We are not
told who took the lead when they left the known trail, but we may
suppose it was Sevier and his Wataugans, for the making of new
warpaths and wild riding were two of the things which
distinguished Nolichucky Jack's leadership. Down the steep side
of the mountain, finding their way as they plunged, went the
overhill men. They crossed the Blue Ridge at Gillespie's Gap and
pushed on to Quaker Meadows, where Colonel Cleveland with 350 men
swung into their column. Along their route, the Back Country
Patriots with their rifles came out from the little hamlets and
the farms and joined them.
They now had an army of perhaps fifteen hundred men but no
commanding officer. Thus far, on the march, the four colonels had
conferred together and agreed as to procedure; or, in reality,
the influence of Sevier and Shelby, who had planned the
enterprise and who seem always to have acted in unison, had
swayed the others. It would be, however, manifestly improper to
go into battle without a real general. Something must be done.
McDowell volunteered to carry a letter explaining their need to
General Gates, who had escaped with some of his staff into North
Carolina and was not far off. It then occurred to Sevier and
Shelby, evidently for the first time, that Gates, on receiving
such a request, might well ask why the Governor of North
Carolina, as the military head of the State, had not provided a
commander.
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