In 1715, there was a general conspiracy and rising of the Southern Indians, especially those in South Carolina. The league comprised the Yamassees, a powerful tribe, the Creeks, Cherokees, Appalachians, Catawbas, Congarees, and all the Indians from Florida to Cape Fear River. The object of this extensive conspiracy was the total destruction of the Carolinians. The 15th of April was the day fixed upon for its execution. The whole plot was managed with such secrecy and under such a guise of friendship, that the English had not the least suspicion of treachery. Even traders among them slept the very night before with the king and his war-captains, in the chief town of the Yamassees. All was peace and silence until the morning. They then burst forth, fell on the traders, and killed them all at a single volley, except one man and a boy. The nation immediately rose in arms, and proclaimed their designs of vengeance. The chiefs stimulated the young warriors, who caught their spirit, and poured forth like a torrent on the unsuspecting settlers. In a few hours they massacred a hundred men in the town of Pocataligo and the neighbouring plantations. The man and boy, who were not killed at the first fire, made their escape to Port Royal, and the inhabitants generally fled on board a ship for Charleston. Some other families, who were unable to escape, were murdered. While the Yamassees were thus desolating the southern frontiers, the Congarees, Catawbas, and Cherokees came down in great force on the north. The southern division of the Indians in this war was computed at 6,000 bowmen, and the northern at 600 or 1,000. A company, which was sent against the northern division, was betrayed by the treachery of an Indian; the captain was slain, and his party defeated. In one place, seventy whites and about forty negroes, having bravely defended their post against the northern division, capitulated, and, after their surrender are said to have been perfidiously massacred. Flushed with their success, the Indians went on burning, murdering, and plundering. They were soon, however, met by a band of militia, raised on the emergency, and totally defeated. The governor of South Carolina advanced with an army, and, at a place called Saltcalches, a bloody battle was fought. The Indians, uttering fearful war-cries and yells, sometimes retired behind the bushes, and then, when the English were beginning to be encouraged with the hope of success, they returned to the fight with redoubled fury. They were, however, at last wholly defeated, and driven across the Savannah River. The Yamassees, despairing of being able to expel or exterminate the whites, and cherishing a spirit of bold independence, fled to Florida, where they were afterwards troublesome to the settlements in that vicinity.