Lochaber Plantation – Long Cane – Abbeville County

Basic Information

• Location – Penny Creek (a branch of Little River), Long Cane, Abbeville County

  Near the junction of Little River and Penny Creek, southwest of Due West
  

• Origin of name – Named after a district in the western highlands of Scotland
  

• Other names – ?

• Current status – ?

Timeline

• 1765 – Earliest known date of existence

  Alexander Cameron was granted about 2,600 acres on Penny Creek of Little River for his service in the French and Indian War (5, bk. 2, vol. 14, p. 15).
  

• ? – House built

  The first house was a large log cabin.
  

• 1771 – Alexander Cameron hosted a thousand Cherokees on the plantation in order to set the boundary line between Cherokees and Virginia-North Carolina in the Treaty of Lochaber (3, p. 137).
  

  The treaty resulted in the Cherokees ceding even more of their land to the colonists. In exchange, the Cherokees were promised £500, but were they were never paid.
  

• 1775 – From May 10-15, renowned naturalist William Bartram arrived at Lochaber and stayed several days.
  

  Bartram records in his journal the following:
  

  "...arrived in the evening at Mr. Cameron's, deputy commissary for Indian affairs for the Cherokee nation, to whom I was recommended by letters from the honourable John Stewart, superintendant, residing in Charleston, mentioning my business in the Cherokee country...The season being uncommonly wet, almost daily showers of rain and frequently attended with tremenduous thunder, rendered travelling disagreeable, toilsome and hazardous, through an uninhabited wilderness, abounding with rivers and brooks; I was prevailed upon by Mr. Cameron to stay at his house a few days, until the rains ceased and the rivers could be more easily forded...May 15th I left Lough-abber, the seat of Mr. Cameron" (1, pp. 326-328).
  

• 1776 – In July, the plantation house was burned by Patriot forces led by Colonel Andrew Williamson.
  

  Cameron and his family escaped. He later led Cherokee forces who were assisting the British. Cameron died in Savannah, Georgia in December 1781. His plantation and slaves were confiscated and sold at auction at Ninety Six.
  

Land

• Number of acres – 2,600 in 1765

• Primary crops, livestock – Indian corn, wheat, cattle, horses
  

Owners

• Chronlogical list – Alexander Cameron

Slaves

• Number of slaves – 11

Buildings

References & Resources

1. William Bartram's Travels
   

2. American Loyalist Transcripts, vol. 55, pp. 556-565
   

3. Edward J. Cashin, William Bartram and the American Revolution on the Southern Frontier (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2000).
   

4. Memorial Books, vol. 9, p. 131 (roll ST92): SC Department of Archives and History
   

5. Claude Henry Neuffer, editor, Names in South Carolina, Volume I through 30 (Columbia, SC: The State Printing Company)
    Order Names in South Carolina, Volumes I-XII, 1954-1965
    Order Names in South Carolina, Index XIII-XVIII
   

6. Mark Van Doren (editor), The Travels of William Bartram (New York: Dover Publications, 1955, pp. 267-8).