firing heard from either flank furnished
evidence that Sevier and Cleveland had both come in contact with the
enemy. The uprising of smoke above the trees showed the seat of the
combat to be below the summit on the mountain sides, and that the enemy
had there half-way met his foe; whilst the shouts of the soldiers,
alternating between the parties of either army, no less distinctly
proclaimed the fact that, at these remote points, the field was
disputed with bloody resolution and various success.

It would overtask my poor faculty of description, to give my reader even
a faint picture of this rugged battle-field. During the pause of the
combatants of the centre, Campbell and Shelby were seen riding along the
line, and by speech and gesture encouraging their soldiers to still more
determined efforts. Little need was there for exhortation; rage seemed
to have refreshed the strength of the men, who, with loud and fierce
huzzas, rushed again to the encounter. They were met with a defiance not
less eager than their own; and, for a time, the battle was again
obscured under the thick haze engendered by the incessant discharges of
fire-arms. From this gloom, a yell of triumph was sometimes heard, as
momentary success inspired those who struggled within; and the frequent
twinkle of polished steel glimmering through the murky atmosphere, and
the occasional apparition of a speeding horseman, seen for an instant as
he came into the clear light, told of the dreadful earnestness and zeal
with which the unseen hosts had now joined in conflict. The impression
of this contact was various. Parts of each force broke before their
antagonists; and in those spots where the array of the fight might be
discerned through the shade of the forest or the smoke of battle, both
royalists and Whigs were found, at the same instant, to have driven back
detached fragments of their opponents. Foemen were mingled hand to hand,
through and among their adverse ranks; and for a time no conjecture
might be indulged as to the side to which victory would turn.

The flanking detachments seemed to have fallen into the same confusion,
and might have been seen retreating and advancing upon the rough slopes
of the mountain, in partisan bodies, separated from their lines; thus
giving to the scene an air of bloody riot, more resembling the sudden
insurrection of mutineers from the same ranks, than the orderly war of
trained soldiers.

Through the din and disorder of