Just one hundred years before the rebellion of the Southern States,
Daniel Boone cut on a beech tree near Jonesboro, Tenn., the following
words, which are still legible:

D. Boon
Cilled A BAR on
THE Tree
in YEAR 1760

The same year that Daniel Boone "cilled" (killed) this "bar," William
Bean, a former companion of Boone's, settled in the valley of the
Watauga River, in what is now Eastern Tennessee. The two volumes whose
titles are given above trace the history of this mountain settlement
from the time that this pioneer crossed the Alleghenies down to the
death of John Sevier, Sept. 24, 1815. These books are of much more
than ordinary interest to the readers of the AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
James R. Gilmore (Edmund Kirke) has put the same power of graphic
description, the simple yet thrilling narrative, which held us
spell-bound to the last chapters of Among the Pines.

Our limited space does not permit an extended review of these volumes.
We only call attention to them here because they touch upon great
missionary problems, and throw a flood of light upon these interesting
Mountain people among whom the A.M.A. has so extensive and important a
work. The first of these volumes in chronological order is the Rear
Guard of the Revolution. The colony of the Mountain people in the
Watauga Valley, led by John Sevier and James Robertson and Isaac
Shelby, constituted this "rear guard." No better blood ever mingled in
the veins of a people than that which flows in this Mountain people.