having
inflicted upon them this measure of punishment, the British General
prepared to march back to Fort Prince George.

This decision was the result of his exigencies. The situation of his
army was neither a safe nor an agreeable one. The victory was with
the Carolinians, yet the affair was very far from decisive in its
consequences. The enemy had only retired from one advantageous position
to another. They waited his approach only to renew a conflict in which
even victory might be without its fruits. To gain a battle, unless a
final one, was, with a force so small as his, a matter of very doubtful
advantage. He was already encumbered with his wounded, to furnish horses
for whom, he was compelled to discard, and to destroy, a large quantity
of the provisions necessary for the army. What remained was measured
with a nice reference to their absolute wants on the return march to
Prince George. Under these suggestions of prudence the retreat was
begun. It was conducted with admirable regularity. The Cherokees,
meanwhile, hung upon the retiring footsteps of the invaders, annoying
them to the utmost of their power. Sixty miles of mountainous country
were traversed in this manner, and under various hardships, with a
skill and intrepidity which confer the highest credit upon the English
captain. A large train of wounded was brought to the frontier without
the loss of a man.

We have admitted an uncertainty as to the presence of Marion in this
campaign. It would be impertinent and idle, therefore, to speculate upon
his performances, or the share which he might have taken in its events.
Tradition simply assures us that he distinguished himself. That, if
present, he did his duty, we have no question; and, enduring with
becoming resolution the worst severities of the march, proved himself
possessed of the first great requisite for soldiership in Indian
warfare.

Chapter 4.

Cherokee War continues--Marion leads the Forlorn Hope at
the Battle of Etchoee.

The Cherokees were very far from being subdued or satisfied. The snake
had been "scotched not killed", and stung, rather than humbled by the
chastisement they received, they prepared to assume the offensive with
sudden vigor. Concentrating a numerous force upon the distant garrison
of Fort Loudon, on the Tennessee river, they succeeded in reducing it by
famine. Here they took bloody revenge for the massacre of their chiefs
at Prince George. The garrison w