according to Earle, were probably leather leggins (also spelled leggings).54 Earle, in another book, defined American buskins as a foot-covering consisting of a strong leather sole with cloth uppers and leggins to the knees, which were fastened with lacings.55

In the context of Banister's description of the leg coverings worn by the Indians, leather buskins without a foot and leather stockings probably refer to the same type of garment.

Banister made one other reference to the Indian's dress. It was contained in the letter to his friend Morison:

"In time of war while the old men are in Matchicomac or consult what is to be done, the young men painting themselves with black & red (as the ancient Britains did with wild woad) & strewing swans down upon their heads that they may appear more terrible to the beholders, fall into an antique dance with their Tomohauks or hatchets in their hands threatening what they will do to their enemies."56

The word antique in this context probably does not mean old but is a spelling of the word antic or antick which meant grotesque and was often used in reference to their war dress.

Covering the body with the down of birds in order to look grotesque was used by males throughout the Southeast.57

In 1685, Minet, who was an engineer in the exploration party the Frenchman Robert Cavelier de La Salle, described a stop for supplies at Jamestown. At a council meeting or legislative assembly, he described three Indians who had come to the meeting to render homage.

"They had blue blankets, which covered them, plumed headdresses, and glass beads."58

As stated previously, Durand de Dauphine, traveling in Virginia from 1686 to 1687, noticed the absence of many Indians in the north eastern sector of Virginia. He did, however, visit an Indian settlement on the Rapahannock river and described the appearance of the Indians:59

"These people are darker than the Egyptians we see in Europe. They brand their faces with scars in the shape of snail-shells into which they put powder and are so marked for life. The women, in the house wear only a deer skin to cover the less mentionable parts. In winter they wear the fur against their skin & in summer the skin against their skin. [Durand de Dauphine was only in Virginia from September 22, 1686 until March 15, 1687.]

"The men in the village wear only a shabby shirt of blue or white linen, & from the time they put it on they do not remove it until it falls in rags, for they never wash anything. Except for this fur, the women have the rest of their bodies nude. The little children are always entirely naked, however cold it may be."60

Durand de Dauphine spent the Christmas holidays of 1686 at William Fitzhugh's plantation on the Potomac River. There, he encountered many Indians who had come to visit.

"We were delayed for a few moments in starting out because as we were about to take horse all those savages, men, women & little children, came to return our visit; those who had been able to procure jerkins from the Christians were wearing them, as also the women who wore some kind of petticoats, (See Costume Plate # 8) others wore some pieces of shabby blue cloth from which were made the blankets they had traded on some ships in exchange for deer skins. They had made a hole in the center to put their heads through & fastened it around their body with deer-thongs. The women were wearing their as a mantilla, like the Egyptian women in Europe, & their children were entirely naked. They had taken to adorn themselves, some kind of pure white fishbones, slipping a strand of hair through a bone, & so on all around their heads. They also wore necklaces & bracelets made of small grains which are found in the country. Beads of which rosaries are made in France were also brought over for them, & the cleanest and wealthiest took away as many as they could slip upon their necks & arms, from elbow to hand, for these are their treasures."61

   Costume Plate # 808indiwm1600 sm.jpg (8113 bytes)
The word jerkin has caused confusion over the centuries. It does not describe any standard garment, and it also has been used interchangeable with the words doublet and coat.

Alice Morse Earle in her book, Costume of Colonial Times gives various definitions of its meaning in the seventeenth century. In quoting Strutt, she wrote that he said that a jerkin, a jacket, and a coat were the same thing. A jerkin was also a "kind of jacket with four skirts [like tabs] or laps."62

In her book, Two Centuries of Costume in America, Earle expands her description of a jerkin to encompass:

"The word coat, meaning a garment for men for covering the upper part of the body, has been in use for centuries; but of very changeable and confusing usage, for it also constantly meant petticoat. The garment itself was a puzzle, for many years; most bewildering of all the attire which was worn by the first colonists was the elusive coatlike over-garment called in shipping lists, tailors' orders, household inventories, and other legal of domestic records a doublet, a jerkin, a jacket, a cassock, a paltock, a coat, a horseman's coat, an upper-coat, and a buff-coat. All these garments resembled each other; all closed with a single row of buttons or points or hooks and eyes."63

However, Earle went on to state that a jerkin, in the modern sense of the word, was not a coat.

"A jerkin had no skirts in our modern sense of the word, - a piece set on at the waist-line, - nor could it on that account be what we term a coat, nor was it a coat, nor was it what the colonists deemed a coat."64

Earle, sums up the semantical confusion by quoting Philip Stubbes who lived in the mid sixteenth century:

"Their coates and jerkins as they be divers in colours so be they divers in fashions; for some be made with collars, some without, some close to the body, some loose,.....some are buttoned down the breast, some under the arme, and some down the backe, some with flaps over the brest, some without, some with great sleeves, some with small, some with none at all, some pleated and some crested behind and curiously gathered and some not."65

In essence, the jerkin closely resembled a doublet which is described in the mid seventeenth century as:

"being a padded jacket worn next to the shirt; close fitting and waisted but not usually belted unless worn without an over-garment."66

A jerkin was unpadded and worn over the doublet. In the seventeenth century, it was often completely sleeveless or had only wings, a tab-like covering, sewn to the top of the armcyes (arm holes).67

Durand de Dauphine's statement: "those who had been able to procure jerkins from the Christians were wearing them, as also the women who wore some kind of petticoats," does not make it clear whether the women had or had not covered their upper bodies. Since, on occasion, colonial women wore a type of jerkin, also, the statement could be interpreted that the Indian women did, too. In addition, regardless of whether the jerkin was customarily worn by men and not women, the Indian women could have appropriated it as a form of dress for certain situations.

The term petticoat has had many meanings throughout its history from a petty or short coat to that of an undergarment or the lower half of a gown. In the seventeenth century the term could mean either an undergarment or an outer garment. Often, either one was equally lavish; while the more serviceable petticoats were worn as the undermost layer.

These descriptions of Durand de Dauphine are extremely important for they show how the Indians modified their garments through the inclusion of European clothes when interacting with the White man in his milieu.

This is an early and clearly defined example of how the Indians modified their dress, basically by covering their upper bodies with clothes in order to assimilate more into the White man's world.

Since Virginia was the first English colony in the Southeast to become settled and stable, it follows logically that some of its people would play important roles in the founding of other colonies. Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia from 1641 to 1652 and again from 1660 to 1677 when he was forced to return to England, was one of the eight Proprietors who were granted a charter to Carolina in 1663.68 

Section Two

                            The English in the Carolinas in the seventeenth century 

There were, naturally, explorers who traveled in both Virginia and the Carolinas. The purpose of their trips determined in which section their findings were reported.

In 1663, the eight Lord Proprietors received a charter from King Charles II of England. Prior to that date, only a few brief forays had been made into the Carolinas.

Francis Yeardley, in 1654, described one of these forays that went to Roanoke Island where John White and Thomas Hariot had been. This excursion was significant because representatives of the tribes in the Roanoke vicinity went to Yeardley's house to make peace with the English. The Leader of the main group of Indians requested that Yeardley take the former's only son and teach him to read and write. In addition, after Yeardley purchased much land from them for the "Crown," he dispatched a carpenter and other men to build the Indian "King" a large English style house complete with all English amenities.69 Thus, as early as 1654, some of the Indians were desirous of obtaining skills possessed by the Europeans. Unfortunately, Yeardley does not state the tribal affiliation of these Indians other than that it was not Tuscarora.

A few years later, in 1660, some settlers from New England, unsuccessfully tried to form a colony at Cape Fear. Also, in 1663, Captain Hilton was hired to explore and find a suitable site for a colony of Barbadians. However, due to lack of interest, the project was never completed.70

It was not until the summer of 1669 that actual emigrants from Barbados settled in the southern region of Carolina. In 1670, Captain Joseph West was appointed Governor and decreed that Charles Town, near the present city of Charleston, South Carolina was to be the seat of government.71

Carolina was not established to be simply a trading post. The Lord Proprietors had hoped that it would become a center for raising commodities like silk, wine, currants, olives, etc.72 They, also, hoped to make a substantial profit through the exploitation of land.73

In its infancy, Carolina was settled by many from the Island of Barbados and was called "the colony of a colony".74 Due to the close connection of South Carolina with Barbados, the trade in Indian slaves in Carolina was considered commonplace.75

The boundaries of Carolina were to be from sea to sea and from a latitude of 36 degrees, the southern border of Virginia, to a latitude of 31 degrees, a little north of the St. Mary's River.76 This brought the new colony into both direct and indirect contact with the Spanish as well as with some of the powerful Southern Indian tribes.

Until 1655, the Spaniards had maintained missions on Parris island Between Port Royal and St. Helena (Elena) Sound.77

Very few of the early English explores described any of the material culture of the Indians; fewer even described their dress and adornment. The small amount of knowledge available was reported by just a handful of men even though many others explored the area. The following is a list of the English explorers that had initial contact with the Indians after the Charter was granted in 1663 and described their appearance: Hilton in 1664, Sandford in 1666, Carteret in 1670, Woodward in 1674, and Ashe in 1682.

One of the first tribes encountered by the English in the person of Captain Hilton were the Catawba Indians that lived at Cape Fear and other Indians who lived at Port Royal. The latter probably were part of the Cusabo tribe.78

Two years after Hilton explored the coast, Robert Sandford set out to explore the area around Cape Fear and south to Port Royal.

The Port Royal Indians were very friendly to Robert Sandford and his crew even to the extent that one of the leading men of the Port Royal Indians requested Sandford to take his nephew with him when he took sail and admonished Sandford to: "clothe him" and then return him in a few months time.79

Sandford did not describe the dress of the Port Royal Indians. He did, however, indirectly, describe how the men wore their hair. He attributed the particular style, correctly or not, to the former presence of the Spanish friars in the area.

"An Indian that came with mee from Edistowe with Intenc[sh]on to goe no further than Port Royall seeing this kindness and mutuall obligation betweene us and the people of this place, that his Nac[sh]on or tribe might bee within the league, voluntarily offered himselfe to stay with mee alsoe, and would not bee denyed, and thinking that so hee should be the more acceptable hee caused himselfe to be shoaren on the Crowne, after the manner of the Port Royall Indians, a fashion which I guess they have taken from the Spanish Fryers, thereby to engratiate themselves with that Nac[sh]on."80

Robert Sandford during this journey to Port Royal had among his party Dr. Henry Woodward. The latter was very interested in the culture of the various groups of Indians and elected to stay with the Indians in the vicinity of Port Royal. He remained there until he was taken captive by the Spanish. He was not to return to the vicinity of Port Royal, and, more specifically, the Ashley River Colony of Charles Town until 1670. Dr. Woodward did not leave any known record of the Indians that he lived with in 1666.

Another nationality to settle in the Port Royal area were the Scots. The Scots were able to acquire a land grant in 1682. However, it was not until 1684 that the Scottish settlers set sail for Port Royal.

It needs to be remembered that this area was, in the sixteen eighties, a border land that was vulnerable to Spanish attack. In 1686 a band of Spanish soldiers, Indians, and Mulattos attacked the small Scottish settlement and wiped it out.81 This settlement was to be the last important Scottish settlement in the Southeast for the next few decades.

Nicholas Carteret wrote a narrative about his initial landing on or near the Ashley River in 1670. These Indians were probably the Seewee.

"Some 3 Leagues distant from the shipp, carrying along with us one of ye Eldest Indians who accosted us ye other day, & as we drew to ye shore A good number of Indians appeared clad with deare skins haveing with them their Bows and Arrows,....theire women [were] clad in their Mosse roabs."82

The dresses of three of the daughters of the Casique were differentiated from the other women by the fact that they were made from new moss:

"They entered the Pallace all in new roabs of new mosse which they are never beholding to ye Taylor to trim up, with plenty of beads of divers Collours about their necks."83

In 1674, After Dr. Woodward's returned to Charles Town, he became the agent of the Earl of Shaftsbury and, also, became intimately acquainted with the Westo Indians who lived on the Savannah River. Through Dr. Woodward, this alliance with the Westo Indians "was for several years the cornerstone of Carolina Indian relations."84

According to Hodge, the Westo Indians were a fierce and predatory people and the dreaded enemies of the coastal Indians.85

During Woodward's trip to the Westo's homeland, he noted that the Indians made hieroglyphics on trees in order to send messages to each other as well as to the English.

"As we travelled this day I saw (as divers other times likewise in my journey w[h]ere these Indians had drawne uppon trees (the barke being hewed away) the effigies of a bever, a man, on horseback, and guns, Intimating thereby as I suppose, their desire for friendship and comerse w[i]th us."86

The Indian were not the only people to appropriate "foreign" dress, Woodward appropriated Indian dress when he stated, "The soales of my Indian shooes....."87

Woodward did not describe the appearance of the Westo Indians except to note upon his arrival that they honored him by "[dressing] up in their anticke fighting garbe".88 In this instance, once again, anticke probably meant grotesque and not antique. He did, however, leave a record of items traded to the Indians, which give an indication of their choices in English goods.

 

                                                                        Debit

Doctor Henry Woodward 

To Indian Goods sent in '74 viz.                                     £     s    d

2 Gross of Brass finger rings Gilt                                            18     6

6 dozen Lookingglases                                                             7

3 dozen gross of bells                                                         2   14

3 gross of small ditto                                                          1   10

1 gross of Jewes Harpes                                                          6

56 lbs of white beads at 11d                                              2    11    4

112 lbs of several coullers at 15d

28 lbs of purple at 13d                                                       1   10

28 lbs of christiall and skie at 14d                                       1   12    8

12 Bunches of Beajle [?]                                                    1     2

6 dozen tinshoes                                                                     10

2 peeces of blewe and 2 peeces or redd duffeles              24   17

6 dozen Brass kettles                                                         9   19   4

19 ffowling peeces                                                                  17    2

4 barrels of gun powder at 58s.                                               11 12

30 dozen knives                                                                        3 13

2 barrels of muskett shott                                                          1 14

29 dozen of hatchetts at 11s                                                         15 1989

Woodward, also, encountered some Indians who brought Spanish beads and other trade items as presents.90 He identified them as Savannah Indians. Swanton indicated that these Savannahs Indians were Shawnees who had settled upon the river that was to bear their name.91 The river is known as the Savannah River.

Most of the Shawnee92 Indians lived north of the traditional Southeastern area. However, a small group of Shawnees settled on the banks of the Westobou River which was later known as the Savannah River.93

The fierce Westo Indians were defeated by these Savannah Indians. Before the end of the first decade of the eighteenth century, the Savannah Indians had begun their migration northward toward Maryland and adjoining areas.94

The last notable traveler of the seventeenth century to leave any records, even though extremely brief, of the appearance of the Indians in Carolina was Thomas Ashe who wrote a description of the country of Carolina in 1682. The basic intent of the pamphlet was to advertise the wealth of the area and promote interest in it.

"The Natives of the Country are from time immemorial, ab Origine Indians of a deep Chestnut Colour, their hair black and streight, tied in various ways, sometimes oyl'd and painted, stuck through with Feathers for Ornament or Gallantry; their Eyes black and sparkling, little or no Hair on their Chins with different Figures of red or sanguine Colour, whether for Beauty or to render themselves formidable to their Enemies I could not learn.....their Cloathing, Skins of the Bear or Deer, the skin dressed after their Country Fashion."95

The convenient location of Charles Town in South Carolina to the Southern Indians tribes usurped much of the Indian trade that had previously gone to Virginia. Two reasons were responsible for this change. The distance between Charles Town and the Cherokee and Catawba Indians was closer than to posts in Virginia, and the mountainous terrain to the west was more passable in the southern part of the Carolinas.96

Both the Creeks and the Cherokees established trade with South Carolina both at Charles Town and, then, at Savannah Town. These two towns became very important trading centers in the Southeast.

When the trade actually began between the afore mentioned tribes is obscure. However, records show that by the early 1680's, trade was a recognized business in South Carolina.97

The Scots began to emigrate to the Carolinas in 1684. They built a small settlement at Point Royal called Stuart's Town. The success of this settlement was doomed. Initially disputes between Charles Town and Stuart's Town arose concerning trading right with the Yamasee and Creek Indians. The Spaniards, in addition, were angered by the Carolina settlements and by Indian attacks on them that the former claimed were incited and encouraged by the Scots. In 1686, they wiped out Stuart's Town.98 Nevertheless, descendants of the Scottish immigrants were to play a significant role in the area of Indian/White relations in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The quest toward explorations of the west did not only take place in Virginia for explorers were traveling west and south west from the Carolina's toward the Mississippi River Valley. While the English traveled from Carolina across the Appalachian Mountains and into the Lower Mississippi Valley, the French traveled down the river, also.99 Both countries were setting the scene for future conflict. This conflict was to have a major impact on the Indians of the area as well as of the adjacent territories.  


1. Philip Bruce, Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, p. 441.

2. Purchas, His Pilgrims, volume 19. p. 144.

3. Alan Vance Briceland, Westward from Virginia, p. 8.

4. Alvord and Bidgood, The First Explorations of the Trans-Allegheny Region by the Virginians 1650-1674, p. 26 & Swanton BAE 137, p. 175.

5. Morrison, "The Virginia Indians Trade To 1637", William And Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Second Series, volume 1, number 4, 1921, p. 226.

6. Fleete, A Briefe Journall of a Voyage made in the Barque Warwick to Virginea and [?] pt of the Continent of America A 1631, p. 2 of photocopy of original manuscript,

7. Briceland, Westward from Virginia, p. 8.

8. See Potter article in Powhatan's Mantle, pp. 151-172.

9. Swanton, BAE 137 p. 175.

10. Martha W. McCartney "Cockacoeske, Queen of Pamunkey", Powhatan's Mantle, p. 174.

11. Durand de Dauphine, Huguenot Exile in Virginia, p. 32.

12. Bullock, Virginia Impartially Examined, & left to publick view, to be considered by all judicious & honest men, p. 56.

13. Bullock wrote about the area from 34 to 39 degrees latitude in which lay the "countries of Roanock, the now Plantations of Virginia and Mary-land." These boundaries are found in the title of his book.

14. Bullock, Virginia Impartially Examined, & left to publick view, to be considered by all judicious & honest men, p.58.

15. Ibid., p. 58.

16. Ibid., p. 59.

17. Edward Bland, The Discovery of New Brittaine, p. 13.

18. Swanton, BAE 137, p. 805.

19. Bland, The Discovery of New Brittaine, p. 3.

20. Cyrus Thomas, American Anthropologist, Volume New Series #5, issue 4, October -December 1903, pp. 724-727.

21. The modern names in parentheses are from: Ralph Randolph's British travelers Among the Southern Indians 1606-1763, op. p. 21.

22. This information is from Swanton, BAE 137, p. 104.

23. Hodge stated that the Westo Indian were also the Oustack Indians in BAE 30, volume 2 p. 1113.

24. John Lederer, The Discoveries of John Lederer, Readex Microprint 1966, p. 16.

25. Ibid., p. 18.

26. Ibid., p. 18.

27. Ibid., p. 18.

28. Ibid., p. 13.

29. Ibid., p. 16.

30. Ibid., pp. 19-20.

31. Ibid., p. 26

32. Ibid., p. 27.

33. Bushnell, "Discoveries Beyond the Appalachian Mountains in September 1671", American Anthropologist, 1907, p. 47.

34. Merrell, The Indians New World, p. 29.

35. Rothrock, "Carolina Traders among the Overhill Cherokees 1690-1760", East Tennessee Historical Society Publication, 1929, p. 5.

36. Alvord & Bidgood, The First Explorations of the Trans-Allegheny Region, p. 81.

37. Ibid., p. 83.

38. Ibid., p. 88.

39. S. C. Williams, Early Travels in the Tennessee Country, p. 36.

40. Alvord & Bidgood, The First Explorations of the Trans-Allegheny Region, pp. 92-93.

41. Myer, BAE 42, "Indian Trails of the Southeast", pp. 775-776.

42. Merrell, The Indian New World, p. 41.

43. Alvord & Bidgood, First Explorations of the Trans-Allegheny Region, pp. 90-91.

44. Merrell, The Indians New World, p. 33.

45. Ibid., pp. 32-33.

46. Joseph and Nesta Ewan, John Banister and His Natural History of Virginia 1678-1692, pp. 41-42.

47. Ibid., p. xiii.

48. Ibid., p. 386.

49. The * numbers in brackets are from the text of Ewan.

50. The following statement about dress was originally contained in the last paragraph. It was moved to its own paragraph for the sake of clarity.

51. Ewan in their notes on page 388 stated that the colors are: off-white, red and blue.

52. Joseph and Nesta Ewan, John Banister and His Natural History of Virginia 1678-1692, pp.373 & 374.

53. Alice Morse Earle, Costume of Colonial Times, p. 69.

54. Ibid., p. 141.

55. Alice Morse Earle, Two Centuries of Costume in America, pp. 374-375.

56. Ewan, John Banister and His Natural History of Virginia 1678-1692, p. 381.

57. Swanton, BAE 137, p. 253.

58. Weddle, La Salle, the Mississippi, and the Gulf, p. 120.

59. The text has previously been transcribed into modern English.

60. Durand de Dauphine, Huguenot Exile in Virginia, pp. 152-153.

61. Ibid., pp. 157-158.

62. Earle, Costume of Colonial Times, p. 143.

63. Earle, Two Centuries of Costume, pp. 163-164.

64. Ibid., p. 165.

65. Ibid., p. 167.

66. Cunnington, A Dictionary of English Costume, p. 66.

67. Ibid., p. 117.

68. Alvord & Bidgood, The First Explorations of the Trans-Allegheny Region, p. 59.

69. Alexander Salley, Narratives of Early Carolina, 1650-1708. pp. 25-27.

70. Randolph, British Travelers Among the Southern Indians, pp. 28-29.

71. Morison, The Oxford History of the American People, p. 142.

72. Ibid., p. 141.

73. Alvord & Bidgood, First Explorations of the Trans-Allegheny Region, p. 59.

74. Meinig, The Shaping of America, p. 174.

75. Ibid., p. 175.

76. Crane, The Southern Frontier, p. 4.

77. Ibid., p. 5.

78. Randolph, The British Travelers among the Southern Indians, pp. 28-29.

79. Salley Jr. Narratives of Early Carolina, p. 104.

80. Ibid., p. 106.

81. George Pratt Insh, Scottish Colonial Schemes 1620-1686, pp. 186-211.

82. South Carolina Historical Society Collections, Volume 5, pp. 165-166.

83. Ibid., p. 166.

84. Wilder, Henry Woodward - Forgotten Man of American History, p. 19.

85. Hodge, BAE 30, Volume 2, p. 936.

86. Salley, Narratives of Early Carolina, p. 130.

87. Ibid., p. 133.

88. Ibid., p. 132.

89. Wilder, Henry Woodward - Forgotten Man of American History, pp. 15-16.

90. Salley, Early Narratives of Carolina, pp. 133-134.

91. Swanton, BAE 137, p. 184.

92. The French referred to the Shawnees as Chouanons, Chouanous, and other similar sounding names with slight variations in spelling. Hodge BAE 30, p. 1043.

93. Crane, The Southern Frontier, pp.16-21.

94. Ibid., p. 148.

95. Ashe, Carolina or a Description of the Present State of that Country, pp. 34-35.

96. Craven, The Southern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, p. 405.

97. Crane, The Southern Frontier, p. 20.

98. Ibid., pp. 28-31.

99. Ibid., p. 39 & Craven, The Southern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, p. 406.