The War in the Northwest .335 



Shelby's. These two bodies separated slightly so 

 as to come up opposite sides of the narrow south- 

 western spur of the mountain. The right wing was 

 led by Sevier, with his own and McDowell's troops. 

 On the extreme right Major Winston, splitting off 

 from the main body a few minutes before, had led 

 a portion of Cleavland's men by a roundabout route 

 to take the mountain in the rear, and cut off all re- 

 treat. He and his followers "rode like fox-hunt- 

 ers," as was afterward reported by one of their num- 

 ber who was accustomed to following the buck and 

 the gray fox with horn and hound. They did not 

 dismount until they reached the foot of the moun- 

 tain, galloping at full speed through the rock-strewn 

 woods ; and they struck exactly the right place, clos- 

 ing up the only gap by which the enemy could have 

 retreated. The left wing was led by Cleavland. 

 It contained not only the bulk of his own Wilkes and 

 Surrey men, but also the North and South Caro- 

 linians who had joined the army at the Cowpens 

 under the command of Williams, Lacey, Hambright, 

 Chronicle, and others. 51 The different leaders 

 cheered on their troops by a few last words as they 

 went into the fight ; being especially careful to warn 

 them how to deal with the British bayonet charges. 

 Campbell had visited each separate band, again re- 

 questing every man who felt like flinching not to go 

 into the battle. He bade them hold on to every inch 



51 Draper gives a good plan of the battle. He also gives 

 some pictures of the fighting, in which the backwoodsmen 

 are depicted in full Continental uniform, which probably not 

 a man certainly very few of them wore. 



