There were good honest
men among the loyalists and there were also rough and vicious men
out for spoils--which was true as well of the Whigs or Patriots
from the same counties. Among the rough element were Tory
banditti from the overmountain region. It is to be gathered from
Ferguson's records that he did not think any too highly of some
of his new recruits, but he set to work with all energy to make
them useful.
The American Patriots hastily prepared to oppose him. Colonel
Charles McDowell of Burke County, North Carolina, with a small
force of militia was just south of the line at a point on the
Broad River when he heard that Ferguson was sweeping on
northward. In haste he sent a call for help across the mountains
to Sevier and Shelby. Sevier had his hands full at Watauga, but
he dispatched two hundred of his troops; and Isaac Shelby, with a
similar force from Sullivan County crossed the mountains to
McDowell's assistance. These "overmountain men" or "backwater
men," as they were called east of the hills, were trained in
Sevier's method of Indian warfare--the secret approach through
the dark, the swift dash, and the swifter flight. "Fight strong
and run away fast" was the Indian motto, as their women had often
been heard to call it after the red men as they ran yelling to
fall on the whites.
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