Letter From SouthnCarolinanby William P. BaldwinnColumbus in ColumbianThe American Indians are on thenwarpath and with good reason, it wouldnseem. For at least two hundred yearsntheir grave sites have been desecratednsimply to satisfy the curiosity of thenWhite Man. On the defensive, archaeologistsnare arguing that in all culturesnstudied graves are one of the bestnsources of information. The Indians sayn”so what?” and are demanding the remainsnof their ancestors and their gravengoods be put back. The Indians are winning.nGood. Professional archaeologists, especiallynin recent years, have been playingndog in the manger with somebodynelse’s manger, and as an amateur studentnof human endeavor, I’ve come tonresent it. Local Indian sites from which Inintended to take nothing were off limits.nWhen I asked to see results from officialndigs (paperwork or artifacts) everythingnhad been misplaced and everybodyninvolved was on “vacation.” Thenfew times I found Indian bones washingnout from banks, I’ve buried themndeeper. Power to the Red People.nBut not too much power. I’m sympathetic,nbut to a degree. I recognize thenplight of minorities, (especially Celtic,nmale. Episcopalians), and I want all personsnto live in harmony, but I’m totallynbaffled by the uproar surrounding thisnyear’s grand celebration of Columbus’ndiscovery of America. Five-hundrednyears ago the Nina, Pinta, and the SantanMaria made a landfall that certainlynchanged my life for the better. I wasntaught this in a South Carolina elementarynschool along with how to sing thennames of our forty-eight or so counties,nand I have never had reason to doubtnthe validity of either lesson.nTrue, Columbus wasn’t the first tondiscover America. Even back then, wenwere told about the Vikings, and in thenyears since everybody from the Phoeniciansnto Basque fishermen have had an40/CHRONICLESnCORRESPONDENCEngo at the task. Columbus was just thenfirst to make a difference. Except, now itnturns out, he did it all wrong. “The Gemnof the Ocean” was a tyrannical and ineptnseaman who blundered into a Caribbeannparadise where he single-handedly introducednthe evils of genocide and slavery.nYep, he invented genocide and slaverynjust for the trip and butter wouldn’tnmelt on the tongues of the cannibalisticnCarribs who were already there.nThis is old business and a funny-notso-funnynbusiness at that. (Voltaire madenbetter use of it in Candide than I will.)nStill, in these supersensitive times it’snbeing approached with a fresh seriousness.nThe grand plans for the 500-yearnanniversary celebration were drasticallynscaled back. If possible the voyage wouldnbe ignored completely, but with wheelsnin motion it’s necessary to follownthrough with some of that hair-shirt,nself-aecusatory lunacy we’ve all grownnto love-hate. “Five centuries ago Columbusnaccidentally landed in America, butnit wouldn’t have happened if someonenwith compassion and foresight had murderednhim in his crib.” A celebrationnapologizing along these lines might allownus to hold status and quo together. TeddynRoosevelt won’t get scraped offnMount Rushmore, Columbus Day cannstay on a few calendars, and closer tonhome (mine) South Carolina’s statencapital can still go by the name ofnColumbia.nThat’s a best-possible scenario,nthough, and so I’ve started making contingencynplans. When the committeenforms to rename the capital, they’ll certainlyngo through the charade of publicninput, and I plan to be ready. Naturallynthe name will have to be an Indian one,nwhich in this state isn’t such a drasticndemand. Numerous places (rivers,ntowns, counties, and all manner of landmarks)nare already going by Indiannnames. I’m writing this essay on thenbanks of Jeremy Creek, to the south isnSewee Bay and Tibwin Creek, to thenwest Wambaw Swamp, and to the northnthe Santee River. All are Indian namesnthat have outlived their origins by atnleast 275 years. Though they might twistnthe words about and lop off a syllable orntwo, white settlers in this neighborhoodnkept the aboriginal names. I’m not surennnwhy, but will be happy to guess.nExplorers and Indian traders (mostnwere both) were the first to venture intonthese backwoods, and since they werenspending most of their time with the Indiansnit didn’t make much sense to call anstream the Rubicon or the Thames. Ifnthey were literate, they maintained thisnprejudice in their correspondence andnon the crude maps they made (fanciernversions were simply copies of these).nEarly settlers picked up these names andnin the interest of property rights theynwere put on plats and entered into publicnrecord. Of equal importance was thenoral tradition, always a relatively conservativensource of information. If your pancalled it the Santee River, so did younand your children.nThat’s my guess, but another has beennoften suggested. The Indian name wasnan integral part of the New World Adventure—thenGrand Romance of EdennDiscovered. Yes, but the country aroundnme was named at the beginning of then18th century, and on this side of the Atlantic,nthat sort of romanticism tendednto be a luxury of the I9th century, justnas the cult of sensibilities has becomenthe luxury of our own. Washington Irving,nof Knickerbocker fame, wrote thatnhe favored returning to “the original Indiannnames of places, and whenever theynare striking and euphonious, and thosenby which they have been superseded arenglaringly objectionable, to restore them.”nHe’d replaced “Mill Creek” withn”Pocantico.” A few years later (1826)nRobert Mills, “America’s First Architect,”npassed along the shores of JeremynCreek where I sit writing, and said muchnthe same. “It is to be regretted that morenof the Indian names of places, streams,netc. have not been retained among us, asnthey would have rendered such placesnmore interesting to us, and particular tonfuture generations; their superior poeticnsound would better grace the minstrel’snsong.” Dismayed that his fellow engineersnhad numbered the creeks theynwere dredging, he restored the namesnand added an extra “my” syllable to thisnone: “Jeremymy.” (He mapped the entirenstate, and then returned north tonbuild the Washington Monument.)nYes, I’m not the first to start puttingnIndian names back, but the sentimentn