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

[344] interruption of trade as a chastisement; and haughtily

chap. XV.} 1759.

added, ‘if you desire peace with us, and will send deputies to me as the mouth of your nation, I promise you, you shall come and return in safety.’

The Indians had become dependent on civilization; and to withhold supplies, was not only like a general embargo, but also like disarming a nation. The English, said they, would leave us defenseless, that they may utterly destroy us. Jealousy spread from wigwam to wigwam; belts circulated more and more among the villages. They feared the worst,¹ and narrowly watched the roads, that no white man might pass. ‘We have nothing to do,’ said some among them, wild with rage, ‘but to kill the white people here, and carry their scalps to the French, who will supply us with plenty of ammunition and every thing else.’² The nation was, however, far from being united against the English; a large number of towns were even ready, if they had been encouraged, to fight on their side;³ but the general distrust announced the approach of war.⁴

Lyttleton, hurried on by zeal to display authority, and eager to gain the glory of conducting an unusual expedition against the Cherokees, instantly gave orders to the colonels of three regiments of militia nearest the frontier to fire an alarm and assemble their corps; called out all the regulars and provincials in