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The Westo were a Native American
Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii....
 tribe of the 17th century. They probably spoke an Iroquoian
Iroquoian languages

The Iroquoian languages are a First Nation and Native Americans in the United States language family. The language family, amongst others, includes Mohawk language, Wyandot language and Cherokee language....
 language. They were called Chichimeco by the Spanish, and, possibly, Richahecrian by Virginians. Their first appearance in the historical record is as a powerful tribe in colonial Virginia
Colony and Dominion of Virginia

The Colony of Virginia was the English colony in North America that existed briefly during the 16th century, and then continuously from 1607 until the American Revolution ....
 coming down from the mountains into the region around the later home of Richmond, in numbers that provided a force of 700–900 warriors.






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The Westo were a Native American
Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii....
 tribe of the 17th century. They probably spoke an Iroquoian
Iroquoian languages

The Iroquoian languages are a First Nation and Native Americans in the United States language family. The language family, amongst others, includes Mohawk language, Wyandot language and Cherokee language....
 language. They were called Chichimeco by the Spanish, and, possibly, Richahecrian by Virginians. Their first appearance in the historical record is as a powerful tribe in colonial Virginia
Colony and Dominion of Virginia

The Colony of Virginia was the English colony in North America that existed briefly during the 16th century, and then continuously from 1607 until the American Revolution ....
 coming down from the mountains into the region around the later home of Richmond, in numbers that provided a force of 700–900 warriors. Early academic analysis of the origin of the Westo posited that the so-called Rechahecrian/Rickohakan of Virginia were perhaps Cherokee
Cherokee

The Cherokee are a Native Americans in the United States people orginally from the Southeastern United States . They are linguistically connected to speakers of the Iroquoian language....
 or Yuchi
Yuchi

The Yuchi, also spelled Euchee and Uchee, are a Native Americans in the United States Indian tribe previously living in the eastern Tennessee River valley in Tennessee, northern Georgia , and northern Alabama, who now primarily live in the northeastern Oklahoma area....
 and that the Westo were a band of Yuchi. Anthropologist Marvin T. Smith (1987:131–32) seems to be the first scholar to have suggested that the Westo were a group of Erie
Erie (tribe)

The Erie were an Iroquoian language pre- and early-historic group of Native Americans in the United States, who lived from western New York to northern Ohio on the south shore of Lake Erie....
 who had lived south of Lake Erie
Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time....
 until forced to migrate south to Virginia during the Beaver Wars
Beaver Wars

The Beaver Wars, also called the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars, commonly refer to a brutal series of conflicts fought in the mid-17th century in eastern North America....
. Smith theorizes that as Virginia expanded, the Westo migrated south to the Savannah River
Savannah Town, South Carolina

Savannah Town, South Carolina was first observed in the 1670s as a Westo village, located on the Savannah River below the fall line in present day Aiken County, South Carolina....
 shortly before the founding of South Carolina
Province of Carolina

The Province of Carolina from 1663 to 1712, was a North American Kingdom of Great Britain proprietary colony, controlled by the Lords Proprietor, a group of eight English noblemen led informally by member Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury....
 in 1670. Subsequent work by John Worth (1995:17) and Eric Bowne (2006) strongly supports Smith’s hypothesis.

History

Virginia established a trading relationship with the Westo, exchanging firearms for Indian slaves. When the Westo migrated to the Savannah River, they quickly became known for their military power and their slave raids. Before their destruction, the Westo wreaked havoc on the Spanish missionary provinces of Guale
Guale

Guale was a Native Americans in the United States chiefdom that became part of Spanish Florida's missionary system in the late 16th century. They lived along the coast of present-day Georgia and the Sea Islands....
 and Mocama
Mocama

Mocama was a Native Americans in the United States chiefdom that became part of Spanish Florida's missionary system in the late 16th century. The Mocama spoke a Timucua language language....
. That the Westo had ties with Virginia did not mean they would be friendly toward the South Carolinians. In 1673 the Westo attacked coastal Indians, such as the Cusabo
Cusabo

The Cusabo were a group of Native Americans in the United Statess who lived along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in what is now South Carolina, approximately between present-day Charleston, South Carolina and the Savannah River....
, and the Carolina colony. The colony depended on the Esaw tribe for defense until December of 1674, when some Westo visited Dr. Henry Woodward
Henry Woodward (colonist)

Henry Woodward , often referred to as Dr. Henry Woodward, was the first Great Britain colonist of Province of Carolina. He was instrumental in establishing relationships with many Native Americans in the United States in the Southeastern United States....
 and made peace. The peace became an alliance after the Westo escorted Woodward to their towns on the Savannah River, giving many presents and encouraging friendship.

From 1675 to 1680 trade between the Westo and South Carolina thrived. The Westo provided Carolina with slaves, captured from various Native American groups, including the Spanish-allied tribes in Guale
Guale

Guale was a Native Americans in the United States chiefdom that became part of Spanish Florida's missionary system in the late 16th century. They lived along the coast of present-day Georgia and the Sea Islands....
 and Mocama
Mocama

Mocama was a Native Americans in the United States chiefdom that became part of Spanish Florida's missionary system in the late 16th century. The Mocama spoke a Timucua language language....
, the "Settlement Indians", supposedly under the protection of Carolina, and probably the Cherokee
Cherokee

The Cherokee are a Native Americans in the United States people orginally from the Southeastern United States . They are linguistically connected to speakers of the Iroquoian language....
, Chickasaw
Chickasaw

The Chickasaw are Native Americans in the United States people originally from the Southeastern United States . They are of the Muskogean linguistic group....
, and various tribes that would later become the Creek
Creek people

The Muscogee , their original name they use to identify themselves today, also known as the Creek, are an American Indians in the United States people originally from the Southern United States....
 Confederacy.

Since the Westo were enemies with nearly every other tribe in the region, the alliance with Carolina effectively blocked the colony from establishing any other relationship. A group of Shawnee
Shawnee

The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are a people native to North America. They originally inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania....
 Indians migrated to the Savannah River region and met with the Westo while Henry Woodward was among them. These Shawnee became known as the "Savannah Indians". Woodward apparently witnessed the first meeting of the Shawnee and Westo. Using sign language, the Shawnee (Savannah) warned the Westo of an impending attack from other tribes, earning the goodwill of the Westo, who began to prepare for the attack.

The Savannah later approached Woodward themselves and established a relationship that would doom the Westo. Through their relationship with the Savannah, the Carolinians realized the value of trading beyond the Westo. When war broke out between Carolina and the Westo in 1679, the Savannah assisted the Carolinians. The Westo were defeated and destroyed in 1680 and the Savannah moved into their lands and took over their role as the chief Indian trading partner with Carolina. The fate of most of the surviving Westo was probably enslavement and shipment to work on sugar plantations in the West Indies
Caribbean

The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America....
. (Information on slave raids, Dr. Woodward, Savannah/Shawnee, and the defeat of the Westo mainly from Gallay 2002).

Some of the Westo probably escaped destruction and continued to live near the colony of South Carolina. A map published anonymously in 1715 shows Indian villages during the period from about 1691 to 1715, when the early Creek towns had relocated from the Chattahoochee River
Chattahoochee River

The Chattahoochee River runs from the Chattahoochee Spring in the Appalachian Mountains of northeastern Georgia , near the Carolinas, to the southwestward to Atlanta and through its suburbs....
 to the Ocmulgee River
Ocmulgee River

The Ocmulgee River is a tributary of the Altamaha River, approximately 255 mi long, in the U.S. state of Georgia . Noted for its relatively unspoiled and gentle current, it provides the principal drainage for a large section of the Piedmont and coastal plain of central Georgia....
 and Oconee River
Oconee River

The Oconee River is a river which has its origin in Hall County, Georgia, and terminates 170 miles later where it joins the Ocmulgee River to form the Altamaha River near Lumber City, Georgia at the borders of Montgomery County, Georgia, Wheeler County, Georgia, and Jeff Davis County, Georgia....
. The map shows a town labeled "Westas" (all the towns labels are pluralized) on the Ocmulgee River above the Towaliga River confluence. It is one of a cluster of towns near the important "Lower Creek" town of Coweta
Coweta

Coweta can be:* Coweta, one of the principal towns of the Creek Nation* Coweta, Oklahoma, United States**Coweta Public Schools**Coweta High School...
. The 1715 map shows town locations as of some time between 1691 and 1715, when the Lower Creek moved their towns back to the Chattahoochee River. Westo town is not shown on later maps. As with several other groups of Indian refugees who found haven with the Lower Creeks, the apparent fate of the surviving Westo was absorption into the emerging Creek confederacy (Worth 2000).