at their cap-
ital, Echota, and act as a medium in their correspondence with the state governments
of North Carolina (including Tennessee) and Virginia. In this capacity he gave
timely warning of a contemplated invasion by the hostile portion of the tribe early
in 17711. Si « >n after in the same year he led a preliminary exploration from Watauga
to the Cumberland. He brought out a larger party late in the fall, and in the spring
of 17sil built the first stockades on the site which he named Nashborough, now Nash-
ville. < >nly his force of character was able to hold the infant settlement together in
the lace of hardships and Indian hostilities, but by his tact and firmness he was
finally able to make peace with the surrounding tribes, and established the Cumber-
land settlementupon a secure basis. The Spanish government at one time unsuc-
cessfully attempted to engage him in a plot to cut off the western territory from the
mooney] rutheeford's route 205
United Stairs, but met a patriotic refusal. Having beei mmissioned a brigadier-
general in 1790, he continued to organize campaigns, resist invasions, and negotiate
treaties until the final close of the Indian wars in Tennessee. He afterward held the
appointment of Indian commissioner to the < !hickasa\* and Choctaw. See Ramsey,
Tennessee; Roosevelt, Winning of the West; Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American
Bii igraphy.
iliii General Griffith Rutherford (p. 48) : Although this Revolutionary offi-
ce] commanded the greatest expedition ever sent against the Cherokee, with such
distinguished success that both North Carolina and Tennessee have named counties
in his honor, little appears to be definitely known of his history.