The War in the Northwest 369 



wounded. Before the startled warriors could gather 

 to attack him he plunged once more into the wilder- 

 ness, carrying his prisoners and plunder, and driv- 

 ing the captured horses before him; and so swift 

 were his motions that he got back in safety to the 

 settlements. 10 The length of the journey, the ab- 

 solutely untraveled nature of the country, which no 

 white man, save perhaps an occasional wandering 

 hunter, had ever before traversed, the extreme diffi- 

 culty of the route over the wooded, cliff-scarred 

 mountains, and the strength of the Cherokee towns 

 that were to be attacked, all combined to render the 

 feat most difficult. For its successful performance 

 there was need of courage, hardihood, woodcraft, 

 good judgment, stealth, and great rapidity of mo- 

 tion. It was one of the most brilliant exploits of 

 the border war. 



Even after his return Sevier was kept busy pur- 

 suing and defeating small bands of plundering sav- 

 ages. In the early summer he made a quick inroad 

 south of the French Broad. At the head of over a 

 hundred hard riders he fell suddenly on the camp of 

 a war party, took a dozen scalps, and scattered the 



10 Do. Letters of Col. Wm. Christian, April 10, 1781; of 

 Joseph Martin, March ist; and of Arthur Campbell, March 

 28th. The accounts vary slightly; for instance, Christian 

 gives him one hundred and eighty, Campbell only one hun- 

 dred and fifty men. One account says he killed thirty, an- 

 other twenty Indians, Martin, by the way, speaks bitterly 

 of the militia as men "who do duty at times as their inclina- 

 tion leads them." The incident, brilliant enough anyhow, 

 of course grows a little under Ramsey and Hay wood ; and 

 Mr. Kirke fairly surpasses himself when he conies to it. 



