number to
some twenty-five thousand souls, [Footnote: These figures are simply
estimates; but they are based on careful study and comparison, and
though they must be some hundreds, and maybe some thousands, out of the
way, are quite near enough for practical purposes.] of whom a few
hundred dwelt in the bend of the Cumberland, while the rest were about
equally divided between Kentucky and Holston.

The Winning of the West.

This great westward movement of armed settlers was essentially one of
conquest, no less than of colonization. Thronging in with their wives
and children, their cattle, and their few household goods, they won and
held the land in the teeth of fierce resistance, both from the Indian
claimants of the soil and from the representatives of a mighty and
arrogant European power. The chain of events by which the winning was
achieved is perfect; had any link therein snapped it is likely that the
final result would have been failure. The wide wanderings of Boon and
his fellow hunters made the country known and awakened in the minds of
the frontiersmen a keen desire to possess it. The building of the
Watauga commonwealth by Robertson and Sevier gave a base of operations,
and furnished a model for similar communities to follow. Lord Dunmore's
war made the actual settlement possible, for it cowed the northern
Indians, and restrained them from seriously molesting Kentucky during
its first and most feeble years. Henderson and Boon made their great
treaty with the Cherokees in 1775, and then established a permanent
colony far beyond all previous settlements, entering into final
possession of the new country. The victory over the Cherokees in 1776
made safe the line of communication along the Wilderness road, and
secured the chance for further expansion. Clark's campaigns gained the
Illinois, or northwestern regions. The growth of Kentucky then became
very rapid; and in its turn this, and the steady progress of the Watauga
settlements, rendered possible Robertson's successful effort to plant a
new community still farther west, on the Cumberland.

The Wars of the Backwoodsmen

The backwoodsmen pressed in on the line of least resistance, first
taking possession of the debatable hunting-grounds lying between the
Algonquins of the north and the Appalachian confederacies of the south.
Then they began to encroach on the actual tribal territories. Every step
was accompanied by stubborn and bloody fighting with t