^"^^oyEY] CATAWBA EARLY HISTORY. 73 



had confirmed to theui a reservation (assigned a few years before) of 15 

 miles square, or 225 square miles, on both sides of Catawba river, 

 within the present York and Lancaster counties. South Carolina (N. 

 Y., 20). 



On the approach of the British troops in 1780, the Catawba Indians 

 withdrew temporarily into Virginia, but returned after the battle of 

 Guilford Court House and established themselves in two villages on the 

 reservation, known, respectively, as Newton (the principal village) and 

 Turkey Head, on o])posite sides of Catawba river (Mills, 3). In 1826 

 nearly the whole of their reservation was leased to whites for a few 

 thousand dollars, on which the few survivors chiefly depended. About 

 1841 they sold to the state all but a single square mile, on which they 

 now reside (Gatschet). About the same time a number of the Catawba, 

 dissatisfied with their condition anunig the whites, removed to the eastern 

 Cherokee in western Xorth Carolina, but finding their position among 

 their old enemies equally unpleasant, all but one or two soon went 

 back again. An old woman, the last survivor of this emigration, died 

 among the Cherokee in 1889. Her daughter and a younger full-blood 

 Catawba still reside with that tribe. At a later period some Catawba 

 removed to the Choctaw nation in Indian Territory and settled near 

 Scullyville, but are said now to be extinct. About ten years ago sev- 

 eral became converts to jMormon missionaries in South Carolina and 

 went with them to Salt Lake City, Utah. 



The following figures show the steady decline of the tribe from the 

 first authentic reports to the present time. At the first settlement of 

 South Carolina (about 1082) they numbered about 1,500 warriors, 

 equivalent perhaps to 6,000 souls (Adair, 5). In 1701 they were "a 

 very large nation, containing many thousand people" (Lawson, 11). 

 In 1728 they had but little more than 400 warriors, equivalent perhaps 

 to 1,600 souls (Byrd, 22). In 1738 they suffered from the smallpox, 

 and in 1713, even after they had incorporated a number of smaller 

 tribes, the whole body consisted of less than 400 warriors. At that 

 time this mixed nation consisted of the remnants of more than twenty 

 different tribes, each still retaining its own dialect. Others included 

 with them were the Wateree, who had a separate village, the Bno, 

 Cheraw or Sara, Cliowan(?), Congaree, Notch ee, Yamasi, Coosa, etc., 

 (Adair, 6). In 1759 the smallpox again appeared among them and 

 destroyed a great many. In 1761 they had left about 300 warriors, 

 say 1,200 total, "brave fellows as any on the continent of America, 

 and our firm friends" (Description of South Carolina, London, 1761). 

 In 1775 they had little more than 100 warriors, about 400 souls; but 

 Adair says that smallpox and intemperance had contributed more 

 than war to their decrease (Adair, 7). They were further reduced by 

 snuillpox about the beginning of the Eevolutiou, in consequence of 

 which they took the advice of their white friends and invited the 

 Cheraw still living in the settlements to move up and join them 

 (Gregg, 4). This increased their number, and in 1780 they had 150 



