Combahee River
river in the United States of America
The Combahee River ( kəm-BEE) is a short blackwater river in the southern Lowcountry region of South Carolina formed at the confluence of the Salkehatchie and Little Salkehatchie rivers near the Islandton community of Colleton County, South Carolina. Part of its lower drainage basin combines with the Ashepoo River and the Edisto River to form the ACE Basin. The Combahee empties into Saint Helena Sound near Beaufort, which in turn empties into the Atlantic Ocean.
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 and Colonel John Laurens, opposed. Laurens, the son of Henry Laurens, a former president of the Continental Congress, died in the action.
“Combahee River” enters the record as river in the United States of America. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Combahee, River and river can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Combahee River” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Combahee, River and river provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3944742. VIAF identifies the subject as 315527234. The Library of Congress control number is sh89003317. Authority coordinates are 32.509, -80.509. 1 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1715, 1717 and 1782.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Combahee River” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.