Waxhaw. A small tribe that lived in the 17th century in
what is now Lancaster co., S. C., and Union and Mecklenburg counties, N.
C. They were connected with the neighboring
Sugeree, and both were apparently related to the Catawba, and
therefore were Siouan. The custom of flattening the head, practiced by the
Waxhaw, was also mentioned as a custom of the Catawba. Lederer (1672) says
they were subject to and might be considered a part of the Catawba. Lawson
visited the Waxhaw in 1701 and was hospitably received. He mentions two of
their villages situated about 10 miles apart.
He describes the people as very tall, and notes
particularly their custom of artificially flattening the head during
infancy. The dance ceremonies and councils were held in a council house,
much larger than the ordinary dwellings. Instead of being covered with
bark, like the domiciles, it was neatly thatched with sedge and rushes;
the entrance was low, and around the walls on the inside were benches made
of cane.
Near the Waxhaw were the Catawba, or more likely a band
of that tribe. They were probably so reduced by the Yamasee war of 1715 as
to have been obliged to incorporate with the Catawba
See Mooney, Siouan Tribes of the East,
1894.
