292 The Winning of the West 



Isaac Shelby having collected the supplies for the 

 expedition by his individual activity and on his 

 personal credit. The backwoodsmen went down the 

 river so swiftly that they took the Chickamaugas 

 completely by surprise, and the few warriors who 

 were left in the villages fled to the wooded moun- 

 tains without offering any resistance. Several In- 

 dians were killed 23 and a number of their towns 

 were burnt, together with a great deal of corn; 

 many horses and cattle were recaptured, and among 

 the spoils were large piles of deer hides, owned 

 by a tory trader. The troops then destroyed their 

 canoes and returned home on foot killing game 

 for their food; and they spread among the settle- 

 ments many stories of the beauty of the lands 

 through which they had passed, so that the pioneers 

 became eager to possess them. The Chickamaugas 

 were alarmed and confounded by this sudden stroke ; 

 their great war band returned at once to the burned 

 towns, on being informed by swift runners of the 

 destruction that had befallen them. All thoughts 

 of an immediate expedition against the frontier 

 were given up; peace talks were sent to Evan Shel- 

 by 24 ; and throughout the summer the settlements 

 iwere but little molested. 



nonsense to couple it, as has been recently done, with Clark's 

 campaigns. 



23 Cameron in his letter says four, which is probably near 

 the truth. Haywood says forty, which merely represents 

 the backwoods tradition on the subject, and is doubtless a 

 great exaggeration. 



84 State Department MSS. No. 71, Vol. I, p. 255, letter of 

 Evan Shelby, June 4, 1779. 



