George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 4, 15th edition.

[341] in the red man's morals the eternal principles

chap. XV.} 1759.

which inspire all justice; and as he brought the maxims of civilized society into conflict with the unwritten law of the Cherokees, the European rule proved the most treacherous and cruel.

The Cherokees had ever been in friendship with the English, as Virginia had acknowledged in 1755 by a deputation with a present. In 1757, their warriors had volunteered to protect the American frontier south of the Potomac; yet, after they had won trophies of honor in the general service, they were disregarded by the State, and would have been left to return without reward, or even supplies of food, but for the generosity of Washington and his officers.¹

The parties, which, in the following year, joined the expedition to the Ohio, were neglected, so that their hearts told them to return to their cherished highlands.² In July, 1758, the backwoodsmen of Virginia, finding that their half-starved allies took what they needed on their way home, seized their arms, and, in three skirmishes, several of the ‘beloved men’ of the Cherokees were slain and scalped.³

The wailing of the women for their deceased relatives, at the dawn of each day and at the gray of the evening, provoked the nation to retaliate. ‘The blood of your beloved kinsmen calls for revenge,’ cried the Muskohgees; and the chiefs of the Cherokees sent out their young men to take what they deemed such just and equal vengeance as became good warriors.⁴ The upland settlements of North