The Combahee River ( ) is a short

blackwater river A blackwater river is a type of River#Classification, river with a slow-moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands. Most major blackwater rivers are in the Amazon Basin and the Southern United States. The term is used in fluvial ...

in the southern Lowcountry region of

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

formed at the confluence of the Salkehatchie and Little Salkehatchie rivers near the Islandton community of

Colleton County, South Carolina Colleton County is a county in the Lowcountry region of the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 38,604. Its county seat is Walterboro. The county is named after Sir John Colleton, 1st Baronet, one of the e ...

. Part of its lower

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

combines with the Ashepoo River and the Edisto River to form the ACE Basin. The Combahee empties into

Saint Helena Sound Saint Helena Sound is a coastal inlet in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina, located along the Atlantic Ocean between Beaufort County, South Carolina, Beaufort and Colleton County, South Carolina, Colleton counties. Located within the relativ ...

near Beaufort, which in turn empties into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

History

The river is named for its first inhabitants, the Combahee tribe of 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 Yemassee people along several rivers, including the Combahee. The Yemassee War of 1715–1717 saw skirmishes in the area. On August 27, 1782, one of the last fights in the Revolutionary War took place along the Combahee River. The British made an attempt at foraging, which the Americans, headed by General

Mordecai Gist Mordecai Gist (1743–1792) was a member of a prominent Maryland family who became a brigadier general in command of the Maryland Line in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Life Gist was born February 22, 1742/3 in Ba ...

and Colonel

John Laurens John Laurens (October 28, 1754 – August 27, 1782) was an American soldier and statesman from South Carolina during the American Revolutionary War, best known for his efforts to help recruit slaves to fight for their freedom as U.S. soldiers. ...

, opposed. Laurens, the son of Henry Laurens, a former president of the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

, 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 Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. After escaping slavery, Tubman made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends, us ...

, 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.

Cultural legacy

The

Combahee River Collective The Combahee River Collective (CRC) ( ) was a Black feminist lesbian socialist organization active in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1974 to 1980. Marable, Manning; Leith Mullings (eds), ''Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform, an ...

was a

Black feminist Black feminism is a branch of feminism that focuses on the African-American woman's experiences and recognizes the intersectionality of racism and sexism. Black feminism philosophy centers on the idea that "Black women are inherently va ...

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

organization, formed in 1974 Marable, Manning; Leith Mullings (eds), ''Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform, and Renewal'', Combahee River Collective Statement, Rowman and Littlefield, 2000, , p. 524. and named after the Combahee River Raid, where Harriet Tubman led 750 freed slaves to safety. The Collective was instrumental in highlighting that the white feminist movement was not addressing the particular needs of black women.Women's Realities, Women's Choices: An Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies. 2005. They are perhaps best known for developing the Combahee River Collective Statement,The full text of the Combahee River Collective Statement is availabl
here
a key document in the history of contemporary Black feminism and the development of the concepts of

identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), an ...

as used among political organizers and social theorists.Hawkesworth, M. E.; Maurice Kogan. ''Encyclopedia of Government and Politics'', 2nd edn Routledge, 2004, , p. 577.Sigerman, Harriet. ''The Columbia Documentary History of American Women Since 1941'', Columbia University Press, 2003, , p. 316.

History

Cultural legacy

References

See also