Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1875-04-29


tile intentions. During the first term OF
Vests administration, in the very infancy OF
the colony, they commenced intriguing with
the Kussoes for the purpose of making the
Indians enemies to the English. Not that
the Spanish we're moved with pity or com.
passion for the Indian; not that they were
erieved at heart because the Indian was
about to be driven from the hunting grounds
of his fathers and the graves Of his sires.
Nothing of this kind moved the Spaniards at
St. Augustine to form secret confederation
with the Indians for the destruction OF the
Ashley river colony.
No people ever treated another as the
Spaniards treated the aboriginal inhabitants
of the New World. Every cruelty that sa-
tanic hate could devise, was, without restraint,
inflicted upon them wherever they were met.
Spain, wherever she attempted to plant COL
ony literally tortured the Indians out of ex-
istence. It is not claimed that the Ashley
river colony treated the Indians in every re.
spect as a correct morality and an enlightened
civilization enioin; butit is evident from the
time, and all the attending circumstances,
that in the first difficulty which occurred be.
tween the English colony at Ashley river and
the Indians, the latter were to bla@e. No
doubt there was lively tradition of the cru.
elites practiced by Velasques at St. Helena,
one hundred and fifty years previous to that
time. The Indian retained in his memory,
during life, the recollection of either favor
granted or an injury done. Sons were taught
to bear eternal hatred to the enemies of their
fathers. The Indian could not distinguish
between the guilty and theinnocent. Injured
by one pale.face, his wrath was Immediately
kndled against every white man. The
French, under Ribault, treated the Indians
kindly, and they never forgot it. We may
safely say that the Indians never would have
maltreated the white settlers, had they not
been first wronged by the immigrants No
doubt there we're great differences in the
moral character of the various Indian tribes
but, generally. they made greater mistakes in
furnishing wrongs received, than in deciding
as to what is right and what is wrong in the
intercourse of one individual with another.
The first salutation the Pilgrim fathers gave
the Indians at Plymouth Rock, was shower
of musket balls at Jamestown, in Virginia,
they were cheated and swindled in the Albe'
marie and Clarendon colonies, in the present
State of North Carolina, they were not justly
dealt with; by the Spanish, in Hispanola,
Peru and Mexico, they were butchered as the
vilest of beasts only are.
The tale of these injuries, we may we'll sup
pose, had spread from the sunny plains Of the
South to the frozen regions of the North.
Warriors would, no doubt, sit around the fire
of their wigwams and tell their children Of
the evils the tribes had suffered at the hands
of the white men. All the circumstances con-
spired to beget hatred in the bosom of the
Indian for the white man. The fault of the
Indian was, that he did not discriminate be-
tween the innocent and the guilty. The fact
that the Spanish had injured the Indians, was
no reason why they should wreak their ven
geance upon the English. Still, we find that
soon after the arrival of the colony at Ashley
river, the Kussoes manifested hostile dispo.
sition. A constant guard had to be placed
around every plantation, from the very begin
ming. This, to colony weak in numbers
and dependent in part, at least, upon the pro-
duct of their fields for bread, became burden.
some and even guard did not prevent raids
from these marauding parties.
Daily, the indians became more insolent
and hostile in their bearing and actions.
They would agree to no fair terms upon which
the colony and tribe could live together, as
in peace but, on the contrary,
threatened the lives of peaceable, and, we
NAV say, defenseless members of the colony.
In view of all the circumstances, it was
deemed advisable by the Governor and Coun-
Gil, to take some decisive measures, by which
the Kussoes and their confederates would be
forced to live peaceably with the colony, and
deport themselves consistently with upright
ness and honesty.
On the 9th day of September, 1871, war
was formally declared by the Governor and
Council against the Kussoe and Southwark
Indians. Commissions were granted to Cap
tain Joseph Godfrey and Captain Thomas
Gray. They were instructed to prosecute the
war "effectually," and the dispatch with
which the Kussoes and their "coadjutors"
were subdued shows that these Captains obey
ed the orders of the Council implicitly, and
executed them promptly. So soon as the or
dnance declaring war was passed, hostilities
began in earnest. There was no delay. Ste
phen Bull, who held the Office of Master Of
Ordinance in the colony, seized, by the order
of the Council, two Kussoes who were in town.
The colonjsts were ordered to rendezvous and
the march against the enemy commenced at
once. There was no waiting to get up new
suit of clothes or to cook up a months ration !;
but each man set out, the moment he received
the order, for the seat of war. With such
dispatch and secrecy was the expedition con-
Quoted, that the Indians were not given any
time to prepare for it. The campaign lasted
only from the 9th of September to the End
of October-four or five days-but the victo'
ry was as complete as if it had been prolonged
for as many months.
On the End of October, an order was passed
by the Council that the prisoners should be
held by the individuals who had taken them,
and that unless they were redeemed by the
tribe, they should be sold and the proceeds Of
the sale divided among the members of the
by which they had been captured.
This looks like the war orders of the olden
time, when the soldier got his monthly pay
out of the sale of the prisoners he took on the
battlefield. What was done in the present
instance, we do not certainly know. Some Of
the captives, no doubt, were ransomed by the
remainder Of the Kussoes, while others were
sold into bondage and became laborers on the
plantations of the immigrants.
From this first military campaign, we may
form some idea of the condition of things in
the colony. We may safely conclude that
the people had great confidence in the pru.
dence and good sense Of the Governor and
COUNCIL. The fact is, Colonel West, the Gov
ernor, was the moving spirit Of the whole COL
ony. For period of twenty years, he exer-
cised great power and enjoyed great privileges; !;