Survivors: the Yamassee

When can a tribe of people be called extinct?  Throughout the history of European contact with Native peoples tribes had adapted to warfare, disease and diminishing hunting range by amalgamating with other tribes or taking on new identities.  This has led some to consider such tribes extinct, though in fact they or their descendants may remain very much in existence.

The Yamassee were a loose confederation of Native people from various towns when Hernando de Soto first encountered them in 1540.  Later, the Spaniards attempted to convert the Yamassee to Christianity, as they had the Guale and other Florida tribes.  The Yamassee weren't willing to convert, causing friction with the Spaniards.  Their range was coastal Georgia and later in northeastern Florida.  Beginning in 1687, Spanish slaving raids penetrated deep into Yamassee territory.  They revolted and moved further into what is now Beaufort, South Carolina, seeking the protection of the British.

That only lasted so long.  Originally allies of the British in their wars against the Spanish in Florida, matters came to a head between the British and the Yamassee in 1715.  The Yamassee were noted for their dark skin, even among Natives at the time.  Slaves frequently escaped to live with the Yamassee, creating tension between Settlers and the tribe.  Efforts to force the Yamassee to give up these escapes and cede more land to the colonists led to the Yamassee War.  So powerful was this tribe at the time that they almost wiped out the colony of Carolina (there was no North/South split until 1721).  Eventually, the Yamassee realized that though they were winning the battles, the toll on their people in fighting the British was too much.  They returned to Florida and allied again with the Spanish.

About this time the tribe dispersed.  Some went back to the Savannah River and allied with local Muscogee/Creek bands, forming the Yamacraw.  Prominent Yamacraw included Tomochichi and his relative, Mary Musgrove, translator for Georgia found James Oglethorpe.  Eventually the Yamacraw were absorbed back into the Creek population.  Other Yamassee joined the Seminoles and Hitchiti, and from there disappeared from the White historical record.  But they didn't disappear.  Some Yamassee maintained their identity and their traditions and today are trying to reclaim their tribal identity.  Others are affiliated with the Miccosuke, the descendants of the Hitchiti.