48 MYTH8 OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.ann.19 



d(>str<)\-ing- everything' :is fur up as New river. The Holstoii men 

 from both sides of the Virginia line hastily collected under Captain 

 Thompson and marched against the Indians, whom they met and 

 defeated with signal loss after a hard-fought liattle near the Long- 

 island in the llolston (Kingsport, Tennessee), on August 20. The 

 next daj' the second dixision of the Cherokee attacked the fort at 

 Watauga, garrisoned l)y oidy forty men under Captain James Robert- 

 son (15), but was repulsed without loss to the defenders, the Indians 

 withdrawing on news of the result at the Long island. A Mrs. Bean 

 and a l)oy named Moore were captured on this occasion and carried to 

 one of the Cherokee towns in the neighborhood of Tellico, where the 

 boy was burned, but the \voman, after she had l)een condemned to 

 death and everything was in readiness for the tragedy, was rescued by 

 the interposition of Nancy Ward. Two other Cherokee detachments 

 moved against the upper settlements at the same time. One of these, 

 finding all the inhabitants securely shut up in forts, returned without 

 d(nng nuich damage. Th(> other ravaged the country on Clinch river 

 almost to its head, and killed a man and wounded others at Black's 

 station, now Abingdon, Virginia.' 



At the same time that one part of the Cherokee were raiding the 

 Tennessee settlements others came down upon the frontiers of Caro- 

 lina and Georgia. On the upp(n' Catawl>a they killed many people, but 

 the whites took refuge in the stockade stations, where they defended 

 themselves until General Rutherford (16) came to their relief. In 

 Georgia an attempt had been made by a small party of Americans to 

 seize Cameron, who lived in one of the Cherokee towns with his Indian 

 wife, but, as was to have been expected, the Indians interfered, killing- 

 several of the party and capturing- others, who were afterward tortured 

 to death. The Cherokee of the Upper and ]\Iiddle towns, with some 

 Creeks and Tories of the vicinity, led by Camei-on himself, at once 

 beg-an ravaging the South Carolina border, l)urning houses, driving ofl' 

 cattle, and killing men. women, and children without distinction, until 

 the whole country was in a wild panic, the people abandoning- their 

 farms to seek safety in the garrisoned forts. On one occasion an 

 attack bj^ two himdred of the enemy, half of them being Tories, stripped 

 and painted like Indians, was repulsed })y the timely arrival of a body 

 of Americans, who succeeded in capturing thirteen of the Tories. The 

 invasion extended into G(!orgia. where also property was destroyed 

 and the inhabitants were driven from their homes.'-' 



Realizing- their common danger, the border states determined to 

 strike such a concerted bhjw at the Cherokee as should render them 

 passive while the struggle with England continued. In accord with 

 this plan of cooperation the frontier forces were quickly mobilized and 



I Ramsey, Tennessfe, pp. 150-159, 1853. 



^Roosevelt, Winning of Hhe West, i, pp. 293-297, 1889. 



