Louisiana and Aaron Burr 195 



Blount, and taunted him with his inability to punish 

 the whites, asserting that the frontiersmen were 

 "making fun" of their well-meaning governor; but 

 the old chief soon made up his mind that as long as 

 he allowed the war parties to go through his towns 

 he would have to expect to suffer at the hands of the 

 injured settlers. He wrote to Blount enumerating 

 the different murders that had been committed by 

 both sides, and stating that his people were willing 

 to let the misdeeds stand as offsetting one another. 

 He closed his letter by stating that the Upper Towns 

 were for peace, and added : "I want my mate, Gen- 

 eral Sevier, to see my talk . . . We have often told 

 lies, but now you may depend on hearing the truth," 

 which was a refreshingly frank admission. 78 



When, toward the close of 1792, the ravages be- 

 came very serious, Sevier, the man whom the In- 

 dians feared more than any other, was called to take 

 command of the militia. For a year he confined 

 himself to acting on the defensive, and even thus he 

 was able to give much protection to the settlements. 

 In September, 1793, however, several hundred In- 

 dians, mostly Cherokees, crossed the Tennessee not 

 thirty miles from Knoxville. They attacked a small 

 station, within which there were but thirteen souls, 

 who, after some resistance, surrendered on condition 

 that their lives should be spared ; but they were 

 butchered with obscene cruelty. Sevier immedi- 

 ately marched toward the assailants, who fled back 



78 American State Papers, IV, pp. 459, 460, etc.; "Knox- 

 ville Gazette," Jan. 16 and June 5, 1794. 



