Cusabo

The Cusabo (also Corsaboy) were a group of Native Americans who lived along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in what is now South Carolina, approximately between present-day Charleston and the Savannah River. They were often referred to as the Settlement Indians of South Carolina.

Political divisions

Subtribes of the Cusabo included the Ashepoo, Combahee, Coosa (also Coosaw, Cussoe, or Kussoe), Edisto, Escamacu (also St Helena Indians), Etiwan (also Irwan or Eutaw), Kiawah, Stono, Wando, Wappoo and Wimbee. [http://www.sciway.net/hist/indians/cusabo.html Cusabo] , South Carolina Indians] Other non-Cusabo Settlement Indians listed in a 1696 report include the Sewee and Santee.cite book |last= Gallay |first= Alan |title= The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South 1670-1717 |year= 2002 |publisher= Yale University Press |isbn= 0-300-10193-7]

Language

The language spoken by the Cusabo is virtually unknown and now extinct. There is evidence that a common language was spoken (by at least 5 tribes) on the coast from the lower Savannah to the Wando River (east of Charleston), which was different from Guale and Sewee's language. It is likely the Ashepoo, Combahee, Escamaçu, Etiwan, and Kiawah spoke this language, which been referred to as "Cusaboan". Only a few words (mostly town names) of this language were recorded in the 16th century by René Goulaine de Laudonnière (one word recorded is "Skorrye" or "Skerry" meaning "bad, enemy"). Most words have no translation. There are also approximately 100 place names and 12 personal names. The place names do not seem to be related to Algonquian, Iroquoian, or Muskogean languages. (There are a few place names in the area which are Catawban in places where the Sewee and Santee lived.)

John R. Swanton thought that the "bou" or "boo" element, presumbly the same "bou" in the Cusabo word "Westo boe" meaning "Westoe River", that occurs in many coastal place names is a related to Choctaw "-bok" "river". Thus, he speculated that Cusabo was related to the Muskogean family. However, this is probably a mere coincidence, especially since the older Choctaw form was "bayok" "small river, river forming part of a delta". [Goddard, Ives. (2005). The indigenous languages of the Southeast. "Anthroplogical Linguistics", "47" (1), 1-60.; Martin, Jack. (2004). Languages. In R. D. Fogelson (Ed.), "Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast" (Vol. 14, pp. 68-86). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.; Waddell, Gene. (2004). Cusabo. In R. D. Fogelson (Ed.), "Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast" (Vol. 14, pp. 254-264). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.] Blair Rudes has suggested that the <-bo> suffix may indicate a relationship to Arawakan languages. [Rudes, Blair A. [http://www.as.ua.edu/lavis/abstractsOPQRS.htm#rudes "Pre-Columbian Links to the Caribbean: Evidence Connecting Cusabo to Taino"] , paper presented at the Language Variety in the South III conference, Tuscaloosa, AL, 16 April 2004.]

History

The colony of South Carolina was founded in the midst of Cusabo land and the tribe became closely tied to the colony. In the first decade after the founding of Charles Town in 1670 there was conflict and war between some of the Cusabo and the new colony. The Kussoe (Coosa) subtribe was the first to come into violent conflict, with Carolina declaring war on them in October of 1671. In response the Kussoe went into hiding but remained in the area. In the early years of the colony it was not difficult for Indians to "lay low" if they wanted. For three years there is no mention in colonial records of the Kussoe or the war. The colonial records of 1674 indicate an alleged Kussoe attack, killing three people. During the same year another Cusabo subtribe, the Stono, came into conflict with the colony. This conflict, not to be confused with the later Stono Rebellion of African slaves, was similar to the Kussoe War. Colonial records are unclear on how the Kussoe-Stono War ended, except that it was resolved in South Carolina's favor. Large tracts of rich land were ceded. The Kussoe were required to make a symbolic tribute payment of one deerskin per month. Nonetheless, the Kussoe, Stono, and other Cusabo subtribes remained in the area, living in relative accord with the colonists until the Yamasee War of 1715.

One of South Carolina's first powerful Indian allies was the Westo, who during the 1670s conducted numerous slave raid attacks on nearly every other Indian group in the region. By the late 1670s South Carolina began to come into conflict with the Westo themselves. One of the colony's demands was that the Westo cease attacking the Cusabo and other Settlement Indians. Continued Westo attacks played a role in South Carolina's decision to destroy the Westo, which they did, with Indian assistance, in 1679-1680.

By the turn of the century, the Cusabo had become fairly integrated into South Carolina's society, while retaining their Indian and tribal identities and living in their own villages. A relationship developed between the two groups, with the Indians serving as a kind of police and security force in exchange for trade goods, weapons, and money. Indians were paid for turning in the skins of "vermin" such as wolves, "tigers" (cougars), and bears. They also hunted game animals and sold the meat to colonists. But their chief service was in capturing runaway slaves. South Carolina worked to encourage Indian hostility toward Africans, and African fear of Indians. A series of laws were passed that richly rewarded Indians for capturing runaway slaves and did not hold them responsible if runaways happened to be killed. In contrast, there were severe penalties for Africans who attacked Indians. As late as 1750 there were reportedly more than 400 "ancient native" Settlement Indians living within South Carolina, with their "chief service" being "hunting Game, destroying Vermin and Beasts of Prey, and in capturing Runaway slaves."

During the Tuscarora War the Cusabo joined the first South Carolina army, under John Barnwell, which fought the Tuscarora in North Carolina in 1711 and 1712. Part of the "Yamasee Company", the Cusabo troops were fewer than 15 in number.

In 1712, South Carolina granted Palawana Island, near Saint Helena Island, to the Cusabo, where many were already living.

A census taken by John Barnwell in early 1715 listed the Cusabo ("Corsaboy") as living in five villages and having a population of 95 men and 200 women and children. The "Itwan", a Cusabo subtribe, was listed separately as living in one village with a population of 80 men and 160 women and children. [cite book |last= Gallay |first= Alan |title= The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South 1670-1717 |year= 2002 |publisher= Yale University Press |isbn= 0-300-10193-7]

During the Yamasee War of 1715 the Cusabo were one of the few Indian groups that sided with South Carolina. But after the war most of them migrated away, joining either the Creek or Catawba.

References

External links

* http://sciway3.net/proctor/state/natam/cusabo.html SCGenWeb - The Cusabo