MOONEY] THE UUKDEK FRiUTERS 57 



that tlio timo for widcM- actioTi hud conio. They resolved not to await 

 the attat'k. tmt to anticipate it. Witliout order or authority from 

 Congress, without tents, commissary, or supplies, the Indian fightei's 

 of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee quickly assembled at the 

 Sycamore shoals of the ^\ atauga to tlie iumi})er of about one thousand 

 men under Campl)ell of Virginia, Sevier (24) and Shelby of Temiessee, 

 and McDowell of North Carolina. Crossing the moimtains, they met 

 Fergu.^on at Kings mountain in South Carolina on October 7, 17^0, 

 and gained the decisive victoi'v that turned the tide of the Kexolutioii 

 in the South.' 



It is in place here to quote a de.scription of these men in buckskin, 

 white by liiood and tradition, but half Indian in habit and in.stinct, 

 who, in half a century of continuous contiict, drove l)ack Creeks, 

 Cherokee, and Shawano, and with one hand on the plow and tiie other 

 on the ritle redeemed a wilderness and carried civilization and frt-e 

 government to the banks of the Mississippi. 



"They were led by leaders they trusted, they were wonted to Indian 

 warfare, they were skilled as horsemen and marksmen, thej^ knew how 

 to face every kind of danger, hardship, and privation. Their fringed 

 and tasseled hunting shirts were girded by l)ead-worked belts, and the 

 trappings of their horses were stained red and yellow. On their heads 

 they wore caps of coon skin or mink skin, with the tails hanging 

 down, or else felt hats, in each of which was thrust a buck tail or a 

 sprig of evergreen. Every man carried a small-bore rifle, a toma- 

 hawk, and a scalping knife. A very few of the officers had swords, 

 and there was not a bayonet nor a tent in the army."- 



To strike the blow at Kings mountain the border men had been 

 forced to leave their own homes unprotected. Even before they could 

 cross the mountains on their return the news came that the Cherokee 

 were again out in force for the destruction of the upper settlements, 

 and their luuuerous small bands were killing, burning, and plundering 

 in the usual Indian fasiiion. ^\'ithout loss of time the Holstoii settle- 

 ments of Virginia and Tennessee at once raised seven hundred mounted 

 riflemen to mai'ch against the enemy, the conuuand being assigned to 

 Colonel Arthur Campl)ell of Virginia and Colonel John Sevier of 

 Teiuiessee. 



Sevier started first with nearly three hundred men, going south 

 along the great Indian war trail and dri\ing small parties of the 

 Cherokee before him, until he crossed the French Broad and came 

 upon seventy of them on Hoytls creek, not far fi'om the present Seviei'- 

 ville, on December 16, 1780. Ordering his men to spread out into a 

 half circle, he sent ahead some scouts, who, by an attack and feigned 

 retreat, managed to draw the Indians into the trap thus prepared, 



> Roosevelt. Win!>ing of the West, ii, pp. 241-294, 1889; Ramsey, Temies-see, pp. 208-249, 1853. 

 - RooseveU, op. cit., p. 256. 



