Revolution." Out of his inner consciousness he evolves the fact that
there were "not less than a thousand" Indians, whom Sevier, at the head
of one hundred and seventy men, vanquishes, after a heroic combat, in
which Sevier and some others perform a variety of purely imaginary
feats. By diminishing the number of the whites, and increasing that of
the Indians, he thus makes the relative force of the latter about
_twenty-five times as great as it really was_, and converts a clever
ambuscade, whereby the whites gave a smart drubbing to a body of Indians
one fourth their own number, into a Homeric victory over a host six
times as numerous as the conquerors.

This is not a solitary instance; on the contrary it is typical of almost
all that is gravely set forth as history by a number of writers on these
western border wars, whose books are filled from cover to cover with
just such matter. Almost all their statements are partly, and very many
are wholly, without foundation.]Having thus made a very pretty stroke,
Sevier returned to the French Broad, where Campbell joined him on the
22d, with four hundred troops. Among them were a large number of
Shelby's men, under the command of Major Joseph Martin. The next day the
seven hundred horsemen made a forced march to the Little Tennessee; and
on the 24th crossed it unopposed, making a feint at one ford, while the
main body passed rapidly over another. The Indians did not have the
numbers to oppose so formidable a body of good fighters, and only
ventured on a little very long range and harmless skirmishing with the
vanguard. Dividing into two bodies, the troops destroyed Chota and the
other towns up and down the stream, finding in them a welcome supply of
provisions. The next day Martin, with a detachment, fell on a party of
flying Indians, killed one, and captured seventeen horses loaded with
clothing, skins, and the scanty household furniture of the cabins; while
another detachment destroyed the part of Chilhowee that was on the