Yamasee War

(1715–16) Conflict between Indians and American colonists.

Indian resentment of colonial settlers and traders in South Carolina led a group of Yamasee Indians to kill 90 whites in 1715. Other tribes soon joined the Yamasee in their raids on trading posts and plantations. Colonial military assistance from neighbouring colonies and war supplies from New England helped end the raids. Many defeated Indians escaped to Florida, where they joined runaway black slaves and other Indians to form what later became known as the Seminole tribe.

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▪ British-North American history

      (1715–16), in British-American colonial history, conflict between Indians, mainly Yamasee, and British colonists in the southeastern area of South Carolina, resulting in the collapse of Indian power in that area. Embittered by settlers' encroachment upon their land and by unresolved grievances arising from the fur trade, a group of Yamasees rose and killed 90 white traders and their families (April 15, 1715). All the surrounding Indian tribes except the Cherokee and the Lower Creek eventually allied themselves with Yamasee bands that continued to raid trading posts and plantations. The conspiracy disintegrated, however, when South Carolinian military resistance was strengthened by additional troops from neighbouring colonies and war supplies from New England. Many of the defeated Indians escaped to Florida, joining runaway black slaves and other Indians to form what later were called the Seminole.

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