MOONEYJ DEFEAT OF GENERAL MARTIN 1788 65 



!illi(>s upon the Georgia frontiiT und tlie Ciiniherlaiid settlciuents 

 aroiiiul Nashville became so threatciiini:- that measures were taken for 

 a joint eampaijin by the eomt)ine(l forces of Georgia and Tennessee 

 (•'Franklin"). The enterprise came to naught through the interfer- 

 ence of the federal authorities.' All through the year 178S we hear 

 of attacks and reprisals along the Tennessee border, although the 

 agent for the Cherokee declared in his official rejiort that, with the 

 exception of the C'hickamauga band, the Indians wished to he at 

 peace if the whites would let them. In March two exp(>ditioiis under 

 Sevier and Kennedy set out against the towns in the direction of the; 

 French Broad. In INIay several persons of a family named Kirk were 

 murdered a few miles south of Knoxvilie. In retaliation Sevier 

 raised a large party and marching against a town on Hiwassee river — 

 one of those which had been destroyed some years before and rebuilt — 

 and burned it. killing a number of the inhabitants in the river while 

 they were trying to escape. He then turned, and proceeding to the 

 towns on Little Tennessee burned several of them also, killing a num- 

 ber of Indians. Here a small party of Indians, including Abraham 

 and Tassel, two well-known friendly chiefs, was brutally massacred 

 by one of the Kirks, no one interfei'ing, after they had voluntarily 

 come in on request of one of the officers. This occumnl during the 

 temporary absence of Sevier. Another expedition under Captain 

 Fayne was drawn into an ambuscade at Citico town and lost several 

 in killed and wounded. The Indians pursued the survivors almost to 

 Knoxvilie, attacking a small station near the present Maryville by 

 the way. They were driven oil' by Sevier and others, who in turn 

 invaded the Indian settlements, crossing the mountains and penetra- 

 ting as far as the valley towns on Hiwassee, ha.stily retiring as they 

 found the Indians gathering in their front." In th<> same summer 

 another expedition was organized against th(^ Chickamauga tt)wns. 

 The chief command was given to General .Martin, who left White's 

 fort, now Knoxvilie, with foui- iiundred and fifty men and made a 

 rapid march to the neighborhood of the jjresent Chattanooga, whei-e 

 the main force encamped on the site of an old Indian settlement. A 

 detachment sent ahead to surprise a town a few miles fai'ther down 

 the river was tired upon and driven l)ack, and a general engagement 

 took place in the narrow pass between the blurt' and the river, with 

 such disastrous r(\sults that thi-ee captains wei'e killed and the men 

 so badly demoralized that they refused to advance. Martin was 

 compelled to turn back, after burying the dead oflicers in a large 

 townhouse, which was then burned down to conceal th(> gi-ave.' 



In October a large party of Cherokee and Creeks attacked Gilles- 

 pie's station, south of the present Knoxvilie. The .small garrison was 



'Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 393-399, 1853. '-Ibid., pp. 417-123, IKW. 



^Ibid., pp. 517-519, and Brown's uarnuive, ibid., p. 515. 



lit ETH— 01 5 



