Justice at last for the Catawbas.

• Author: Steif, William
• Position: Catawbas Indians

Legend has it that George Washington, after being elected the first U.S. President, came to South Carolina and assured the Catawba Indians that their tribe could continue to hold the 144,000 acres granted them by the King of England in 1760 and reaffirmed in a 1763 treaty.

True or not, it didn't make any difference. In 1840, South Carolina dispossessed the Catawbas of their land in York, Chester, and Lancaster counties, promising money and a new reservation in South Carolina. The state never came through with either, but in 1843 put the Catawba reservation, ultimately whittled to 630 acres, "in trust."

For 150 years the Catawbas, originally one of the most powerful tribes in the Southeast, have been trying to get recompense from Federal and state governments.

On February 20, 1993, tribal members met in a prosperous suburb of Charlotte and voted 289-to-42 in favor of a long, painfully drawn document that after 150 years would end the tribe's exile.

It took years of negotiation and a lawsuit that is now thirteen years old to reach the settlement drafted among Federal and state representatives on one side and the tribe's representatives on the other. The tribe's biggest clout came from the location of its 144,000 acres.

The land lies less than twenty-five miles from Charlotte, whose rapidly expanding population is today around 400,000. The old Catawba reservation encompassed all of the nearby city of Rock Hill, clouding the title to every piece of real estate there.

"We were ready to file suit against 63,000 defendants, trespassers on Catawba land," says attorney Jay Bender, who represents the Catawbas.

There has been litigation on the Catawba claim since before the Civil War, but no one has pursued it as thoroughly and carefully as the tribe and its advocates are doing today.

Representatives John Spratt, Democrat of South Carolina, and State Senator Wes Hayes, Democrat of York County, are drafting legislation to approved new settlement between the U.S. Government and the Catawbas. If Congress approves the agreement, the 1,400 members of the Catawba tribe will get $50 million, state tax exemption for ninety-nine years, control over internal tribal affairs, and the option to...