In April 1715, Yamasee warriors killed government agents and traders who had come to meet with them at Pocotaligo in present-day Beaufort County, while others killed colonists and raided plantations and farms at Port Royal, initiating the Yamasee War. Catawbas and Cherokees soon launched raids on other white towns and settlements, and many whites in Goose Creek fled to Charleston or barricaded themselves in their houses. Capt. Thomas Barker, who lived 1.5 mi. north, left Goose Creek on May 15 with 102 militia intending to meet the Congarees near the Santee River, but he and 26 men were killed in an ambush on May 16. On June 13, Capt. George Chicken and 120 cavalrymen of the Goose Creek militia ambushed a war party 20 mi. west near Wassamassaw, killing 40-60 and scattering the rest, and the Catawbas did not threaten Goose Creek again.