Selkehatchie

The Salkehatchie is a blackwater river winding through the swamps of the Carolina lowcountry. Its two branches meet to form the Combahee, which reaches the sea at St Helena Sound. A Yamasee town bearing the river's name stood beside the Big Salkehatchie, within a country where Indigenous communities dealt with the English colony through trade and diplomacy.

In 1715 the Yamasee and their allies rose against South Carolina after years of grievances involving enslavement, debts and encroachment. The war began with attacks on settlements near Port Royal. Near Salkehatchie, warriors ambushed a force led by Governor Charles Craven, but the colonial militia defeated them. The fighting around Salkehatchie and Port Royal helped turn the war against the Yamasee, many of whom withdrew south of the Savannah River.