bayonet in person, first down one side of the mountain and then
down the other. Sevier, Shelby, Campbell, and the other colonels
of the frontiersmen, led each his force of riflemen straight
toward the summit. Each body in turn when charged by the regulars
was forced to give way, for there were no bayonets wherewith to
meet the foe; but the backwoodsmen retreated only so long as the
charge lasted, and the minute that it stopped they stopped too,
and came back ever closer to the ridge and ever with a deadlier
fire. Ferguson, blowing a silver whistle as a signal to his men,
led these charges, sword in hand, on horseback. At last, just as
he was once again rallying his men, the riflemen of Sevier and
Shelby crowned the top of the ridge. The gallant British
commander became a fair target for the backwoodsmen, and as for
the last time he led his men against them, seven bullets entered
his body and he fell dead. With his fall resistance ceased. The
regulars and Tories huddled together in a confused mass, while
the exultant Americans rushed forward. A flag of truce was
hoisted, and all the British who were not dead surrendered.

The victory was complete, and the backwoodsmen at once started to
return to their log hamlets and rough, lonely farms. They could
not stay, for they dared not leave their homes at the mercy of
the Indians. They had rendered a great service; for Cornwallis,
when he heard of the disaster to his trusted lieutenant,
abandoned his march northward, and retired to South Carolina.
When he again resumed the offensive, he found his path barred by
stubborn General Greene and his troops of the Continental line.