The War in the Northwest 359 



truces, and for the moment ^ freed the settlements 

 from their ravages. He was almost the only com- 

 mander on the frontier who ever brought an Indian 

 war, of whatever length, to an end, doing a good 

 deal of damage to his foes and suffering very little 

 himself. Still, he never struck a crushing blow, nor 

 conquered a permanent peace. He never did any- 

 thing to equal Clark's campaigns in the Illinois and 

 against Vincennes, and, of course, he can not for a 

 moment be compared to his rival and successor, 

 grim Old Hickory, the destroyer of the Creeks and 

 the hero of New Orleans. 



When the men of the Holston or upper Tennes- 

 see valley settlements reached their homes after the 

 King's Mountain expedition, they found them men- 

 aced by the Cherokees. Congress had endeavored 

 in vain to persuade the chiefs of this tribe to make 

 a treaty of peace, or at least to remain neutral. The 

 efforts of the British agents to embroil them with 

 the whites were completely successful; and in No- 

 vember the Otari or Overhill warriors began mak- 

 ing inroads along the frontier. They did not at- 

 tack in large bands. A constant succession of small 

 parties moved swiftly through the country, burning 

 cabins, taking scalps, and, above all, stealing horses. 

 As the most effectual way of stopping such inroads, 

 the alarmed and angered settlers resolved to send a 

 formidable retaliatory expedition against the Over- 

 hill towns. 2 All the Holston settlements both north 

 and south of the Virginia line joined in sending 



2 Campbell MSS. Letter of Gov. Thos Jefferson, Feb. 17, 1781. 



