Editing Combahee River (section)

==History==
The river is named for its first inhabitants, the Combahee tribe of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. Europeans occupied the area as early as the 1680s, and so the Combahee and others of the [[Cusabo]] group are also known as Settlement Indians. Land was set aside for the [[Yamasee|Yemassee]] people along several rivers, including the Combahee.<ref>[https://www.beaufort.usmc.mil/MCAS%20Beaufort%20Site/prehistory/tribes.html South Carolina Tribes: The Yemassee Indians]{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, MCAS Beaufort</ref> The [[Yemassee War]] of 1715–1717 saw skirmishes in the area.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

On August 27, 1782, one of the last fights in the [[American Revolution|Revolutionary War]] took place [[Battle of the Combahee River|along the Combahee River]]. The British made an attempt at foraging, which the Americans, headed by General [[Mordecai Gist]] and Colonel [[John Laurens]], opposed.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} Laurens, the son of Henry Laurens, a former president of the [[Continental Congress]], died in the action.

The Combahee River bordered and supplied the water for some of the largest, most productive rice plantations prior to the Civil War. It was the site of an important military incident during that conflict, the [[Raid at Combahee Ferry]]. This was a Union raid into the interior of South Carolina, which freed over 750 slaves. [[Harriet Tubman]], an escaped slave herself, well known for leading others hundreds of miles to safety on the [[Underground Railway]], led this endeavor on June 2, 1863. The bridge across the Combahee on [[US Highway 17]] is the location today.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}