These names come directly from the audited pay bill for the Catawba Indian Company under General Thomas Sumter. These men fought primarily under General Thomas Sumter in the Southern Campaign. They served as scouts, guides, skirmishers, and militia infantry, often in small partisan units. Battles included Rocky Mount, Hanging Rock, Fishdam Ford, Blackstock’s Plantation, and local engagements in the Catawba River region. Many names appear with multiple spellings due to phonetic transcription by colonial clerks.

The Catawba people experienced significant hardship as a result of this decision. During 1780 and early 1781, the British maintained control over the region surrounding their reservation. In response to advancing British forces, the Catawba sought refuge elsewhere. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Francis Rawdon, the British troops destroyed the Catawba village and any nearby homes. Upon their return, the Catawba discovered their livestock and possessions had been lost. Despite these challenges, the Catawba continued their resistance, participating in several engagements in North Carolina, including the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. Numerous Catawba soldiers served under General Thomas Sumter of South Carolina, often fighting together as a unit under white officers. Notably, one company comprising forty-one men was led by Catawba tribesman Thomas Drennan and served with General Sumter. Additionally, New River led a contingent of American Indian soldiers within William Davie’s army of North Carolina. Another distinguished Catawba individual, John Nettles, who was educated at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, held the rank of major in the militia.

The Catawba people were appreciated by Carolinians for their assistance during the Revolutionary War, which helped them keep their reservation afterward. They continued to reside there, and some of their descendants still live on the reservation today. Notably, tribe member Peter Harris captured a gun at the Battle of Stono and carried it with pride for the rest of his life. Another unnamed tribe member saved Captain Robert Craighead during the Battle of Hanging Rock. He visited Craighead’s plantation every year so the captain could thank him in person.

The American Indians in North Carolina fought beside their chosen white allies in the American Revolution. But they fought for their own reasons. They were not concerned about the rights of free-born Englishmen. They were interested in protecting their own lands. The Cherokee people and the Catawba people made their decisions for war based on their best judgment of how they could protect their lands. The Catawba tribe backed the winning side and gained some benefits. Whatever the reasons, these two important American Indian tribes were active participants. It was their war, too.

To highlight some of the contributions, one man given the Anglicized name “Peter Harris” had served previous tours of duty in a battalion of Georgia minutemen from 3 July 1777-1 March 1778 and the Third South Carolina Continental Regiment from February 1779-February 1780. While with the Third South Carolina Regiment, he fought in the Battles of Stono Ferry on 20 June 1779 and the Siege of Savannah from September-October 1779. After the war he received a bounty land grant and a pension from South Carolina. In that pension statement, he provided this testimony,

“I am one of the lingering embers of an almost extinguished race, Our Graves, will soon be our only habitations. I am one of the few stalks, that still remain in the field, where the Tempest of the revolution passed, I fought against the British for your sake, the British have disappeared, and you are free, yet from me the British took nothing, nor have I gained anything by their defeat. I pursued the deer for my subsistence, the deer are disappearing, & I must starve. God ordained me for the forest, and my ambition is the shade, but the strength of my arm decays, and my feet fail in the chase, the hand which fought for your liberty is now open for your relief – In my Youth, I bled in battle, that you might be independent, let not my heart in my old age, bleed, for the want of your Commiseration. S/ Peter Harris”