St. Clair and Wayne 13 



and toiled like an ordinary slave. Once he was 

 doomed to death by a party of Indians, who made 

 him undress so as to avoid bloodying his clothes; 

 but they abandoned this purpose through fear of his 

 owner, a half-breed and a dreaded warrior, who 

 had killed many whites. 



After about a year's captivity, Joseph and his 

 mother and sisters were all released, though at dif- 

 ferent times. Their release was brought about by 

 Sevier. When in the fall of 1788 a big band of 

 Creeks and Cherokees took Gillespie's station, on 

 Little River, a branch of the upper Tennessee, they 

 carried off over a score of women and children. The 

 four highest chiefs, headed by one with the appro- 

 priate name of Bloody Fellow, left behind a note ad- 

 dressed to Sevier and Martin, in which they taunted 

 the whites with their barbarities, land especially with 

 the murder of the friendly Cherokee chief Tassel, 

 and warned them to move off the Indian land. 15 

 In response Sevier made one of his swift raids, de- 

 stroyed an Indian town on the Coosa River, and took 

 prisoner a large number of Indian women and chil- 

 dren. These were well treated, but were carefully 

 guarded, and were exchanged for the white women 

 and children who were in captivity among the In- 

 dians. The Browns were among the fortunate peo- 

 ple who were thus rescued from the horrors of In- 

 dian slavery. It is small wonder that the rough 

 frontier people, whose wives and little ones, friends 

 and neighbors, were in such manner rescued by No- 



15 Ramsey, 519. 



