among them who shared in all the evil of that turbulent time; but most
of these frontier riflemen, though poor and ignorant, were sincerely
patriotic; they marched to fight the oppressor, to drive out the
stranger, not to ill-treat their own friends and countrymen.

Towards the end of these campaigns, which marked the close of the
Revolutionary struggle, Shelby was sent to the North Carolina
Legislature, where he served for a couple of terms. Then, when peace was
formally declared, he removed to Kentucky, where he lived ever
afterwards. Sevier stayed in his home on the Nolichucky, to be
thenceforth, while his life lasted, the leader in peace and war of his
beloved mountaineers.

Quarrels over the Land

Early in 1782 fresh difficulties arose with the Indians. In the war just
ended the Cherokees themselves had been chiefly to blame. The whites
were now in their turn the aggressors the trouble being, as usual, that
they encroached on lands secured to the red men by solemn treaty. The
Watauga settlements had been kept compact by the presence of the
neighboring Indians. They had grown steadily but slowly. They extended
their domain slightly after every treaty, such treaty being usually
though not always the sequel to a successful war; but they never gained
any large stretch of territory at once. Had it not been for the presence
of the hostile tribes they would have scattered far and wide over the
country, and could not have formed any government.

The preceding spring (1781) the land office had been closed, not to be
opened until after peace with Great Britain was definitely declared, the
utter demoralization of the government bringing the work to a