MooNEY] TKKATY Of LONG ISLAND 1781 59 



det(M'miiiod to iiuiko a suddon stroko upon tlicMii. and oarly in March 

 of tlio same yt>ar, ITSl, with l.")0 ))icked horsenicn, he, started to cross 

 the Great Smoky mountains over trails never In^fore attempted l)\^ 

 white men, and so rou<fh in places that it was hardly possible to lead 

 horses. Fallino- unexpectedly upon Tuckasegee. near the present 

 Webster. North Carolina, he took the town completely by surprise, 

 killing" several warriors and capturing- a luuuber of women and chil- 

 dren. Two other principal towns and three smaller settlements were 

 taken in the same wa}^ with a quantity of provision and al)Out '2(H) 

 horses, the Indians ])eing entirely ofl" their guard and unprepared to 

 make any effecti\e resistance. Having spread destruction through 

 the middle towns, with the loss to himself of only one man killed and 

 another wounded, he was off again as suddenly as iu^ had conH>, moving 

 so rapidly that he was well on his homeward way ])efore the Cherokee 

 could gather for pursuit.' At the same time a smaller Tennessee expe- 

 dition went out to disperse the Indians who had been making head- 

 quarters in the mountainsabout Cumberland gapand harassing travelers 

 along the road to Kentucky." Numerous indications of Indians were 

 found, but none were met, although the coiuitry was scoured for a con- 

 8ideral)le distance.' In sunnner the Cherokee made another incursion, 

 this time upon the new settlements on the French Broad, near the present 

 Newport, Tennessee. With a hundred horsemen Sevier fell suddenly 

 upon their camp on Indian creek, killed a dozen warriors, and scat- 

 tered the rest.* By these successive blows the Cherokee were so worn 

 out and dispirited that they were forced to sue for peace, and in mid- 

 sunnuer of 1781 a treaty of peace — doubtful though it might l)e — was 

 negotiated at the Long island of the Holston.'' The respite came just 

 in time to allow the Teunesseeans to send a detachment against Corn- 

 wallis. 



Although there was truce in Tennessee, there was noiu' in the South. 

 In November of this year the Cherokee made a sudden inroad upon 

 the Georgia settlements, destroying everything in their way. In 

 retaliation a force under General Pickens marched into their country, 

 destroying their towns as far as Valley river. Finding further ])rog- 

 ress blocked b}' lieavy snows and learning thr<jugh a prisonei' that the 

 Indians, who had retired before him, were collecting to oppose him in 

 the mountains, he withdrew, as ht> says, "through absolute necessity," 

 having accomplished very little of the result expected. Shortly after- 

 ward the Cherokee, together with some Ci'(>(>ks, again invaded (xeorgia, 



I CiiinplH'U, k'tttT. Miircli as, 17.H1, in Virginia StaU' I'afjors, I, |i. 602, IsTS; Miirtin, lotUT. March .SI, 17S1, 

 ibid., p. 6i;i; Ranisuy, Tennessee, p. 2tiS, 1853; Roosevelt, Winning of tlie West, ii, pp. 30.V307, 18S9. 



'Campbell, letter, JIarch 28. 1781, in Virginia State Papers, i, p. ri02, 187,5. 



3 Ramsey, op. cit., p. 209. 



*Ibid.; Roosevelt, op. cit., p. 307. 



'Ibid.; Ramsey, op. cit., pp. 2(')7, 268. Tlie latter authority .seems to nnike it 1782, whii-h is evidently 

 a mistake. 



