376 The Winning of the West 



often by fraudulent means, or at least for a ridicu- 

 lously small sum of money. Still less could it pre- 

 vent its unruly subjects from trespassing on the In- 

 dian country, or protect them if they were them- 

 selves threatened by the savages. It could not do 

 justice as between its own citizens, and it was quite 

 incompetent to preserve the peace between them and 

 outsiders. 16 The borderers were left to work out 

 their own salvation. 



By the beginning of 1782 settlements were being 

 made south of the French Broad. This alarmed and 

 irritated the Indians, and they sent repeated remon- 

 strances to Major Martin, who was Indian agent, 

 and also to the governor of North Carolina. The 

 latter wrote Sevier, directing him to drive off the 

 intruding settlers, and pull down their cabins. Se- 

 vier did not obey. He took purely the frontier view 

 of the question, and he had no intention of harassing 

 his own stanch adherents for the sake of the sav- 

 ages whom he had so often fought. Nevertheless, 

 the Cherokees always liked him personally, for he 

 was as open-handed and free-hearted to them as to 

 every one else, and treated them to the best he had 

 whenever they came to his house. He had much 

 justification for his refusal, too, in the fact that the 

 Indians themselves were always committing out- 

 rages. When the Americans reconquered the South- 

 ern States many tories fled to the Cherokee towns, 

 and incited the savages to hostility ; and the outlying 

 settlements of the borderers were being burned and 



16 Calendar of Va. State Papers, III, p. 213. 



