Existing comment:
Although fear of attack was genuine, accounts of the situation were sometimes greatly exaggerated, as this newspaper article attests:
"A company going through the wilderness to Cumberland, was met on the road by a party of Indians. Upon first sight the men (being seven in number) rode off with the utmost precipitation, and left the women (four in number) who were so terrified that they were unable to proceed. The Indians came up, shook hands with them, and told them they should not be hurt, made a fire for them, and caught a stud horse, that one of the company had jumped from, which they tied to a tree. They then went after a small boy who was attempting to make off and brought him back to the women."
-- Knoxville newspaper article, November 19, 1791 |