The War in the Northwest 317 



Pilot Mountain, and camped near the heads of Cane 

 and Silver creeks. Hitherto each colonel had com- 

 manded his own men, there being no general head, 

 and every morning and evening the colonels had 

 met in concert to decide the day's movements. The 

 whole expedition was one of volunteers, the agree- 

 ment between the officers and the obedience ren- 

 dered them by the soldiers simply depending on 

 their own free-will; there was no legal authority 

 on which to go, for the commanders had called out 

 the militia without any instructions from the execu- 

 tives of their several States. 27 Disorders had nat- 

 urally broken out. The men of the different com- 

 panies felt some rivalry toward one another; and 

 those of bad character, sure to be found in any such 

 gathering, could not be properly controlled. Some 

 of Cleavland's and McDowell's people were very 

 unruly; and a few of the Watauga troops also be- 

 haved badly, plundering both whigs and tories, and 

 even starting to drive the stolen stock back across 

 the mountains. 28 



At so important a crisis the good sense and sin- 

 cere patriotism of the men in command made them 

 sink all personal and local rivalries. On the 2d of 

 October they all gathered to see what could be done 

 to stop the disorders and give the army a single 

 head; for it was thought that in a day or two they 



27 Gates MSS. Letter of Campbell, Shelby, Cleavland, etc., 

 Oct. 4, 1780. 



28 Deposition of Col. Matthew Willoughby (who was in the 

 fight), April 30, 1823, "Richmond Enquirer," May 9, 1823. 



