In the Current of the Revolution 269 



to prevent it, he was now bent on bringing it to a 

 successful issue. He was greatly outnumbered; but 

 he had at his command over a thousand painted and 

 plumed warriors, the pick of the young men of 

 the Western tribes, the most daring braves to be 

 found between the Ohio and the Great Lakes. His 

 foes were divided, and he determined to strike first 

 at the one who would least suspect a blow, but whose 

 ruin, nevertheless, would involve that of the other. 

 If Lewis' army could be surprised and overwhelmed, 

 the fate of Lord Dunmore's would be merely a 

 question of days. So without delay, Cornstalk, 

 crafty in counsel, mighty in battle, and swift to 

 carry out what he had planned, led his long files 

 of warriors, with noiseless speed, through leagues 

 of trackless woodland to the banks of the Ohio. 



The backwoodsmen who were to form the army 

 of Lewis had begun to gather at the Levels of 

 Greenbriar before the ist of September, and by 

 the 7th most of them were assembled. Altogether 

 the force under Lewis consisted of four commands, 

 as follows: a body of Augusta troops, under Col. 

 Charles Lewis, a brother of the general 7 ; a body 

 of Botetourt troops, under Col. William Fleming 8 ; 



7 His eight captains were George Matthews, Alexander Mc- 

 Clannahan, John Dickinson, John Lewis (son of William), 

 Benjamin Harrison, William Paul, Joseph Haynes, and Samuel 

 Wilson. Hale, " Trans- Alleghany Pioneers," p. 181. 



8 His seven captains were Matthew Arbuckle, John Murray, 

 John Lewis (son of Andrew), James Robertson, Robert Mc- 

 Clannahan, James Ward, and John Stewart (author of the 

 Narrative) . 



