vity and on his personal credit. The backwoodsmen went
down the river so swiftly that they took the Chickamaugas completely by
surprise, and the few warriors who were left in the villages fled to the
wooded mountains without offering any resistance. Several Indians were
killed [Footnote: Cameron in his letter says four, which is probably
near the truth. Haywood says forty, which merely represents the
backwoods tradition on the subject, and is doubtless a great
exaggeration.] and a number of their towns were burnt, together with a
great deal of corn; many horses and cattle were recaptured, and among
the spoils were large piles of deer hides, owned by a tory trader. The
troops then destroyed their canoes and returned home on foot, killing
game for their food; and they spread among the settlements many stories
of the beauty of the lands through which they had passed, so that the
pioneers became eager to possess them. The Chickamaugas were alarmed and
confounded by this sudden stroke; their great war band returned at once
to the burned towns, on being informed by swift runners of the
destruction that had befallen them. All thoughts of an immediate
expedition against the frontier were given up; peace talks were sent to
Evan Shelby [Footnote: State Department MSS. No. 71, Vol. I., p. 255,
letter of Evan Shelby, June 4, 1779.]; and throughout the summer the
settlements were but little molested.

Yet all the while they were planning further attacks; at the same time
that they sent peace talks to Shelby they sent war talks to the
Northwestern Indians, inviting them to join in a great combined movement
against the Americans. [Footnote: Haldimand MSS. Series B., Vol. 117, p.
157. A talk from the Cherokees to the envoy from the Wabash and other
Indians, July 12, 1779. One paragraph is interesting: "We cannot forget
the talk you brought us some years ago into this Nation, which was to
take up the hatchet against the Virginians. We heard and listened to it
with great attention, and before the time that was appointed to lift it
we took it up and struck the Virginians. Our Nation was alone and
surrounded by them. They were numerous and their hatchets were sharp;
and after we had lost some of our best warriors, we were forced to leave
our towns and corn to be burnt by them, and now we live in the grass as
you see us. But we are not yet conquered, and to convince you that we
have not thrown away your talk here are 4 strands of whampums we