piece of white paper to the muzzle of his gun to direct his sight at the game. The party built a skin house and hunted in the country till February; when, on account of their ammunition failing, they all left but five, and returned to procure a new supply. Isaac Bledsoe, William Lynch, William Allen, Christopher Stoph and David Hughes, remained at the camp; but Lynch being attacked with the shingles, Bledsoe went with him into the settlements, leaving but three at the camp. The company did not return until in May, but on their return they met one of the men who they had left to keep camp, who informed them that the camp had been attacked and broken up by the Indians; that he had escaped, but that the other two had been taken prisoners, and that he had been absent from the camp two months. When they arrived at their camp they found their dogs still there, but they had gone as wild as wolves. The Indians had not plundered the camp-nothing was missing except some meat, which they supposed the dogs had eaten. In a few days the dogs become tame again, and were as tractable as when they left them.

The party now broke up this camp, and established another one at a different place, on a creek which they named Station Camp Creek, on account of their camp being an established station for the company, until some time in the succeeding August. The Indians about this time plundered this camp also, in the absence of the hunters. They took off all the ammunition they could find, and all the pots and kettles, and carried off and destroyed about five hundred deer-skins, and all the clothing they found in the camp. The hunters did not, however, immediately break up their camp. They remained until their ammunition was exhausted; and then broke up

their camp and moved on towards the settlements.When they had proceeded as far as Big Barren river, in Kentucky, they met with another corps of hunters, and Casper Mansco and some others of the company returned, and hunted until the end of the year, and then went back into the settlements.

In the year 1776, Thomas Sharp Spencer, and a number of others, came to the country, and built some cabins on the Cumberland river. The majority of the company, however, soon returned, but Spencer and one Holliday remained in the country till 1779. In the year 1777, Capt. De Mumbrane, a Frenchman, who commenced hunting in the country as early as 1775, met with a company of six men and one woman, at a place called Deacon's Pond, not far from where Palmyra is now situated. The company informed him, that a man by the name of William Bowen, who had came out with them, had been ran over and trampled down by a gang of buffaloes, and had lain in the woods eight days before he was found, and died in consequence of the wounds he received by the buffaloes running over him, the day after he was found. John Duncan, who the company called Big John, had brought the woman along as his wife, but she had become tired of him, and took up with James Ferguson, another of the company. Duncan was taken sick, and the woman persuaded the company to leave him, and Duncan died. Capt. De Mumbrane saw his corpse.This was, no doubt, the first white woman that ever visited the country now denominated Middle Tennessee, This company, woman and all, having taken water, sailed on into the Mississippi, halted there for a time, and hunted; but they were finally all killed by the Indians in 1779, except one or two; whether the woman

escaped or not is not known, nor is it very material. If she lived it was only to disgrace her sex, and if she died society sustained no loss.

In the fall of the year 1777, Capt. De Mumbrane went to the Wabash country, leaving a man in the Cumberland country, to keep camp, with directions to join him at the mouth of the Cumberland river the succeeding spring. But the man, not being apprised that Spencer and Holliday were in the country, and seeing Spencer's huge tracks, (for he was a man of enormous size,) ran off in a day or two, and left the country, supposing he was in the midst of a nation of giants.

Spencer and Holliday planted a small field of corn near Bledsoe's Lick, in the year 1778. Holliday, however, had become tired of a hunter's life, in such wilds, and had long endeavored to persuade Spencer to return with him, but Spencer would not consent. Holliday determined, at length, to return home by himself, and Spencer went with him in the direction towards Kentucky as far as the barrens, and having but one knife between them, Spencer broke it and gave Holliday a piece and retained a piece himself. After Holliday left, Spencer

went to house-keeping in a large hollow tree, as being more convenient and comfortable for a family of a single individual than an open camp.

CHAPTER II.

FIRST SETTLEMENT OF TENNESSEE-COMMENCEMENT OF THE CHEROKEE WAR, &c.

In the winter of 1768-9, according to the most certain information that can now be obtained, East Tennessee began to be permanently inhabited. Julius C. Dugger and Andrew Greer, with their families, were the first settlers upon the Watauga river. Shortly after they settled in the country, a company of about ten families came from the neighborhood of where Raleigh, in the State of North Carolina, is now situated, and also settled on the Watauga. Gilbert Christian, the Blevinses, Beenes and Cobbs, were also early settlers. The Seviers, Tiptons and Shelbys, and James Robertson, afterwards Gen. Robert son, came soon after; and a man by the name of Honeycut was living on the Watauga when Robertson first came to the country.

These emigrants were left to provide for themselves, being so far removed from the inhabited sections of North Carolina, that no civil government was exercised over them for several years. In 1772, they formed a written association, and articles for the government of the colony. By those articles, five commissioners were appointed to conduct the public affairs, and to decide all questions and controversies arising amongst the inhabitants.

Middle Tennessee, then called Cumberland, did not begin to be settled until about 1779, ten years after the settling of East Tennessee.

The inhabitants of the Watauga settlements continued under the control of their committee for some years.Shortly after they settled in the country, they leased the

lands upon which they had settled, from the Indians, in order to avoid the dangers of hostilities, although at that time there were no Indians in that region of country, the nearest Cherokee settlements being below the Little Tennessee river. Not long after the settlement upon Watauga, settlements were made on the Holston and Nolachucky rivers, and in Carter's Valley, some distance above where Rogersville is now situated. In the year 1772, a man by the name of Jacob Brown, established a small store on Nolachucky, and Parker & Carter opened a similar establishment in Carter's Valley, which latter was robbed by the Indians. The Indians were, however, generally peaceable, and but little danger was anticipated by the inhabitants, until a great horse-race was to take place on the Watauga, which brought together crowds of persons from every quarter, and amongst others some Indians came also. Previous to this time, a settlement had been made in Virginia, at what was then called the Wolf Hills, near where Abingdon is now situated; and some persons came from this settlement, to the race, by the name of Crabtree, who, as was supposed, killed one of the Indians. This outrage alarmed the inhabitants very much, and James Robertson, afterwards Gen. Robertson, undertook a journey to the Cherokee towns, to explain the affair and prevent hostilities. He explained the affair to the satisfaction of the Indians, and peace and quiet reigned in the colony, until the year 1774. In this year, the Shawnees made a campaign into the country, and penetrated as far as the section of country now constituting Sullivan county. The Governor of Virginia ordered out an expedition, in July, under the command of Col. Lewis, and on this information reaching the inhabitants of these newly settled regions, Capt. Evan Shelby raised a volunteer company, consisting of more than fifty men,