amongst whom were the Seviers and Robertsons. They set off for the scene of strife, on the 17th of August, and joined Col. Christian, on New river, from whence they all proceeded to the Greenbrier flats, where they joined Col. Lewis' army about the first of September. The army arrived at the mouth of the Great Kanahwa on the 6th of October, where they lay until the 10th, without any apprehensions of danger. Before day on the morning of the 10th, James Robertson and Valentine Sevier, both of them, at that time serjeants, went out of camp to shoot a deer, and discovered a large body of Indians marching directly upon the unsuspecting provincials. It was yet too dark to see a man distinctly ten steps, but Robertson and Sevier fired upon the enemy at about that distance, which occasioned them to make a sudden halt, while Robertson and Sevier ran into camp and gave the information. A hot and furious battle commenced immediately, which lasted nearly the whole day. The whites kept the field; their loss in killed and wounded amounted to one hundred and sixty. The loss of the enemy was about the same. Their whole force was about eight hundred, consisting of Shawnees, Delawares and Mingoes.

At the time of this battle, the first Congress of the United Colonies was in session, and this victory of the whites over the savage foe had a very happy effect. It inspired the new settlers with confidence, and kept the Indians in check for the remainder of the year.

In the fall of the year 1774, a negotiation was commenced between a company composed of Richard Henderson and others on the one part, and the Cherokees on the other, which resulted in a treaty, concluded some time in April, 1775. By this treaty, the Cherokees ceded a portion of their lands, including what is now a part of

Kentucky, a part of East Tennessee and a part of Western Virginia. Some of the Indian Chiefs, however, opposed the cession, and one of their orators, said to be Oconostoto, made a speech against it. The treaty was, nevertheless, entered into, but the peace expected to be secured by it was of short duration. Symptoms of hostility began very soon to be manifested; and, in a very short time, two men from Virginia, Boyd and Dagget, were killed by the Indians, on the south side of Holston, on a creek now called Boyd's creek, and their bodies thrown into the creek. About this time, Alexander Cameron, the British agent, then residing among the Indians, urged them to make war upon the Holston settlements, and the adjacent and surrounding neighborhood; and in the course of the year 1776, a formidable invasion of these settlements was planned and carried into execution, with the hope of breaking up the whole settlements, and driving the inhabitants from the country. But the settlers being informed of their meditated destruction. through the instrumentality of Nancy Ward, who was a relative of some of the Indian Chiefs, prepared themselves for defence as well as they could under existing circumstances. Five companies of militia were organized, amounting, in the whole, to about one hundred and seventy men, who marched from Heaton's Station, and from thence down towards the Long Island, in the Holston. Information was now received that a body of about seven hundred Indians were marching upon the settlements. A council was immediately held, and it was determined to march on and meet the enemy, and give them battle. When this little army arrived at the Long Island flats, a small body of Indians was discovered and fired upon; they instantly fled, and were pursued by the whites, but they made good their retreat. Another council was now held

by the officers, in which it was determined to return to the fort for that night, as it was not thought probable they would meet with any other body of the enemy on that day. The men had collected into a crowd, and before they had all fallen into the line on their march back to the fort, the Indians were discovered marching on them in battle array. Capt. Thompson, the senior officer present, took the command. The Indians made a most furious attack, but met a warm and hearty reception, by the whites. Several of the savage warriors quickly fell, and in a very short time, their commander was wounded, and this ended the contest. The enemy made a precipitate retreat, leaving twenty-six of their number dead on the field of battle; and the blood of the slain and wounded that were carried off, covered the earth as they retreated. A number of the wounded Indians that were carried off died, increasing their loss to more than forty. The whites had not a single man killed, and only five wounded, all of whom recovered. The firing lasted but little more than ten minutes, until the enemy fled. This battle was fought some time in June, 1776. On the same day this battle was fought, the Indians attacked the fort at Watauga. The Indians were commanded by old Abram, of Chilhowee. Capt. Robertson commanded the fort; in which there were about forty persons; and amongst others Captain, afterwards Governor Sevier, as also some of the Greers. The attack was made about sunrise, but was soon repulsed by the fire from the fort. The Indians, however, lurked about the fort for some three weeks, until a party from Virginia reinforced the garrison. Several Indians were killed in the fight, but the exact number was not known. A portion of the inhabitants were not in the fort at the time of the attack, and some of those were slain or taken prisoners by the Indians. Among the pris

About the

oners taken by the Indians were Mrs. Beene, and a lad by the name of Moore, the latter of whom was taken to one of the Indian towns and burnt. James Cooper, and a man by the name of Tucker, were killed. same time, a party of Indians went up to Wommack's fort, situated about ten or twelve miles above the mouth of Watauga, and killed a man in that neighborhood; and another party, commanded by the Raven, went up Carter's Valley, but finding the inhabitants all shut up in forts, they returned home. Another party went up Clinch river, and ravaged the country, from what is now Sullivan county to the Seven Mile Ford in Virginia. They divided into small parties, and spread themselves over the country, there being no force to resist them, and as they marched, they burned the houses of the settlers, and killed and scalped many of the inhabitants. The principal part of the citizens, however, were shut up in the forts, and therefore the slaughter was not so great as it would otherwise have been.

This unexpected and unprovoked attack of the Indians upon the settlements, occasioned troops to be ordered from both Virginia and North Carolina. Col. William Christian, with several companies from Virginia, was at the Long Island, (which is situated in the main Holston river, a few miles above the mouth of the North Fork,) by the first of August; and in a few days afterwards, he was joined by Col. Williams and Maj. Winston, from North Carolina, with three or four hundred men. The army marched in a few days after the arrival of Col. Williams' forces, for the Cherokee towns, crossed the Holston at the Great Island, and proceeded to a place called the Double Springs, on the head waters of Lick creek. There they encamped, and remained for several days, until the troops from the Watauga settlements joined

them. The whole force now constituted a pretty respec table army, in point of numbers, for so new a country. Judge Haywood estimates it at eighteen hundred men, including bullock drivers, but this is doubtless an overestimate. I think it probable there were about twelve hundred men, in all. Col. Christian now despatched spies to reconnoiter the ford of the Frenchbroad river, the Indians having threatened that they would stop his march at the mouth of Lick creek. The army marched on the same day, having to pass for a mile through a swamp and cane-brake. They succeeded in getting through that night, and encamped on the other side. Here Alexander Harlin came into camp, and informed Col. Christian that three thousand Indians were embodied on the Frenchbroad, and would certainly dispute his passage. Harlin was ordered into camp until next morning, when he was directed by Col. Christian to inform the Indians that he, Col. Christian, intended to cross both the Frenchbroad and Holston, before he stopped. They marched from this place immediately, and crossed the Frenchbroad at the Big Island, finding no signs of Indians having been in the country for some weeks. This created much surprise, after having received the information they did from Harlin. But they continued their march, crossing the Tennessee near where Tellico Block-house was afterwards erected, and destroyed the Indian town called Tamotlee. They then marched to the Great Island towns, where they remained some eighteen or twenty days; the Indians, in the meantime, making applications for peace.

While these operations were going on in what is now East Tennessee, Gen. Rutherford, marched with a strong force from the Salisbury district; passed the Frenchbroad at the mouth of the Swannannoe, and penetrated the Indian country, to the Middle Settlements, on the