and scalped when
the resl of thecompany came up, and was buried with the first victims..
Sevier's success brought temporary respite to the Cumberland settle-
ments. During the early part of the year the Indian attacks by
small raiding parties had been so frequent and annoying that a force
of men had been kept out on patrol service under officers who adopted
with some success the policy of hunting the Indian- in their camping
places in the thickets, rather than waiting for them to come i n t < . the
settlements.'
In February, 1 T'.*4. the Territorial assembly of Tennessee met at
Knoxvillc and. among other business transacted, addressed a strong
memorial to Congress calling for mure efficient protection for the
frontier and demanding a declaration of war against the Creeks and
Cherokee. The memorial states that since the treatyof Eiolston (July,
L791), these two tribes bad killed in a most barbarous and inhuman
manner more than two hundred citizens of Tennessee, of both sexes.
had carried others into captivity, destroyed their stock, burned
their houses, and laid waste their plantations, had robbed the citizens
of their slaves and stolen at least two thousand horses. Special atten-
tion was directed to the two great invasion- in September, 17'.':.'. and
September, 1793, and the memorialists declare that there was scarcely
a man of the assembly hut could tell of "a dear wife or child, an aged
parent or near relation, besides friends, massacred by the hands of these
bloodthirsty nations in their house or fields." 8
In the meantime the raids continued and every scattered cabin was a
target for attack. In April a party of twenty warriors surrounded
the house