364 The Winning of the West 



listen, as they wished first to demolish the Hiawas- 

 see towns, where the warriors had been especially 

 hostile. Accordingly, they marched thither. On 

 their way there were a couple of skirmishes, in which 

 several Indians were killed and one white man. 

 The latter, whose name was Elliot, was buried in 

 the Tellico town, a cabin being burned down over 

 his grave, that the Indians might not know where it 

 was. " The Indians watched the army from the hills. 

 At one point a warrior was seen stationed on a ridge 

 to beat a drum and give signals to the rest ; but the 

 spies of the whites stole on him unawares, and shot 

 him. The Hiawassee towns and all the stores of 

 provisions they contained were destroyed, the work 

 being finished on the last day of the year. 



On January i, 1781, the army broke up into de- 

 tachments which went home by different routes, some 

 additional towns being destroyed. The Indians 

 never ventured to offer the invaders a pitched battle. 

 Many of the war parties were absent on the frontier, 

 and, at the very time their own country was being 

 invaded, they committed ravages in Powell's Val- 

 ley, along the Upper Holston, and on the Kentucky 

 road, near Cumberland Gap. The remaining war- 

 riors were cowed by Sevier's first success, and were 

 puzzled by the rapidity with which the troops moved ; 

 for the mounted riflemen went at speed wherever 

 they wished, and were not encumbered by baggage, 

 each man taking only his blanket and a wallet of 

 parched corn. 



All the country of the Overhill Cherokees was 



