Some of them had been harassing Cleavland, and they had ambushed his advance guard, and shot his brother, crippling him for life.

But they did not dare try to arrest the progress of so formidable a body of men as had been gathered together at Quaker Meadows; and contented themselves with sending repeated warnings to Ferguson.
On October 1st the combined forces marched past Pilot Mountain, and camped near the heads of Cane and Silver creeks.

Hitherto each colonel had commanded his own men, there being no general head, and every morning and evening the colonels had met in concert to decide the day's movements.

The whole expedition was one of volunteers, the agreement between the officers and the obedience rendered them by the soldiers simply depending on their own free-will; there was no legal authority on which to go, for the commanders had called out the militia without any instructions from the executives of their several States.

[Footnote: Gates MSS.