Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1888-03-21

light like that of day upon the bare
mountain tops, and the tall balsams
that grew near their SUBMITS. These
men had seen Kings Mountain, it's vol
levs of fire, and the sulphurous fame
that girdled the hill in the crisis of the
conflict: but what was that, or any
struggle of puny man to this fearful bat
Ting of the elements ? If one would
learn mans place in nature he
should witness some such storm from
the summit of high mountain, the
world below wrapped in flame, and he
standing, as it were, in the very pres
ence OF the Infinite. After a time the
storm broke, the cloud fed away, and
these men, looking down, beheld the
campfres of their comrades at the foot
of the mountain. The men below were
drenched with the storm, while the
blankets of those above were as dry as
if rain had never fallen. Wrapping
these about them, they soon sank into
such sleep as is apt to follow hard rid
ing.
1.-THE morning sun disclosed to Sewer
scene of unparalleled magnifcence.
He was in wilderness of mountains.
Directly around him rose thirty-three
peaks, all 5000 feet and more above the
sea, and some of them several hun
dred feet higher than Mount Washing
ton, while farther away were the Black
and Bald Mountains, the Blue Ridge,
the Balsam, Cowee, and Nantihala
Ranges, and the tall Unakas, inter-
spersed with lower ridges, and broken
by deep valleys, and all bathed in sea
of green that shown in the sun like
FURNISHED copper. For 200 miles in ev-
cry direction the country was open to
his vision. 1t lay at his feet in one
vast torest-fringed panorama-a rolling
ocean of verdure. Far away In the
northeast, where the deep green of the
could track the courses Of the Hoston,
the Watauga and his own Nolichucky,
and, nearer by, the silvery windings of
the Tennessee, as it rushed past the
stronghold of the Chickamaugas.
"But the view at the south was the one
which rjveted Sewers attention. There
the Little Tennessee breaks through
the mountains in a broader flood and
amid deeper gorges than those which
have won for the region OF the French
Broad the name Of being the most pic
turesque in the country. This region
is interlaced by romantic straams-the
Oconalufta, the Tuckasege and the Nan
tihala-and threaded by deer, secluded
valleys, which are walled in by gigantic
cliffs and precipices. Sewer knew
these valleys to be the homes of the
Erati; but his eve ranged in vain for
a sign of life in all the wide forest-cov-
cred region. At last he thought he de-
tected a slight haze-a thin mist, rising
from the very base of the mountain on
which he was standing. 1t seemed d.
rectly below him, but his experienced
eye knew it to be miles away, and the
smoke of an Indian village. Between
it and him was the WEIGH Bald, noun
tain mile in height, but that crossed
on it's lower slopes he would be in the
country of the enemy.
"Rapidly now Sewer descended the
lofty Dome, and put his force in motion
to pass the Welcn Bald before nightfal.
It's sides were SO steep that the men
were obliged to dismount and lead
their horses and in many places to drag
them up the activities; but this obsta-
Gle surmounted, their way was less ar
duous. They went into camp for the
night among the trees, but with the
first streak OF day were again In motion,
and not long after noon stood upon tue
heights above the principal village OF
Tuckasa9e. Here noiselessly they teth-
cred their horses, ate a hearty meal,
and then, still more nOlselessly, de-
scended upon the Eratl.
''The rest is soon told. Taken by sur
prise, the Indians made scarcely any
resistance. Fifty of their warriors were
slain on the spot, and large number of
women and children taken prisoners.
'The other warriors fled into the for
est, and, scattering among the remain
ing villages. spread everywhere the It'd
ings that 'Nolichucky Jack was among
them. A general panic ensued, and
men, women and children hid them
selves in inaccessible baunts among the
mountains, where they could not be
followed. Then the torch was applied
to the Indian villages. Nearly twenty
were burned, all the grain and cattle
were destroyed, and the whole country
was laid waste, and so left, a smoking
desolation. Thus were these savages
made to drink from the chalice they
had held to the lips of the
white settlers. This work done,
Sewer returned by the way be
came with his prisoners. They
would be Of use to exchange for the
whites who were held captive among
the Indians. The expedition lasted
twenty nine DAYS, and not man upon
it was either killed or wounded.
':This ruthless destruction broke the
spirit of the Erati, and soon afterWard
the whole Cherokee nation sued for
peace with the Great Eagle of the Pale
Faces ,"
How High Do Great Waves Go.