210 The Winning of the West 



was commissioned by Lord Dunmore as a captain 

 in the Virginia line. 



Such were Sevier and Robertson, the leaders in 

 the little frontier outpost of civilization that was 

 struggling to maintain itself on the Watauga; and 

 these two men afterward proved themselves to be, 

 with the exception of George Rogers Clark, the 



teen years old, but nevertheless is portrayed, among other 

 things, as leading "a hundred hardy borderers" into the In- 

 dian country, burning their villages and "often defeating 

 bodies of five times his own numbers." These statements 

 are supported by no better authority than traditions gathered 

 a century and a quarter after the event, and must be dis- 

 missed as mere fable. They show a total and rather amusing 

 ignorance not only of the conditions of Indian warfare, but 

 also of the history of the particular contest referred to. Mr. 

 Gilmore forgets that we have numerous histories of the war 

 in which Sevier is supposed to have distinguished himself, 

 and that in not one of them is there a syllable hinting at what 

 he says. Neither Sevier nor any one else ever with a hun- 

 dred men defeated "five times his number" of Northwestern 

 Indians in the woods; and during Sevier's life in Virginia, 

 the only defeat ever suffered by such a body of Indians was 

 at Bushy Run, when Bouquet gained a hard-fought victory. 

 After the end of Pontiac's war there was no expedition of im- 

 portance undertaken by Virginians against the Indians until 

 1774, and of Pontiac's war itself we have full knowledge. 

 Sevier was neither leader nor participant in any such marvel- 

 lous feats as Mr. Gilmore describes; on the contrary, the 

 skirmishes in which he may have been engaged were of such 

 small importance that no record remains concerning them. 

 Had Sevier done any such deeds all the colonies would have 

 rung with his exploits, instead of their remaining utterly un- 

 known for a hundred and twenty-five years. It is extraor- 

 dinary that any author should be willing to put his name to 

 such reckless misstatements, in what purports to be a history 

 and not a book of fiction. 



