anwhile the southern tribes along the border were comparatively quiet.
That they well knew a colossal struggle between the two white races was
pending and were predisposed to ally themselves with the stronger is
not to be doubted. French influence had long been sifting through the
formidable Cherokee nation, which still, however, held true in the main
to its treaties with the English. It was the policy of the Governors of
Virginia and North Carolina to induce the Cherokees to enter strongly
into the war as allies of the English. Their efforts came to nothing
chiefly because of the purely local and suicidal Indian policy of
Governor Glen of South Carolina. There had been some dispute between
Glen and Dinwiddie as to the right of Virginia to trade with the
Cherokees; and Glen had sent to the tribes letters calculated to sow
distrust of all other aspirants for Indian favor, even promising that
certain settlers in the Back Country of North Carolina should be removed
and their holdings restored to the Indians. These letters caused great
indignation in North Carolina, when they came to light, and had the
worst possible effect upon Indian relations. The Indians now inclined
their ear to the French who, though fewer than the English, were at
least united in purpose.

Governor Glen took this inauspicious moment to hold high festival with
the Cherokees. It was the last year of his administration and
apparently he hoped to win promotion to some higher post by showing his
achievements for the fur trade and in the matter of new land acquired.
He plied the Cherokees with drink and induced them to make formal
submission and to cede all their lands to the Crown. When the chiefs
recovered their sobriety, they were filled with rage at what had been
done, and they remembered how the French had told them that the English
intended to make slaves of all the Indians and to steal their lands. The
situation was complicated by another incident. Several Cherokee warriors
returning from the Ohio, whither they had gone to fight for the British,
were slain by frontiersmen. The tribe, in accordance with existing
agreements, applied to Virginia for redress--but received none.

There was thus plenty of powder for an explosion. Governor Lyttleton,
Glen's successor, at last flung the torch into the magazine. He seized,
as hostages, a number of friendly chiefs who were coming to Charleston
to offer tokens of good will and forced them to march under guard