Returning with them, he entered heartily
into the common life of the frontier, with its many hardships and
pleasures, and soon became a prominent man in the little colony.
For a time after their arrival the settlement was not much troubled by the
Indians. The Cherokees had given their consent to have the land taken up,
and all went well for a period.
But, as we have already seen in the case of Boone, the breaking out of the
Revolution, and the action of the British in arming the Indians with guns
and rewarding them for bringing in captives, disturbed this peace and
stirred up the tribes against the backwoodsmen.
The Cherokees then broke their agreement with the settlers and in large
numbers made bold and murderous attacks upon the many back-country
settlements in southwestern Virginia, the eastern Carolinas, northwestern
Georgia, and what is now eastern Tennessee.
As Watauga was the nearest settlement to the Cherokee towns and villages,
it was likely to suffer most from the attack. Robertson commanded the
fort, with Sevier as his lieutenant. Only forty or fifty men were in the
fort when it was attacked, although it was crowded with women and
children.
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