Nathan Barr of Lancaster County kept a tavern a short distance north of the present-day town of Lancaster. During the Revolution he served in the militia as a lieutenant. The head of a household of 11 whites in 1790, he held no slaves (SALLEY [2] description begins A. S. Salley. President Washington’s Tour Through South Carolina In 1791. Columbia, S.C., 1932. In Bulletins of the Historical Commission of South Carolina, no. 12. description ends , 28; HEADS OF FAMILIES, S.C. description begins Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: South Carolina. 1908. Reprint. Salt Lake City, 1978. description ends , 24). Robert Crawford (1728–1801) of Lancaster County, a militia officer during the War of Independence, lived on the north side of Waxhaw Creek. His household in 1790 consisted of 11 whites and 15 slaves (SALLEY [2] description begins A. S. Salley. President Washington’s Tour Through South Carolina In 1791. Columbia, S.C., 1932. In Bulletins of the Historical Commission of South Carolina, no. 12. description ends , 28–30; S.C. Hist. & Geneal. Mag., 50 [1949], 57; HEADS OF FAMILIES, S.C. description begins Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: South Carolina. 1908. Reprint. Salt Lake City, 1978. description ends , 23).

The Catawba Indians were granted by the Treaty of Augusta in 1763 a tract of land 15 miles square in this part of South Carolina, a total of 144,000 acres embracing the sites of present-day Fort Mill and Rock Hill, S.C. Much of the tract the Catawba leased to white settlers for long terms, but as the settlers grew steadily in number, the Catawbas began to worry about the security of their land. In 1782 Catawba representatives appealed to the Continental Congress to protect their tract from forcible intrusion or alienation “even with their own consent.” Congress, deeming the problem to be a South Carolina one, referred it to the state’s legislature, which in 1786 took steps to safeguard the Catawbas’ rights (BROWN [4] description begins Douglas Summers Brown. The Catawba Indians: The People of the River. Columbia, S.C., 1966. description ends , 250–51, 279–94). GW apparently did not interfere in this matter although the Catawba continued to press their case with him. Writing to Secretary of War James McHenry from Mount Vernon 18 July 1796, GW complained that “I have already, been incommoded, at this place, by a visit of several days, from a party of a dozen Cuttawbas; & should wish while I am in this retreat, to avoid a repetition of such guests” (NhD).

The road on the boundary line between the two Carolinas followed that line for eight miles. It did not form part of the Catawba boundary line but did pass through the eastern corner of the tract before entering North Carolina (SALLEY [2] description begins A. S. Salley. President Washington’s Tour Through South Carolina In 1791. Columbia, S.C., 1932. In Bulletins of the Historical Commission of South Carolina, no. 12. description ends , 28–29).