Griffith Rutherford Letter

Dear Sir 

After my Compliments to you, This is to Inform you, that Agreeable to your Orders I Enlisted my Company of Light-horse men, and Entered them into Service the 19th of Octr. From thence we prepared ourselves and March'd the 29th same Instant as far as Catheys fort, Where we found join’d Capt. Harden and March'd Over the Mountain to Swannanoa, the Next Day Between Swannanoa & French Broad River, we Came upon Fresh Signs of five Or Six Indians. Upon Which we March'd Very Briskly to the ford of hominey Creek, where we Expected to Join the Tryon Troops. But they not Meeting According to Appointment, we were Necessiated to Encamp and Tarry for them, Our men being Extremely Anxious to Pursue the Aforesaid Indians.  

After the moon arose we Sent out A Detachment of 13 men Commanded by Capt. Harden & Lieut. Woods, they Continued their pursuit About 8 miles and Could make no Discovery, Untill day light Appeared, then they Discovered upon the frost, that One Indian had gone Along the Road, they Pursued Very Briskly About five miles farther And Came up with Sd. Indian, kill'd and scalp'd him, the Remainder of them, we Apprehended Had gone AHunting off the Road. Upon which they Return'd Back to Camp, where we waited to Join the Tryons, they Coming up Towards the Middle of the Day we Concluded to Stay (to Refresh our horses which was fatigued with the Over Night's march) till the Next morning But to our Great Disadvantage we lost Several of our Horses, which Detain'd us the Ensuing Day, then we proceed our march as far as Richland Creek, where we Encamped in A Cove for the Safety of our horses, but in spite of all our Care, the Indians Stole three from us that Night, by which we Perceiv'd that the Enemy was Alarm’d of our Coming, we [crossed out] their Tracks the Next Day as far as Scots Place, which Appear'd as if they were Pushing into the Nation Before us Very fast, & Numerous. From Scots Place we took A blind Path which led us Down to the Tuckysiege River through A Very Mountainous bad way, we Continued our march Very Briskly in Expectation of Geting to the Town of too Cowee before Night, But it Lying at A Greater Distance than we Expected; we were Obliged to tie up our Horses, I say by till Next morning, when we found Aford and Cross'd the River, then A Very Large Mountain, where we Came upon A Very [Plain?] Path, Very much Used by Indians. 

Driving in from the Middle Settlements to the Aforesaid Town, we Continued our march Along Sd. Path About two miles when we Came in Sight of the town, which lay Very Scattered, then we Came to A Consultation to see which was the best method to Attack it, But our Small Army Consisting of but 97 men, we found we were not Able to Surround it So we Concluded and Rush'd into the Center of the town, in Order to Surprize it, But the Enemy Being Alarmed of our Coming, were all fled Save two, who Trying to make their Escape Sprung into the River, and we pursued to the Banks, & as they were Rising the Banks in the Other Side, we fired upon them and Shot one of them Down, & the Other Getting out Of Reach of our Shot. & making to the mountain. Some of our men Cross'd the River on foot, & Pursued, & Some went to the ford & Cross'd on horse, & headed him, kill'd & scalp'd him With the Other, then we Return'd into the town, and found that they had Mov'd all their Valuable Effects, Save Corn, Pompions, Beans, peas, & Other Triffling Things, Of which We found Abundance in Every house, the Town Consisted of 25 houses, Some of them New Erections, and one Curious Town house Fram'd & Ready for Covering—turn Over. 

We took what Corn we Stood in need of, and what Trifling plunder was to be got, and then set fire To the town, then we concluded to follow the tracks of the Indians, which crossed the river & led us a direct north course, we continued our march about a mile, and then we perceived a great pillar of smoak rise out of the mountains, which we found arose from the woods being set on fire, with a view as we suppos’d to blind their tracks, that we could not pursue them, Upon which Capt. Mcfadden & myself took a small party of men, in order to make further discovery, and left the main Body behind upon a piece of advantageous ground untill our return, we march’d over a large mountain & came upon a very beautifull river which we had no knowledge of; we crossed the river & immediately came to Indian Camps which they had newly left.  

We went over a second mountain into a large cove upon the fork of said river where we found a great deal of sign, several [illegible] fires burning very briskly, & night coming on we were obliged to return to our main body a little before day, when day appeared we made ready and marched our men until the place we had been the night before, our advance guard being forward perceived two Squaws and a lad, who came down the creek as far as we had been the night before, and when they perceived our tracks they were retreating to the camp from whence they came,  [crossed out] which was within 3 Quarters of a mile, the signal was given, then we pursued and took them all three prisoners, unfortunately our men [crossed out] shouted in the chase and fired a gun, which alarm'd them at the camp, & they made their escape into the mountains.  

The prisoners led us to the camp where we found abundance of plunder, of horses and other goods, to the amount of seven hundred pounds, we took some horses belonging to the poor inhabitants of the frontiers which we brought in, & delivered to the owners our provisions falling short, we were oblig'd to steer homewards, that night we lay upon a prodigious mountain where we had a severe shock of an earthquake, which is surpriz’d our men very much, then we steer our course about East & So. East two days thro prodigious mountains which were almost impassable, and struck the road in Richland Creek Mountain, from thence we marched to Pidgeon River, where we vendued off all our plunder, there arose a dispute between me & the whole body officers & all concerning selling of the prisoners for slaves. I allow'd that it was our duty to guard them to prison, or some place of safe custody till we got the approbation of the Congress whether they should be sold slaves or not, and the greater part swore bloodily that if they were not sold for slaves upon the spot, they would kill and scalp them immediately upon which I was oblig'd to give way, then the 3 prisoners was sold for £222, the whole plunder we got including the prisoners amounted about £1100. Our men was very spirited & eager for action, and is very desirous that your Honour would orders them upon another expedition, but our number was too small to do as much execution as we would desire, from Pidgeon River we marched home and every man arrived in health and safety to their respective habitation. 

Cap.t Mcfaden is going to see your Honour at Congress, and if I have been guilty of mistakes in my information, its possible he may acquaint you better Col. McD[??]ll Capt. Davidson and me have sent for one of the Squaws this day to come to my house, in order to examine her by an interpreter, I will give you as good an account as we can gather from her, concerning the state of the Indians. Dear Sir, I have one thing to remark, which is this, that where there is separate companys united into one body, without a head commander of the whole I shall never embark in such an expedition hereafter, for where every officer is a commander there is no command, no more at present but wishing you sir with all true friends to Liberty all Happiness 

November 18th 1776 

I am sir

Yours [unclear]

William Moore 

[attached addendum, Expedition against the Indians in western, N.C. Letter of Capt. Wm. Moore to Brigadier General Rutherford 1776]