Miro in answering Robertson assured him that the Spaniards were very friendly to the western settlers, and denied that the Spanish agents were stirring up trouble.  He also told him that the harassed Cherokees, weary of ceaseless warfare, had asked permission to settle west of the Mississippi—­although they did not carry out their intention.  He ended by pressing Robertson and his friends to come down and settle in Spanish territory, guaranteeing them good treatment. [Footnote:  Robertson MSS.  As the letter is important I give it in full in the Appendix.]

In spite of Miro’s fair words the Spanish agents continued to intrigue against the Americans, and especially against the Cumberland people.  Yet there was no open break.  The Spanish governor was felt to be powerful for both good and evil, and at least a possible friend of the settlers.  To many of their leaders he showed much favor, and the people as a whole were well impressed by him; and as a compliment to him they ultimately, when the Cumberland counties were separated from those lying to the eastward, united the former under the name of Mero [Footnote:  So spelt; but apparently his true name was Miro.] District.

CHAPTER XIII.

WHAT THE WESTERNERS HAD DONE DURING THE REVOLUTION, 1783.

When the first Continental Congress began its sittings the only frontiersmen west of the mountains, and beyond the limits of continuous settlement within the old Thirteen Colonies, [Footnote:  This qualification is put in because there were already a few families on the Monongahela, the head of the Kanawha, and the upper Holston; but they were in close touch with the people behind them.] were the two or three hundred citizens of the little Watauga commonwealth.  When peace was declared with Great Britain the backwoodsmen had spread westward, in groups, almost to the Mississippi, and they had increased in number to some twenty-five thousand souls, [Footnote:  These figures are simply estimates; but they are based on careful study and comparison, and though they must be some hundreds, and maybe some thousands, out of the way, are quite near enough for practical purposes.] of whom a few hundred dwelt in the bend of the Cumberland, while the rest were about equally divided between Kentucky and Holston.

    The Winning of the West.

This great westward movement of armed settlers was essentially one of conquest, no less than of colonization.  Thronging in with their wives and children, their cattle, and their few household goods, they won and held the land in the teeth of fierce resistance, both from the Indian claimants of the soil and from the representatives of a mighty and arrogant European power.  The chain of events by which the winning was achieved is perfect; had any link therein snapped it is likely that the final result would have been failure.  The wide wanderings of Boon and his fellow hunters made the country known and awakened