The occupants were massacred; but the Indians at once contracted the disease and died by the hundreds.

This luckless sacrifice of "poor Stuart, his family and friends," while a ghastly price to pay, undoubtedly procured for the Cumberland settlements comparative immunity from Indian forays until the new-comers had firmly established themselves in their wilderness stronghold.
Eloquent of the granite endurance and courageous spirit of the typical American pioneer in its thankfulness for sanctuary, for reunion of families and friends, and for the humble shelter of a log cabin, is the last entry in Donelson's diary (April 24, 1780): "This day we arrived at our journey's end at the Big Salt Lick, where we have the pleasure of finding Capt.

Robertson and his company.

It is a source of satisfaction to us to be enabled to restore to him and others their families and friends, who were intrusted to our care, and who, some time since, perhaps, despaired of ever meeting again.

Though our prospects at present are dreary, we have found a few log cabins which have been built on a cedar bluff above the Lick by Capt.