of the capture of Stuart's family, causing the death of
a great number.'
The British having reconquered Georgia and South Carolina and
destroyed all resistance in the south, early in L780 Cornwallis, with his
subordinates, Ferguson and the merciless Tarleton, prepared to invade
North Carolina and sweep the country northward to Virginia. The
Creeks under McGillivray (S\). and a number of the Cherokee under
various local chiefs, together with the Tories, at once joined his
standard.
While the Tennessee backwoodsmen were gathered at a barbecue to
contest for a shooting prize, a paroled prisoner brought a demand
from Ferguson for their submission; with the threat, if they refused,
that he would cross the mountains, hang their leaders, kill every man
found in arms and burn every settlement. Up to this time the moun-
tain men had confined their effort to holding indecisive victory that turned the tide of the Revolution
in the South. 1
It is in place here to quote a description of these men in buckskin,
white by blood and tradition, but half Indian in habit and instinct,
who, in half a century of continuous conflict, drove back Creeks,
Cherokee, and Shawano, and with one hand on the plow and the other
on the rifle redeemed a wilderness and carried civilization and free
government to the banks of the Mississippi.
"They were led by leaders they trusted, they were wonted to Indian
warfare, they were skilled as horsemen and marksmen, they knew how
to face every kind of danger, hardship, and privation. Their fringed
and tasseled hunting shirts were girded by bead-worked belts, and the
trappings of their horses were stained red and yellow. On their heads
they wore caps