e lowest condition
in which we find the human animal, nor enervated by the superior
luxuries to which he may attain, the Cherokee was perhaps at this time
in possession of his greatest vigor; not very remote, in his moral and
physical condition, from the Roman when he overcame his Etrurian and
Sabine neighbors. The Cherokees occupied a country equally broad and
beautiful. It lay in fertile valleys, green meadows, sunny slopes, and
mighty forests, along the sides of lofty summits, that circled their
extensive territory with natural fortresses of giant grandeur. Spreading
from the Broad, or Cherokee river, beyond the Tennessee and the
Savannah, it comprised every variety of soil and surface, and while
adapted in a high degree to the hands of the agriculturist, seemed
almost as easily made secure against the footsteps of invasion. Its
apparent securities had made them insolent. Their mountain recesses had
never known the presence of this foe. Their fruits and fields, their
villages and towns, with the exception of a district that lay upon the
Atlantic slopes, were generally fenced in, and admirably protected,
by wild and rugged masses of rocky mountains, natural defences,
impenetrable, unless through certain passes which a few determined
hearts might easily make good against twenty times their number. But
the numerical force of this great aboriginal people, seemed of itself
sufficiently strong to promise security to their country. At the time
of Montgomery's invasion they had no less than sixty-four towns and
villages. In an emergency, they could send six thousand warriors
into the field. Many of these were armed with the weapons of European
warfare--were accustomed to that warfare, and were thus doubly prepared
to encounter the enemy in whose ranks they had received their
best military lessons. Such a force very far exceeded that of the
Carolinians. Mustering but two thousand men, Col. Montgomery found it
advisable to urge his march upon the nation with equal celerity and
caution. Having reached a place called Twelve-mile River, within twenty
miles of the Indian town of Estatoee, he advanced by night upon it,
secretly, and with a view to its surprise. In his march, surrounding the
town of Little Keowee, not a warrior of the Cherokees escaped the sword.
His success was less complete at Estatoee. The Indians, apprised of his
approach, with few exceptions, succeeded in making their escape; but the
town, consisting of more tha