frequently came to visit
and stop with him. 1
The year 1T'.»H began with a series of attacks all along the Tennes-
see frontier. As before, most of the depredation was by Chicka-
maugas and Creeks, with some stray Shawano from the north. The
Cherokee from the towns on Little Tennessee remained peaceable, but
their temper was sorely tried by a regrettable circumstance which
occurred in June. While a number of friendly chiefs were assembled
for a conference at Echota, on the express request of the President,
a party of men under command of a Captain John Beard sud-
denly attacked them, killing about fifteen Indians, including several
chiefs and two women, one of them being the wife of Hanging-maw
(Ushwa'li-guta), principal chief of the Nation, who was himself
wounded. The murderers then tied, leaving others to suffer the conse-
quences. Twohundred warriors at once took up arms to revenge their
loss, and only the most earnest appeal from the deputy governor could
lest rain them from swift retaliation. While the chief , whose wife
was thus murdered and himself wounded, forebore to revenge himself,
in order not to bring war upon his people, the Secretary of War was
obliged to report. " to my great pain, I find to punish Beard by law just
now is out of the question." Beard was in fact arrested, but the trial
was a farce and he was acquitted. 8
Believing that the Cherokee Nation, with the exception of the
Chickamaugas, was honestly trying to preserve peace, the territorial
government, while making provision for the safety of the exposed
settlements, had strictly prohibited any invasion of the Indian country.
The frontier people were of