The War in the Northwest 363 



under the command of Major Joseph Martin. The 

 next day the seven hundred horsemen made a forced 

 march to the Little Tennessee; and on the 24th 

 crossed it unopposed, making a feint at one ford, 

 while the main body passed rapidly over another. 

 The Indians did not have the numbers to oppose so 

 formidable a body of good fighters, and only ven- 

 tured on a little very long range and harmless skir- 

 mishing with the vanguard. Dividing into two bod- 

 ies, the troops destroyed Chota and the other towns 

 up and down the stream, finding in them a welcome 

 supply of provisions. The next day Martin, with a 

 detachment, fell on a party of flying Indians, killed 

 one, and captured seventeen horses loaded with 

 clothing, skins, and the scanty household furniture 

 of the cabins; while another detachment destroyed 

 the part of Chilhowee that was on the nearer side of 

 the river. On the 26th the rest of Chilhowee was 

 burned, three Indians killed, and nine captured. 

 Tipton, with one hundred and fifty men, was sent 

 to attack another town beyond the river ; but owing 

 to the fault of their commander, 4 this body failed to 

 get across. The Indian woman, Nancy Ward, who 

 in '76 had given the settlers timely warning of the 

 intended attack by her tribesmen here came into 

 camp. She brought overtures of peace from the 

 chiefs ; but to these Campbell and Sevier would not 



4 His "unmilitary behavior," says Campbell. Ramsey 

 makes him one of the (imaginary) wounded at Boyd's Creek. 

 Kirke improves on this by describing him as falling "badly 

 wounded" just as he was about to move his wing forward, 

 and ascribes to his fall the failure of the wing to advance. 



