CATAWBA

For a long time, scholars were unable to place the unusual Catawba dialect in any language family. Now it is thought that the dialect is Siouan. There were many other Siouan-speaking peoples in the Southeast, especially in the Caroli-nas and Virginia, but few exist as tribes today. The SHAKORI and Waccamaw of South Carolina, like the Catawba, still have communities there.

The Catawba occupied ancestral territory in the present-day border region between North and South Carolina. Like most SOUTHEAST INDIANS, they were village dwellers depending heavily on agriculture for food. They typically located their villages along river valleys, especially along the Catawba River. Their Native name, Issa or Essa, in fact means “people of the river.” Catawba, pronounced cuh-TAW-buh, possibly is derived from the CHOCTAW katapa or katapu, for “divided” or “separated,” or from the YUCHI kotaha, “robust men.” The Catawba lived in pole-frame, barkcovered houses. They also constructed temples of worship, as did other Southeast tribes. They supplemented their diet with fish and game from river and forest. They were skilled potters.

The Catawba, once a very numerous and powerful tribe, were traditional enemies of the CHEROKEE. Catawba war parties traveled great distances to raid other Indians, sometimes even across the Appalachian Mountains to the Ohio Valley.

The Spanish were the first Europeans to have contact with the Catawba, in the latter part of the 1500s. The English explored, settled, and developed the region in the late 1600s and early 1700s. The Catawba wanted European trade goods, so when war broke out between the colonists and the TUSCARORA in 1711—13, they aided the colonists. In the Yamasee War of 1715, however, some Catawba war parties joined the YAMASEE in attacks on British settlements, rebelling against unfair trade practices, forced labor, and slave raids on Indians. After this brief period of unrest,

Catawba pottery

The Catawba maintained peace with the colonists. But their numbers were steadily depleted. European diseases took their toll on them. Two outbreaks of the dreaded smallpox, in 1738 and 1758, reduced the tribe by more than half. The Catawba also suffered from attacks by other Indians who were not always on friendly terms with the colonists, such as the SHAWNEE and the IROQUOIS (hau-DENOSAUNEE). The Catawba sided with the rebels in the American Revolution against the British.

The Catawba had villages on both sides of the North and South Carolina border. Up until 1762, they lived

Mainly in North Carolina. Afterward, they lived mostly in South Carolina, where they came to hold reservation lands.

Many other Siouan peoples of the region merged with the Catawba, such as the Cheraw, Congaree, Eno, Pee Dee, Shakori, and Wateree, as possibly did the Keyaunee, Santee, Sewee, Sissipahaw, and Sugeree. In the 1800s, some Catawba settled among the Cherokee and Choctaw.

The Catawba relationship with the federal government as a unified tribe ended in 1962 during the federal Indian policy of Termination. At that time, the tribe distributed its remaining lands to individuals, many of whom still hold the same tracts. In 1993, the Catawba received $50 million in compensation for a land claim against the state of South Carolina. The settlement bill passed by the U. S. Congress included the restoration of federal status.

The Catawba Indian Nation operates out of Rock Hill, South Carolina. The Catawba are the only eastern tribe to maintain pure pottery-making techniques from precontact times. The pots are not created on a pottery wheel, but rather through a process of piling coils of clay on top of one another, then smoothing the surface. The Catawba Pottery Association helps maintain this tradition through classes. Notable 20th-century Catawba potters include Sara Ayers, Mildred Blue, and Georgia Harris.