The result

A deadly blow

The backwoodsmen kept to the trees and their rifles seldom missed their aim. The British retreated to the top of the mountain. Colonel Ferguson was killed and his entire army was killed or captured. This victory caused great rejoicing among the Americans and prepared the way for the work of Greene and Morgan.

Sevier and Campbell hastened back over the mountains, for the Indians were scalping and burning again. With seven hundred riflemen, they marched against the Indian towns and burned a thousand cabins and fifty thousand bushels of corn. This was a hard blow, but the Indians kept fighting several years longer.

Sevier, in all, fought thirty-five battles. He was the most famous Indian fighter of his time.

and better armed

When Tennessee became a state the people elected Governor him governor. They reëlected him till he had held the of Ten

nessee

many times

office for twelve years. The people of Tennessee almost worshiped the bold pioneer. He had spent all his time and all his wealth in their service. And while he was governor, and living in Knoxville, the early capital, one or more of his old riflemen were always living at his home. Even the Indian chiefs Indians often came to visit him. When the people of Tennessee him were debating questions of great importance, they always asked: "What says the good old governor?"

trusted

One Sunday, when all the people of a backwoods settlement were at the country church, a bareheaded runner rushed in and shouted, "Nolichucky Jack's a-coming!" The people rushed out to see their governor. As he came near, he greeted one of his old riflemen, put his hand upon the head of the old soldier's son, spoke a kindly boy's disword, and rode on. The boy looked up at his father appointand said: "Why, father, 'Chucky Jack' is only a man!" ment

The

Sevier died in 1815, while acting as an officer in marking the boundary line between Georgia and the Indian lands. Died Only a few soldiers and Indians were present. There he in 1815 lies, with only the name "John Sevier" cut on a simple

Clark

born in Virginia

slab. But for generations the children of the pioneers went on repeating to their children the story of the courage and goodness of "Nolichucky Jack." His name is yet a household word among the people of eastern Tennessee. Their children are taught the story of his life. In the courthouse yard at Knoxville stands a monument erected to his memory.

GEORGE ROGERS CLARK, THE HERO OF VINCENNES

III. A Successful Leader against the Indians and the British. George Rogers Clark was born in Virginia in 1752. From childhood Clark liked to roam the woods. He became a surveyor and an Indian fighter at the age of twenty-one. Like Washington, with chain and comsurveyor pass, and with ax and rifle, he made his way far into the wild and lonely forests of the upper Ohio.

A

A scout

men in a garrison

Clark was a scout for the governor of Virginia in the expedition which defeated the great Shawnee chief Cornstalk at the mouth of the Kanawha.

Two years later Clark made his way alone over the mountains and became a leader

in Kentucky, along with Boone. The Kentucky hunters chose Clark to go to Virginia as their lawmaker.

He told Governor Patrick Henry that if Kentucky

was not worth defending against the Indians, it was not In Ken

worth having. At this

the Virginian lawmakers made Kentucky into a Virginia county and gave Clark five hundred pounds of powder, which he carried down the Ohio River to Kentucky.

Clark lived at Harrodsburg where, for more than a year, he was kept busy helping the settlers fight off the Indians. This was the very time when Boonesboro and other settlements were so often surrounded by Indians who had been

aroused by the British officers at Detroit. These officers paid a certain sum for each scalp of an American the Indians brought them.

tucky

Life at
Harrods-

burg

Patrick

Henry in

time of

After having seen brave men and women scalped by the Indians, Clark decided to strike a blow at the British Turns to across the Ohio. But where could he find money and men for an army? Kentucky did not have men enough. Clark thought of that noble patriot across the mountains, Patrick Henry. He mounted his horse and guided some settlers back to Virginia, but kept his secret. In Virginia he heard the good news that Burgoyne had surrendered.

Governor Henry was heart and soul for Clark's plan.

need

A colo

nel with a secret

Floating

He made Clark a colonel, gave him six thousand dollars in paper money, and ordered him to raise an army to defend Kentucky.

II2. The Campaign against Old Vincennes. In May, 1778, Clark's little army of about one hundred fifty backwoodsmen, with several families, took their flatboats and floated down the Monongahela to Fort Pitt. Clark did not dare tell the riflemen where they were going, for fear the British might get the word. they took on supplies and a few small cannon.

Here

On they floated, in the middle of the river to keep away from the Indians who might be hiding in the deep, dark forests on the river banks. At the falls of the Ohio, on down the Corn Island, Clark landed his party. He built a blockbeautiful house and cabins, and drilled the riflemen into soldiers while the settlers planted corn. This was the beginning of the city of Louisville.

Ohio

Clark tells his secret

A long march begun

Kaskas

kia, July 4, 1778

One day Clark called his men together and told them the secret—he was really leading them against the British forts on the Illinois and the Wabash rivers.

A few of the men refused to go so far from home- a thousand miles-but the rest were willing to follow their leader.

In June, Clark's boats "shot the falls" and were soon at the mouth of the Tennessee, where a band of hunters joined the party. There Clark hid the boats and began the long march through tangled forests and over grand prairies. But they did not know what minute the Indians might attack, or some British scout discover them and carry the news to General Hamilton at Detroit.

They reached the old French town of Kaskaskia at dusk on July 4. They did not dare give a shout or fire