exposure to inclement seasons; here innumerable perils and
privations await them; here they are exposed to alarms from wild beasts
and from Indians. Sometimes driven from home, they take shelter in the
breaks and recesses of the mountains, where they continue for a time in
a state of anxious suspense; venturing at length to reconnoitre their
home, they perhaps find it a heap of ruins, the whole of their little
_peculium_ destroyed. This frequently happened. The inhabitants of the
country being few, and in most cases widely separated from each other,
each group, fully occupied with its own difficulties and distresses,
seldom could have the consolation of hoping for the advice, assistance,
or even sympathy of each other. Many of them, worn out by the hardships
inseparable from their new condition, found premature graves; many
hundreds, probably thousands, were massacred by the hands of the
Indians; and peace and tranquillity, if they came at all, came at a late
day to the few survivors.

"Tantae erat molis--condere gentem."

Here have been stated a few items of the first cost of this country, but
the half has not been told, nor can we calculate in money the worth of
the sufferings of these people, especially we cannot estimate in dollars
and cents the value of the lives that were lost.[489:A]

In the year 1756 took place the "Sandy Creek Expedition" against the
Shawnees on the Ohio River. With the exception of a few Cherokees, it
consisted exclusively of Virginia troops, under the conduct of Major
Andrew Lewis.[489:B] Although this expedition proved in the event
abortive, yet its incidents, as far as known, are interesting. Nor are
such abortive enterprises without their useful effects: they are the
schools of discipline, the rehearsals of future success. The rendezvous
from which the expedition started was Fort Frederick, on New River, in
what was then Augusta County. Under Major Andrew Lewis were Captains
William Preston, Peter Hogg, John Smith, Archibald Alexander, father of
Rev. Dr. Archibald Alexander, Breckenridge, Woodson, and Overton. Their
companies appear to have been already guarding the frontier when called
upon for this new service. There were also the volunteer companies of
Captains Montgomery and Dunlap, and a party of Cherokees under Captain
Paris. A party of this tribe had come to the assistance of the
Virginians in the latter part of 1755, and they were ordered by Governor
Dinwiddie to join the S