Catawba people
According to Swanton (1952), before the arrival of the Europeans, the area was home to the Cape Fear Indians, the Waccamaw Indians, and the Saponas. The Waccamaws were a peaceful tribe, and when the European immigrants began to show up they withdrew and joined the Catawba people farther west, and some, at least, joined the Seminoles in Florida. It is said that the celebrated chief of the Seminoles, Osceola, was born on the Waccamaw River, and tradition says that his father was John Powell, a white man living in what is now the area of Columbus County.