The Indian Wars, 1784-1787 285 



town which they supposed to be deserted; but the 

 Indians were hiding near by and fell upon them, 

 killing seventeen. The savages mutilated the dead 

 bodies in fantastic ways, with ferocious derision, 

 and left them for their friends to find and bury. 42 

 Sevier led parties against the Indians without ceas 

 ing; and he and his men by their conduct showed 

 that they waged the war very largely for profit. 

 On a second incursion, which he made with canoes, 

 into the Hiawassee country, his followers made nu 

 merous tomahawk claims, or "improvements," as 

 they were termed, in the lands from which the In 

 dians fled; hoping thus to establish a right of own 

 ership to the country they had overrun. 43 



The whites speedily got the upper hand, ceasing 

 to stand on the defensive ; and the panic disappeared. 

 When the North Carolina Legislature met, the 

 members, and the people of the seaboard generally, 

 were rather surprised to find that the over-hill men 

 talked of the Indian war as troublesome rather than 

 formidable. 44 



The militia officers holding commissions from 

 North Carolina wished Martin to take command 

 of the retaliatory expeditions against the Cherokees ; 

 but Martin, though a good fighter on occasions, 

 preferred the arts of peace, and liked best treating 

 with and managing the Indians. He had already 

 acted as agent to different tribes on behalf of Vir- 



42 Do., Martin to Knox, August 23, 1788. 



43 Do., Hutchings to Martin, July ji, 1788. 



44 "Columbian Magazine," II, 472. 



