yo The Winning of the West 



ing from a careful comparison of the different au- 

 thorities, the following estimate of the numbers of 

 the southern tribes at the outbreak of the Revolu- 

 tion may be considered as probably approximately 

 correct. 



The Cherokees, some twelve thousand strong, 3 

 were the mountaineers of their race. They dwelt 

 among the blue- topped ridges and lofty peaks of the 

 southern Alleghanies, 4 in the wild and picturesque 

 region where the present States of Tennessee, Ala- 

 bama, Georgia, and the Carolinas join one an- 

 other. 



To the west of the Cherokees, on the banks of the 

 Mississippi, were the Chickasaws, the smallest of 

 the southern nations, numbering at the outside but 



3 "Am. Archives," 4th Series, III., 790. Drayton's account, 

 Sept. 23, '75. This was a carefully taken census, made by the 

 Indian traders. Apart from the outside communities, such 

 as the Chickamaugas at a later date, there were : 



737 gun-men in the 10 overhill towns 

 908 " " 23 middle " 



356 9 lower 



a total of 2,001 warriors. The outlying towns, who had cast 

 off their allegiance for the time being, would increase the 

 amount by three or four hundred more. 



4 "History of the American Indians, Particularly Those Na- 

 tions Adjoining to the Mississippi, East and West Florida, 

 Georgia, South and North Carolina, and Virginia." By 

 James Adair (an Indian trader and resident in the country 

 for forty years), London, 1775. A very valuable book, but 

 a good deal marred by the author's irrepressible desire to 

 twist every Indian utterance, habit, and ceremony into a 

 proof that they are descended from the Ten Lost Tribes. 

 He gives the number of Cherokee warriors at 2,300. 



