Come Trade With Me!
18th Century Indian Trader
by Charles Towle, Indian trader, licensed to do business with the Cherokee, as told to Gail Lang.

Come and trade with me! What have you got to barter and trade? I'm a trader in the mid-1700's, taking trade goods from Charlestowne over to the Little Tennessee River Valley, now known as Tennessee. I took these goods to trade with the Indians there. I mainly received deerskins, which were later brought back to England to be made into clothing. I'm traveling with the Independent Company today. We're traveling back over to the Little Tennessee River Valley. We hope to be there in another three to four weeks. It will be good to return home.

The items on the blankets are authenticated in trade journals located in the Charlestowne archives and the gun collection at the University of Tennessee. Using French trade journals, we see the various prices as well as the types of items that were traded. The glass beads are Venetian trade beads brought over from Europe. About 530 different styles were brought to the North American continent for trade. It's from these sources that the Indians began to get their beads. Originally they used shells, bones, seeds, and other natural items for trade purposes.

The photo is of a brick of tea. You'd break off bits. It could be sold as a whole brick or in parts. You'd take a knife and break or scrape off bits to sell or use. The tea was pressed into neat, ornate bricks to make it easier to handle and to prevent spoilage. Tea stored in buildings or ships had a tendency to spoil if moisture were nearby or if it got wet. This was a way to keep it drier. Most other goods were shipped in barrels, but tea came in chests. You can still order tea bricks today, although most people in the States are more used to seeing it in prepackaged flakes and bits.

The iron items were forged in Europe and brought over here. The knives and axes were brought over here for trade. The tea came in from the Orient. Castile soap came from Spain and sometimes North Africa. Some goods were made in the colonies later on once the artisans came over and began making things here. Once tinsmiths, blacksmiths and others began arriving they made many things for trade. But, at first, these items were brought over from Europe. Trade made a full circle. As a trader I extended credit to the Indians who hunted for me in the fall. I had in turn been extended credit from Charlestown; and Charlestown had been extended credit by the credit houses in England. So it was a full circle of the monetary system.

England wanted the Indian goods and furs. Indians wanted axes, knifes, guns, blankets, and shirts. Hundreds of years ago, people on the other side of the world desired true Native American goods. Today, this desire for the true Native American crafts has not diminished. Some things are so very different about history, yet some things never change.

In this time period everyone didn't use money, but it was available. This Spanish pillar dollar is an excellent example. If they wanted a half dollar, they'd just cut it in half; and if they wanted a quarter, they'd cut it in quarters. The dollar might be cut in as many as eight pieces. So a quarter was 2 bits. Although most of the time they stopped at four. They didn't cut it smaller very often because it got difficult to keep people honest. That's the origin of the term ‘chiselers'. They'd take and cut the silver dollar up; and instead of getting four quarters out of it, they'd get five or more.

I've been part of living history groups for 15 years now with 10 of those with the Independent Company of South Carolina. It's quite a hobby. Many people don't understand just how things have changed over the years. One child asked, "What did they do if they didn't have money?" He couldn't understand that they didn't have money. They didn't use money. He thought they must be poor. I told him, "No, because they didn't have any money, didn't mean they were poor, they traded." Kids just don't realize that any more. It's an entirely different world than the one in the 1700's.