the lives of those who were unable to escape from their murderon3 assaults.

In this state of things, the government of Virginia, in July, 1774, ordered an expedition against the hostile tribes, the command of which was given to Col. Andrew Lewis. To coöperate in this expedition, upon the success of which, in a great degree, depended the safety of the frontier settlements, Capt. Evan Shelby raised a company of fifty men, in that part of Tennessee now called Sullivan and Carter counties. They set out about the seventeenth of August, and in the beginning of September formed a junction with Col. Christian, on New River. Animated by that bold and daring spirit, which subsequently, in more brilliant scenes, animated their descendants, they bore a part in the celebrated battle of the Great Kanawha, on the tenth of October, where the Indians were defeated with considerable loss. In this battle, the late Gen. James Robertson and Col. Valentine Sevier (then both non-commissioned officers) were distinguished for their vigilance, activity, and bravery qualities for which they were more particularly distinguished in subsequent contests with the Indians in Tennessee. This battle was fought at the time the first Congress sat in Philadelphia, and its result had the effect of suppressing the depredations of the Indians until July, 1776, when the colonists, by their representatives, declared themselves independent, and pledged "their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor," to maintain their independence. The war of the revolution had now assumed such an aspect, that the British government did not hesitate, through their emissaries, to stir up the Indians to renewed hostilties upon the frontiers; acting upon the maxim that it had the right to employ "all the means which God and nature had put into its hands."

Influenced by a British agent named Cameron, the Cherokees, then a powerful tribe, prepared for war, but their intention was happily frustrated. About the first of July, three men, namely, Isaac Thomas, William Fawley, and John Blakenship, who had resided several years among the Cherokees, left the nation, and making their way to the white settlements, communicated the information that twelve hundred warriors were armed and equipped, and ready to march against the frontiers. The departure of these men caused the Indians to postpone their march for two weeks, which gave time to the whites to prepare for their reception by the construction of forts, and other means of defense, and at the same time, two companies from Washington county, Virginia, under the command of Captains James Thompson and William Cooke, and one company from what is now called Sullivan county, Tennessee, under Captain James Shelby, amounting together to one-hundred and seventy-six men, marched towards Long Island, in the Holston, for the purpose of watching the motions of the enemy. When they were arrived within a mile of the island, they met the Indians, about eight hundred in number. advancing under the command of Dragging Canoe, a daring and experienced chief. The Indians, relying upon their superiority of numbers, did not observe their usual caution, but flushed with the hopes of articipated victory, rushed upon their antagonists in great disorder. The result proved that the "race is not always to the swift, or the battle to

the strong." Both parties engaged hand to hand, but a few minutes decided the battle in favor of the whites. Thirty-six Indians were killed on the spot, the rest fled in great confusion, seeking refuge among the hills and mountains. The other division of the Indian force, consisting of four hundred warriors, attacked the fort at the Sycamore shoals, but were gallantly repulsed by Robertson and Sevier.

Thus ended the invasion of the Cherokees, to the great disappointment of Cameron, who had no doubt of its successful issue, and that the whites would be compelled to abandon the country. Notwithstanding their defeat in these two instances, the Indians, led on by false hopes, and urged by British agents, continued to harrass the frontiers, and in consequence of these aggressions, the governments of Virginia and North Carolina, in the fall of 1776, raised a force of between two and three thousand men for the purpose of attacking the Cherokee towns. This army was placed under the command of Col. Christian, who advanced into the Indian country. The Cherokees, who had not recovered from their defeat at Long Island and the Sycamore shoals, could not be brought to a general action, and they at length sued for peace. The propositions to bury the tomahawk were listened to by Col. Christian, and it was agreed that a treaty should be held the ensuing spring. Owing to the opposition of Dragging Canoe, "whose voice was still for war," the treaty was postponed until the ensuing summer. and warlike chief removed, with three or four hundred warriors, who adhered to his fortunes, to the Chickamauga, a branch of the Tennessee. In the latter part of June, 1777, the Cherokees assembled to the number of twelve or thirteen hundred, at Great Island, the place appointed for holding the treaty. The governments of North Carolina and Virginia at the same time ordered between seven and eight hundred militia to assemble at the same place, in order, by a display of force, to overawe the Indians, and afford protection to the commissioners, who were Cols. Avery and Lanier, and Major Winston, on the part of North Carolina, and Cols. Christian, Preston, and Evan Shelby on the part of Virginia. A treaty of peace was finally concluded in August, but such was the condition of the country in consequence of the revolutionary struggle, and such the influence of British emissaries, that the frontiers enjoyed the blessings of peace but a short time.

This restless

Whilst those events were passing, Dragging Canoe, whose enmity to the whites never slumbered, was not inactive, and during the year 1778, his party having considerably increased in numbers, he frequently harrassed the frontiers by his predatory incursions, and many of the whites fell victims to the tomahawk and scalping-knife. In the beginning of the year 1779, this warlike chief could number among his followers upward of one thousand warriors. Their depredations extended from Georgia to Pennsylvania, and consequently upon the whole of this extensive frontier, life and property were insecure. The governments of North Carolina and Virginia determined to make another effort-vigorous as far as their then circumstances and means would permit. They accordingly raised a force of one thousand men, under the command of Col. Evan Shelby, and a regiment of twelve months' men under the command of

Col. John Montgomery. This force was ordered to proceed against the Indians. It is worthy of remark, that nearly the whole of the supplies necessary for the campaign, were purchased upon the individual responsibility, and through the personal exertions of Isaac Shelby, late governor of Kentucky, whose active patriotism was displayed during the trying scenes of the revolution, and in the border warfare of that period, as well as during the late war with Great Britain, when, with the gallant Harrison, he triumphed upon the Thames. The army assembled at the mouth of Big Creek, in Tennessee, about four miles from where the town of Rogersville now stands, about the 10th of April. Having made all their preparations, they descended the river in canoes and pirogues, with so much caution and celerity, that they completely surprised the enemy, who fled in every direction without giving battle. They were, however, hotly pursued, and about forty were slain. Their towns were burned, their corn destroyed, and their cattle driven off. This victory dispersed the Indian force, and for some time gave peace to Tennessee, and opened a communication with the settlements in Kentucky. Although, for some years after, the war was frequently renewed, the tide of emigration continued to swell; the permanency of the settlements was secured, and in the year 1796, Tennessee was admitted into the Union as a sovereign and independent state.

Knowing the fecundity of the valley of the Mississippi in Indian antiquities, the American Antiquarian Society has ever had an eye to the west and southwest eagerly soliciting all information in relation to the numerous and powerful tribes, whose thousands once trod the vale of the "Father of Waters," and whose traces of power still exist in imperishable mounds which abound in our vicinity. How much the desires of this distant society, expressed through the communications of its secretary and librarian, have contributed toward forming the determination to investigate, by actual examination, the subject of Indian antiquities, it is not for us to say-although we would gladly wish the same influence could reach every section of our country, where the Indian mound or tradition still lingers.

On the 18th of May, 1838, a party of literary and scientific gentlemen proceeded from Natchez to the river bottom, between the bluff and the bank of the Mississippi, about three and a half miles below the city, for the purpose of examining two square mounds, that rise from eleven to sixteen feet above the bottom on which they are based. The mounds are nearly a mile from the river, and about one eighth of a mile from the inland bluff. They stand twenty-three perches apart, ranging north and south with each other, the larger being four perches square, and the other half that size, and five feet less in height.

An excavation was made in the centre of the smaller one to the depth of eleven feet, through aluminous earths, evidently heaped up from the surrounding surface; at this depth were found the indisputable evidence of river deposits, and indications of having reached the river level. Numerous pieces of Indian pottery were found, while digging to that depth; as the materials of both structures were similar, no excavation was made in the larger mound.