In the Current of the Revolution 355 



fired at by a small band of Indians from an ambush, 

 and one man was wounded in the foot; but no 

 further resistance was made, the towns being aban- 

 doned. 63 The main body coming up, parties of 

 troops were sent out in every direction, and all the 

 middle towns were destroyed. Rutherford had ex- 

 pected to meet Williamson at this place, but the lat- 

 ter did not appear, and so the North Carolina com- 

 mander determined to proceed alone against the val- 

 ley towns along the Hiawassee. Taking with him 

 only nine hundred picked men, he attempted to cross 

 the rugged mountain chains which separated him 

 from his destination; but he had no guide, and 

 missed the regular pass a fortunate thing for him, 

 as it afterward turned out, for he thus escaped fall- 

 ing into an ambush of five hundred Cherokees who 

 were encamped along it. 64 After in vain trying to 

 penetrate the tangle of gloomy defiles and wooded 

 peaks, he returned to the middle towns at Canucca 

 on September i8th. Here he met Williamson, who 

 had just arrived, having been delayed so that he 

 could not leave Fort Rutledge until the isth. 65 The 

 South Carolinians, two thousand strong, had crossed 

 the Blue Ridge near the sources of the Little Ten- 

 nessee. 



While Rutherford rested 66 Williamson, on the 



63 "Am. Archives," 5th Series, II, p. 1235. 



64 Do. 



65 Drayton. There was a good deal of jealousy between the 

 two armies, and their reports conflict on some points. 



66 There is some conflict in the accounts of the destruction 

 of the valley towns; after carefully comparing the accounts 



