The inroads of the Yámassi, in Cr. Yamassálgi, made in 1687 and 1706 upon the christianized Timucua have been alluded to under "Timucua" (p. 12).
The English surveyor Lawson, who traveled through these parts in 1701, calls them Savannah Indians, stating that they are "a famous, warlike, friendly nation of Indians, living at the south end of Ashley river." (Reprint of 1860, p. 75.) Governor Archdale also calls them Savannahs[42] in 1695; hence they were named like the Yuchi, either from the Savannah river, or from the savanas or prairies of the southern parts of South Carolina. The Yuchi probably lived northwest of them. A few miles north of Savannah city there is a town and railroad crossing, Yemassee, which perpetuates their tribal name. Another ancient authority locates some between the Combahee and the Savannah river, and there stood their largest town, Pocotaligo.[43] Hewat (1779) states that they possessed a large territory lying backward from Port Royal Island, in his time called Indian Land (Hist. Acc., I, 213). Cf. Westo and Stono Indians, p. [48].
They had been the staunchest Indian supporters of the new British colony, and had sent 28 men of auxiliary troops to Colonel Barnwell, to defeat the Tuscarora insurrection on the coast of North Carolina (1712-13), when they suddenly revolted on April 15th, 1715, committed the most atrocious deeds against helpless colonists, and showed themselves to be quite the reverse of what their name indicates (yámasi, yámassi, the Creek term for mild, gentle, peaceable[44]). Among their confederates in the unprovoked insurrection were Kataba, Cheroki and Congari Indians. Wholesale massacres of colonists occurred around Pocotaligo, on Port Royal Island and at Stono, and the number of victims was estimated at four hundred. A force of volunteers, commanded by Governor Craven, defeated them at Saltketchers, on Upper Combahee river, southern branch, and drove them over Savannah river, but for a while they continued their depredations from their places of refuge (Hewat, Histor. Acc., I, 213-222).
Names of Yámassi Indians mentioned at that period also testify to their Creek provenience. The name of a man called Sanute is explained by Cr. sanódshäs I encamp near, or with somebody; that of Ishiagaska (Tchiagaska?) by íka akáska his scraped or shaved head; or issi akáska his hair (on body) removed. At a public council held at Savannah, in May 1733, a Lower Creek chief from Kawíta expressed the hope that the Yámassi may be in time reunited to his people; a fact which fully proves the ethnic affinity of the two national bodies.[45]
In Thomas Jeffery's Map of Florida, which stands opposite the title-page of John Bartram, Descr. of East Florida, London, 1769, 4to, a tract on the northeast shore of Pensacola bay is marked "Yamase Land."
A tradition is current among the Creeks, that the Yámassi were reduced and exterminated by them, but it is difficult to trace the date of that event. W. Bartram, Travels, p. 137, speaks of the "sepulchres or tumuli of the Yamasees who were here slain in the last decisive battle, the Creeks having driven them to this point, between the doubling of the river (St. Juan, Florida), where few of them escaped the fury of the conquerors.... There were nearly thirty of these cemeteries of the dead," etc.; cf. ibid., p. 183. 516. Forty or fifty of them fled to St. Augustine and other coast fortresses, and were protected by the Spanish authorities; p. 55. 485. 390.
After the middle of the eighteenth century the name Yámassi disappears from the annals as that of a distinct tribe. They were now merged into the Seminoles; they continued long to exist as one of their bands west of the Savannah river, and it is reported "that the Yemasi band of Creeks refused to fight in the British-American war of 1813."
All the above dates permit us to conclude that, ethnographically, the Yámassi were for the main part of Creek origin, but that some foreign admixture, either Kataba or Yuchi, had taken place, which will account for the presence of their local names of foreign origin. The Apalachian or Hitchiti branch of the Maskoki family must have also furnished elements to those Yámassi who were settled southwest of Savannah city, for that was the country in which the Apalachian branch was established.
YAMACRAW.
This small tribe is known only through its connection with the young British colony of Savannah and the protection which its chief, Tomochichi, extended over it. This chief, from some unknown reason, had separated from his mother tribe of Apalatchúkla town, and went to reside upon a river bluff four miles above the site of Savannah city. He subsequently visited England and its court with Esquire Oglethorpe (in 1733), and died, about ninety-seven years old, in 1739, highly respected by his Indians and the colonists. The Yamacraw Indians, who had followed him to the Savannah river, consisted mainly of disaffected Lower Creek and of some Yámassi Indians.