tween the Indians and their people on the coast.

Now these hardy mountaineers took Ferguson's threat seriously. Their
Scotch-Irish blood was up.

Colonel Shelby, one of the county lieutenants of Washington County,
rode posthaste to John Sevier's home, sixty miles away, to carry
Ferguson's threat.

Sevier lived on the Nolichucky River, and from his deeds of daring
and his hospitality was nicknamed "Chucky Jack." When Shelby arrived,
it was a day of merrymaking. They were having a barbecue; that is,
they were roasting oxen whole on great spits; and a {94} horse race
was to be run. The colonel told his story, and the merrymakers agreed
to turn out.

Shelby now rode home at full speed to muster his own men, and sent
urgent word to Colonel William Campbell, a famous Indian fighter, who
lived forty miles away, to call out the Holston Virginians.

The place appointed for meeting was at Sycamore Shoals, a central
point on the Watauga River. The day set was September 25.

Hither came Shelby and Sevier with about five hundred men, William
Campbell with four hundred Virginians, and McDowell with about one
hundred and sixty refugees from North Carolina.

Word was sent to Colonel Cleveland, a hunter and Indian fighter of
Wilkes County in North Carolina, to come with all the men he could
raise east of the mountains.

Colonel Sevier tried in vain to borrow money to furnish the men with
horses and supplies. The people were willing to give their last
dollar, but they had paid out all their money for land, and the cash
was in the hands of the county entry taker, John Adair.

Sevier appealed to him.

This patriot's reply is historic: "I have no authority by law,
Colonel Sevier, to make that disposition of this money. It belongs to
the treasury of North Carolina, and I dare not appropriate a penny of
it to any purpose. But if the country is overrun by the British,
liberty is {95} gone. Let the money go, too. Take it. If the enemy,
by its use, is driven from the country, I can trust that country to
justify and vindicate my conduct. Take it."

This money, thirteen thousand dollars in silver and gold, was taken,
and the supplies bought. Shelby and Sevier pledged themselves to
refund the money, or to have the act legalized by the legislature.

September 25 was a day of intense excitement in those frontier
settlements. The entire military force of what is now Tennessee met
at Sycamore Shoals. The younger and more vigorous men we