"
For some unknown reason--unless it might be the wording of this
letter!--no officer was sent in reply. Shelby then suggested
that, since all the officers but Campbell were North Carolinians
and, therefore, no one of them could be promoted without arousing
the jealousy of the others, Campbell, as the only Virginian, was
the appropriate choice. The sweet reasonableness of selecting a
commander from such a motive appealed to all, and Campbell became
a general in fact if not in name! Shelby's principal aim,
however, had been to get rid of McDowell, who, as their senior,
would naturally expect to command and whom he considered "too far
advanced in life and too inactive" for such an enterprise. At
this time McDowell must have been nearly thirty-nine; and Shelby,
who was just thirty, wisely refused to risk the campaign under a
general who was in his dotage!
News of the frontiersmen's approach, with their augmented force,
now numbering between sixteen and eighteen hundred, had reached
Ferguson by the two Tories who had deserted from Sevier's troops.
Ferguson thereupon had made all haste out of Gilbert Town and was
marching southward to get in touch with Cornwallis. His force was
much reduced, as some of his men were in pursuit of Elijah Clarke
towards Augusta and a number of his other Tories were on
furlough.
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