WHO WE ARE

We are Siouan Indians of the coastal region of S.C. and are acknowledge by the Great Sioux Nation as being one of the tribes left behind during the movement westward. We are very proud people of who we are and consider it an honor to carry on the traditional traits of helping each other and our surrounding communities. We also take great pride in taking care of our native lands.

 

Our History

At our largest, the Chicora once stretched from the Cape Fear River in North Carolina to just south of the Winyah Bay of Georgetown County, South Carolina, and as far west as the Piedmont Region.

Our ancestors lived off the land, growing corn, tobacco, gourds, squash, and beans in their gardens and domesticating animals like deer and chickens. They fished the rivers and salt water marshes of the area, as well sea fishing. Because of their location, the Chicora may have been some of the first Native Americans to see the Spanish explorers arrive in the early 1520s.

According to writer and researcher Paul Quattlebaum, the Spaniards, led by Francisco Gordillo, a skipper for Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon most likely entered through the north channel of what is now the Winyah Bay in Georgetown, South Carolina. The name “Chicora” is said to have come from the natives themselves, though it has sometimes been seen as Shakori or Chiquola. Historians Oviedo and Peter Martyr used the word Chicora; Martyr also used Chicorana. The Frenchman, Laudonniere, who heard the names from the Indians at Port Royal in 1562, wrote it Chiquola.

Quattlebaum, in his book The Land Called Chicora, relates that the Indians who were on the beach when the first Spaniards arrived thought these newcomers to be "great sea monsters or gods" and ran to the woods. Two of them, overtaken by the Spaniards, were taken to the ships, dressed in Spanish clothing and given many presents. They were allowed to return to their people, thus presenting the Spaniards as friends. Many natives then approached the Spaniards, who gave them gifts and began friendly exchanges. In confidence of this new relationship, the Chicora Chief sent fifty men to the ships to deliver gifts of skins, little pearls and a bit of silver. The chief provided guides to help the Spaniards cross the bay and explore the countryside, noticing its rich soil. On Sunday, June 31, 1521, Gordillo, with another captain, took possession of the land in the name of their king, cutting crosses in the trees.

The Chicora’s hospitality was rewarded with cruelty. With 140 Chicorans aboard, the Spaniards set out to sea with the first Chicoran slaves, destined for Hisponiola. Ayllon, who did not approve of the taking of slaves, declared them to be free and issued an order for them to be returned to their land. While awaiting the return to their homeland,  Ayllon travelled to Spain with one of the Indians, whom he named Francisco Chicora. While there they met historians Oviedo and Peter Martyr, both of whom wrote about Francisco Chicora. Martyr wrote that these Indians had no written language, but that traditions and tales were passed down from father to son.

The French were also exploring the coast of South Carolina. Captain Jean Ribaut and his crew struck their sails, casting anchor at what is now Port Royal, which to the Spaniards was known as Snata Elena. While there, Ribaut found the natives to be hospitable and friendly, inviting him and his men to their homes and showering the Frenchmen with well-tanned skins, some pearls, and baskets made of palm leaves. Two young Indians, who were serving to guide Ribaut and one of his lieutenants, Rene de Laudonniere, offered to take the Frenchmen "to see the greatest Lord of this country whom they called Chiquola," who lived within the land toward the north.

The French-Spanish contention for the Santa Elena section of the land of the Chicoras resulted in many battles. In the midst of these battles and revolts, the native Chicorans were forced to take sides. In the process, many were massacred.

With the more permanent settlements came many diseases the natives had no immunity to withstand. Illness, along with the battles of the European settlers amongst themselves, led to the deaths of more than eighty percent of the accepted number of one million Southern Indians.

 

Modern History

Those who were not killed or forced to leave took themselves into the swamps and remained hidden, or at least silent, for several hundred years. In one of the last recorded Chicoran activities, Chief Eno Jemmy Warrior and many of his warriors met at Cherawtown with the Catawbas in 1743 during an attempt by the government to force all remaining Indians to move to the Catawba community. The Chicora Indians, like many other Native American tribes, have deep gaps in their recorded histories. These gaps make their history no less real and important.

The history of the Pee Dee Indian includes the forced assimilation of tribal members into white communities. According to author Linda Hogan, “Indians were a shadow people, living almost invisibly on the fringes.  A peaceful tribe…”

​