The War in the Northwest 357 



for he possessed in the highest degree the virtues 

 most prized on the frontier. He was open-hearted 

 and hospitable, with winning ways toward all, and 

 combined a cool head with a dauntless heart; he 

 loved a battle for its own sake, and was never so 

 much at his ease as when under fire; he was a first- 

 class marksman, and as good a horseman as was to 

 be found on the border. In his campaigns against 

 the Indians he adopted the tactics of his foes, and 

 grafted on them some important improvements of 

 his own. Much of his success was due to his adroit 

 use of scouts or spies. He always chose for these 

 the best woodsmen of the district, men who could 

 endure as much, see as much, and pass through the 

 woods as silently, as the red men themselves. By 

 keeping these scouts well ahead of him, he learned 

 accurately where the war parties were. In the at- 

 tack itself he invariably used mounted riflemen, men 

 skilled in forest warfare, who rode tough little 

 horses, on which they galloped at speed through the 

 forest. Once in position they did the actual fight- 

 ing on foot, sheltering themselves carefully behind 

 the tree-trunks He moved with extreme rapidity 

 and attacked with instantaneous suddenness, using 

 ambushes and surprises wherever practicable. His 

 knowledge of the whereabout and size of the hos- 

 tile parties, and the speed of his own movements, 

 generally enabled him to attack with the advantage 

 of numbers greatly on his side. 1 He could then out- 



1 The old Tennessee historians, headed by Haywood, base 

 their accounts of the actions on statements made by the pio- 



