earing the truth,"
which was a refreshingly frank admission. [Footnote: American State
Papers, iv., pp. 459, 460, etc.; _Knoxville Gazette_, Jan. 16, and
June 5, 1794.]

Sevier Takes Command.
He makes a Brilliant Raid.

When, towards the close of 1792, the ravages became very serious,
Sevier, the man whom the Indians feared more than any other, was called
to take command of the militia. For a year he confined himself to acting
on the defensive, and even thus he was able to give much protection to
the settlements. In September, 1793, however, several hundred Indians,
mostly Cherokees, crossed the Tennessee not thirty miles from Knoxville.
They attacked a small station, within which there were but thirteen
souls, who, after some resistance, surrendered on condition that their
lives should be spared; but they were butchered with obscene cruelty.
Sevier immediately marched toward the assailants, who fled back to the
Cherokee towns. Thither Sevier followed them, and went entirely through
the Cherokee country to the land of the Creeks, burning the towns and
destroying the stores of provisions. He marched with his usual quickness,
and the Indians were never able to get together in sufficient numbers to
oppose him. When he crossed High Tower River there was a skirmish, but
he soon routed the Indians, killing several of their warriors, and losing
himself but three men killed and three wounded. He utterly destroyed a
hostile Creek town, the chief of which was named Buffalo Horn. He
returned late in October, and after his return the frontiers of Eastern
Tennessee had a respite from the Indian ravages. Yet Congress refused
to pay his militia for the time they were out, because they had invaded
the Indian country instead of acting on the defensive. [Footnote:
Robertson MSS., Blount to Robertson, Oct. 29, 1793; _Knoxville Gazette_,
Oct. 12, and Nov. 23, 1793.]

Destruction of Nickajack and Running Water.

To chastise the Upper Cherokee Towns gave relief to the settlements on
the Holston, but the chief sinners were the Chickamaugas of the Lower
Cherokee towns, and the chief sufferers were the Cumberland settlers.
The Cumberland people were irritated beyond endurance, alike by the
ravages of these Indians and by the conduct of the United States in
forbidding them to retaliate. In September, 1794, they acted for
themselves. Early in the month Robertson received certain information
that a large body of Creeks and Lower C