274 The Winning of the West 



had no difficulty in keeping possession of their lands, 

 much to the disappointment of the land speculators, 

 many of whom had come out at the opening of the 

 office. Afterward Targe tracts were given as bounty, 

 or in lieu of pay, to the Revolutionary soldiers. All 

 the struggling colonies used their wild land as a sort 

 of military chest; it was often the only security of 

 value in their possession. 



The same year that the land office was opened, it 

 was enacted that the bridle path across the moun- 

 tains should be chopped out and made into a rough 

 wagon road. 3 The following spring the successful 

 expedition against the Chickamaugas temporarily 

 put a stop to Indian troubles. The growing security, 

 the opening of the land office, and the increase of 

 knowledge concerning the country, produced a great 

 inflow of settlers in 1779, and from that time on- 

 ward the volume of immigration steadily increased. 



Many of these new-comers were "poor whites," 

 or crackers ; lank, sallow, ragged creatures, living in 

 poverty, ignorance, and dirt, who regarded all 

 strangers with suspicion as "outlandish folks :" 4 

 With every chance to rise, these people remained 

 mere squalid cumberers of the earth's surface, a 

 rank, up-country growth, containing within itself 

 the seeds of vicious, idle pauperism, and semi-crim- 

 inality. They clustered in little, groups, scattered 

 throughout the backwoods settlements, in strong 



3 However this was not actually done until some years 

 later. 



4 Smythe's Tours, I, 103, describes the up-country crackers 

 of North Carolina and Virginia. 



