Spread of English-Speaking Peoples 201 



ceed in the wilderness, it was necessary to possess 

 not only daring, but also patience and the capacity 

 to endure grinding toil. The pioneers were hunters 

 and husbandmen. Each, by the aid of axe and 

 brand, cleared his patch of corn land in the forest, 

 close to some clear, swift-flowing stream, and by 

 his skill with the rifle won from canebrake and 

 woodland the game on which his family lived until 

 the first crop was grown. 



A few of the more reckless and foolhardy, and 

 more especially of those who were either merely 

 hunters and not farmers, or else who were of doubt- 

 ful character, lived entirely by themselves; but, as 

 a rule, each knot of settlers was gathered together 

 into a little stockaded hamlet, called a fort or sta- 

 tion. This system of defensive villages was very 

 distinctive of pioneer backwoods life, and was 

 unique of its kind; without it the settlement of the 

 West and Southwest would have been indefinitely 

 postponed. In no other way could the settlers have 

 combined for defence, while yet retaining their in- 

 dividual ownership of the land. The Watauga 

 forts or palisaded villages were of the usual kind, 

 the cabins and bl'ock-houses connected by a heavy 

 loop-holed picket. They were admirably adapted 

 for defence with the rifle. As there was no moat, 

 there was a certain danger from an attack with fire 

 unless water was stored within; and it was of 

 course necessary to guard carefully against sur- 

 prise. But to open assault they were practically im- 

 pregnable, and they therefore offered a sure haven 



