Savannah Town, South Carolina was first observed in the 1670s as a Westo

Westo

The Westo were a Native American tribe encountered in the Southeast by Europeans in the 17th century. They probably spoke an Iroquoian language. The Spanish called these people Chichimeco , and, Virginia colonists may have called the same people Richahecrian...

 village, located on the Savannah River

Savannah River

The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the northernmost part of the border...

 below the fall line in present day Aiken County

Aiken County, South Carolina

Aiken County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. In 2000, its population was 142,552; in 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that its population had reached 160,099...

. The Savannah (Shawnee)

Shawnee

The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...

 displaced the Westos in a 1679-1680 trade war, and the town bore their name on a 1685 Joel Gascoyne Plat of the Province of Carolina (Cumming #101). Savannah Town became important to the growing colony

Colonial period of South Carolina

The history of the colonial period of South Carolina focuses on the English colonization that created one of the original Thirteen Colonies. Major settlement began after 1712 as the northern half of the British colony of Carolina attracted frontiersmen from Pennsylvania and Virginia, while the...

 for its profitable Indian trade, and for frontier defense.

A thriving business developed around Indian traders who with their pack horses spread throughout the western wilderness. In 1692 the Proprietors hoped for traders to reside at "Savannah town" (McCrady p. 237). In 1698, Colonel Thomas Welch reached the Mississippi River on a trail that came to be the Upper Trading Path to the Chickasaw

Chickasaw

The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...

 homeland (Atkinson p. 25). Iron and woolen goods were offered in exchange for skins which came to be shipped by the thousands from Savannah Town via oared 'periagoe' to Charles Town, and thence Europe. Fort Moore was established immediately nearby in 1715 and garrisoned with perhaps twenty-five soldiers, and a cross-river ferry began service in 1740.

The restless Savannahs seem to have found Englishmen not to their taste and slowly departed. In the early 1720s Chickasaw

Chickasaw

The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...

s living in northern Mississippi were invited by the South Carolina Assembly to occupy the area. Seeking to strengthen ties with the English as a source of guns, a group led by so-called Squirrel King came to Savannah Town in 1723 and settled along nearby Horse Creek

Horse Creek Valley

Horse Creek Valley is a geographic area along Horse Creek, a tributary of the Savannah River. It lays within present day Aiken County, South Carolina . Presently, this area is alternately referred to as 'Midland Valley'...

. These Chickasaws actively collaborated with the English in defense of this area until returning to their Mississippi homeland about the time of the Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

.

In 1730, South Carolina organized eleven frontier townships to buffer the more genteel low country. Savannah Town was incorporated into the Parish and Township of New Windsor. In 1737, 200 settlers from Appenzell, Switzerland

Appenzell

Appenzell is a region and historical canton in the northeast of Switzerland, entirely surrounded by the Canton of St. Gallen....

 colonized New Windsor, leaving the names of Tobler, Zubly, Nagel, Sturzenegger, and Meyer to local history.

Savannah Town gained a competitor with the 1735 founding of Augusta

Augusta, Georgia

Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...

, five river miles upstream on the Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

 side of the river. The new Colony of Georgia took good advantage of its superior position - closer to the bulk of the Indian settlements - to intercept traders at Augusta, and in one way or another deflect commercial traffic to its own seaport at Savannah

Savannah, Georgia

Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...

. By 1740 the prospect for Savannah Town was at least a matter of dispute. Fort Moore played a role in the Cherokee war of 1760 by harboring militia and refugees, but by 1765 the town as such had disappeared and the fort was closed.

Geography

Savannah Town, variously called Savano Town, Savanaton or Old Savannah, was located at 33°26'18"N, 81°54'32"W (NAD83/WGS84), 225 river miles above the port of Savannah. The closest modern town is Beech Island, South Carolina

Beech Island, South Carolina

Beech Island is an unincorporated community of Aiken County, South Carolina, United States. It appears to take its name from Beech Island, a nearby former island that is politically part of Georgia but geographically separated from the rest of Georgia by a river which changed its bed...

. (Savannah without qualification would be the Georgia town founded at the mouth of the river by James Oglethorpe

James Oglethorpe

James Edward Oglethorpe was a British general, member of Parliament, philanthropist, and founder of the colony of Georgia...

 in 1734, and New Savannah

New Savannah, Georgia

The dead town of New Savannah, Georgia began about 1740 as a Chickasaw village on the Savannah River, at the mouth of Butler Creek below Augusta. Stories as to the circumstances vary, but in any case some portion of the Horse Creek Chickasaws under Squirrel King moved across the river and founded...

 would be the Chickasaw town further downstream on the Georgia side of the river.)

Notable People and Places

The ferry at Savannah Town, later called Sand Bar Ferry, continued until construction of a road bridge in the 1920s. Due to uncertain jurisdiction over Savannah River islands and sand bars, this area became a popular dueling ground in the early 19th century.

George Galphin

George Galphin

George Galphin was an American Indian trader, Indian Commissioner, and plantation owner who lived and conducted business in the colonies of Georgia and South Carolina, primarily around what is today the Augusta, Georgia, area.-Early life:...

operated a trading post at nearby Silver Bluff that remained prosperous until Galphin's death in 1780.

External links

• TopoQuest topographic map
• Beech Island, SC History
• Province of Carolina by H. Moll, 1730 Map showing location of Savanah's and Apalathas. Island shown upstream is possibly Stalling's Island
• Discussion of Savannah River Chickasaws