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   Catawba

   Catawba’s location was River near the North and South Carolina border extending west to Broad River, their boundary with the Cherokee.

   Catawba means "river people," and only came into common use in the Carolinas after 1715. The name used by themselves was Iyeye (people) or Nieye(real people).

   Before contact, the Catawba were probably two separate tribes: the Catawba proper and the Iswa. Together, they may have numbered as many as 10,000, but when the first British estimates were made in 1692, their population was about 5,000. During the next 70 years the Catawba absorbed remnants from other Siouan-speaking tribes in the region. Despite this, their population declined rapidly from the combination of disease, war, and alcohol.

Catawba

By 1728 they had 400 warriors and a population of about 1,400. They lost half of these to smallpox epidemic during 1738. A generation later (1759-60), smallpox again took half leaving a total of 400. The census of 1826 found only 110 Catawba. Presently, about 1,200 descendants are living in the vicinity of Rock Hill, SC. Total tribal membership lists 2,600. The Catawba are recognized as a tribe by the federal government and the State of South Carolina.

   They lived in villages of circular, bark-covered houses, and dedicated temple structures were used for public gatherings and religious ceremonies. Agriculture, for which men and women both shared responsibility, provided at least two crops each year and was heavily supplemented by hunting and fishing. The Iroquois called the Catawba "flatheads" because they, as well as many of the other Siouan-speaking tribes of the area, practiced forehead flattening of males infants.

   Catawba warriors had a fearsome reputation and an appearance to match: ponytail hairstyle with a distinctive war paint pattern of one eye in a black circle, the other in a white circle and remainder of the face painted black. Coupled with their flattened foreheads, some of their enemies must have died from sheer fright.

   It is difficult to think of another Native American group for which South Carolina tried to establish a reservation so they could stay. By 1720 the Catawba had started to adopt many of the ways of English colonists but were losing their own culture in the process. For the most part, they remained very traditional about religion until 1883. Within a year Mormon missionaries were able to convert almost all of them. Presently, most of the Catawba belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints.

   In 1959 Catawba petitioned Congress to terminate their tribal status, and tribal land holdings were distributed among the membership during 1962. The final tribal role call of that year gave a population of a little over 600. After termination, many Catawba emigrated to the Choctaw in southeast Oklahoma. After a change of heart in 1973, the Catawba tribal council was reorganized and recognized by the state of South Carolina. During 1994, the Catawba regained federal recognition after a lengthy court battle.

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