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the crews that set sail for Natchez and Illinois, for the chronicles of the times have left no record of their destiny.

The Adventure and her companies reached the mouth of the Cumberland, after encountering many difficulties, and enduring great labor and fatigue, on the 24th, but the river was so much smaller than they had expected to find it, that great doubts were entertained whether it was the Cumberland or not; but not having heard of any river falling into the Ohio, on this side, between the Tennessee and Cumberland, they determined to sail up it, as the Cumberland. The current was smooth and gentle, and gradually became wider for some distance up, and they soon become satisfied that it was the Cumberland. They suffered for want of provisions, but they occasionally succeeded in killing a buffalo, which greatly relieved their necessities; and, on one occasion, they killed a swan, which proved to be a very delicious dish. At one time, however, they were reduced to the necessity of subsisting upon a kind of weed called Shawnee salad, which some of the crews happened to know. This they boiled in water and eat without any thing else to give it a relish. It was a poor dish, but sustained life. On the 31st, they found Col. Richard Henderson encamped on the north bank of the river. He had come out with a company who had run the line between Virginia and North Carolina. From Col. Henderson they obtained all the necessary information, in relation to the country, which they desired; and were also informed by him that he had purchased a quantity of corn in Kentucky, for the use of the Cumberland settlements. He was, however, not able to furnish them with any provisions to supply their immediate necessities, and they were compelled still to hunt and kill buffalo, and subsist upon the meat, without bread. On the 12th of April they came to a small river running

into the Cumberland on the north side, which Moses Renfroe and his company, named Red river, and on which river Renfroe and his company determined to settle, and therefore left the Adventure and the other boats, and sailed up this river. The Adventure, and the boats that accompanied her reached the bluffs of the Cumberland, near where Nashville now is, on the 24th of April, 1780, where they found Capt. James Robertson and his companions; who had erected a few log cabins. In the vicinity of this place the emigrants settled. Renfroe and his company settled on Red river; but, in the month of June or July the Indians broke in upon them, killed many of the settlers and broke up the settlement. The survivors then removed to the bluff on the Cumberland, and fixed their habitations there.

The circumstances of this voyage have been thus particularly detailed because they portray in striking colors, the true character of the brave and enterprising individuals who first inhabited the, then, dreary and dangerous wilds of Tennessee. Accustomed to encounter difficulties and meet dangers, they did not shudder at the approach of a band of hostile savages, or shrink back at the foaming and frightful cataracts, whirlpools and shoals of the unexplored stream; but pressed on through all difficulties and over all obstructions, to the point of their destination. Who does not admire the firmness and intrepidity of the noble souled matrons of Tennessee, of that day, and that of their spirited, sprightly and fearless daughters! They were fit mothers of an honorable, patriotic, brave and talented race, and it should be the pride of their descendants never to degrade their exalted ancestry.

CHAPTER V.

CONTINUATION OF INDIAN HOSTILITIES-PROGRESS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR-BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN, &c.

During the year 1780, the Indians continued their hostile assaults upon the inhabitants of both Holston and Cumberland, and also made war generally upon the Southern States.

Some time in the spring of this year, a small settlement being made on the south side of the Chucky river, the settlers employed a young man by the name of Williams, to act as a spy and scout. Returning home late one evening, he discovered a considerable body of Indians, who had already advanced between him and the settlement. He took a hollow, and traveled round the Indians, without being discovered; and then pushing with all possible speed, arrived at the settlement, and gave the alarm in time to afford the inhabitants an opportunity to fortify themselves in a cabin owned and occupied by one Boylston. He then proceeded to the next neighborhood, and gave the information, with the hope of obtaining assistOn the arrival of Williams in the last mentioned neighborhood, Capt. Dougherty, (afterwards Gen. Dougherty,) raised some fifteen or twenty men, and was at the house of Boylston by sun-rise next morning. But, in the meantime, the Indians had attacked the house, having lain in ambush all night, the citizens being concealed in the loft, or upper part of the cabin. The Indians made the attack about day-break; the barking of the dogs warned the inmates of the cabin of the approach of the enemy. As soon as day-light came, an Indian was seen lying at

ance.

the gate, and was shot through the head and killed. The whole band of Indians then immediately rushed into the yard, screaming and yelling like a legion of infuriated spirits from the burning regions of tophet; upon which, four or five others met the same fate as that of their brother at the gate. There were but four or five men in the house, one of whom was so horror-stricken that he fell down behind a loom, where he lay shivering with a fright like a man laboring under a severe attack of the ague, until after the battle was over. But the others who were in the house, kept up the fire with so much. energy, and with such success, that the Indians soon fled in confusion. During the battle, the wife of the horrorstricken coward, who was lying behind the loom, was moulding bullets for the remaining men, lest the battle might last until their bullets should be all shot away.The Indians were supposed to number some one or two hundred, yet Capt. Dougherty and his few brave veterans made immediate pursuit; but the Indians, after retreating something like the distance of a mile, scattered in various directions, so that it was impossible to pursue them with any hope of success, and Dougherty and his men therefore returned.

The war of the American Revolution now seemed to have reached the climax of darkness, horror and misfortune. The prospect, to the timid, seemed to promise no hopes of success. Lowering and portentous clouds seemed to darken the political heavens, the infuriated wrath of offended majesty seemed already to thunder in the ears of the alarmed and dismayed inhabitants, and they daily expected to be visited with an overwhelming and universal storm of devastation and ruin. The British had taken the city of Charleston, Lord Cornwallis had defeated Gen. Gates, with great slaughter, at Camden;

South Carolina was entirely overrun by the enemy, and Georgia nearly in the same unfortunate situation. New York was daily menaced, and the victorious British army was marching in various detachments, through North Carolina and Virginia, laying waste the whole country, and frequently butchering the inhabitants; and, in addition to all this series of misfortunes, the affrighted and dismayed inhabitants were flying in crowds to the British standard. It was at this gloomy and portentous period, that the inhabitants of the Holston settlements left their homes, though their families were hourly in danger of being assailed by a savage foe, and flew to the standard of freedom and their country, repulsed and vanquished the proud and haughty foe, while yet vainly exulting in his recent victories, and boasting that the royal standard should sweep in triumph over the western mountains.

A short time before the defeat of Gen. Gates, at Camden, Col. Isaac Shelby, of Sullivan county, and Col. John Sevier, of Washington, had crossed the mountains with about two hundred men each, and joined a small force under the command of Col. McDowell, on the Broad river, near the Cherokee ford. Soon after their arrival, they marched, by order of Col. McDowell, with Col. Clark, of Georgia, to a strong fort of the enemy on the Pacolet river. The whole force, consisting of about six hundred men, was placed under the command of Col. Shelby. He marched immediately to the fort, and demanded its surrender. Capt. Moore, the commander of the fort, refused, answering, that he was determined to defend his position to the last extremity. Col. Shelby drew up his forces and surrounded the fort, marching up within musket-shot, but before commencing the attack, he sent in another demand for the surrender, which was complied with, and the fort accordingly taken, without the fire of a

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