Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1895-11-20

soon after held at Pensacola, prepara-
tory TO the attack on Buchanon s Sta
ton.
Gov. Blount, no longer able to be a
tame spectator of the umberess inju-
ries inflicted upon his country. nor to
view the sufferings of the unoffending
inhabitants with the cold indifference
which is said to have marked the con
duct of the government of the union at
this time, ordered Gen. Sewer into ser.
vice with part of his brigade. The
main force was stationed in November
l792, at South West Point, and small
detachments at different stations on
the frontiers, which proved exceeding.
ly useful for securing the district of
Washington against the assaults of the
Indians. To alleviate the censure
which the impatience of the western
people, excrutiated with suffering, be
gan to utter, it is to be remembered,
that the Indian war to the north and
the western insurrecton. gave full en-
pigment to all the faculties of the gov
ernment, and left no time for the prose-
cution of others. The proportion of
the new levies called forth to suppress
the insurrection, was demanded from
the territory; but such was the tardi
ness of the inhabitants and their disin.
clination to the service, that the requi-
sltlon was never completely complied
with. The people murmured, and said
it was peculiarly hard that the south
western territory should be called upon
for three hundred men when they
were every day harrassed with Indian
massacres and robberies, without any
aid from the government to shield
them from their outrages. Probably,
the truth is, that considerable por
tion of the people who lived in the ter
ritory at that time, were averse to the
exhibition of governmental energies,
and secretly dreaded the extent of their
consequences. The uninstructed ram
bier, who has for some time traversed
the wilderness and tyrannized over it's
inhabitants, free IS the aif'he breathes,
will never fail to view the first prece.
dent that shall be set for forcing a
compliance with the regulations, as the
beginning of tyrrany over himself, and
though willing to be lord of the crea.
ton, he contemplates, with the utmost
aversion, the exercise OF lordly power
over himself.
The Indians, though they rioted in
the excess of cruelty against the people
of Cumberland and Holston, and were
preparing to bring fresh and multiplied
misfortune upon them, were viewed by
the government of the union with in.
difference. and not even with displeas-
ure. The people Of the United States
turned a deaf ear to the tale of suffer
ing anguish which the western people
never ceased to utter. They were un-
willing to incur the expenses of more
Indian wars, and they held all that
could be said upon the subject, as a
threadbare story, which they had no
longer any patience to hear. And
notwithstanding the great danger to
which the people were hourly exposed,
the government was inclined to dis.
band the militia which was stationed
on the frontiers for their protection.
Gen. Sewer fixed his encampment,
and determined to erect fort at a
spring small distance above the con-
fluence of the rivers Tennessee and |
Clinch. The situation was not alto
gether so commanding and elegant as
at the extreme point of the peninsula,
where there is no water except that |
OF the river, which is six hundred per-
feet at least, below the sur.
face of the ground above, and in the |
fork, suitable for garrison. At this
place, it was very unlikely that water
could be got by digging; the prospect
at the spring was extensive and hand
some; the water pleasant and condu.
GIVE to health. AT this place both
rivers were sufficiently under the com.
mand of the garrison, and accessible
on either side. In addition to these
advantages is the spring, which would
be under the walls, or within them il |
necessary. The possession of this place
would effectually prevent the inter-
course between the upper and lower
Cherokees, together with that of the
small tribes of Northwards settled on
the Tennessee; which communication
extended at least 300 miles up and
down the river, and up the river -Clinch,
which takes its rise in the vicinity of |
The Ohio, and Cole and Sandy, two |
branches of the latter, by which ad.
vantages they had but small passage
by land, from either of these rivers
into Clinch, which communicates with
the Tennessee. 1t would also obstruct |
the passage of the Indians up and |
down Clinch river, which the Creeks
and Cherokees used in going and re.
turning on their incursive expeditions
up this river. The northern and south.
ern tribes often passed in canoes one
hundred and fifty miles up and down
to its junction with the Tennessee, and
then up or down this latter river, into
any part of the Cherokee country. A
garrison fixed at the situation before
mentioned, would not only destroy the