290 The Winning of the West 



had received the letters Hamilton sent them after 

 he took Vincennes; in these they were urged at 

 once to send out parties against the frontier, and 

 to make ready for a grand stroke in the spring. In 

 response the chief agent, who was the Scotch cap- 

 tain Cameron, a noted royalist leader, wrote to 

 his official superior that the instant he heard of 

 any movement of the Northwestern Indians he 

 would see that it was backed up, for the Creeks 

 were eager for war, and the Cherokees likewise 

 were ardently attached to the British cause; as a 

 proof of the devotion of the latter, he added: 

 "They keep continually killing and scalping in Vir- 

 ginia, North Carolina, and the frontier of Georgia, 

 although the rebels are daily threatening to send 

 in armies from all quarters and extirpate the 

 whole tribe/' 20 It would certainly be impossible 

 to desire better proof than that thus furnished by 

 this royal officer, both of the ferocity of the British 

 policy toward the frontiersmen, and of the treachery 

 of the Indians, who so richly deserved the fate 

 that afterward befell them. 



While .waiting for the signal from Hamilton, 

 Cameron organized two Indian expeditions against 

 the frontier, to aid the movements of the British 

 army that had already conquered Georgia. A great 

 body of Creeks, accompanied by the British com- 

 missaries and most of the white traders (who were, 

 of course, tories), set out in March to join the 



20 Haldimand MSS. Series B, Vol. 117, p. 131. Letter of 

 Alexander Cameron, July 15, *779- 



