against the Americans, supplies
of hatchets, guns, and ammunition were issued to the warriors of all
the tribes from the lakes to the gulf, and bounties were offered for
American scalps brought in to the commanding officer at Detroit or
Oswego. 1 Even the Six Nations, w ho had agreed in solemn treaty to
remain neutral, were won over by these persuasions. In August, 177">.
an Indian "talk" was intercepted in which the Cherokee assured Cam-
eron, the resident agent, that their warriors, enlisted in the service of
the king, were ready at a signal to tall upon the back settlements of
Carolina and Georgia. 2 Circular letters were sent out to all those
persons in the back country supposed to he of royalist sympathies,
directing them to repair to Cameron's headquarters in the Cherokee
country to join the Indiansin the invasion of the settlements."
In .Tune. 1776, a British fleet under command of Sir Peter Parker,
with a large aavaland military force, attacked Charleston, South Caro-
lina, both by land and sea. and simultaneously a body of ( 'herokee, led
by Tories in Indian disguise, came down from the mountains and ravaged
the exposed frontier of South Carolina, killing and burning as they
went. After a gallant defense by the garrison at Charleston the British
were repulsed, whereupon their Indian and Tory allies withdrew.'
About the same time the warning came from Nancy Ward 114). a
noted friendly Indian woman of "teat authority in the ( 'herokee Nation.
that seven hundred Cherokee warriors were advancing in two divisions
against the Watauga and Holston settlements, with the design of
'Kin: [>p ii. L.'iu s.v.; Mi >notte, Valley of the