360 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Regiment 



Woman 

 Manager and 

 Quarter- 

 master 



pany of pioneers which halted in the Watauga Valley, 

 where the king of the Cherokees planned to exterminate 

 them. He brought his whole fighting strength against 

 the fort defended by Captain Sevier. In the confusion 

 of the battle, it is told that the French captain saw a tall, 

 graceful girl running towards the fort pursued by a pack 

 of savages. Exposing himself above the walls, heedless 

 of the peril, the gallant captain shot down more than one 

 Indian who had raised his tomahawk to brain the girl, 

 who succeeded in leaping the palisades and fell into his 

 arms. It was in that exciting manner that the brave 

 Frenchman first met the woman who was to be for forty 

 years his companion in adventure, hardship and success. 

 They were married in 1780, four years after that Indian 

 attack. From captain, ' ' Xolichucky Jack, " the idol of 

 the pioneers, had risen to colonel by that time, and his 

 whole regiment rode with him to the house of Mr. Sherrill, 

 and held a "barbecue" in honour of the great event of 

 their leader's wedding. Not long afterwards came the 

 stress of the struggle for liberty, with its demands upon 

 John Sevier and his wife. The few steadfast patriots of 

 North Carolina were hard oppressed by the soldiers of 

 Tarletou and Ferguson, and appealed to Sevier to help 

 them. He had but a small command and no means to 

 equip a large one ; but in this extremity the wife under- 

 took to provide the equipment, while he immediately 

 took the field. The result was that when Colonel Sevier 

 rode away at the head of his famous regiment, the ' ' ten 

 hundred and forty," it was perhaps the best equipped 

 regiment of the war. It was with that regiment Sevier 

 stormed King's Mountain, and signally aided in turning 

 the tide of the Revolution. And through all the time that 

 he was kept in the field, his wife provided the resources. 

 She had, besides, to manage the large estate and be financier 

 and quartermaster ; and that in a region infested by 

 hostile savages and equally hostile Tories, many of whom 

 she met, rifle in hand, awing them by her determination. 



