The War in the Northwest 305 



On the 1 8th of the month the mountain men, 

 assisted as usual by some parties of local militia, 

 all under their various colonels, performed another 

 feat; one of those swift, sudden strokes so dear to 

 the hearts of these rifle-bearing horsemen. It was 

 of a kind peculiarly suited to their powers ; for they 

 were brave and hardy, able to thread their way 

 unerringly through the forests, and fond of sur- 

 prises ; and though they always fought on foot, they 

 moved on horseback, and therefore with great celer- 

 ity. Their operations should be carefully studied 

 by all who wish to learn the possibilities of mounted 

 riflemen. Yet they were impatient of discipline or 

 of regular service, and they really had no one com- 

 mander. The different militia officers combined 

 to perform some definite piece of work, but, like 



count of the Musgrove affair is especially erroneous. See p. 

 120 of L. C. Draper's "King's Mountain and Its Heroes" 

 (Cincinnati, 1881). Mr. Draper has with infinite industry 

 and research gathered all the published and unpublished ac- 

 counts and all the traditions concerning the battle ; his book 

 is a mine of information on the subject. He is generally 

 quite impartial, but some of his conclusions are certainly 

 biased ; and the many traditional statements, as well as those 

 made by very old men concerning events that took place fifty 

 or sixty years previously, must be received with extreme cau- 

 tion. A great many of them should never have been put in 

 the book at all. When they take the shape of anecdotes, 

 telling how the British are overawed by the mere appearance 

 of the Americans on some occasion (as pp. 94, 95, etc.), they 

 must be discarded at once as absolutely worthless, as well as 

 ridiculous. The British and tory accounts, being forced to 

 explain ultimate defeat, are, if possible, even more untrust- 

 worthy, when taken solely by themselves, than the Ameri- 

 can. 



