daring, adventurous nature more clearly than his starting on such an
expedition; and only a man of strong will and much power could have
carried it to a successful conclusion. For a hundred and fifty miles he
led his horsemen through a mountainous wilderness where there was not so
much as a hunter's trail. They wound their way through the deep defiles
and among the towering peaks of the Great Smoky Mountains, descending by
passes so precipitous that it was with difficulty the men led down them
even such surefooted beasts as their hardy hill-horses. At last they
burst out of the woods and fell like a thunderbolt on the towns of the
Erati, nestling in their high gorges. The Indians were completely taken
by surprise; they had never dreamed that they could be attacked in their
innermost strongholds, cut off, as they were, from the nearest
settlements by vast trackless wastes of woodland and lofty, bald-topped
mountain chains. They had warriors enough to overwhelm Sevier's band by
sheer force of numbers, but he gave them no time to gather. Falling on
their main town, he took it by surprise and stormed it, killing thirty
warriors and capturing a large number of women and children. Of these,
however, he was able to bring in but twenty, who were especially
valuable because they could be exchanged for white captives. He burnt
two other towns and three small villages, destroying much provision and
capturing two hundred horses. He himself had but one man killed and one
wounded. Before the startled warriors could gather to attack him he
plunged once more into the wilderness, carrying his prisoners and
plunder, and driving the captured horses before him; and so swift were
his motions that he got back in safety to the settlements. [Footnote:
_Do_. Letters of Col. Wm. Christian, April 10, 1781; of Joseph Martin,
March 1st; and of Arthur Campbell, March 28th. The accounts vary
slightly; for instance, Christian gives him one hundred and eighty,
Campbell only one hundred and fifty men. One account says he killed
thirty, another twenty Indians. Martin, by the way, speaks bitterly of