Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-05-22
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
From the First Settlement to the Close OF
the Revolution.



amount of empty parade. He recount
ed, in a threatening tone the injuries
which the Cherokees had done to the
frontier settlers. When Oconostata
attempted to reply, the governor as
sumed a dictatorial attitude, and told
the chief he would hear no talk from
him." The chiefs were told to march
with his army and by so doing, not a
hair of their heads would be hurt.
Fourteen hundred militia assembled at
the Congaree Here Lyttleton showed
his littleness of soul. Twenty eight Of
the chiefs were put under guard, two
having previously fled. The proud
chiefs, now showed by their grim and
sullen countenances, that they felt that
they had been dealt with contrary to
promise. On arriving in the neighbor-
hood of their principal town, twenty
eight chiefs were confined in a misera-
BILE hut, scarcely sufficiently large to
contain, with any degree Of comfort,
one fourth of their number. Lyttleton
as If about to make a treaty of peace
with some of the enlightened nations
Of Europe, sent for the old chief Alta
kulla- -kulla. From this old and trusty
friend Of the colony, Governor Lyttle-
ton demanded that the twenty-four In
dividuals who had been guilty Of per-
petrating the wrongs complained Of
should be delivered up to him that he
might put them to death, or else he
would hold the chiefs in his possession
as hostages.
The old Indians knew nothing Of the
customs respecting hostages. Although
a chief he knew that such was the
nature of the government Of the tribes
that one Individual had no control over
another. In despair Of effecting any
thing toward peace, he retired deter
mined to wait the result as a brave old
man. Scarcely had he gone, until Gov.
Lyttleton recalled him and succeed
ed in having a treaty signed in which
was embodied a number Of articles Of
which the chiefs either did not under
stand or were forced to sign from the
necessitous condition in which they
were at the time. In the meantime
some of the perpetrators Of the violent
deeds complained Of, were delivered up
to Lyttleton. BY him an equal number
of hostages were released.
1t was now certain that the smallpox
was raging among the Indians. Lyt-
tletons army became stricken.
and a disorderly rush was made by
each one, separately and alone, for his
home. The governor ordered his hos
tages to be kept in close confinement
in Fort Prince George and with his
prisoners, he set out to follow his army
to Charles Town until they died. Not
drop of blood was shed during the ex-
pedition and no good was accomplished,
but much harm; yet it cost the prov
ince more than one hundred thousand
dollars.
When Lyttleton arrived at Charles
town, he was received by his party as
mighty conqueror. Scarcely had he ar
rived in the city, when it was learned
that hostilities had broken out again
in the neighborhood Of Fort Prince
George. Fourteen individuals were
killed within the range of the guns OF
the fort. For Cotymore, the command
er of the fort, the Indians had contract
ed an irreconcilable hatred. They sur
rounded the fort, determined If possi-
BILE to release their twenty-siX chiefs
imprisoned within its walls under the
refined name Of hostages Unable to
effect their purpose by assault, they
determined to have recourse to strata
gem. Oconostata placed a body of In
dams in a dense thicket near the fort
and sent a friendly Indian woman to
the fort requesting Cotymore to meet
him at a certain point on some import
ant business. Without rejecting, Coty-
more with two lieutenants, Bell and
Foster, went to the spot. Oconostata
was present with a bride in his hand.
He told Cotymore that he had deter
mined to go to Charles Town that he
might solicit Governor Lyttleton to re-
lease the prisoners and that he had de-
sired a guard. He was then, he said
on hunt of a horse to ride. Cotymore
at once promised the chief the desired
guard. In the midst Of the conversa-
ton, Oconostata slung the bride
around his head three times. This was
the signal to his ambushed colleagues
Out of the thicket they rushed and fired
upon the unsuspecting captain and hts
two lieutenants Cotymore fell NOR
tally wounded, and Bell and Foster
dangerously. The men in the fort see
ing what was going on, attempted to
put in irons, the prisoners in the fort
The Indians resisted, severely wound
ing three of the garrison. Enraged by
this resistance, the men in the fort put
all the prisoners to death on the spot.
Every move either by the English or
by the Indians only made matters
worse. The inhuman butchery of the
hostages, as they were called, in Fort
Prince George aroused the Cherokees
as they never had been aroused before.
The cry for revenge pierced the dark
ness of the night. The wild natives
laid aside all restraint. The houses of
the frontier settlers were visited by
hideously painted savages, and children
were mercilessly put to death and
scalped without distinction. The small
poX was raging in the low country, and
but few Of the militia could be induced
to leave their afflicted families to rem
der aid to their distressed countrymen.
Never was there such time in South
Carolina before. The whole country,
from Ninety-SiX in the present county
of Abbeville, to Fort Loudon on the
Tennessee, was exposed to the toma-
hawk and scalping knife. Dogs grew
fat on the carcasses of human beings.
Tender babes were snatched from their
mothers bosom, and their brains dash
ed out against trees. The savage war
song. and the shrieks and cries of help
less women and children were heard
above the bowling of the wolves.
In order to relieve the afflicted col
ony. a dispatch was sent to General
Amhurst, the commander of the Brit