194 The Winning of the West 



or nine Indians, most of whom were friendly. 76 The 

 Indians clamored for justice and the surrender of 

 the militia who had attacked them. Blount warmly 

 sympathized with them, but when he summoned a 

 court-martial to try Beard it promptly acquitted 

 him, and the general frontier feeling was strongly in 

 his favor. Other militia commanders followed his 

 example. Again and again they trailed the war 

 parties, laden with scalps and plunder, and attacked 

 the towns to which they went, killing the warriors 

 and capturing squaws and children. 77 



The following January another party of red ma- 

 rauders was tracked by a band of riflemen to Scola- 

 cutta's camp. The militia promptly fell on the camp 

 and killed several Indians, both the hostile and the 

 friendly. Other Cherokee towns were attacked and 

 partially destroyed. In but one instance were the 

 whites beaten off. When once the whites fairly be- 

 gan to make retaliatory inroads they troubled them- 

 selves but little as to whether the Indians they as- 

 sailed were or were not those who had wronged 

 them. In one case, four frontiersmen dressed and 

 painted themselves like Indians prior to starting on 

 a foray to avenge the murder of a neighbor. They 

 could not find the trail of the murderers, and so went 

 at random to a Cherokee town, killed four warriors 

 who were asleep on the ground, and returned to the 

 settlements. Scolacutta at first was very angry with 



16 Robertson MSS., Smith to Robertson, June 19, 1793, etc. ; 

 "Knoxville Gazette," June 15 and July 13, 1793, etc. 

 11 "Knoxville Gazette," July 13, July 27, 1793, etc., etc. 



