death in the summer of 1788. He was roused from sleep by the sound of
his cattle running across the yard in front of the twin log-houses
occupied by himself and his brother and their families. As he opened the
door he was shot by Indians, who were lurking behind the fence, and one
of his hired men was also shot down. [Footnote: Putnam, 298.] The
savages fled, and Bledsoe lived through the night, while the other
inmates of the house kept watch at the loop-holes until day broke and
the fear was passed. Under the laws of North Carolina at that time, all
the lands went to the sons of a man dying intestate, and Bledsoe's
wealth consisted almost exclusively in great tracts of land. As he lay
dying in his cabin, his sister suggested to him that unless he made a
will he would leave his seven daughters penniless; and so the will was
drawn, and the old frontiersman signed it just before he drew his last
breath, leaving each of his children provided with a share of his land.

Robertson Wounded.

In the following year, 1789, Robertson himself had a narrow escape. He
was at work with some of his field hands in a clearing. One man was on
guard and became alarmed at some sound; Robertson snatched up his gun,
and, while he was peering into the woods, the Indians fired on him. He
ran toward the station and escaped, but only at the cost of a bullet
through the foot. Immediately sixty mounted riflemen gathered at
Robertson's station, and set out after the fleeing Indians; but finding
that in the thick wood they did not gain on their foes, and were
hampered by their horses, twenty picked men were sent ahead. Among these
twenty men was fierce, moody young Andrew Jackson. They found the
Indians in camp, at daybreak, but fired from too great a distance; they
killed one, wounded others, and scattered the rest, who left sixteen
guns behind them in their flight. [Footnote: Haywood, 244.]