Members of the Catawba Nation in 1913. Image from Wikipedia

The Catawba Nation of South Carolina has a long warrior tradition.

The tribe sided with the British in the French and Indian War in the mid-1700s, The Rock Hill Herald reported. Warriors went as far north as Quebec, the paper said.

But after the British government failed to enforce the 1763 Treaty of Fort Augusta and protect Catawba land from encroachment, the tribe joined forces with the new American colonists. Warriors spent seven years in battles throughout South and North Carolina, the paper said.

The Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783 took a big toll on the tribe, though. Many fled to North Carolina and Virginia and saw their lands in South Carolina burned by the British, the paper reported.

The tribe eventually made it back to South Carolina before the turn of the century. But it would take a lawsuit and a land claim settlement in 1993 before the tribe's federal status and homelands were recognized.

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Warrior patriots: Catawba Indians sided with anti-British colonists in 18th century fight for independence (The Rock Hill Herald 7/3)