Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1895-03-06

Broad river; the Indians having boasteG
that they would stop the army at the
mouth of Lick Creek. There was pass
for the army through cane break and
swampy ground for one mile; the army
marched, nevertheless, and eucamped
ON the other side; the baggage and buI
locks did not get through till midnight
Alexander Harlin came that night to
the army, and informed Col. Christian
that body of three thousand warriors
lay encamped on French Broad river,
and would certainly there dispute his
passage. He was or Tered into camp
with the spies. In the morning every
thing being ready for marching, the
colonel called Harlin, and told him to
inform the Indians, that he, Col. Chris.
tian, would cross the French Broad and
Tennessee both, before he STOPPED The
army consisted of 1900 men, including
pack horsemen and bullock drivers, all
armed. The troops marched to French
Broad, set the pioneers to work, and
kindled large fires. Some time in the
night, detachment of eleven hundred
men crossed the river three miles below
the encampment. The weather was
cold, and the troops in crossing, getting
wet, suffered considerably. The next
morning, the main body crossed French
Br ad river, near the Big Island; they
marched in order of battle, supposing
that the enemy was now betw cen the
main body and the detachment in their
rear. Tothe great surprise of the army,
there were no marks of the Indians
having been there for several weeks.
The army halted here that day, and on
the next, in the morning, resumed its
march for the Tennessee. 1t crossed
the Tennessee near Tellico block house,
when the troops came within seven
miles of the Tennessee, the colonel
called to the eserve companies to fol
low him in run, till they came to the
river, and pushing through, they took
possession of town called Tamotlee.
II e army and baggage, all that belong
ed to the army, got safe over before
night. The next morning they marched
to the Great Island Town, and tarried
there nineteen or twenty days; in that
time the Indians sued for peace, and it
was granted, but not to take place till
the month of May following; hostilities
were to cease in the IN, an time on both
sides, except as to two towns on the
Tennessee, in the mountains, which
had burnt prisoner The troops, be-
fore the suspension of hostilities, burnt
Neowee, Tellico, Chilhowee, and they
then burnt the excepted town, Tuskega,
where the Indians had lately burnt the
boy of the name of Moore, whom they
had taken at Watauga; the other ex-
cepted town was reduced to ashes. The
army then marched to Chota, and re.
crossing the Tennessee at the Virginia
ford, returned.
About the same time, Brigadier Gen.
eral Rutherford, with an army raised
in the district of Salisbury, in North
Carolina, consisting of 2,40O men pass
ed the French Broad at the mouth of
Swannanoe, and thence penetrated by
road since distinguished as Ruther-
ford s trace, into the Middle Settlements
and Valley Towns. He destroyed thirty
six towns and villages; cut up and
wasted the standing and gathered corn,
and drove off and destroyed all the
| t1ocks of domestic animals that could
be found. At the same time a third
division, commanded by Col. William
son, from South Carolina, and consist.
ing of powerful force, penetrated the
settlements bordering on the Keowee,
and destroyed the Seneca Towns. at
that time very numerous; wasting the
Cherokee country, as far as the Unaka
Mountain, sparing or razing towns at
his will. A fourth division, under the
command OF Col. Leonard injury, en-
tered the settlements on the Tugulo
and having defeated the Indians, de.
stroyed all their towns on the river
The Indians were not all of them sin.
cerely willing to be at peace; parts of
the nation were in very i'll humor, and
greatly excited the apprehensions of
their neighbors.
On the 31st of March, 1777, Colonel
Arthur Campbell, at fort Patrick Henry,
directed Captain Robertson, an account
of the weakness of the settlements be-
low the fort, and on account of the dan.
ger to which they might soon be expos.
ed, to assemble the settlers in one or
two places, and not more; and he re.
commended Rice's and Patterns mills,
as the most proper ones. Let your com.
pany be at Rice's, said he, and Captain
Christian s may come to the other mill.
He requested list of the settlers
names, that he might know their
strength, and give such further orders
as should be necessary. These orders
Captain Robertson received soon after
his return from Wake County, in North
Carolina, whittier he had gone in the
winter of 1867, to adjust his unsettled
business there, and to receive from Col.
Micheal Rogers, as guardian of his
brother Mark, the legacies and personal
estate which he was entitled to under
the will of their father. Col. Campbell
held his commission under the State of
Virginia, and he assumed the command
of the Watauga settlements, because at
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