The Santee were a historic tribe of Native Americans that once lived in South Carolina within the counties of Clarendon and Orangeburg, along the Santee River. The Santee were a small tribe even during the early eighteenth century and were primarily centered in the area of the present day town of Santee, South Carolina. Their settlement along the Santee River has since been dammed and is now called Lake Marion. The Santee Indian Organization, a state-recognized tribe within South Carolina claim descent from the historic Santee people but are not presently federally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Etymology
While few words of the Santee language have been preserved, scholars like John R. Swanton, have historically maintained that there is little doubt that the tribe once spoke a Siouan-Catawban language. Frank Speck, a prominent anthropologist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania during the early twentieth century, suggested that the name Santee derived from iswan'ti, Catawban for 'the river' or 'the river is there'.
The tribe has sometimes been confused with the Santee, another Siouan speaking people primarily situated within the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Manitoba, Canada, due to the similarity of their names.
History
The Santee people's earliest documented presence with a high degree of certainty can be traced back to the early seventeenth century, specifically through the accounts of Captain Francisco Fernandez de Eçija. Eçija, a Spaniard dispatched from St. Augustine, Florida, on two separate occasions in 1605 and 1609 searched for an English colony rumored to be in the Carolinas but failed in both instances to find any evidence of English settlement. During his missions, Eçija did, however, document the presence of the Santee people living along the modern-day Santee River, providing the earliest known documentation on the tribe's geographic location.
On June 20, 1672, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, wrote to the prominent Englishman, Captain Maurice Mathews, acknowledging that the Santee people had recently chosen Mathews as their cassique and approved his decision to first seek approval from the Governor and Council before accepting the position. On January 15, 1675, Mathews submitted a report to the Council, indicating that the Santee people had approached him with a request for guidance in selecting a location to establish a town. Mathews subsequently directed them to establish their settlement on the banks of Wadboo Creek, situated directly across the Cooper River. Mathews served as the overseer of Mepkin Plantation, a substantial estate spanning 3,000 acres situated along the Western Branch of the Cooper River, directly opposite the present day location of Moncks Corner, South Carolina. This plantation is thought to have either encompassed or was in immediate proximity to the location of the Santee town.
In 1700, the Santee were visited by English explorer, John Lawson who found their towns, which he referred to as plantations, extending for many miles along the Santee River. At the time of Lawson's visit their warriors were at war with the Winyaw near the coast. Lawson describe the tribe's main settlement as being near several burial mounds, including the Fort Watson Mound. Lawson described encountering King of the Santee as well as the chief doctor of the tribe, in addition to other tribal members, including a hunter and his wife. Later, he and his party spent the night in three cabins at the village of Hickerau, or Black House, near modern Summerton, South Carolina. The following day the party traveled to a temporary hunting encampment located between this village and the High Hills of Santee, where they met and hired a guide referred to as Santee Jack. Jack and his wife escorted Lawson and his party to a town of Congaree people, thought to be located near present day Camden, South Carolina.