Yamasee Indians

Yamasee Indians

A tribe of Muskhogean stock, mentioned frequently in the history of South Carolina, residing formerly near the Savannah River and in Florida. The Spanish missionaries under Fray Antonio Sedeño began to labour among them about 1570, and little trouble arose until a rebellion of the Yamasee was provoked by an attempt of the Spanish civil authorities to send some of them to the West Indies to labour. Many of the Indians fled to English territory in South Carolina and settled there. In 1715 the extortion and cruelty of the English traders drove them to take up arms, and a general massacre of white settlers took place. Eventually, however, the Indians were defeated at Salkiehatchen by Governor Craven and driven back into Florida, where they allied themselves with the Spaniards. In 1727 the English destroyed their village near St. Augustine and massacred most of them. They were finally incorporated with the Seminole and Hitchiti, and, though a small body still preserved the name in 1812, they have now disappeared. A Yamasee grammar and catechism were compiled by Domingo Báez, one of Fray Sedeño's fellow missionaries.

MOONEY in Handbook of American Indians, II (Washington, 1910).

A.A. MACERLEAN