Ye Pleasant Mount: 1989 1990 Excavations - Open site which ...

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Uchee Creek in Columbia County, with negative results (Miller 1948a). An island in the Savannah River at the confluence ofUchee Creek also bears the name Uchee and it may have contained the Indian settlement This Yuchi town near the mouth ofUchee Creek may have been used for less than two years during the period 1714 to 1716 (Swanton 1979:213). Silver Bluff, located in Aiken County, South Carolina approximately 15 miles downstream from Augusta, contained another Yuchi settlement A band ofYuchi lived there between 1746 and 1751 (Swanton 1979:214). In 1752 the land was purchased by trader George Galphin who established a trading post on the site. Archaeological investigations were conducted at Silver Bluffplantation in 1979 and 1980 by the SCIAA (Scurry et al. 1980). No shell tempered pottery indicative of the Yuchi presence was found. However, during an earlier visit to the locality by Neill, Indian ceramics and Euro American trade materials were found. This finding has led some researchers to associate these materials with the Yuchi, although Neill rejects this interpretation (Goggins 1958; Neill 1968). The historic Indian artifacts reported by Neill at Silver Bluffare not inconsistent with the Yuchi remains found at Mount Pleasant Evidence of another Yuchi town on the Oconee River is suggested by Uchee Creek located in Wilkinson County, Georgia. A Yuchi settlement on Brier Creek in Burke or Screven Counties, Georgia also is referenced, but the location ofthis town has not been identified. The Fur Trade Era Mount Pleasant was an important river crossing along an Indian trading path that linked the Lower Creek tribes with Charleston. While most of the eighteenth century Indian traders worked outward from the Augusta vicinity, Mount Pleasant proved to be an important trading outpost. More than a dozen British deerskin traders and their assistants called Mount Pleasant their horne during the early- to mid-eighteenth century. The traders could reach Creek towns in Florida and the Chattahoochee River region from Mount Pleasant. The geographical position ofMount Pleasant in the lower coastal plain facilitated access to Charleston--the key location in the economics ofthe Indian trade. Trading networks between the British in Carolina and the Creek Nation were established shortly after 1670. Savannah played only a minor role in the flow of the deerskin trade, while Charleston remained the leading exporter. This situation persisted even though Savannah was much closer to Mount Pleasant than Charleston. The deerskin trade was regulated by the Carolina and Georgia governments, and many Carolina documents relating to the trade still exist. Fewer documents regarding Georgia's regulation of the Indian trade have survived, however. 13
The Indian trade represented a substantial portion of the British colonial economy in Carolina. A trading factory was established following the Yamassee War at Appalachicola town in South Carolina approximately five miles downstream from Mount Pleasant. Deerskins were the primary export, and several million skins were traded during the eighteenth century. These hides were obtained through exchange of European items that had more flash than substance, such as glass beads, mirrors, glass, ornaments, buckles, and brass bells. More useful items, such as guns, powder, and shot also formed part of the trade, although British trade guns were notorious for their inferior quality. The British, unlike the Spanish, permitted the trade of firearms. Alcohol was another item that was exchanged, although much of this trade was outside of the law. Rum and strong drink were not permitted in Georgia until the l750s, but South Carolina was much more permissive of the use of strong alcoholic beverages. Residents along the Savannah River quickly learned that liquor was only a river's-width away. More than one Georgia settler drowned while returning home drunk from Carolina during this period (Jones 1984). The Indian trade also was important for colonial Georgia, and ambitious entrepreneurs wasted no time in establishing the deerskin trade. By July, 1735, sixteen Indian traders applied for licenses in Savannah. In June, 1739, Georgia Governor William Stephens recorded, "Several Indian Traders began now to apply for Licences: some to obtain new, and some to renew their old ones" (McPherson 1962:97). There were 600 whites including traders, packhorsemen, servants, townsmen, and others who were dependant on the Indian trade business in Georgia by 1739 (Oldmixon 1969). Augusta served as the center of deerskin trade for Georgia and most traders regarded Augusta as their base of operation. As a deerskin trading point, Mount Pleasant was second only to Augusta in Georgia. Georgia and South Carolina competed for the Indian deerskin trade, and it was reported that General Oglethorpe, acting as Georgia's Commissary for Indian Affairs, drove away Carolina traders operating within Georgia who were not licensed by him. Discord was recorded by the Salzburger pastors at Ebenezer, Georgia between Carolina and Georgia Indian traders during early 1741. Some of the traders avoided this problem by obtaining licenses from both Georgia and South Carolina. Although unlicensed colonists were not permitted to trade with the Indians, exchanges of glass beads and wild game were reported at Ebenezer (McPherson 1962:272; Jones 1985:494). While many of the Indian traders remain anonymous in the historical record, several traders who lived at Mount Pleasant were identified by historical research. These British fur traders frequented Mount Pleasant on their journeys to the lower Creek tribes during the very late-seventeenth- and very early eighteenth century, but the early references to the trade provide no specific details regarding this place. Indian traders were reported near Mount Pleasant as early as 1712 (McDowell 1955:35). Among the early traders who lived at Mount Pleasant was Thomas Wiggin [also spelled Wiggan]. In 1738 Thomas Wiggin 14
Page 1 and 2: Ye Pleasant Mount: 1989 & 1990 Exca
Page 3 and 4: Chapter 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Table of
Page 5 and 6: Figure List ofFigures, continued 31
Page 7 and 8: Acknowledgements The author is inde
Page 10 and 11: is not known, it may have been sett
Page 12 and 13: Laboratory Methods All artifacts we
Page 14 and 15: Chapter 2. History of Mount Pleasan
Page 16 and 17: visited by Bartram was located in 1
Page 18 and 19: Ebenezer, he purposed to quit the w
Page 22 and 23: was: "supplying some Creek Indians
Page 24 and 25: He [Oglethorpe] stationed small gar
Page 26 and 27: Thomas Wiggin was dead by 1756, and
Page 28: continued to live near Mount Pleasa
Page 31 and 32: Table 2, Continued. Artifact Summar
Page 33 and 34: --- Area C Area D Level bluff top M
Page 35 and 36: Table 3. Area C, Test Unit Summary.
Page 37 and 38: Chapter 4. Excavations at Trader Po
Page 39 and 40: Table 4. Artifact Summary, Midden,
Page 46 and 47: G ·' ;:. ,: ,': .:' . : ..... A B
Page 49: Figure 11. Pewter .p001l8 ad iron k
Page 53 and 54: Table 6. Ceramic Summary, Midden, c
Page 55 and 56: Tobie 7. Ceramic SU111DUIIY. FeaIUr
Page 57 and 58: Table 8. Minimum Vessel Estimate, N
Page 59 and 60: y the addition of a notched/pinched
Page 61 and 62: century, further confirming the age
Page 66 and 67: Table 10. Button Attributes. Levell
Page 68 and 69: Table 11, Continued. Glass Bead Typ
Page 70:
while Mount Pleasant had fewer than
Page 74:
It B Fi ur 23 En isb E em J
Page 77:
Type G, which is associated with Br
Page 82 and 83:
o CIII 2 Fi ure 28. Bottle lass too
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581N SOOE 10 YR 5/4 Y.Uowish Brown
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10 YR S/3 Brown Sand 10 YR 3/1 Very
Page 96 and 97:
Feature 1. Feature 1 was a circular
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x 28 cm north-south and it was 19 c
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own sand. The feature contained onl
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Table 13. Mean Ceramic Dale Calcula
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documented period (1735 to 1757) wh
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In Table 16, the Trader Point midde
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Period pottery. The paucity of Chat
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with it. Since we know that Schremp
Page 113 and 114:
Table 19, Continued. Summary of Eur
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Table 19, Continued. Summary of Eur
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Hemperley, Marion 1974 English Crow
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Kelly, A. R. and R. S. Neitzel 1961
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Smith, Marvin T. 1990 Historic Peri
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Appendix I. Glass Beads from Mount
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value for comparative purposes, and
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There is no Kidd designation for th
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Ontario. Kidd, Kenneth E. 1979 Glas
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ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE M
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specimens that have been studied by
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The next largest taxon category by
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The domestic animals, pig, cow, chi
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Fort Michilimackinac fit well with
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REFERENCES CITED Anderson, Jay Alle
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Schmid, Elizabeth F. 1972 Atlas of
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Table 4. Species List, The Mt. Plea
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Table 7. Bone Measurements' (in mil
Page 154 and 155:
Table 10. Element Distribution of M
Page 156 and 157:
Table 12. Element Fusion Data, Mt.
Page 158 and 159:
INTRODUCTION ZOOARCHAEOLOGICALANALY
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Mollusca A total of 46 fragments of
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These data allow us to draw some co
Page 164 and 165:
Analysis of butchering patterns on
Page 166 and 167:
REI ...ERENCES Aldrich, Paul I. (ed
Page 170:
Table 3. Fauna from Mt. Pleasant, F
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