Indian slave trade in the American Southeast

The enslavement of Native Americans was common across the thirteen British colonies and Florida in the 1600s and early 1700s, but especially in the American Southeast. It is commonly believed that Africans were the only people who were enslaved in the Americas however, in some of the southeastern colonies Native American slaves, at times, outnumbered those of African descent. Natives were sometimes used as labor on plantations or as servants to wealthy colonist families, other times they were used as interpreters for European traders. The policies on the treatment and slavery of Native Americans varied from colony to colony in the Southeast. A large part of the Native American slave trade in the southeast consisted of other Natives trapping and selling other Natives into slavery; this trade between the colonists and the Native Americans had a profound effect on the shaping and nature of slavery in the Southeast.^[1]

Slavery in the Southeastern Colonies

The southern colonies of the United States were known for their use of slavery to keep their large plantation economy running, as well as the terrible ways in which the slaves were treated. It is usually assumed that all of the slaves were from Africa, however Native Americans were also frequently enslaved; and in some cases were used more than African slaves.^[2] The Native American slave trade in the colonial Southeast was brought to its peak with the use of the European weapons as well as the trade by natives of natives in exchange for more ammunition for weapons as well as other English goods. However, the involvement of the Natives in the slavery of other Natives was not a model that would be able to sustain itself for a long time, and the depletion of 'resources' - Native Americans in this sense being the resources - coupled with the Yamasee War of 1715 would effectively bring an end to the use of Native Americans as slaves in the colonial southeast.^[3][4][5]

Slavery in the Carolinas

A trade system between the Natives, the Colonists, and England helped to get the colony's economy on its feet when it was first founded in the late 1600s. This trade system allowed for the Carolina colony to then set up its plantations which mainly produced rice and indigo, and bringing with it the African slaves who would then work the plantations. This trade system involved the Westo group, who had previously come down from further north. The Westos were given English goods in exchange for beaver and other animal pelt and capturing natives to be sold into slavery. The slavery of Native Americans was crucial in both phases of the colony's changing economy. Slavery, especially of Native Americans, was allowed in the legislative framework of the colony with the creation of "Slave Codes" soon after the creation of the colony.^[6] As slaves, the natives were expected to hunt while the black slaves worked the plantations. As trade with the Indians continued, so did the slavery of Native Americans; however, due to a growing trade monopoly in the colony, some of the colonists, such as Henry Woodward, were trying to limit the amount of trade done with the natives.^[7] However, Queen Anne's war interrupted the building campaigns against trading and allowed for increased sales of slaves in Charleston.^[8] Often the price of native slaves was lower than that of black slaves due to the increased amount of native slaves who escaped. Escape was relatively easy for the Native Americans, as they knew the land well and often were not far from their own people. The slave owners' solution to the problem of escaped native slaves was to send them to work in the West Indies where they would not be able to escape. However, the outbreak of the Yamasee War in 1715 completely ended the use of Native Americans as slaves, making the colony completely reliant upon the labor of black slaves.^[9][10]

Slavery in Colonial Georgia

The colony of Georgia was established in 1732, and soon after slavery was prohibited in the colony. However, the 1735 law which prohibited slavery, only disallowed the enslavement of Africans and did not Native Americans. The first of the Native American slaves in Georgia were those brought down with the Musgrove family of South Carolina.^[11] Though the use of Native Americans as slaves was prohibited in Georgia, prior to its establishment as a colony the natives who lived there were subjected to raids made by the native groups who were a part of the slave trade. This meant that they would be either captured and sold into the slave trade or they would be killed by the raiding group, often villages were burnt to the ground meaning that the survivors were left homeless and were forced to go join other nearby native groups.^[12]

Slavery in Florida

The peninsula of modern-day Florida was under the control of the Spanish until the mid 1700s when it was briefly owned by the British, only to be returned to Spain a few years later. Prior to the colony being turned over to the British, there was a period in the early 1700s during which Spanish Florida was a hotbed for the raiding natives from the northern Carolina and Georgia areas. Though they were left alone for the most part by one of the original raising groups, the Westos - who are said to be descendent of the Erie People, Spanish Florida was heavily targeted by the later raiding groups the Yamasee and the Creek. These raids in which villages were destroyed and natives were either captured or killed drove the natives to the hands of the Spanish who attempted to protect them as best they could from the invaders. However, they strength of the Spanish dwindled and as the raids continued the Spanish and Natives were forced to retreat further and further back into the peninsula. The raids were also so frequent that there were barely any natives left to capture and so the Yamasee and Creek began bringing less and less slaves to the Carolina colonies to effectively continue the trade. The retreat of the Spanish was only ended when the Yamasee and Creek entered what would later be known as the Yamasee War with the Carolina colony.^[13]

Trade of slaves with Native Americans

In many cases the colonists would trade with Native Americans; giving them goods and weapons, such as the flintlock musket, in exchange for beaver pelt and the capturing of other natives to be sold into slavery. One of the first groups to set up said trade agreements was the Westos, or Richehecrians, who originally came down from the north into Virginia and are said to be descendants of the Erie. Then after an attempt to end said agreements the Savannah people filled the role previously held by the Westos; and eventually the role fell to the Yamasee and the Creek.^[14] The captured Native Americans were brought to the Carolina colony to be sold and were often then sold to the Caribbean, where they would be less likely to escape. This trade of slaves was not a very self-sustaining venture because either the native population was being wiped out and those who were not being killed or captured became the captors; and as the population of natives available for capture dwindled then the captors began to fall into debt with the colonists whom they were trading with. It was this debt and frustration that began the Yamasee War of 1715, which would ultimately be the demise of the trade system in the Carolinas.^[15]

References

1. Ethridge, Robbie Franklyn, and Sheri Marie Shuck-Hall. 2009. Mapping the Mississippian Shatter Zone: The Colonial Indian Slave Trade and Regional Instability in the American South. U of Nebraska Press.
2. Baine, Rodney M. 1995. “Indian Slavery in Colonial Georgia.” The Georgia Historical Quarterly 79 (2): 418–24.
3. Ethridge, Robbie Franklyn, and Sheri Marie Shuck-Hall. 2009. Mapping the Mississippian Shatter Zone: The Colonial Indian Slave Trade and Regional Instability in the American South. U of Nebraska Press.
4. Ethridge, Robbie Franklyn, and Sheri Marie Shuck-Hall. 2009. Mapping the Mississippian Shatter Zone: The Colonial Indian Slave Trade and Regional Instability in the American South. U of Nebraska Press.
5. Brown, Philip M. 1975. “Early Indian Trade in the Development of South Carolina: Politics, Economics, and Social Mobility during the Proprietary Period, 1670-1719.” The South Carolina Historical Magazine 76 (3): 118–28.
6. Brown, Philip M. 1975. “Early Indian Trade in the Development of South Carolina: Politics, Economics, and Social Mobility during the Proprietary Period, 1670-1719.” The South Carolina Historical Magazine 76 (3): 118–28.
7. Ethridge, Robbie Franklyn, and Sheri Marie Shuck-Hall. 2009. Mapping the Mississippian Shatter Zone: The Colonial Indian Slave Trade and Regional Instability in the American South. U of Nebraska Press.
8. Brown, Philip M. 1975. “Early Indian Trade in the Development of South Carolina: Politics, Economics, and Social Mobility during the Proprietary Period, 1670-1719.” The South Carolina Historical Magazine 76 (3): 118–28.
9. Brown, Philip M. 1975. “Early Indian Trade in the Development of South Carolina: Politics, Economics, and Social Mobility during the Proprietary Period, 1670-1719.” The South Carolina Historical Magazine 76 (3): 118–28.
10. Ramsey, William L. 2003. “‘Something Cloudy in Their Looks’: The Origins of the Yamasee War Reconsidered.” The Journal of American History 90 (1): 44–75.
11. Baine, Rodney M. 1995. “Indian Slavery in Colonial Georgia.” The Georgia Historical Quarterly 79 (2): 418–24.
12. Ethridge, Robbie Franklyn, and Sheri Marie Shuck-Hall. 2009. Mapping the Mississippian Shatter Zone: The Colonial Indian Slave Trade and Regional Instability in the American South. U of Nebraska Press.
13. Ethridge, Robbie Franklyn, and Sheri Marie Shuck-Hall. 2009. Mapping the Mississippian Shatter Zone: The Colonial Indian Slave Trade and Regional Instability in the American South. U of Nebraska Press.
14. Ethridge, Robbie Franklyn, and Sheri Marie Shuck-Hall. 2009. Mapping the Mississippian Shatter Zone: The Colonial Indian Slave Trade and Regional Instability in the American South. U of Nebraska Press.
15. Ramsey, William L. 2003. “‘Something Cloudy in Their Looks’: The Origins of the Yamasee War Reconsidered.” The Journal of American History 90 (1): 44–75.