| York County
was home to the Catawba Indians, known as the “river people,”
when Scotch-Irish settlers arrived in the mid-1700s. Fiercely
independent, these settlers established simple farms and churches.
Their quiet lives were disrupted by war. Several skirmishes
led to the Battle of Kings Mountain, where the British forces
met a defeat that proved to be a turning point in the war
for American independence.
Following the conflict, the area returned to farming and
trading. A few large cotton plantations developed, but most
of the farms were small. Meanwhile, the Catawba Indians, greatly
reduced by European diseases, moved to a small reservation
near Rock Hill. Although most of the tribe joined the mainstream
society, it preserved its traditional tribal skills, notably
pottery making.
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