terror to the hearts
of the Indians that he again and again, in a succession of wars, forced
them into truces, and for the moment freed the settlements from their
ravages. He was almost the only commander on the frontier who ever
brought an Indian war, of whatever length, to an end, doing a good deal
of damage to his foes and suffering very little himself. Still, he never
struck a crushing blow, nor conquered a permanent peace. He never did
any thing to equal Clark's campaigns in the Illinois and against
Vincennes, and, of course, he cannot for a moment be compared to his
rival and successor, grim Old Hickory, the destroyer of the Creeks and
the hero of New Orleans.

Sevier's Cherokee Campaigns.

When the men of the Holston or upper Tennessee valley settlements
reached their homes after the King's Mountain expedition, they found
them menaced by the Cherokees. Congress had endeavored in vain to
persuade the chiefs of this tribe to make a treaty of peace, or at least
to remain neutral. The efforts of the British agents to embroil them
with the whites were completely successful; and in November the Otari or
Overhill warriors began making inroads along the frontier. They did not
attack in large bands. A constant succession of small parties moved
swiftly through the county, burning cabins, taking scalps, and, above
all, stealing horses. As the most effectual way of stopping such
inroads, the alarmed and angered settlers resolved to send a formidable
retaliatory expedition against the Overhill towns. [Footnote: Campbell
MSS. Letter of Gov. Thos. Jefferson, Feb. 17, 1781.] All the Holston
settlements both north and south of the Virginia line joined in sending
troops. By the first week in December, 1780, seven hundred mounted
riflemen were ready to march, under the joint leadership of Colonel
Arthur Campbell and of Sevier, the former being the senior officer. They
were to meet at an appointed place on the French Broad.

Sevier started first, with between two and three hundred of his Watauga
and Nolichucky followers. He marched down to the French Broad, but could
hear nothing of Campbell. He was on the great war trace of the southern
Indians, and his scouts speedily brought him word that they had
exchanged shots with a Cherokee war party, on its way to the
settlements, and not far distant on the other side of the river. He
instantly crossed, and made a swift march towards the would-be
marauders, camping on Boyd's Creek.