Skaggs and the Cherokee War of 1759-60

The Cherokee War between the Cherokee Indians and the British was conducted separately but concurrent to the French and Indian War.  The Cherokee were not really allies of the French, but fought the British at the same time as the French.  Hostilities began in 1759 when the Cherokee declared open war against the British.  The British colonists in Virginia and the Carolinas built and manned forts to defend themselves against the Indians.  At least three Skaggs ancestors were involved in this war based on South Carolina records.

Charles Skeggs and William Scaggs were paid for service in a unit primarily from Berkeley County, South Carolina under the command of Colonel John Chevillette.  Colonel Chevillette marched his troops to Fort Prince George near the Cherokee town of Keowee and did battle with both the Indians and the smallpox virus.

A James Skeggs was also in the Cherokee War on January 9, 1760 in a unit under the command of Captain James Francis at Fort Ninety-Six, based on the following request for reimbursement by William Field for impressment of his wagon by the militia for 58 days.  James Skeggs confirmed by oath that the wagon was discharged on January 9, 1760.  The wagon was probably used to build Fort Ninety-Six to defend the South Carolina frontier against the Indians.

1760 June 11 William Field, his Account for his Waggon impressed at the same time and by the same person as the preceeding Waggon, and discharged as per James Skegg's Oath the 9th January, 58 Days at £5 per day, £290, allowed: One Horse lost valued at £50 which the Committee take no Notice of, also 13 Bushels of Corn charged for his Horses and neither certified or attested which they disallow.

The Colonial Records of South Carolina

The Journal of the Commons House of Assembly

October 6, 1757-January 24, 1761

Terry W. Lipscomb, Editor

Published by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 51-62239

ISBN: 1-880067-28-5

Who could this James Skeggs be?  Most Skaggs researchers believe he was James Skaggs, Jr. the Long Hunter, however, that would mean that James the Long Hunter was living in the area of Fort Ninety-Six in 1760, about 25 miles from the town of Abbeville.  We know from his Revolutionary War pension declaration that William Skaggs, eldest son of James, was born on the Horsepasture River in North Carolina in 1757 in an area disputed by both North and South Carolina about 120 miles from Fort Ninety-Six.  I think it's likely that the James Skeggs at Ft. Ninety-Six was not James the Long Hunter, and could have been the James Scaggs who married Susanna and relocated to Virginia and Tennessee and died in Warren Co., KY.  A group of Skaggs migrated from South Carolina to Tennessee after the Revolution and some researchers believe they were the Skaggs from Frederick, Maryland.