Washington and Tarleton were particularly represented, and as one pursued the other, as in a real battle, the little fellows shouted, “Hurrah for Washington, Tarleton runs!  Hurrah for Washington.”  Colonel William A. Washington, it will be recollected, commanded the American cavalry.  Tarleton looked on for a while, but soon becoming irritated at the playful but truthful scene, he exclaimed:  “See these cursed little rebels!”

The pursuit of Morgan by Cornwallis was the most exciting and prolonged military chase of the American Revolution.  Under various tangible interpositions of Providence, the retreat, as we have seen, proved finally successful, and Morgan’s forces saved for the future service of his country.

GENERAL GRIFFITH RUTHERFORD.

General Griffith Rutherford was an Irishman by birth, brave and patriotic, but uncultivated in mind and manners.  He resided west of Salisbury, in the Locke settlement, and actively participated in the internal government of the county, associated with such early and distinguished patriots as Moses Winslow, Alexander Osborn, Samuel Young, John Brevard, James Brandon, William Sharpe, Francis McCorkle, and others.  He represented Rowan county in the Provincial Congress which met at Halifax on the 4th of April, 1776, and during this session he received the appointment of Brigadier General of the “Salisbury District.”  Near the close of the summer of 1776, he raised and commanded an army of two thousand four hundred men against the Cherokee Indians.  After being reinforced by the Guilford Regiment, under Colonel James Martin, and by the Surry Regiment under Colonel Martin Armstrong, at Fort McGahey, General Rutherford crossed the “Blue Ridge,” or Alleghany mountains, at Swannanoa Gap, near the western base of which the beautiful Swannanoa river ("nymph of beauty”) takes its rise.  After reaching the French Broad he passed down and over that stream at a crossing-place which to this day bears the name of the “War Ford.”  He then passed up the valley of “Hominy Creek,” leaving Pisgah Mountain on the left, and crossed Pigeon River a little below the mouth of East Fork.  He then passed through the mountains to Richland Creek, above the present town of Waynesville; ascended the creek and crossed the Tuckasege River at an Indian town.  Pursuing his course, he crossed the Cowee Mountain, where he had a small engagement with the enemy, in which one of his men was wounded.  As the Indians carried off their dead and wounded, their loss could not be ascertained.  Thence he marched to the “Middle Towns,” on the Tennessee river, where, on the 14th of September, he met General Williamson with troops from South Carolina on the same mission of subduing the Indians.

In skirmishes at Valley Town, Ellajay, and near Franklin, General Rutherford lost three men, but he completely subdued the Indians.  He then returned home by the same route, since known as “Rutherford’s Trace.”  The Rev. James Hall, of Iredell county, accompanied this expedition as chaplain.