354 The Winning of the West 



including the only tory colonel who had survived 

 the battle, were hanged; then Sevier and Shelby, 

 men of bold, frank nature, could no longer stand the 

 butchery, and peremptorily interfered, saving the re- 

 mainder. 84 Of the men who were hanged, doubtless 

 some were murderers and marauders, who deserved 

 their fate ; others, including the unfortunate colonel, 

 were honorable men, executed only because they had 

 taken arms for the cause they deemed right. 



Leaving the prisoners in the hands of the lowland 

 militia, the mountaineers returned to their secure 

 fastnesses in the high hill-valleys of the Holston, the 

 Watauga, and the Nolichucky. They had marched 

 well and fought valiantly, and they had gained a 

 great victory; all the little stockaded forts, all the 

 rough log-cabins on the scattered clearings, were 

 jubilant over the triumph. From that moment their 

 three leaders were men of renown. The legislatures 

 of their respective States thanked them publicly and 

 voted them swords for their services. Campbell, 

 next yean, went down to join Greene's army, did 

 gallant work at Guilford Court-house, and then died 

 of camp-fever. Sevier and Shelby had long lives 

 before them. 85 



84 Shelby MS. 



85 Thirty years after the battle, when Campbell had long 

 been dead, Shelby and Sevier started a most unfortunate con- 

 troversy as to his conduct in the battle. They insisted that 

 he had flinched, and that victory was mainly due to them. 

 Doubtless they firmly believed what they said ; for as already 

 stated, the jealousies and rivalries among the backwoods 

 leaders were very strong; but the burden of proof, after 

 thirty years' silence, rested on them, and they failed to make 



