Big Business on the
Caritiina Frontier
The early i'ur traders doubled as
diplomats, and were a different breed
from some wlio met the Indians later.
Btj ASHTON CHAPMAN
The tremendous quantities of deer¬
skins — as many as 1 21 ,355 in a single
year — which were shipped during the
early 1700's from Charleston, princi¬
pally to England, came through barter
with the Indians, mainly the Cherokees
of the Blue Ridge, the Great Smokies
and their Over Hill towns.
Very early, efforts were started by
the Carolina colonists to establish trade
routes from the coastal settlements
across the Piedmont and up through
the mountains. The main trading path
which was developed led to a point
where Fort Prince George was to be
built in 1754, near the junction of the
two Carolinas and Georgia. From there
it led up through the mountains and,
eventually, as far as the Tennessee
River, which flows through country
then considered part of the North
Carolina Colony.
Reports of trading with the Indians
in some of the other colonies give the
impression it was a somewhat desul¬
tory, hit-or-miss sort of commerce; also
that the traders were of a rather low-
type who didn't hesitate to take advan¬
tage of the ignorant red men. But rec¬
ords indicate that barter between the
early Carolina traders and the Chero¬
kees and other tribes was well organ¬
ized and its total annual volume
amounted to "big business” in the
economy of the two Carolinas.
Won Indians' Confidence
Prior to 1715 the names of some
100 Carolina traders were noted in the
public records, and as many more ap¬
peared there between 1715 and 1750.
Doubtless there were others, whose
transactions didn’t receive written
notice, hence their names have become
lost.
Most of those early Carolina traders
were of an exceptionally high type.
They were not only men of boldness
and courage but they conducted their
THE STATE, SEPTEMBER 15, 196B
transactions with an intelligence and
integrity found all too sadly lacking
among the white men with whom the
Indians later came into contact.
Some years ago Donald Davidson,
then an English professor at Vander¬
bilt University, wrote that the colonists
of North and South Carolina “learned
and practiced a backwoods diplomacy
which had no parallel in later times.
The Carolina trader was the instrument
and agent of this diplomacy, , . . Ex¬
cept for a few great planters of Vir¬
ginia, who as yet moved a little slowly,
there were no leaders quite like them
anywhere in the American colonies.”
The Carolina traders learned the
Cherokee language, as well as the dia¬
lects of the Chickasaws, Choctaws and
other tribes, and often served as inter¬
preters between other white men and
the Indians. The traders won the con¬
fidence of the chiefs and their braves,
gained a thorough knowledge of the
regions they traversed, and were help¬
ful in preventing a number of hostile
raids against the frontier settlers in the
two Carolinas. They influenced the red
men to side with the British rather
than with the French from Mobile and
New Orleans, who were trying to gain
a “back door” entrance into the Chero¬
kee country.
Well-Known Traders
Best known, perhaps, of the early
Carolina traders was James Adair, an
Irishman, who landed in America in
1735 at the age of 26. He spent many
years with various tribes, principally
the Cherokees in western North Caro¬
lina, among whom he died in 1755.
Adair was the only trader who wrote a
book covering his experiences. It's title
is The History of the American In¬
dians, Particularly Those Nations Ad¬
joining the Mississippi, East and West
Florida, Georgia, South and North
Carolina, and Virginiu.
About 1710 Thomas Nairne, who at
the time was Indian agent of the pro¬
prietors of the Carolina Colony, made
his first extensive visit to the Chero¬
kees in their Over Hill towns, with the
idea of establishing permanent trading
posts. On one of his subsequent trips,
during the Indian uprising of 1715, he
was taken prisoner and was burned at
the stake.
Nairne's friend, Price Hughes,
wanted to establish not only permanent
trading posts but regular settlements
among the Indians. While awaiting
approval of his plans by the pro¬
prietors of the Carolina Colony in Lon¬
don, Hughes continued to extend the
trading posts. He also renewed and
strengthened the earlier alliance which
the Carolina colonists had made with
the Chickasaws. He was captured by
the French, who took him to Mobile
for questioning, but released him, un¬
harmed. While attempting to make his
way back, alone, to Carolina, he was
attacked and killed by a small band of
hostile Indians.
Records show' that as early as 1711
Elcazer Wiggan was trading among
the Over Hill Cherokees. Little is
known about him, however, except that
the Indians affectionately referred to
him as “Old Rabbit.”
Other traders, about whom little can
be learned except that their dealings
with the Cherokees w'ere successful,
were Joseph Cooper, William Cooper,
Robert Dunning and David Dowie.
Ludovic Grant, who came some
years later, was a native Scotchman
with a good education and sound judg¬
ment. He seems to have had consider¬
able influence with the Cherokees.
Other Carolina traders had Scotch
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