, under the command of his brother, in the first
campaign of Lyttleton against the Indians. This latter fact
is settled beyond all question.--

To the united forces of Colonels Grant and Middleton, were added a
certain number of Chickasaw and Catawba Indians; making a total of
twenty-six hundred men. This army reached Fort Prince George on the 29th
of May, 1761. On the 7th of June following, it took up the line of march
for the enemy's country. The advance was conducted with caution, but
without molestation, until it reached the place where Montgomery, in
the previous campaign, had encountered the Indians, near the town of
Etchoee. Here the Cherokees were again prepared to make a stand, and to
dispute a pass which, above all others, seemed to be admirably designed
by nature for the purposes of defence. Their position was not exactly
what it had been on the previous occasion, but its characteristic
advantages were the same. Hitherto, the Indians had shown considerable
judgment in the selection of their battle-grounds, and in the general
employment of their strength. This judgment they probably owed in
great part to their present adversaries. Quick in their instinct,
and surprisingly observant, they had soon learned the use of European
weapons. The various lessons of European tactics, the modes of attack
and defence, were, in their united struggles with the French, equally
open to their study and acquisition. They had not suffered these lessons
to escape them. But they probably owed something of their skill in the
present war to the active counsels of the French emissaries. The fact
is not recorded by the historian, but there is no reason to suppose that
the officers who counselled the war, would withhold themselves when the
opportunity offered, from giving directions in the field. The French
had frequently distinguished themselves, by leading on forces entirely
composed of Indians. The practice was common. Even at the defeat of
Braddock, the French troops bore but a small proportion to their Indian
allies. There is no reason to suppose that Louis Latinac was not present
at one or both of the bloody fields of Etchoee.

The provincial army marched in good order upon the suspected position.
The Indian auxiliaries, who were in the van, first discovered signs of
an enemy. The Cherokees were in possession of a hill, strongly posted,
and in considerable force, upon the right flank of the army. Finding
themselves disc