that place, to use their best endeavors for obtaining peace with the Cherokees in the upper towns. Colonel Montgomery finding that the savages were not yet disposed to listen to terms of accommodation, determined to carry the chas tisement a little farther. Dismal was the wilder ness into which he entered, and many were the hardships and dangers he had to encounter, from dark thickets, rugged paths and narrow passes; in which a small body of men, properly posted, might harass and tire out the bravest army that ever took the field. Having on every side suspicious grounds, he found occasion for the exercise of constant vigilance and circumspection. On the 27th of June, when he had advanced within five miles of Etchoe, the nearest town in the middle settlements, he found there a low val ley, covered so thick with brush, that a soldier could scarcely see the length of his body, and in the middle of which, there was a muddy river, with steep clay banks; through this dark place, where it was impossible for any number of men to act together, the army must necessarily march; and therefore captain Morison, who commanded a company of rangers, had orders to advance and scour the thicket: they had scarcely entered it, when a number of savages sprang from their ambuscade, fired on them, killed the captain and wounded several of his party: upon which the light infantry and grenadiers were ordered to advance and charge the enemy, which they did

with great courage and alacrity. A heavy fire then began on both sides, and during some time the soldiers could only discover the places where the savages were hid by the report of their guns. Colonel Montgomery finding that the number of Indians that guarded this place was considerable, and that they were determined obstinately to dispute it, ordered the royal Scots, who were in the rear, to advance between the savages and a rising ground on the right, while the Highlanders marched towards the left to support the light infantry and grenadiers: the woods resounded with the war-whoop and horrible yells of the savages; but these, instead of intimidating the troops, seemed rather to inspire them with more firmness and resolution. At length the Indians gave way, and in their retreat falling in with the royal Scots, suffered considerably before they got out of their reach. By this time, the royals being in the front, and the Highlanders in the rear, the enemy keeping up a retreating fire took possession of a hill, apparently disposed to remain at a distance, but continued to retreat as the army advanced colonel Montgomery perceiving that they kept aloof, gave orders to the line to face about, and march directly for the town of Etchoe. The enemy no sooner observed this movement, than they got behind the hill, and ran to alarm their wives and children. In this action, which lasted about an hour, colonel Montgomery who made several narrow escapes, had twenty men

killed and seventy-six wounded: what number the enemy lost was not ascertained. Upon viewing the ground, all were astonished to see with what judgment and skill it was chosen; the most experienced officer could not have fixed upon a spot more advantageous for way-laying and attacking an enemy, according to the method of fighting practised among the Indians. This action, though it terminated in favor of the British army, had reduced it to such a situation as made it very imprudent, if not impracticable, to penetrate farther into those woods; as the repulse of the enemy was far from being decisive, for they had only retired from one advantageous situation to another, in order to renew the attack when the army should again advance. The humanity of the commander would not suffer him to leave so many wounded men exposed to the vengeance of savages, without a strong-hold in which he might lodge them, or some detachment to protect them, and which he now could not spare ; should he proceed further, he saw plainly that he must expect frequent skirmishes, which would increase the number; and the burning of so many Indian towns would be a poor compensation for the great risk, and perhaps sacrifice of so many valuable troops. To furnish horses for the men already wounded, he was obliged to throw away many bags of flour into the river, and what remained was no more than sufficient for his army on their return to fort Prince-George. Under

these circumstances therefore, orders were given for a retreat, which was made with great regularity, although the enemy continued hovering around and annoying them to the utmost of their power. A large train of wounded men was brought above sixty miles through a hazardous country in safety, for which no small share of honor and credit was due to the officer who conducted the retreat.

The dangers which threatened the frontiers, induced colonel Montgomery to leave four companies of the royal regiment under the command of major Frederick Hamilton for their protection, while he embarked with the battalion of Highlanders, and sailed for New York. In the mean time, the distant garrison of fort Loudon, consisting of two hundred men, was reduced to the dreadful alternative of perishing by hunger, or submitting to the mercy of the enraged Cherokees. Having received information that the Virginians had undertaken to relieve them, for a while they seemed satisfied, anxiously waiting for the realization of their hopes. The Virginians however, were equally disqualified with their neighbors of Carolina, from rendering them any assistance. So remote was the fort from every settlement, and so difficult was it to march an army through a barren wilderness, where the passes and thickets were ambuscaded by the enemy, and to carry at the same time sufficient supplies, that the Virginians had given over all

thoughts of the attempt. The provisions in the mean time being entirely exhausted at the fort, the garrison was reduced to the most deplorable situation for a whole month they had no other subsistence but the flesh of lean horses and dogs, and a small supply of Indian beans. Long had the officers animated and encouraged the men with the hopes of relief; but now being blockaded night and day by the enemy, and having no resource left, they threatened to leave the fort, and die at once by the hands of the savages, rather than perish slowly by famine. In this extremity, the commander was obliged to call a council of war, to consider what was proper to be done; the officers were all of opinion that it was impossible to hold out any longer, and therefore agreed to surrender the fort to the Cherokees on the best terms that could be obtained from them. For this purpose captain Steuart, an officer of great sagacity and address, and much beloved by all the Indians who remained in the British interest, procured leave to go to Chote, one of the principal towns in that neighborhood, where he obtained the following terms of capitulation, which were signed by the commanding officer and two chiefs: "That the garrison of fort Loudon march out with their arms and drums, each soldier having as much powder and ball as their officer shall think necessary for their march, and all the baggage they may choose to carry: that the garrison be permitted to march to Virginia, or fort