Mutual Outrages.

Accordingly they all went forward together.  Martin sent runners ahead to the Cherokees, and their chiefs and young warriors gathered to meet him.  The Indians assured him that they were guiltless of the recent murder; that it should doubtless be laid at the door of some Creek war party.  The Creeks, they said, kept passing through their villages to war on the whites, and they had often turned them back.  The frontier envoys at this professed themselves satisfied, and returned to their homes, after begging Martin to stay among the Cherokees; and he stayed, his presence giving confidence to the Indians, who forthwith began to plant their crops.

Unfortunately, about the middle of May, the murders again began, and again parties of riflemen gathered for vengeance.  Martin intercepted one of these parties ten miles from a friendly Cherokee town; but another attacked and burned a neighboring town, the inhabitants escaping with slight loss.  For a time Martin’s life was jeopardized by this attack; the Cherokees, who swore they were innocent of the murders, being incensed at the counter attack.  They told Martin that they thought he had been trying to gentle them, so that the whites might take them unawares.  After a while they cooled down; and explained to Martin that the outrages were the work of the Creeks and Chickamaugas, whom they could not control, and whom they hoped the whites would punish; but that they themselves were innocent and friendly.  Then the whites sent messages to express their regret; and though Martin declined longer to be responsible for the deeds of men of his own color, the Indians consented to patch up another truce. [Footnote:  State Dept MSS., No. 71, vol. ii.  Martin to Randolph, June II, 1788.]

The outrages, however, continued; among others, a big boat was captured by the Chickamaugas, and all but three of the forty souls on board were killed.  The settlers drew no fine distinctions between different Indians; they knew that their friends were being murdered by savages who came from the direction of the Cherokee towns; and they vented their wrath on the Indians who dwelt in these towns because they were nearest to hand.

On May 24th Martin left the Indian town of Chota, the beloved town, where he had been staying, and rode to the French Broad.  There he found that a big levy of frontier militia, with Sevier at their head, were preparing to march against the Indians; Sevier having been chosen general, as mentioned above.  Realizing that it was now hopeless to try to prevent a war, Martin hurried back to Chota, and removed his negroes, horses, and goods.

    Sevier’s Crime.