Cheraw (people)
The Cheraw (also Charaw, Charraw, Saura, Saraw, Suali, Sualy, Xualla or Xuala ) were a North American Indian tribe from the Sioux language family . They were linguistically and culturally related to other eastern peoples of the Sioux, whose traditional habitat was in the Piedmont region of the Appalachians in what is now the states of Virginia and North Carolina . Scientists suspect that the Sioux once formed a single large group in the Ohio River valley , which later separated and then moved either east or west. The Cheraws were first discovered by Hernando de Soto in 1540. The name the Indians used to call themselves is unknown. They were called ani-suwa'ii by the Cherokee and sara by the Catawba , which means the place of tall grass . The Spaniards and Portuguese called the tribe Xuala or Xualla , the English used among others the names Saraw, Saura, Suali, Sualy, Charaw and Charraw for the Indians of this group. The researcher John Lawson assigned them to the larger network of the eastern Sioux , which he called the Esaw Nation .
The meeting with De Soto probably took place in 1540 in the area of today's Counties Henderson , Polk and Rutherford in North Carolina . Around 1600 the tribe comprised 1200 people. In 1672 they migrated to the area of today's Stokes County in the region of the Sauratown Mountains, which were probably named after a synonym Saura . Before 1700 they moved on to Virginia in what is now Danville .
In 1710, after attacks by the Iroquois , the Cheraw turned southeast and joined the Keyauwee tribe . Her whereabouts were described around the time of the Tuscarora War in 1712 in The Journal of Barnwell as a village on the east bank of one of the tributaries of the Pee Dee River . In the early 18th century, the Cheraw settled in what is now Chesterfield County in northeast South Carolina . This region, which now includes Chesterfield, Marlboro , Darlington and parts of Lancaster County , was known as "The Cheraws", the "Cheraw Hills" and later the "Old Cheraws" in the 18th and 19th centuries. Their main village was not far from the town of Cheraw in South Carolina and was one of the earliest inland settlements in the state. The place in Colorado, also named Cheraw, was named after an Indian settler from the Cheraw tribe. In 1738, an epidemic of smallpox decimated both the Cheraw and the Catawba, and the two tribes unified. Some tribesmen migrated north and established the Charraw Settlement on Drowning Creek in what is now Robeson County , North Carolina.
The last mention as a separate tribe within the Catawba is in 1768, they comprised about 50-60 people who were later identified as the Harris and George families. They returned to Danville with the Catawba families during the American Revolutionary War . Their warriors served on the side of the patriots under General Thomas Sumter .
Descendants of the historic Cheraws may now live among the Lumbee in Robeson County, North Carolina and in the Sumter Band of Cheraw Indians in Sumter County , South Carolina.
See also
List of North American Indian tribes
Individual evidence
- ↑ Catawba language: other tribes . Accessed on May 24, 2007. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
