A colonial complex: South Carolina's frontiers in the era of the Yamasee War, 1680-1730

In 1715 the upstart British colony of South Carolina was nearly destroyed in an unexpected conflict with many of its Indian neighbors, most notably the Yamasees, a group whose sovereignty had become increasingly threatened. The South Carolina militia retaliated repeatedly until, by 1717, the Yamasees were nearly annihilated, and their survivors fled to Spanish Florida. The war not only sent shock waves throughout South Carolina's government, economy, and society, but also had a profound impact on colonial and Indian cultures from the Atlantic Coast to the Mississippi River.Drawing on a diverse range of colonial records, A Colonial Complex builds on recent developments in frontier history and depicts the Yamasee War as part of a colonial complex: a broad pattern of exchange that linked the Southeast’s Indian, African, and European cultures throughout the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In the first detailed study of this crucial conflict, Steven J. Oatis shows the effects of South Carolina’s aggressive imperial expansion on the issues of frontier trade, combat, and diplomacy, viewing them not only from the perspective of English South Carolinians but also from that of the societies that dealt with the South Carolinians both directly and indirectly. Readers will find new information on the deerskin trade, the Indian slave trade, imperial rivalry, frontier military strategy, and the major transformations in the cultural landscape of the early colonial Southeast. (20060223)

In 1715 the upstart British colony of South Carolina was nearly destroyed in an unexpected conflict with many of its Indian neighbors, most notably the Yamasees, a group whose sovereignty had become increasingly threatened. The South Carolina militia retaliated repeatedly until, by 1717, the Yamasees were nearly annihilated, and their survivors fled to Spanish Florida. The war not only sent shock waves throughout South Carolina's government, economy, and society, but also had a profound impact on colonial and Indian cultures from the Atlantic Coast to the Mississippi River.

Drawing on a diverse range of colonial records, A Colonial Complex builds on recent developments in frontier history and depicts the Yamasee War as part of a colonial complex: a broad pattern of exchange that linked the Southeast’s Indian, African, and European cultures throughout the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In the first detailed study of this crucial conflict, Steven J. Oatis shows the effects of South Carolina’s aggressive imperial expansion on the issues of frontier trade, combat, and diplomacy, viewing them not only from the perspective of English South Carolinians but also from that of the societies that dealt with the South Carolinians both directly and indirectly. Readers will find new information on the deerskin trade, the Indian slave trade, imperial rivalry, frontier military strategy, and the major transformations in the cultural landscape of the early colonial Southeast.

Introduction : the southeastern frontier complex Builders and borrowers : South Carolina's early frontier expansion Contested empires : the southeastern theaters of Queen Anne's War Beneath the buffer zone : strains on South Carolina's Indian alliance network Conspiracy theories : inter-Indian alliances and the outbreak of the Yamasee War Crises and change : wartime adjustments of the South Carolinians Distances bridged and widened : wartime adjustments of the southeastern Indians Inchoate resistance : Indians and Imperialists in the Creek-Cherokee War Designs on a debatable land : the watershed of South Carolinian expansion Conclusion : the significance of the Yamasee War. Acknowledgments......Page 10 Introduction......Page 16 1. Builders and Borrowers......Page 27 2. Contested Empires......Page 57 3. Beneath the Buffer Zone......Page 98 4. Conspiracy Theories......Page 127 5. Crisis and Change......Page 155 6. Distances Bridged and Widened......Page 191 7. Inchoate Resistance......Page 238 8. Designs on a Debatable Land......Page 279 Conclusion......Page 314 Notes......Page 326 Bibliography......Page 384 Index......Page 406