Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1895-08-24
sAcKwooosMeN AND BRITISH.

Frontier Patriots Gathered TO Oppose the
Forces of CORVALLIS.
When CORVALLIS invaded North Car
olina he sent Ferguson into the west
ern part Of the state to crush out any
OF the patriotic forces that might still
be lingering among the foothills Fer
guson was very gallant and able
officer, and q man Of much influence
with the people wherever he went, 80
that he was peculiarly fitted for this
scrambling border warfare. He had
under him battalion OF regular troops
and several battalions Of tory militia,
In all eleven or twelve hundred men.
He shattered and drove the small
bands Of wings that were yet In arms,
and finally pushed TO the foot Of the
mountain wall. till he could 500 In his
front the high ranges Of the Great
Smokes. Here he learned Tor the frst
time that beyond the mountains there
Law q few hamlets of frontiersmen
whose homes were on what were then
called the western waters-that Is, the
waters which flowed into the Missis-
sippi. To these he sent word that II
they did not prove loyal to the king he
would cross the mountains, hang their
leaders and burn their villages
Beyond the mountains, In the valleys
OF the Holston and the Watauga, dwelt
men who were stout OF heart and
mighty In battle; and when they heard
the threats of Ferguson their hearts
burned with flame OF sullen anger.
Hitherto the foes against whom they
had warred had been, not the British,
but the Indian allies OF the British
Creek and Cherokee and Shawnee.
Now that the army of the king had
come to their thresholds, they turned
to meet him as fiercely as they had met
his Indian allies Among the back
woodsmen OF this re zion there were at
that time three men OF special note:
Sewer, who afterward became govern
or Of Tennessee; Shelby, who afterward
became governor of Kentucky; and
Campbell, the Virginian, who died In
the revolutionary war. Sewer had
given a great barbecue, where oxen
and deer were roasted whole, horse
races were run, and the backwoods'
men tried their skill as marksmen and
wrestlers In the midst OF the feasting
Shelby appeared. hot with hard riding
to tell of the approach Of Ferguson and
the British. Immediately the feasting
was stopped, and the feasters were made
ready for war. Sewer and Shelby sent
word to Campbell to rouse the men oi
his district and come without delays
and they sent messengers to and fro In
their own neighborhood to summon
the settlers from their own log huts on
the stump-dotted clearings, and the
hunters from their smoky cabins in the
deep woods.
The meeting place was at the Syca
more Shoals. On the appointed day
the backwoodsmen gathered, sixteen
hundred strong, each man carrying a
long rife. and mounted on tough
shaggy horse. They were q grim and
fierce people. accustomed to the chase
and to warfare with the Indians
Their hunting shirts Of bnckskin OF
homespun were girded in by bead
worked belts. and the trappings Of
their horses were stained red and vel
low. At the gathering there was q
black. froclsed Presbyterian preacher;
and before they started he addressed
the tall firemen in words Of burning
zeal, urging them to stand stoutly In
the battle and to smite with the
sword of the Lord and of Gideon.
Then the army started with the colo
nels riding in front-Theodore Roose
welt. In st. Nicholas