June 21 The Long Cane Massacre and Long Cane ARP Troy, SC

There are two markers side by side in the town of Troy:  The first is for the Long Cane Massacre:

The Long Cane Massacre took place near here, and was between Native Cherokees and American Settlers back in 1760!

Long Canes separated British South Carolina from the Cherokee Nation. Since this was right on the edge of civilization it was a risky place to live. Forts were established to serve as protection for the region.  The Cherokee had been useful to the British in w.resting the lands from the French control.  After the French were driven out the British started moving in.  The Cherokee Indians were probably incensed by the continued increase in the number of settlers in the region.  In 1760 they attacked settlers as part of what has become known as the Cherokee War of 1759-61. It was front page headlines and a devastating event for the settlers.  The story as it was told in the newspaper as well as from survivor retelling has been pretty well developed.  It seems that the Indians were striking at isolated farms, stealing, and slaying anyone in the way. The settlers decided to band together and leave the region by wagon train.   They were waylaid by about a hundred Cherokee on their way to Augusta.  Of the hundred and fifty settlers there may have been fewer than seventy-five adults and perhaps forty male defenders based on newspaper records and the sizes of typical families.  They were probably slowed down by the wagons and overtaken by surprise at a river fording.  Its remarkable to me that only twenty-three settlers were slain. Several children were slain and scalped and a few were taken as prisoner. One very famous case was Ann Calhoun who was taken at age five and returned after twelve years of living with the Indians.   She later married and had a normal life as the wife of a settler.

The other sign addresses one of the big churches in the area, the Long Cane ARP