The War in the Northwest 349 



The mountaineers had come out to do a certain 

 thing to kill Ferguson and scatter his troops. 

 They had done it, and now they wished to go home. 

 The little log-huts in which their families lived were 

 in daily danger of Indian attack; and it was abso- 

 lutely necessary that they should be on hand to pro- 

 tect them. They were, for the most part, very poor 

 men, whose sole sources of livelihood were the stock 

 they kept beyond the mountains. They loved their 

 country greatly, and had shown the sincerity of 

 their patriotism by the spontaneous way in which 

 they risked their lives on this expedition. They 

 had no hope of reward; for they neither expected 

 nor received any pay, except in liquidated certifi- 

 cates, worth two cents on the dollar. Shelby's share 

 of these, for his services as colonel throughout '80 

 and '8 1, was sold by him for "six yards of middling 

 broadcloth" ; 73 so it can be readily imagined how lit- 

 tle each private got for the King's Mountain expe- 

 dition. 74 



The day after the battle the Americans fell back 

 toward the mountains, fearing lest, while cumbered 

 by prisoners and wounded, they should be struck by 

 Tarleton or perhaps Cruger. The prisoners were 

 marched along on foot, each carrying one or two 

 muskets, for twelve hundred stand of arms had been 

 captured. The Americans had little to eat, and 

 were very tired ; but the plight of the prisoners was 

 pitiable. Hungry, footsore, and heartbroken, they 



73 Shelby's MS. autobiography. 



74 Among these privates was the father of Davy Crockett. 



