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30-559: It was named after the river, and both were named for the Wateree Native Americans , an historic tribe who lived in the area before European settlement. They became extinct as a tribe after European warfare and encroachment, and their descendants merged with the Catawba people . The lake is surrounded by three South Carolina counties: Kershaw , Fairfield and Lancaster . It is about 30 miles (48 km) northeast of

60-701: A Native American tribe in the interior of the present-day Carolinas. They probably belonged to the Siouan - Catawba language family. First encountered by the Spanish in 1567 in Western North Carolina , they migrated to the southeast and what developed as South Carolina by 1700, where English colonists noted them. There they had settled along the Wateree River , near the site of what developed as present-day Camden, South Carolina . Originally

90-642: A force which defeated the Yamasees at Salkechuh (also spelled Saltketchers or Salkehatchie) on the Combahee River . Eventually, Craven was able to drive the Yamasees across the Savannah River back into Spanish Florida . After the war, the Yamasees migrated southwards to the region around St. Augustine and Pensacola , where they formed an alliance with the Spanish colonial administration. These Yamasees continued to inhabit Florida until 1727, when

120-583: A large tribe, the Wateree had their power broken during the Yamasee War of 1715 against Carolina colonists. The Wateree became allies in a tribal confederation dominated by the Catawba . The latter tribe absorbed remnant bands of many other tribes of the region from the chaos of intertribal fighting. The Wateree appeared to have been able to maintain their culture and distinct language as late as 1744. A record of land sale noted that Wateree Indians sold to

150-566: A large tribe, they suffered high mortality during the Yamasee War of 1715. By the middle of the 18th century, they joined with the Catawba nation and lived near the modern Catawba Reservation. The name Wateree may come from Catawban wateran , "to float on the water" or from yeh is-WAH h'reh / ye iswąʔre . This people were recorded in 1567 by Spanish captain Juan Pardo 's scribe Juan de la Bandera during their expedition through

180-739: A result of duplicitous colonial mercantile practices. Infuriated by the practices of the colonists, the Yamasees resolved to go to war against them, forming a pan-tribal coalition and initiating a two-year long war by attacking the colonial settlement of Charles Town on April 15, 1715. Bolstered by the large number of Indian tribes they had managed to enlist into their coalition, the Yamasees staged large-scale raids against other colonial settlements in Carolina as well, leading to most colonists abandoning frontier settlements and seeking refuge in Charles Town. South Carolina Governor Charles Craven led

210-728: A white man. The tribe as a group culture has become extinct, but some present-day Catawba are likely genetic descendants of the Wateree. Yamasee The Yamasees (also spelled Yamassees , Yemasees or Yemassees ) were a multiethnic confederation of Native Americans who lived in the coastal region of present-day northern coastal Georgia near the Savannah River and later in northeastern Florida . The Yamasees engaged in revolts and wars with other native groups and Europeans living in North America, specifically from Florida to North Carolina. The Yamasees, along with

240-586: Is an average of 23 feet (7.0 m) deep with an estimated volume of 1.35 × 10 cubic feet (3.82 × 10 m). Lake Wateree is known for its fishing and bountiful wildlife around the shoreline. The fish include Largemouth Bass , Striped bass , White Perch , White bass , Crappie , Channel catfish , Arkansas Blue Catfish , Shellcrackers , Bream . Other wildlife in the area include deer , fox , squirrel , turtle , dove , turkey , alligator , and various species of duck , hawk , eagle , egret , Heron and osprey . Wateree people The Wateree were

270-523: Is partially preserved in works by missionary Domingo Báez. Diego Peña was told in 1716-1717 that the Cherokee of Tuskegee Town also spoke Yamasee. Hann (1992) asserted that Yamasee is related to the Muskogean languages. This was based upon a colonial report that a Yamasee spy within a Hitchiti town could understand Hitichiti and was not detected as a Yamasee. Francis Le Jau stated in 1711 that

300-504: Is probably a loanword , as it seems also to have been absorbed into the Timucua language . Thus, the connection of Yamasee with Muskogean is unsupported. A document in a British colonial archive suggests that the Yamasees originally spoke Cherokee, an Iroquoian language, but had learned another language. For a time they were allied with the Cherokee but are believed to have been a distinct people. In 1715 Col. George Chicken stated that he

330-649: The English colony of the Carolina (present day South Carolina ). They established several villages, including Pocotaligo, Tolemato, and Topiqui, in Beaufort County . A 1715 census conducted by Irish colonist John Barnwell counted 1,220 Yamasees living in ten villages near Port Royal . Migration by the Yamasees to Charles Town (in the colony of Carolina ) beginning in 1686 was likely in pursuit of trading opportunities with English colonists, or to escape

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360-481: The American Southeast. The Yamasees also conducted raids on the Spanish colonial settlement of St. Augustine . Indian captives of the Yamasees were transported to colonial settlements throughout Carolina, where they were sold to white colonists; frequently, many of these captives were then resold to West Indian slave plantations. Many Yamasees soon became indebted to the colonists they traded with, as

390-636: The Catholic Christian Indians of Spanish Florida . Pirate attacks on the Spanish missions in 1680 forced the Yamasees to migrate again. Some moved to Florida. Others returned to the Savannah River lands, which were safer after the Westo had been destroyed. In 1687, some Spaniards attempted to send captive Yamasees to the West Indies as slaves. The tribe revolted against the Spanish missions and their Native allies, and moved into

420-841: The Guale, are considered from linguistic evidence by many scholars to have been a Muskogean language people. For instance, the Yamasee term "Mico", meaning chief, is also common in Muskogee. After the Yamasees migrated to the Carolinas , they began participating in the Indian slave trade in the American Southeast . They raided other tribes to take captives for sale to European colonists . Captives from other Native American tribes were sold into slavery, with some being transported to West Indian plantations. Their enemies fought back, and slave trading

450-485: The Spanish, choosing to maintain stronger contacts with British colonists instead. The "prince" returned to Charles Town in 1715, right around the period when the Yamasee War broke out, and shortly after his family had been taken captive by Carolinian raiders and sold into slavery. The Yamasee Archeological Project was launched in 1989 to study Yamasee village sites in South Carolina. The project hoped to trace

480-584: The Spanish. In Charles Town, some Yamasee families looked toward Christian missionaries to educate their children in reading and writing as well as converting them to Christianity. Christian missionaries in Carolina may have had some success in converting the Yamasees and Guale because they had both become familiar with Spanish missionaries and were more open to conversion than other tribes. For decades, Yamasee raiders (frequently equipped with European firearms and working in concert with Carolinian settlers) conducted slave raids against Spanish-allied Indian tribes in

510-617: The Yamasee understood Creek . He also noted that many Indians throughout the region used Creek and Shawnee as lingua francas , or common trading languages. In 1716-1717, Diego Peña obtained information that showed that Yamasee and Hitchiti-Mikasuki were considered separate languages. The Yamasee language, while similar to many Muskogean languages, is especially similar to Creek , for they share many words. Many Spanish missionaries in La Florida were dedicated to learning native languages, such as Yamasee, in an effort to communicate for

540-450: The Yamasees as a multi-ethnic amalgamation of several remnant Indian groups, including the Guale , La Tama , Apalachee , Coweta , and Cussita Creek. Historian Chester B. DePratter describes the Yamasee towns of early South Carolina as consisting of lower towns, consisting mainly of Hitchiti-speaking Indians, and upper towns, consisting mainly of Guale Indians. The Yamasees were one of

570-448: The Yamasees soon began to transport their captives to Carolina to sell in Charles Town's slave markets. They soon began to conduct raids specifically to take captives and sell them in Carolina. In 1713, Anglican missionaries in South Carolina sponsored the journey of a Yamasees man (whose actual name is unknown, as he was generally referred to as the "prince" or "Prince George") from Charles Town to London . Historians have noted that

600-514: The area of the upper Yadkin River , to the northwest of their later habitat. By 1700, when observed by John Lawson 's expedition, the Wateree had migrated south to settle along the Wateree River near the site of present-day Camden, South Carolina . The British observed that the chiefs of the Wateree had a higher degree of power than those of other Indian tribes of the region. Originally

630-430: The capital Columbia . I-77 passes west of the lake, and it is accessible via SC 97 . Duke Power (now Duke Energy ) dammed the Wateree River to generate hydroelectric power, and flooded a large area in 1919, creating Lake Wateree. The Wateree Hydro Station produces 56 megawatts of electricity. The lake covers nearly 14,000 acres (57 km) with 190 miles (310 km) of shoreline touching three counties. The lake

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660-566: The combination of a smallpox epidemic and raids by Col. John Palmer (leading fifty Carolinian militiamen and one hundred Indians) eventually led many of the remaining Yamasees to disperse, with some joining the Seminole or Creek . Still others remained near St. Augustine until the Spanish relinquished control of the city to the British. At that time, they took with them around 90 Yamasees to Havana. Steven J. Oatis and other historians describe

690-524: The interior of the Carolinas. Bandera called them the Guatari in his journal, which was also given as the name of their village. Bandera described them as ruled by two female chiefs. The Spaniards noted that Guatari was far from the coast. The settlement is believed to have been in present-day Rowan County, North Carolina . In 1670, English colonists and explorers mentioned the Wateree as inhabiting

720-496: The largest slave raiding tribes in the American Southeast during the late 17th century, and have been described as a "militaristic slaving society", having acquired firearms from European colonists. Their use of slave raids to exert dominance over other tribes is partially attributed to the Yamasee aligning with European colonists in order to maintain their own independence. It was typical of Native Americans to take captives during warfare, particularly young women and children, though

750-520: The motivation of the "prince" to visit London was a form of "religious diplomacy" on the part of the missionaries to further ties between the Yamasee and British colonists. The missionaries hoped that if the "prince" converted to Christianity while in London, it would ensure the Yamasee would become firm allies of the British colonists. Around the period that the "prince" travelled to London, the Yamasees were largely unwilling to be culturally assimilated by

780-475: The people's origins and inventory their artifacts. The project located a dozen sites. Pocosabo and Altamaha have since been listed as archeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places . The name "Yamasee" perhaps comes from Muskogee yvmvsē , meaning "tame, quiet"; or perhaps from Catawban yį musí: , literally "people-ancient". Little record remains of the Yamasee language. It

810-419: The purpose of conversion. It also allowed the missionaries to learn about the people's own religion and to find ways to convey Christian ideas to them. There is limited, inconclusive evidence suggesting the Yamasee language was similar to Guale . It is based on three pieces of information: Linguists note that the Spanish documents are not originals and may have been edited at a later date. The name Chiluque

840-492: The village of Altamaha . In 1570, Spanish explorers established missions in Yamasee territory. The Yamasees were later included in the missions of the Guale province. Starting in 1675, the Yamasees were mentioned regularly on Spanish mission census records of the missionary provinces of Guale (central Georgia coast) and Mocama (present-day southeastern Georgia and northeastern Florida). The Yamasees usually did not convert to Christianity and remained somewhat separated from

870-482: Was a large cause of the Yamasee War . The Yamasees lived in coastal towns in what are now southeast Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. The Yamasees migrated from Florida to South Carolina in the late 16th century, where they became friendly with European colonists. The Yamasees were joined by members of the Guale , a Mississippian culture chiefdom, and their cultures intertwined. The Hernando de Soto expedition of 1540 traveled into Yamasee territory, including

900-809: Was told that the Yammasses were the ancient people of the Cherokee. The name of the Yamasees survives in the town of Yemassee, South Carolina , in the Lowcountry close to where the Yamasee War began. It is also used for the title of William Gilmore Simms ' 1835 historical novel The Yemassee: A Romance of Carolina , and by extension, Yemassee , the official literary journal of the University of South Carolina . There are currently self-identified Yamasee descendants in Florida and elsewhere, and

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