el--were the forerunners of
civilization,--the "voice crying in the wilderness," announcing the
reign of peace which was to follow.

The fort covered a parallelogram of about an acre, and was built of log
cabins placed at intervals along the four sides, the logs notched
closely together, so that the walls were bullet-proof. One side of the
cabins formed the exterior of the fort, and the spaces between them were
filled with palisades of heavy timber, eight feet long, sharpened at the
ends, and set firmly into the ground. At each of the angles was a
block-house, about twenty feet square and two stories high, the upper
story projecting about two feet beyond the lower, so as to command the
sides of the fort and enable the besieged to repel a close attack or any
attempt to set fire to the buildings. Port-holes were placed at suitable
distances. There were two wide gate-ways, constructed to open quickly to
permit a sudden sally or the speedy rescue of outside fugitives. On one
of these was a lookout station, which commanded a wide view of the
surrounding country. The various buildings would comfortably house two
hundred people, but on an emergency a much larger number might find
shelter within the enclosure.

The fort was admirably adapted to its design, and, properly manned,
would repel any attack of fire-arms in the hands of such desultory
warriors as the Indians. In the arithmetic of the frontier it came to be
adopted as a rule that one white man behind a wall of logs was a match
for twenty-five Indians in the open field; and subsequent events showed
this to have been not a vainglorious reckoning.

There were much older men at Watauga than either Sevier or
Robertson,--one of whom was now only twenty-eight and the other
thirty,--but they had from the first been recognized as natural leaders.
These two events--the building of the fort and the Cherokee mission,
which displayed Sevier's uncommon military genius and Robertson's
ability and address as a negotiator--elevated them still higher in the
regard of their associates, and at once the cares and responsibilities
of leadership in both civil and military affairs were thrust upon them.
But Sevier, with a modesty which he showed throughout his whole career,
whenever it was necessary that one should take precedence of the other,
always insisted upon Robertson's having the higher position; and so it
was that in the military company which was now formed Sevier, who had
served