" In the Civil War many volunteers
from the free, non-slaveholding mountain regions of Kentucky and
Tennessee joined the Union Army, and it is said that they
exceeded all others in stature and physical development. And in
our own day their sons again came down from the mountains to
carry the torch of Liberty overseas, and to show the white stars
in their flag side by side with the ancient cross in the flag of
England against which their forefathers fought.
Chapter X. Sevier, The Statemaker
After King's Mountain, Sevier reached home just in time to fend
off a Cherokee attack on Watauga. Again warning had come to the
settlements that the Indians were about to descend upon them.
Sevier set out at once to meet the red invaders. Learning from
his scouts that the Indians were near he went into ambush with
his troops disposed in the figure of a half-moon, the favorite
Indian formation. He then sent out a small body of men to fire on
the Indians and make a scampering retreat, to lure the enemy on.
The maneuver was so well planned and the ground so well chosen
that the Indian war party would probably have been annihilated
but for the delay of an officer at one horn of the half-moon in
bringing his troops into play. Through the gap thus made the
Indians escaped, with a loss of seventeen of their number.
Pages:
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222