72 SIOUAN TRIBES OF THE EAST. [ethnology 



alliance with the hostile Yainasi in 1715 they were uniformly friendly 

 to the English and afterward to their successors, the Americans ; but 

 they were at constant war with the Iroquois, the Shawano, the Dela- 

 ware, and other tribes of Ohio valley, as well as with the Cherokee. In 

 carrying- on this warfare the Iroquois and the lake tribes made long 

 journeys into South Carolina, and the Catawba retaliated by sending 

 small scalping parties into Ohio and Pennsj-lvania. Their losses by 

 the ceaseless attacks of their enemies reduced their numbers steadily 

 and rapidly, while disease and debauchery introduced by the whites, 

 and especially several wholesale epidemics of smallpox, aided tlie work 

 of destruction, so that before the closeof the eighteenth century the great 

 nation of Lawson was reduced to a pitiful remnant (details may be 

 found in the Colonial Documents of New York, in 12 volumes, 1850-1877). 

 They sent a large force to help the colonists in the Tuskarora w ar of 

 1711-13, and also aided in expeditions against the French and their 

 Indian allies at Fort Du Quesne and elsewhere during the French and 

 Indian war. Later it was proposed to use them and the Cherokee 

 against the lake tribes under Pontiac in 17C3. They assisted the 

 Americans also during the Eevolution in the defense of South Carolina 

 against the British, as well as in Williamson's expedition against the 

 Cherokee. 



In 1738 the smallpox raged in South Carolina, and worked great 

 destruction not only among the whites but also among the Catawba 

 and smaller tribes. In 1759 it appeared again and this time destroyed 

 nearly half the tribe, largely because of their custom (common toother 

 Indians likewise) of plunging into cold water as soon as the disease 

 manifested itself (Gregg, 3). In order to secure some protection for 

 them in their weakened condition the South Carolina government 

 made strong protests to the governor of iSTew York against the incur- 

 sions of the Iroquois and Ohio tribes from the north, who did not con- 

 fine their attention to the Catawba alone, but frequently killed also 

 other friendly Indians and negroes and even attacked the white settle- 

 ments. Governor Glen, of South Carolina, at last threatened to take up 

 the quarrel of the Catawba by oifering a reward for every northern 

 Indian killed within the limits of South Carolina. This heroic measure 

 was successful, and in the next year (1751), at a conference at Albany 

 attended by the delegates from the Six Nations and the Catawba, 

 under the aus])ices of the colonial governments, a treaty of peace was 

 made between the two tribes, conditional upon the return of sonie 

 Iroquois prisoners then held by the Catawba (N. Y., 19). This peace 

 was probably final as regards the Iroquois, but had no effect upon the 

 western tribes, whose interests were all with the French. These tribes 

 continued their warfare against the Catawba, who were now so far 

 reduced that they could make little effectual resistance. In 17C2 a 

 small party of Shawano killed the noted chief of the tribe. King 

 Haiglar, near his own village (Mills, 2). From this time they ceased to 

 be of importance except in conjunction with the whites. In 17G3 they 



