34 6 The Winning of the West 



the officers being especially great: for it bore the 

 chief part in withstanding the successive bayonet 

 charges of the regulars, and the officers had been 

 forced to expose themselves with the utmost free- 

 dom, in order to rally their men when beaten back. 69 

 The mountain-men had done a most notable deed. 

 They had shown in perfection the* best qualities of 

 horse-riflemen. Their hardihood and perseverance 

 had enabled them to bear up well under fatigue, ex- 

 posure, and scanty food. Their long, swift ride, 

 and the suddenness of the attack, took their foes 

 completely by surprise. Then, leaving their horses, 

 they had shown in the actual battle such courage, 

 marksmanship, and skill in woodland fighting, that 

 they had not only defeated but captured an equal 

 number of well-armed, well-led, resolute men, in a 

 strong position. The victory was of far-reaching 

 importance, and ranks among the decisive battles of 

 the Revolution. It was the first great success of 

 the Americans in the south, the turning-point in the 

 Southern campaign, and it brought cheer to the pa- 



69 It would be quite impossible to take notice of the count- 

 less wild absurdities of the various writers who have given 

 "histories" so-called, of the battle. One of the most recent 

 of them, Mr. Kirke, having accepted as the number of the 

 British dead two hundred and twenty-five, and the wounded 

 one hundred and eighty-five, says that the disproportion 

 shows "the wonderful accuracy of the backwoods rifle" the 

 beauty of the argument being that it necessarily implies that 

 the backwoodsmen only fired some four hundred and ten 

 shots. Mr. Kirke's account of the battle having been "won" 

 owing to a remarkable ride taken by Sevier to rally the men 

 at the critical moment is, of course, without any historic 

 basis whatever. 



