Kings Pinnacle

by Robert Gourley

  * * * *

  Alex

  “It’s probably about twenty miles from here to Fort Patrick Henry. We should be there a little before noon,” said Alex as he pushed the canoe, with Martha sitting at the forward paddling position, off into the river.

  The Longhunter and Jonas pushed off and took the lead as they traveled north on the Watauga River toward the fort. The canoe trip on that portion of the river was fairly uneventful as canoe trips on a swollen river go. They didn’t see any more Cherokees on the river or on the banks during the morning. The Raven, if he was still alive, and his warriors who had joined him in the chase, had evidently given up and returned to the siege of Fort Watauga.

  They had paddled for about two hours when they came to the point in the river Watauga River merged with the south fork of the Holston River, which flowed from the east. From this point north toward Fort Patrick Henry, the river was called the south fork of the Holston River. When the two canoes had passed that point in the river and continued paddling north, Alex glanced over his shoulder, toward the east and down the south fork of the Holston. He was horrified to see four Cherokee war canoes in the river, coming right at them. The four Cherokee canoes made the right turn at the fork into the main river torrent and began gaining on Alex and Martha. The warriors in the lead canoes were obviously anticipating catching up to them.

  The Longhunter and Jonas had opened up such a large gap in front of Alex that they had no idea that Alex and Martha were being chased by the Cherokee warriors. Alex knew he was in trouble again. The braves were sure to catch up to him and Martha. The Longhunter and Jonas were a long way ahead of them and might be able to stay ahead, but Martha was not a strong enough paddler for her and Alex to stay ahead of the Cherokees. Alex began to consider his various alternatives, none of which was very good. He had only a rifle, a pistol, and his longbow and arrows in the canoe with him. It was Alex against eight Cherokees, and the odds of surviving that confrontation were not favorable.

  To Alex’s advantage, the south fork of Holston River flow combined with the Watauga River was deeper and steadier than the Watauga River had been, giving the canoe somewhat better stability as it was paddled down the river. Alex took advantage of that stability by laying his paddle down in the canoe and picking up Slayer.

  “Martha, stop paddling when I tell you,” said Alex.

  Martha nodded that she understood and kept paddling as hard as she could. Alex rolled over in the canoe, facing to the rear, lying on his belly. He pulled up Slayer and took as steady an aim as possible in a bouncing canoe at the lead brave in the lead canoe.

  “Martha, stop paddling now,” said Alex.

  Martha immediately lifted her paddle and rested it across the two gunwales and leaned on the paddle to catch her breath. Alex slowed his breathing, cocked his flintlock, and squeezed the trigger. The musket ball went a little high of the warrior’s chest where Alex was aiming and caught the warrior in the middle of his forehead. The impact knocked the warrior back into the brave paddling behind him. The warrior in the rear of the canoe instinctively dropped his paddle to catch the brave falling backwards into his lap. The increased weight in the back of the canoe caused it to violently skew to the right, veering into the path of one of the other Cherokee canoes as it rapidly lost speed. The collision of the two canoes in the middle of the fast flowing river overturned both of them, dumping all four warriors into the river and leaving only two canoes following and closing on Alex and Martha. The surviving three braves from the overturned canoes swam toward the river bank.

  The Longhunter and Jonas were so far ahead and the raging river was so noisy that they didn’t even hear Alex’s shot.

  * * * *

  Captain Ferguson

  “Captain Ferguson, I am pleased to promote you to the rank of Major in the Seventy-First Foot of Fraser's Highlanders. I have been very happy with your work and your leadership here in New York. I am also going to transfer you immediately to accompany me to the southern theater of the war and give you command of the New York and New Jersey Loyalists,” said General Clinton.

  “Thank you very much, sir,” replied the newly minted Major Ferguson.

  “We will depart by ship immediately for Savannah. We land at Tybee Island, and then we will join Lord Cornwallis in Savannah. Our first objective is to capture Charleston. After we take Charleston, I will return to New York, and you will stay in the south to lead the loyalists against the rebels.”

  “Very well, sir. I will make ready to depart.”

  The voyage from New York to Tybee Island, near Savannah, would take a little over a month. General Clinton was moving almost fourteen thousand troops from New York and the northeast to South Carolina. He had been told that loyalist support was extremely high in the southern colonies and that the colonists in the south were sick of opposition to their rightful government. For that reason, he thought that an expedition in the south colonies held promise. And Major Ferguson might just hold the key to turning the war around for him and stopping the rebels.

  * * * *

  Alex

  The Cherokees normally used a short bow in battle that could easily be fired in close quarters such as riding on a horse or sitting in a canoe. The warriors following in the remaining two canoes fired arrows at Alex and Martha from time to time, but luckily none met their mark. Alex’s bow was a six foot longbow and could only be fired from a standing position. It was going to be of no use in the canoe. The longbow had about the same accuracy as a short bow at close range, but the longbow was a much more effective weapon at long range, and it had much more penetrating power. On the other hand, the short bow could be maneuvered in tight spots and fired from any number of positions. That left only his pistol and his knife as possible weapons against the pursuers, since his rifle had just been fired, and he could not possibly reload it sitting in a moving canoe.

  As soon as the lead Cherokee canoe came within range, Alex began to develop a plan for how to deal with it. When the Cherokees came within a few yards, Alex pulled his pistol out of his belt, cocked the flintlock and fired a pistol ball into the chest of the brave sitting in the front paddling position of the canoe. The warrior that was paddling in the rear position saw his comrade slump forward and drop his paddle after the shot was fired. He knew that he couldn’t keep up with Alex and Martha, so he turned his canoe toward the bank to see if he could help his comrade.

  Jonas and the Longhunter were now even further ahead of Alex and Martha, so they did not hear the pistol shot either. They kept stretching out their lead. Alex was now out of firearms, and there was still the fourth canoe of Cherokee warriors gaining on him and Martha. He had no idea what to do, so he decided to keep paddling and see what opportunities might develop down the river.

  The last canoe, with the two Cherokees paddling as hard as they could, came closer and closer. As soon as it got within a few yards of Alex and Martha, the brave in the forward position stopped paddling and steadied himself on his knees. He raised his short bow and notched an arrow to shoot at Alex and Martha. At this range, there was no way he could miss. Alex had been keeping an eye on the approaching canoe, but he had been able to do very little except try to steer his canoe away from the Cherokee braves. They were too far away for him to attempt a knife throw, which probably would be inaccurate anyway in the moving canoe. Alex said a little prayer, which was the only thing he could think of doing.

  Just as the brave drew back his bow string to fire the deadly arrow, two shots rang out from the river bank. Both Cherokee warriors fell dead in their canoe as it continued to travel down the river, following the current in a haphazard fashion. Alex looked toward the bank where the shots had come from. To his surprise, he spied Robert and Hugh standing on the bank with their muskets pointed at the canoe with the two dead warriors in it. Alex smiled to himself and steered his canoe toward the bank where Robert and Hugh were standing. The Longhunter and Jonas had finally glanced behind them and noticed what happened; they steered for the
bank also. Alex pulled his canoe up on the bank and helped Martha get out of it. As soon as Robert and Hugh caught up to Alex and Martha, Alex reached out and hugged them both in a bear hug. Martha joined into the group hug also. Soon they were patting each other on the back and laughing.

  “Where did you two come from?” asked Alex.

  “Weel now, we were just out for a Sunday stroll along the river bank and saw that ye and Martha were out for a Sunday canoe ride,” said Hugh with a grin.

  “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me,” replied Alex.

  “To tell ye the truth laddie, Robber and I discovered a deposit of sulfur just to the south of here, and we were headed back by way of the river bank so that we could remember where the deposit was located. We saw the Longhunter and Jonas and hailed them, but they couldn’t hear us because the river makes too much noise when it’s running this fast. Then we saw you and Martha come along and the predicament that ye had gotten yourself into, so we decided to lend a hand.”

  Robert had actually discovered the sulfur deposit and the gold, but Hugh had harmlessly taken the credit for it. Robert didn’t mind at all; he was just happy that Hugh hadn’t mentioned the gold discovery until he had a chance to think of what he wanted to do about it.

  “It’s a good thing you did. Martha and I wouldn’t be here now if you hadn’t.”

  “Ye would do the same for us, laddie,” said Hugh, and Robert nodded in agreement.

  * * * *

  The Raven

  The Raven wasn’t dead, but the blow to his head from Alex’s rifle had knocked him unconscious and sent him floating face down in the Watauga River. When the river water rushed into his lungs, he came back to the world of the living and sputtered out the water. As he swam to the bank and climbed up to join his band of warriors, he thought about what he should do for revenge.

  He was angry that, with the help of her husband and his friends, the woman had escaped burning at the stake. He was also angry that the settlers had come into his lands. The British had formed an alliance with the Cherokees and armed them with a large cache of weapons which they had used to wreak havoc among the settlers on the frontier. But now most of the British weapons were no longer in use, because the braves hadn’t been taught how to maintain and clean them. They also ran out of ammunition and had no way to resupply it. It was back to using bows and arrows and knives as it had always been.

  Some of the Cherokees wanted to sell their land to the settlers, but the Raven was vehemently opposed it. When the majority of the Cherokees had agreed to sell their land to the Transylvania Company, he had broken with the group and joined the Chickamauga band, who only wanted to fight the settlers and drive them out of the frontier and off the Cherokee lands.

  “Let’s burn all the rest of the cabins and farms around the fort that we may have missed and then continue the siege of the fort,” said the Raven to his braves.

  * * * *

  * * * *

  Alex

  “Fort Watauga is under attack by the Cherokees, and I suspect that all the frontier forts may be in the same predicament. We are going to Fort Patrick Henry to see if we can round up some men to help us drive off the Cherokees attacking Fort Watauga,” said Alex, bringing Robert and Hugh up to date on the latest developments that had occurred since they had left on their exploration for a sulfur deposit.

  “Och, what do ye think Robber and I ought to do?” asked Hugh.

  “We’re only a few miles south of Fort Patrick Henry. If we can find one of these Cherokee canoes for you two, we can continue paddling down the river to the fort. When we get there, we’ll see what the situation looks like. You two can hobble your horses, and we will pick them up tomorrow when we come back this way,” replied Alex.

  The Longhunter and Jonas had finally paddled back upstream to join the group on the river bank. They discussed the plan with the Longhunter and Jonas and finally located one of the abandoned Cherokee canoes stuck on a pile of brush for Robert and Hugh. After everyone agreed to the plan, Alex, Martha, Robert, Hugh, the Longhunter, and Jonas boarded their respective canoes and continued paddling toward Fort Patrick Henry as they traveled down the south fork of the Holston. The Longhunter and Jonas were still in the lead canoe followed by Alex and Martha. Robert and Hugh brought up the rear.

  Fort Patrick Henry was located on the north end of Long Island of the Holston River, a river island located just about a mile to the southeast of where the south fork of the Holston River flows into the main Holston River on its westward journey through the frontier. Long Island was considered a sacred and important island site to the Cherokees. Cherokee councils and gatherings had long been conducted on the grassy plains of the island, called Long Island Flats. The Cherokees resented the presence of Fort Patrick Henry on their sacred soil.

  Fort Patrick Henry was actually the starting point of The Wilderness Road. It was the point Daniel Boone departed from as he traveled west through the Cumberland Gap to open up Kentucky to settlers. The fort would later be used as a staging point for the many settlers who followed his trail. The men who occupied the fort and lived in the area around Fort Patrick Henry were the same type of men who lived around Fort Watauga. Alex knew that he could count on them for help. When their canoes finally arrived at the south tip of Long Island, the sun was high up in the sky. They had to choose whether to take the right or the left branch of the river around the island. Long Island is about three miles long and Fort Patrick Henry was located at the north end of the island, where it was built on a bluff overlooking the river. The fort enclosed about three acres of land with a stockade wall that had bastions at the corners. Long Island Flats led up to the fort’s main gate.

  “Alex, do you want to take the right branch or the left branch?” yelled the Longhunter in the lead canoe.

  “Let’s stay to the left,” replied Alex.

  The left branch was the smaller and shallower of the two branches, and it was not flowing as rapidly as the swollen right branch. Alex directed the group to beach their canoes about a mile south of the fort. They climbed the river bank and stood on the edge of the Long Island Flats. From their vantage point, looking over the tall prairie grass growing on the flats, they could see that Fort Patrick Henry was also under siege by the Cherokees. It looked like a band of almost two hundred warriors were camped just outside the musket range of the fort.

  The fact that Fort Patrick Henry was under attack reinforced Alex’s earlier determination that all the other frontier forts in western North Carolina were probably also under attack in a coordinated attempt to drive the settlers out. A Cherokee chief named Dragging Canoe commanded the assault on Fort Patrick Henry. He was the main chief of the Cherokee warriors who were camped outside the fort on the flats as well as leading the entire Chickamauga tribe. His attack on Fort Patrick Henry, and all the settlers along the Holston River, was apparently timed to coincide with the Raven’s attack on Fort Watauga.

  “Och, it’s nae guid,” said Hugh. “There’s got to be less than a hundred men inside the fort, and there’s at least twice that number of warriors camped out on the flats.”

  “We’ve got to figure out a way to help them,” said Alex, looking at the fort.

  “I’ve got an idea, but I don’t know if it will work or not,” said Robert.

  “What is it that ye have in mind, Robber?” asked Hugh.

  “Well, this entire flat is covered with dry prairie grass that is at least waist high and as much as shoulder high in some places. The wind is blowing very strongly out of the southeast. If we start a string of fires in a line along the south side of the flats, the wind will whip it up into a raging prairie fire headed right toward the Cherokees camp. The smoke and fire might be enough to drive them away from the fort and across the river so that we can get past them and into the fort to help them.”

  “That is as good a plan as any I can come up with,” said Alex. “Let’s give it a try.”

  They all gathered in a small clearing located in the cent
er of the south border of the prairie grass plain. Alex started a small camp fire with his flint and steel, and they all made torches out of dried limbs and grass. After they lit their torches, they all hurried to predetermined spots, spread out in a straight line about one hundred yards apart. At a signal from Alex, they all started walking east at the same time, holding their flaming torches into the prairie grass, lighting a line of fire in the grass.

  It didn’t take long for the dry grass to flame up, and the strong southerly wind soon pushed the fire line northwest. The fire moved slowly at first, and then as it grew, it raced north faster than a man could run.

  The Cherokees sitting in the camp first smelled a faint whiff of smoke from the approaching fire. By the time they became alarmed and could see the flames, it was almost too late for them to escape it. They gathered what they could collect from their camp and ran for the river, both to the east and west of their camp. Of course, there weren’t enough canoes tied up to the bank, so most of them swam across the river alone or on horseback to escape the smoke and fire.

  As soon as the fire burned itself out at the main gate of Fort Patrick Henry and the smoke cleared, the men inside the fort unbarred the gate and came out to watch the Cherokees depart. Alex, Martha and the rest of their group finally walked out of the smoke of the burned prairie grass and up to the fort, as if they had appeared out of a cloud.