CHICKASAW INVASION OF CUMBERLAND

The magnificent country that Henderson and Company bought from the

Cherokee Indians in 1775, and which they called Transylvania, included within

its boundaries the beautiful valley of the Cumberland in Tennessee. The

pioneers of Cumberland, being widely separated from the nearest station then

being planted by Henderson and Company in Kentucky, and still more distinctly

removed from their parent settlements on the Watauga and Nollichucky, had a

career unconnected with either of them, and made a history distinct from them

both. At the treaty of Sycamore Shoals, Dragging Canoe, afterwards the founder

and head chief of the Chickamauga towns) warned Colonel Henderson that the

land he was getting was bloody ground, and would be dark and difficult to settle. This prophecy was mercilessly fulfilled, both in Kentucky and on the Cumberland; and the principal agent in working its fulfillment in the latter district was Dragging Canoe himself, though the settlement was surrounded by hostile Indians on every side.

The emigrants settled in numerous stations scattered along the valley of the Cumberland. The central and most important of these was the Bluff, at Nashville; then came Eaton's on the east side of the river, near Lock A; Freeland's, in north Nashville; Mansker's, at Goodlettsville; Asher's, near

Gallatin; Donelson's, at Clover Bottom, on Stone's River; Union, about six miles

above Nashville; and Rcnfroe 's, which has already been mentioned. There

were probably not above one hundred men in all the settlement at this time;

there were less than two hundred in the year 1783. Colonel Donelson 's experience proved that they were threatened by hostile bands of Indians on at least two sides: The Chickamaugas, on the east who wished to exterminate the whites; and the marauding Cherokees and Creeks of the Muscle Shoals, on the south, who desired to plunder them. They had already been disturbed by the

Delawares, of the north, a party of whom camped on a branch of Mill Creek, since

called Indian Creek, in January, 1.780; and in July or August of that year

killed poor Jonathan Jennings. But they came in contact with the settlers by accident and did them comparatively small damage.

To complete the circle of their enemies, an event happened this year that

brought upon the young colony a dangerous invasion from the Indians of the west. The Chickasaws, who lived upon the east bank of the Mississippi, about the present city of Memphis, were the undisputed proprietors of all the lands

lying between the Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers. As early as June, 1778,

Governor Jefferson had instructed Colonel George Rogers Clark to establish a

military post near the mouth of the Ohio. Just at that time, however, he was

engaged in his marvelous campaign in the Northwest, which resulted in the cap-

ture of Governor Hamilton at Vincennes, February 25, 1779. In March Colonel

Clark reached the conclusion that the only method of maintaining American

authority in the Illinois, was to evacuate their present posts, and center their

whole force at, or near, the mouth of the Ohio; which would still be ineffective

unless a considerable number of families could be settled around the fort, for

the purpose of drawing reinforcements and victualing the garrison. Soon afterwards he took two hundred men from the Falls of the Ohio, and proceeding

down the river, built Fort Jefferson, and established a settlement at the Iron

Banks, about five miles below the mouth of the Ohio, and within the hunting

grounds of the Chickasaw Indians. As soon as the Chickasaws learned that this

fort had been erected, and a number of families settled about it, without consent, they took up arms to defend their hunting ground. They not only laid siege to Fort Jefferson, and destroyed the settlement around it, but they invaded the frontiers of Kentucky, and even penetrated as far as the infant

settlements on the Cumberland.

Renfroe 'S Station, as we have seen, was the most western station on the Cumberland, being some forty miles northwest of the Bluff. In June or July, 1780, a party of Chickasaws killed Nathan Turpin and another man at Renfroe's,

which so alarmed the stationers that they resolved to abandon the settlement, and take refuge at Freeland's; and, that they might not be impeded in their flight, they concealed some of the least portable of their property about the station before they departed. Isaac Renfroe left some iron, which afterwards became the subject of litigation before the Committee of Cumberland, and

enough of it was awarded to David Rounsevall to satisfy his debt of £31,12s., and costs. This is mentioned to show how much they valued the few supplies they were able to bring with them to the settlement. Having traveled as far as they

could through the forests and canebrakes, over a very- broken country, they

halted for the night. Most of the party continued their journey the next day, and reached their destination in safety; the others, finding they had been thus

far unmolested, reproached themselves for having left their property in their

hasty flight, and, upon consultation, determined to return to the abandoned station for it. They immediately retraced their steps, cautiously approached their descried cabins and by daybreak had collected up their property arid resumed their march. On the way they picked up their families, and at night all camped together about two miles north of Sycamore Creek, beside a branch since called Battle Creek. Next morning Joseph Renfroe went to the spring for water. While he was stooping to drink the Indians fired upon him from ambush, killing

him instantly. They then rushed upon the camp arid massacred the whole party-eleven or twelve persons- with the exception of Mrs. Jones, who made her escape. By following the trail of the first party this lone and frightened woman made her way to Eaton's Station. Her clothing was torn into shreds as she hurried

through the bushes and cane for a distance of nearly twenty miles. The stationers [settlers] promptly visited the scene of slaughter, and buried the dead; but the Indians had made off with the horses and such other property- as they cared for, and (destroyed what they did not take. The ground was white with

feathers of the beds they had ripped up to get the ticks.

After this massacre by the Chickasaws, and similar ravages by the Chickamaugas, presently to be noticed, all the stations on the Cumberland were

abandoned except the Bluff, Eaton's and Freeland's. At this juncture Colonel

Robertson found it necessary to make a journey to Kentucky for the threefold

purpose of conceding measures for the defense of the Cumberland; finding

means to conciliate the Chickasaws, and procuring a supply of ammunition for

the stationers [settlers]. He returned to the Bluff on the 11th day of January,

1781.

The same day a small party of Indians had appeared in the neighborhood.

While David Hood was passing from Freeland's to the Bluff, they fired upon

him from ambush near the Sulphur Spring. He was pierced by three balls, and

seeing no means of escape, fell upon his face and simulated death. The Indians

rushed on him, arid one of them, twisting his fingers in his hair, began to scalp him. His knife being very dull the scalp did not yield rapidly; he took a new hold, and sawed away until he could pull it off. Hood stood this painful operation without a groan or other sign of life. After scalping him, they stamped upon him to dislocate his neck, and left him for dead. He lay perfectly quiet until the Indians disappeared, when he cautiously peeped out and found

himself quite alone. He then arose, weak arid bloody from his many wounds,

and slowly wended his way towards the Bluff. When he reached the top of the

bank he was amazed to find the whole party of Indians in front of him, grinning and laughing at his bloody figure and bewildering predicament. He turned and

trotted back as fast as his waning strength would carry him, when they again

fired upon him, wounding him slightly in two places. They did not pursue him,

but his strength failed, and he crept into the brushwood, and fainted from the

loss of blood. He lay in this condition until the men from the fort who had

heard the firing, found him, brought him in, and laid him in an outhouse, thinking him dead or in a dying condition. That night the Chickasaws assaulted

Freeland's Station, the old swivel at the Bluff sounded the tocsin of alarm, its

men marched to the relief of their friends, and poor Hood was, for the time, forgotten in his outhouse.

Colonel Robertson had reached the Bluff in the evening, and learning that

his family was at Freeland's, he proceeded to that station, where he joined them

late in the night. His wife had that day borne him a son, the first male child

born in tire city of Nashville. That child was the eminent Dr. Felix Robertson,

long an intelligent and influential citizen of Tennessee. After Colonel Robertson had exchanged greetings with his family, and satisfied the eager questions of his friends, all retired for the night. About thre hour of

midnight the alert ear of Colonel Robertson heard a movement at the gate that

aroused his suspicion. He raised himself up, seized his rifle, and gave the

alarm, "Indians!"

A large party of Chickasaws, having found means to unfasten the gate, were

now entering the stockade. In an instant every man in the fort, eleven in number was in motion. Major Robert Lucas, who occupied a house that was untenable because the cracks between the logs had not yet been chinked and dabbed, rushed out into the open, and was shot down, mortally wounded. A negro man of Colonel Robertson's, who was in the house with Major Lucas, was also killed. These were the only fatalities, though the death of Major Lucas alone was a serious loss to the colony. He had been a leading pioneer on the Watauga, as he was on the Cumberland. He was a party to the treaty of Sycamore Shoals, and in connection with Colonel John Carter, had received from the Cherokees a deed to a part of Carter's Valley. On his removal to Cumberland, he was elected major in the first military organization of the district.

Hundreds of shots had been fired into tire house; and so great was the uproar from the firing, arid the whooping and yelling of the Indians, that the stationers [settlers] at Eaton's and the Bluff were aroused, and the sound

of the small cannon at the latter place gave notice that relief was at hand.

The Indians then withdrew. They had lost one killed, whose body was found, and

the traces of blood indicated that others had been wounded.

Early next morning Colonel Robertson returned to the Bluff: and with his

fatherly oversight of his people, went out to see Hood, who was still in the out

house. Finding him alive, he inquired how he was. "Not dead

yet," he replied, "and I believe I would get well if I had half a chance."

Colonel Robertson told him he should have a whole chance; and proceeded himself to dress his wounds. His treatment of the scalp wound was curious. On the Holston he had seen many persons who had been scalped, and there learned from a traveling French surgeon bow to treat them. He took a pegging awl and perforated thickly the whole naked space. This was done that granulation might spring up through the awl holes, and gradually spreading, unite and form a covering to the denuded skull before it should die and exfoliate, and thus expose the brain. This operation became so common that there were persons in every station who could perform it. In 1796 there were some twenty persons still living on the Cumberland who bad lost their scalps. Hood recovered and lived to

ripe old age. The assault on Freeland's Station was the last engagement the

settlers had with the Chickasaws, though the latter, before they retired,

united with a party of Cherokees and did much damage to the stock and plantations on the Cumberland. Our historians say that Colonel Robertson made peace with them in 1782, but I do not find any evidence of such a treaty. Peace was restored by the removal of the original cause of irritation,

About the last of August, 1782, Simon Burney and two Chickasaw warriors,

under a flag of truce, delivered to Colonel Logan of Lincoln County, Kentucky,

a talk signed by Poymace Tankaw, Mingo Hornaw, Tuskon Patapo, and Piomingo,

in which they expressed their desire for peace. They admitted they had done

mischief in Kentucky, as well as on the Cumberland, but alleged that the building of Fort Jefferson on their hunting ground, without their consent, made it necessary to take up arms to defend what they deemed their natural right; but

that the cause being then in some measure removed, they desired to be again

~t peace with the American States. On the receipt of this talk, Colonel John

Donelson, who had gone to Kentucky after the breaking up of his station on the

Cumberland, wrote the Governor of Virginia, urging the appointment of commissioners to negotiate a treaty with them, and suggesting the French Lick, on the Cumberland River, as the place most agreeable to the Chickasaws for a

meeting.

Acting upon this information and advice, Governor Harrison appointed

Colonels John Donelson, Joseph Martin, and Isaac Shelby commissioners to treat

with the Southern Indians. The intermediary between the governor, the commissioners and the Chickasaws was Major John Reid. Major Reid visited the

governor at Richmond; delivered Donelson 's commission to him at New London;

carried additional instructions to Martin at the Great Island of Holston; called

upon Shelby in Kentucky, and arrived at the French Lick on Cumberland, on

his way to the Chickasaws, May 2, 1783. Colonel Robertson opposed the assembling of the Chickasaws in the Cumberland settlements, and refused to allow Major Reid to proceed further until he had called a meeting of the committee. The committee at first agreed with Colonel Robertson, but upon Major Reid's pressing the necessity of the matter, they reached the conclusion set forth in their minutes, as follows:

June 3, 1783. Major John Reid moved the Committee of Cumberland relative

to the assembling of the southern tribes of Indians at the French Lick on Cumberland, for holding a treaty with the Commissioners appointed by the State of Virginia; when the Committee, considering how difficult it will be for the handful of people, reduced to poverty and distress by a continued scene of Indian barbarity, to furnish any large body of Indians with provisions;

and how prejudicial it may be to our infant settlement, should they not be

furnished with provisions, or otherwise dissatisfied with the terms of the

treaty; on which consideration the Committee refer it to the unanimous suffrages of the people of this settlement, whether the treaty shall be held here with their consent or not and that the suffrages of the several stations be delivered to the Clerk of Committee on Thursday evening, the fifth instant.

Result

Freeland's Station, no treaty here, 32.

Heatonburg, no treaty here, 1; treaty here, 54.

Nashborough, no treaty here, 26; treaty here, 30.

French Lick, no treaty here, 59; treaty here, 84.

The other stations of Gasper Mansker's and Maulding's failing to return

their votes.

It being agreed that the treaty should be held at the French Lick on Cumberland, it was arranged that the conferences should take place at the large Sulphur Spring, on the Charlotte Road, where General Robertson afterwards resided. The time named by the Chickasaws was the full moon in October. The

Indians arrived on time, and were ten days in advance of Commissioners Donelson

and Martin. Shelby did not attend, on account of one of his brothers having

recently been killed by the Indians in Kentucky. The treaty was finally concluded November 12, 1783. By the terms of the treaty the Chickasaws ceded a

large body of land on the south side of Cumberland River, which they afterwards

confirmed at the treaty of Hopewell in 1785.

In addition to the cession of land, which was important, the Cumberland

settlers won the warm friendship of the Chickasaws, which was never afterwards

interrupted, and which proved of the greatest value to the settlement. No other

man ever had their confidence quite so completely as General Robertson. His

last public service was in their nation, where he died, September 1, 1814.

THE CHICKAMAUGAS HARASS CUMBERLAND

During the Chickasaw invasion of the Cumberland extending from the

summer of 1780 until the beginning of the year 1781, the Chickamugas were not

idle. Fortunately for the Cumberland, their first organized movement was

against the Holston; had it been against them it would have proven disastrous

to their infant settlement. As it was, they were greatly harassed and weakened

by a constant and destructive guerrilla warfare. Between thirty and forty of

their small company were killed by the Indians-Chickamaugas, Creeks, Chickasaws, and Delaware during the year 1780. Before the end of the year every outlying station in the district was abandoned, the Bluff, Eaton's and Freeland's

alone holding out.

In the spring John Millikin was killed on Richland Creek, and Joseph Hay

in Sulphur Bottom. These were the first men killed on the Cumberland. From

that time the settlers were picked off here and there, their horses stolen, and their cattle killed or mutilated, by skulking bands of Indians, who escaped without difficulty through the thick canebrakes and tangled undergrowth

that surrounded their small clearings. Larger parties were less difficult

to punish. In the summer Colonel Robertson, with a company of nineteen men,

pursued a considerable party of Cherokees who had been depredating in the

neighborhood of Freeland's Station, and overtook them on Duck River about

forty miles south of the Bluff. Robertson's men charged and fired upon the Indians, several of whom were killed or wounded, and the remainder fled, abandoning their stolen property to the whites, who returned in triumph without the loss of a man. This was the first pursuit made by the settlers.

Among the pioneers who settled a plantation and planted a crop in the spring of 1780 was Col. John Donelson, the distinguished commander of the flotilla that had just successfully completed the extraordinary voyage from Fort Patrick Henry to the French Salt Lick. He selected a splendid tract of land on the west bank of Stone's River, not far from the Hermitage. It contained a broad

and beautiful river bottom, to which the rich upland gently descended. Both

bottom and upland were covered with cane and timber, except a few open spots

in the bottom, which were carpeted with a. luxuriant growth of white clover.

The place has since been known as Clover Bottom, and was once awarded a

premium as the best farm in Tennessee. Here Colonel Donelson erected a half faced camp for his family and servants, known as Stone's River or Donelson's

Station. Having planted his corn in the bottom on the west side of the river, he

planted a small patch of cotton on the east side where the situation and soil

seemed better adapted to its growth.

Colonel Donelson knew the Indians had killed a number of settlers lower down the Cumberland; that they had broken up Renfroe's Station but as they had

nqt yet, appeared in his neighborhood he hoped to escape their depredations.

Soon after the Renfroe massacre, however, Colonel Henderson's negro, Jim, and

a young man who bad been left in charge of Henderson's, half-faced camp near

Clover Bottom were killed. Being unprepared to defend his position against an

attack from the Indians which now appeared imminent, Donelson abandoned his

station and retired with his family to Mansker's Station. His crop, in the meantime, came to maturity without serious injury, either from the floods, the Indians, or the wild beasts.

In November, 1780, he prepared to gather his crop. It was recognized as a

dangerous enterprise, on account of the increasing number of Indian depredations committed in the settlement. In addition to his own force, therefore, he

engaged a company from the Bluff to assist him, on shares. They were to take

their boat at the Bluff and ascend the Cumberland to the mouth of Stone's

River, where they would meet the Donelson party, who were to drop down the

Cumberland from the mouth of Mansker's Creek. Colonel Donelson's boat was

in charge of his son, Capt. John Donelson, and contained a horse, intended for

use in hauling corn to the boat, and also in towing the boat up the river when

loaded. The boat from the Bluff was commanded by Capt. Abel Cower, who

was a leader in the famous voyage to the Cumberland, and father of the heroic

girl, Nancy Cower, who was wounded by the Indians at Lookout Mountain. His crew consisted of seven or eight men, black arid white. The two parties having

reached Clover Bottom, as agreed, they fastened their boats to the bank near

the present turnpike bridge and commenced pulling corn, which they conveyed

to the boats in bags and baskets, and also on a one-horse "slide," which was

the only carriage then known on the Cumberland.

They were thus engaged for several days, and it was observed that on each

night, and especially on the last night, their dogs kept up a furious barking,

which suggested Indians to them, but they tried to explain the excitement of

the dogs on other grounds, and manifested their anxiety only by hastening the

completion of their work. Early on the last morning Captain Donelson pushed

his boat across to the east side of the river, and commenced gathering cotton.

This, he thought, would cause but a short delay, and be expected the other

boat to join in the picking and share the cotton with him also. But when Captain Gower's party had finished their breakfast they launched their boat out

into the stream and began its descent. Donelson hailed them from the bank

and desired them to come over and help him. Cower replied that it was getting late and as be wished to reach the Bluff before night they would have to move on. Donelson remonstrated, but determined to finish gathering his cotton

before he returned.

While they were yet parleying Captain Gower's boat reached the narrow

channel between a small island and the west bank. In the meantime a large

patty of Chickamaugas had concealed themselves on the west bank opposite

this island, and as Captain Gower; boat passed them, they poured a destructive

fire down upon him. Four or five of his party were killed at the first fire; the

others jumped overboard into the shallow water. A white man and a negro

escaped into the woods, and ultimately found their way back to the Bluff. Jack

Civil, a free negro, being slightly wounded, surrendered and was carried to the

Chickamauga towns, where he was so well satisfied that he remained with them

and adopted their life. Among file killed were Capt. Abel Gower and his son,

Abel Gower, Jr., and James Randolph Robertson; the eldest son of Col. James

Robertson, a youth of much promise. Their boat drifted safely down the river,

and was recovered with the dead still on board, and undisturbed except by the

hungry dogs that had escaped the Indian fusillade.

Captain Donelson witnessed the attack from the opposite shore, ran down

to his boat and secured his rifle, fired across the river at the Indians, then

hastened to join his own party. They had fled into the cane when the firing

and yelling of the Indians began, and were collected together with some difficulty. It being necessary for the party to separate to prevent leaving a trail that the Indians might follow, they hastily agreed upon the direction to be taken in order to meet the next day upon the banks of the Cumberland, some

miles above the month of Stone's River. Robert Cartwright, an elderly gentleman who had come to the Cumberland with Colonel Donelson, was given the horse to ride, without which it would have been difficult for him to make his escape.

At sunset they collected under a large hickory tree that had fallen to the

ground, and spent the night concealed in its thick foliage, but were too cold to

sleep, as they dared not make a fire. Next morning, after a number of fruitless

efforts to construct a raft on which they might cross the river so as to reach

Mansker '5 Station, which was on the north side of the Cumberland, Somerset,

Colonel Donelson's body servant, volunteered to swim the river, with the aid

of the horse, and ride to the station for assistance. He reached the settlement

without accident, and soon returned bringing relief to the distressed harvesters.

This attack by a considerable party of Chickamaugas caused consternation

among the settlers. A short time before, Mansker's Station had been alarmed

by the depredations of a small band of Creeks. William Neely, an early hunter

and companion of Mansker, had undertaken the manufacture of salt at Neely's Lick, and was assisted by several of the stationers [settlers] from Mansker's. His daughter went with him to care for the domestic affairs of the camp. One day, after a successful hunt, Neely brought in a deer, and, being tired, laid down to rest. His daughter was busy preparing supper for her father and the men who would be in soon from the Lick. Suddenly she heard the crack of a rifle near the camp, her father raised himself up, groaned and fell back dead. The Indians then seized her and carried her captive to the distant Creek Nation. She remained in captivity several years, but was finally exchanged, and married reputably in Kentucky.

When the men returned from the Lick to the camp and found the father

dead and the daughter missing, they fled to Mansker's Station, under the cover of night, and caused great excitement and distress by their sad tidings. It

seemed that death was lurking everywhere, and was ready to embrace the whole

settlement. Under these circumstances Mansker's, the last of the outlying stations, was abandoned. Colonel Donelson withdrew with his family to Davis's

Station, in Kentucky. Colonel Mansker reluctantly moved to one of the stronger

central stations, probably Eaton's. After everyone else had left the station,

David Gowen and Patrick Quigley, two young men who, evidently, thought they

could take care of themselves remained another night. Before morning they were killed in their beds, being shot through the port holes.

The Chickasaw invasion that culminated in the attack on Freeland's Station, January 11, 1781, was followed some three mouths later by a much more dangerous invasion by the Chickamaugans. While the pioneers of Holston were

fighting, the British agents among them had organized a general Cherokee invasion of the Holston settlements. By prompt and energetic action, Colonel

Sevier, Campbell and Martin drove them back, and punished them by the destruction of the Overhill towns, on the Little Tennessee, and also the Valley

towns, on the Hiawassee River, where it was supposed most of thc Chickamaugas

had taken refuge after the destruction of their towns by Colonels Shelby and Montgomery. They seemed to have considered the Chickamauga towns as abandoned or of little consequence and did not visit them. They completed their work of destruction January 1, 1781. The Overhill and Valley towns sued for peace. Chickamauga, the hotbed of British influence, and the implacable enemy of the Americans, turned its arms against only the weaker settlements on the Cumberland.

It was against the Bluff that the Chickamauga campaign of 1781 was directed.

The invading army set out for the Cumberland with the first advent

of spring, and arrived at the Bluff April 1, 1781. That night they disposed their warriors for the morrows engagement, without the garrison having discovered or suspected the presence of so formidable an enemy. The Bluff

had been in a state of semi-state of seege by guerrillas and spies, since the

assault on Freeland's Station. The Stationers [setters] dared leave the stockade only at the peril of their lives. One day Mrs. Dunham, a refugee from her husband's abandoned station at Belle Meade, sent her little daughter three or four hundred yards from the enclosure for an armful of chips hearing her cries, the mother ran to her assistance and was shot down.. Before the men from the fort could reach the scene, the Indians had scalped the little girl, and disappeared. Both mother and daughter recovered. About the last of March, Col. Samuel Barton rode down to Wilson's Spring Branch in search of cattle; he was fired upon and wounded in the left wrist. He made his escape, but was unable to take part in the approaching battle. On the very night their army arrived, James Menifee, the sentinel discovered and fired at an Indian prowling about the

palisade. Such galling atrocities by an illusive foe irritated the garrison to

the verge of madness

On the morning of April 2, 1781, three warriors approached the stockade

at the Bluff, fired and retreated ant of range. As they reloaded their guns,

they waved defiance to the men in the fort. The garrison gladly accepted their

challenge. A party of ai)out twenty men, probably led by Colonel Robertson,

mounted their horses, and riding out of the stockade gate, dashed down after

the foe, who retreated in a southwestern direction. When they reached Wilson's Spring Branch they encountered a body of Indians who made a stand. The wings of the Indian line, concealed in the bed of the branch and among the thick bushes on its banks, fired upon the horsemen as they dismounted to give battle. Their fire was returned with alacrity, and the battle was on in earnest. As it proceeded the firing and yelling stampeded the horses, which in the meantime a large detachment of the Indian forces, concealed on the hillside to the westward, emerged from their cover and intervened between the sallying party and the fort. Having thus cut off the retreat of its defenders, they expected to assault and enter the defenseless fortress. But at this moment the panic stricken horses dashed through their lines, and their discipline was not strong enough to resist their inordinate desire for horses. A gap was opened in their ranks as the nearest warriors rushed heedlessly after the flying horses. The confusion and excitement of tire chase was observed from the fort, when Mrs. Robertson, it is said, observing the fury or the dogs, which had imbibed all the fierce hatred their masters entertained for the Indians, opened the gate and turned the pack loose on the already broken and confused ranks of the enemy. They made straight for the Indians, and attacked them with great ferocity and courage. The fierce onset of the dogs increased thc confusion in the order of the enemy, as they were forced to turn in their own defense. While this tragi-comedy was in progress on the upland, the sortie was being repulsed by overwhelming numbers in the bottom. Alreadv Peter Gill, Alexander Buchanan, George Kennedy, Zachariah White, and James Leiper lay dead on the field, and James Menifee and Joseph Moonshaw were disabled by wounds. Seeing a chance to pass through the breach made by the horses and dogs in the Indian line that intervened between them and the fort, the whites determined to retreat; and taking their wounded with them, started on a run, hotly pursued by the enemy. After they had passed the Indian line and approached the fort, Isaac Lucas was shot and fell with a broken thigh, but his comrades could not stop to assist him. He hastily primed his gun which he had charged as lie ran, and shot dead the foremost of his pursuers. A daring Indian overtook Edward Swanson within twenty yards of the gate, and struck him on the shoulder, causing him to drop his gun. Swanson turned and seized the gun of his antagonist, but the Indian wrenched it from him, and knocked him to his knees.. Before he could pursue his advantage further, the elder John Buchanan reached the fort, and seeing Swanson's danger fired, and killed his antagonist. The Indians, seeing that the whites had reached the stockade, and were maintaining a brisk fire from its gate, halted before they reached Lucas, who had crept within range of their guns. He and Swanson were both brought into the fort. The Indians then withdrew. They reappeared at night, but a single discharge from the old swivel, loaded with broken stone and scraps of iron, and an answering boom from the small piece at Eaton's dispersed them, and they abandoned the conflict; though the garrison, reinforced by a relief party from Eaton's, kept watch until daylight next morning.

The Battle of the Bluff ended the most formidable invasion ever

Undertaken against the Cumberland. The settlers were so distressed and

disheartened from the fall of 1780 to the beginning of the year 1783, that many of them moved away, and there was constant talk of a general exodus from the

country; and it was largely due to the courage and firmness of Colonel

Robertson that the Cumberland was not abandoned. But these troubles gradually

disappeared as the events of the years 1782 and 1783 unfolded themselves. In the

fall of 1782 General Sevier invaded and destroyed the Chickamauga towns, and

Dragging Canoe and his followers abandoned their old settlement on Chickamauga Creek, and moved some forty or fifty miles lower down the Tennessee River, where they built the Five Lower Towns. This migration was sufficient to occupy their immediate attention. In the meantime the preliminary treaty of peace between

Great Britain and the United Stales was signed at Paris, November 30, 1782,

and caused the British agents to withdraw their active support from the Indians. forever, the acknowledgment of American independence reestablished confidence in the settlement, and many of the original immigrants returned, while new adventurers daily added to their strength. The settlers were greatly delighted that Florida, the depot from which Great Britain had supplied the munitions of war to their Indian enemies, was transferred to Spain, the ally of France, and therefore, in a sense their ally, whose policy they hoped, would be friendly to the United States. In October, 1783, the State of Virginia met the Chickasaws and Chickamaugas on the treaty ground at the French Lick on the Cumberland. The Creeks did not attend. In addition to the Chickasaw treaty, already referred to, some sort of treaty was concluded with the Chickamaugans and the settlers on Cumberland felt that for once they were at peace with their Indian neighbors.

Tennessee, the Volunteer State Moore and Foster, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1923