tempted
to wrest from the hand of his antagonist. Holding on with desperate
tenacity to the knife, both clinched with their left hands. A scuffle
ensued, in which the Indian was thrown to the ground, his right hand
being nearly dissevered, and bleeding profusely. Moore, still holding
the handle of his knife in the right hand, succeeded with the other in
disengaging his own tomahawk from his belt, and ended the strife by
sinking it in the skull of the Indian. Until this conflict was ended,
the Indians fought with unyielding spirit. After its issue became known,
they retreated."[002] "Our men pursued in a cautious manner, lest they
might be led into an ambuscade, hardly crediting their own senses that
so numerous a foe was completely routed. In this miracle of a battle we
had not a man killed, and only five wounded, who all recovered. But the
wounded of the enemy died till the whole loss in killed amounted to
upward of forty."[003]

As soon as this conflict was over, a horseman was sent off to Watauga
with tidings of the astonishing victory. "A great day's work in the
woods," was Sevier's remark when speaking subsequently of this battle.

Meanwhile, Oconostota, with his three hundred and fifty warriors, had
followed the trail along the Nolachucky, and on the morning of the 20th
had come upon the house of William Bean, the hospitable entertainer of
Robertson on his first visit to Watauga, Bean himself was at the fort,
to which had fled all the women and children in the settlement, but his
wife had preferred to remain at home. She had many friends among the
Indians, and she felt confident they would pass her without molestation.
She was mistaken. They took her captive, and removed her to their
station-camp on the Nolachucky. There a warrior pointed his rifle at
her, as if to fire; but Oconostota threw up the barrel and began to
question her as to the strength of the whites. She gave him misleading
replies, with which he appeared satisfied, for he soon told her she was
not to be killed, but taken to their towns to teach their women how to
manage a dairy.

Those at the fort knew that Oconostota was near by on the Nolachucky,
but he had deferred the attack so long that they concluded the wary and
cautious old chief was waiting to be reinforced by the body under
Dragging-Canoe, which had gone to attack Fort Patrick Henry. News had
reached them of Shelby's victory, and, as it would be some time before
the broken Cherokees cou