Catawba Nation

In the record (16)

1. 1540

   The Catawba Nation's first recorded contact with Europeans occurred when Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto marched his expedition through the Carolina Piedmont while searching for gold.

   Hernando de Soto

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

2. c. 1700

   Before European contact, the Catawba Nation had inhabited the Piedmont region of present-day South Carolina, North Carolina, and parts of Virginia for at least 6,000 years, calling themselves "yeh is-WAH h'reh," meaning "people of the river."

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

3. c. 1700

   Colonial-era estimates put the Catawba population at the time of sustained European settlement between 15,000 and 25,000 people, occupying most of the Piedmont across the Carolinas and into Virginia.

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

4. c. 1700

   The Great Trading Path (also called the Occaneechi Path) was a colonial-era trade route running roughly 800 miles, connecting Virginia's Fort Henry (Petersburg) south through the North Carolina Piedmont to Cherokee and Catawba territory; in North Carolina it crossed the Flat, Little, Eno, Haw, Uwharrie, and Yadkin rivers before turning south at the Trading Ford (near present-day Spencer) toward the Catawba and Waxhaw villages below Charlotte.

   Trading Path (NC highway marker L-36)Ford Motor CompanyOld Waxhaw Presbyterian ChurchRobert HenryJesse Spencer

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

5. 1728

   By 1728, disease and conflict had already reduced the Catawba population to roughly 1,400 people, a fraction of pre-contact estimates.

   Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

6. 1738

   Smallpox epidemics in 1738 and again in 1759 devastated the Catawba Nation, reducing its population to approximately 500 people and, by 1760, to fewer than 1,000.

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

7. 1740

   According to the Museum of the Waxhaws, an epidemic of smallpox around 1740 killed so many of the Waxhaw Indians (a group affiliated with the Catawba) that the tribe disbanded and its survivors merged into the Catawba Nation and other neighboring tribes.

   Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.

   Old Waxhaw Presbyterian ChurchMint Museum of ArtLevine Museum of the New SouthHarvey B. Gantt CenterNASCAR Hall of Fame

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

8. 1750

   Anson County was formed in 1750 from Bladen County (which had itself been formed in 1734 from New Hanover County); Anson County was named for George, Lord Anson, First Lord of the British Admiralty, and originally encompassed the future Mecklenburg County, home to Catawba and Waxhaw Indian communities along the Pee Dee and Catawba river systems.

   Old Waxhaw Presbyterian ChurchKing George

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

9. 1750

   Around 1750, Thomas Spratt (1685-1757), along with his brothers (or male relatives) James, Andrew, and Samuel and their families, moved from Pennsylvania and settled in what is now Mecklenburg County, becoming close allies of the Catawba Nation.

   Thomas Spratt

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

10. 1753

    Around 1753, Thomas Spratt moved to a property on Twelve Mile Creek and farmed the land for his father; he was described as a fast friend of the Catawba Nation, often accompanying them on hunting and war parties.

    Thomas Spratt

    Source · checked 2026-08-13

11. 1760

    The 1760 Treaty of Pine Tree Hill granted the Catawba Nation a 225-square-mile reservation along the Catawba River, land that included property Thomas Spratt had inherited near Twelve Mile Creek.

    Thomas Spratt

    Source · checked 2026-08-13

12. 1761

    Thomas Spratt later settled along Nation Ford Road roughly two miles north of the ford on the Catawba River, at the invitation of the Catawba Nation, which leased him several thousand acres of farmland -- making him the first documented tenant to lease land directly from the tribe.

    Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.

    Ford Motor CompanyThomas Spratt

    Source · checked 2026-08-13

13. 1774

    Thomas Spratt earned the nickname "Kanawha" in 1774 while fighting alongside the Catawba against the Shawnee on the Kanawha River (in present-day West Virginia) during Lord Dunmore's War.

    Thomas Spratt

    Source · checked 2026-08-13

14. 1786

    In 1786 the North Carolina legislature chartered a ferry "near a place known by the name of Old Nation Ford" on the Catawba River, to be operated by Thomas Spratt and Daniel Sturgis.

    Ford Motor CompanyThomas SprattDaniel Sturgis

    Source · checked 2026-08-13

15. 1867 · 1867-04-07

    At a meeting on April 7, 1867 in Charlotte's old Presbyterian church, the Catawba Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church agreed on a plan to establish a school for training Black preachers and teachers among the formerly enslaved, and selected ministers Samuel C. Alexander and Willis L. Miller as the school's first two professors.

    Harding High SchoolSecond Ward High SchoolCentral High SchoolMecklenburg PresbyteryFirst United Presbyterian ChurchFirst Baptist Church WestGeorge AlexanderAbraham AlexanderSamuel C. AlexanderWillis L. Miller

    Source · checked 2026-08-13

16. 1957

    The North Carolina Highway Historical Marker program erected marker L-36 ("Trading Path") on South Tryon Street at Morehead Street in Charlotte, noting that the route -- used since the late 17th century by Virginia traders carrying guns, gunpowder, knives, jewelry, blankets, and hatchets to exchange with Catawba and other Piedmont tribes -- passed through Mecklenburg County, forking toward the Waxhaw region and toward Charlotte/Pineville.

    Trading Path (NC highway marker L-36)Old Waxhaw Presbyterian ChurchWilliam Tryon

    Source · checked 2026-08-13