we must introduce our reader to some new acquaintances, whose motions,
it will be seen, are destined greatly to influence the interests of this
history.

The time was about the second of October, when a considerable body of
troops were seen marching through that district which is situated
between the Allegany mountain and the head waters of Catawba, in North
Carolina. This force might have numbered perhaps something over one
thousand men. Its organization and general aspect were sufficiently
striking to entitle it to a particular description. It consisted almost
entirely of cavalry; and a spectator might have seen in the rude,
weather-beaten faces, and muscular forms of the soldiers, as well as in
the simplicity of their equipments, a hastily-levied band of
mountaineers, whose ordinary pursuits had been familiar with the arduous
toils of Indian warfare and the active labors of the chase. They were,
almost without exception, arrayed in the hunting shirt--a dress so dear
to the recollections of the revolution, and which, it is much to be
regretted, the foppery of modern times has been allowed to displace.
Their weapons in but few instances were other than the long rifle and
its accompanying hunting-knife.

It was to be observed that this little army consisted of various corps,
which were in general designated either by the color of the
hunting-shirt, or by that of the fringe with which this cheap and
simple uniform was somewhat ostentatiously garnished. Some few were clad
in the plain, homespun working-dress of the time; and here and there, an
officer might be recognised in the blue and buff cloth of the regular
Continental army. The buck-tail, also, was an almost indispensable
ornament of the cap, or usual round hat of the soldiers; and where this
was wanting, its place was not unfrequently supplied by sprigs of green
pine or holly, or other specimens of the common foliage of the country.

The men were mounted on lean, shaggy, and travel-worn horses of every
variety of size, shape, and color; and their baggage consisted of
nothing more cumbersome than a light wallet attached to the rear of
their saddles, or of a meagrely supplied pair of saddle-bags. The small
party on foot were in no wise to be distinguished from the mounted men,
except in the absence of horses, and in the mode of carrying their
baggage, which was contained in knapsacks of deer-skin strapped to their
shoulders. These moved over the ground with, perh