The early settlers to Georgia and South Carolina were never really safe from Indian attacks. Long Cane Creek originates in Abbeville County and flows through McCormack County until it reaches the Savannah River.
The cane in this region grew about twenty or thirty feet high and was rooted in fertile soil, while cane typically grows no higher than about six feet. The Cherokees had many uses for the cane, viz: crafts,dwellings, blowguns, flutes, baskets, fishing creels, mats, razor-sharp knives, and vegetables.
Presumably, the Scottish-Irish family of Calhoun was an intrusion upon this industry when they settled in the region in about 1757.
On February 1, 1760, upon word reaching the settlers that the Cherokees were on the warpath, they were attacked while they were removing their families to Augusta for safety. Twenty-three persons were slain.
The region is known as the Long Creek Massacre near Troy, South Carolina. Today, the Long Cane Massacre Site remains a historical site.
The following contemporary accounts of the massacre were published:
“Yesterday, the night the whole of the Long-Cane Settlers, to the Number of 150 Souls, moved off with most of their Effects in Waggons; to 20 towards Augusta in Georgia, and in a few hours after their setting off, was surprised and attacked by about 100 CJterokees on Horseback, while they were getting their Waggons out of a boggy Place. They had 40 Gunmen, who might have made an excellent Defence, but unfortunately, their Guns were in the Waggons; the few that recovered theirs fought the Indians for Half an Hour and were at last obliged to fly. In the action, they lost 7 Wagons, and 40 of their People were killed or taken (including Women and Children). The Rest got safe to Augusta, whence an Express arrived here with the same Account on Tuesday Morning.”
“Mr. Patrick Calhoun, one of the unfortunate Settlers at Long Canes, who were attacked by the Cherokees on the 1st Instant, as they were removing their Wives, Children and best Effects, to Augusta in Georgia for Safety, is just come to Town, and informs us, ‘ That the whole of those Settlers might be about 250 Souls, 55 or 60 of them fighting Men: that their Loss in that Affair amounted to about 50 Persons.”
The South Carolina Gazette, Saturday, February 9, 1760. The Gazette further states that the report was based on information from Mr. Aaron Price, who had just arrived in Charles Town from Ninety-Six, chiefly Women and Children, with 13 loaded Waggons and Carts; that he had since been at the Place where the Action happened to bury the Dead and found only 20 of their Bodies, most inhumanly butchered; that the Indians had burnt the Woods all around, but had left the Wagons and Carts there empty and unhurt; and that he believes all the fighting men would return to and fortify the Long-Cane Settlement, were part of the Hangers so stationed as to give them some Assistance and Protection.”
“We have no late Advice from Fort Prince-George or any Consequence from Places in that Point. But from Fort Moore, we learn that a Gang of about eighteen Cherokees, divided into three or four parties, on the 15th Instant, way-laid, killed, and scalped Ulric Ihbler, Esq; a Captain of Militia in those Parts, as he was riding from his Father’s to that Fort; and shot Mr. William Calhoon, who was with him, in the Hand: three other Persons, who were in Company escaped unhurt: the Indian who killed Capt. Tobler left a Hatchet sticking in his Neck, on which were three old Notches and three newly cut.”
See The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. II. (1901), pp. 162–163.
Patrick Calhoun subsequently erected two stones to mark the site of the Long Cane massacre, upon the larger of which appears the following inscription:
Patrick Calhoun Esquite: In Memory of Mrs. Cathrine Calhoun, Aged 76 Years, who, with others, was Here Murdered by the Indians on the first of February 1760
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Sources: The Calhoun Family of South Carolina by A. S. Salley, Jr.; the South Carolina Gazette, Saturday, February 23, 1760.