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GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 291
from the Indians. Since there were no formal grants made at the time, the settlers
were free to locate where they chose, but they were forced by the exigencies of frontier
life to fortify themselves against dispossession by exhibiting shot-gun titles. The
Indians learned to dread the austere North Carolinan long before his sword was
unsheathed against the red-coats of King George the Third.
It was»in command of a body of horsemen that this bold knight of the up-
country first appeared upon the scene in the opening drama of hostilities with
England. We find him at this time guarding some wagons which were loaded with
supplies for the little army at Savannah. Attacked by Indians while crossing a
stream, a severe contest ensued, but the skirmish ended in the flight of the savages.
Not long after this encounter, he joined General Howe in the latter's ill-timed
expedition against St. Augustine and was severely wounded in the disastrous fight
which followed. He then returned to his home in the up-country, where the deep
solitude of the forest seemed to hide him, until the invasion of Georgia by the
British, when first Savannah and then Augusta lowered the patriotic flag. To com
plete the subjugation of the state, a body of Tories under Colonel Boyd was dis
patched to take possession of the forts on the frontier.
But in the meantime Colonel Clarke was not idle. When word came of the fall
of Savannah he knew what it meant. Georgia was soon to be overrun by her
enemies. He was still nursing an old wound; but he no sooner heard the news than
he reached for his sword which hung upon the walls of his cabin. At the same time
he strapped his trusty) rifle across his shoulders. Then committing his loved ones
to the eare of Providence, he mounted his horse and rode day and night over the
country, gathering together his little band of patriots. At the head of his troops
he then hastened to join Dooly and Piekens in bidding defiance to the invader. The
two hostile armies met at Kettle Creek, not far from the present town of Washing
ton, where, by the shrewd foresight of Elijah Clarke, in seizing a strategic point in
the enemy's rear, the tide of battle was turned in favor of the Americans. Colonel
Boyd was mortally wounded, his army annihilated, and Toryism in Georgia for a
season at least overthrown.
However, Colonel Innis, a Scotch loyalist, was soon dispatched to the frontier,
giving rise to another series of engagements. For months, at the head of his little
band of patriots, Clarke waged a guerilla warfare, spending most of his time in the
swamps. He scarcely knew what it was during this period to sleep with a roof over
his head. Often he was face to face with hunger. The weariness of exhaustion if
not of discontent began to show itself in the haggard features of his troops. But
in the end Innis was routed and, on to Augusta, Clarke led his victorious men of the
woods. He knew that permanent peace could never come to the up-country until this
stronghold was recovered. So, mustering strength for the decisive Wow, he hurled
himself against the town. -Success was almost at hand. In fact, he was temporarily
in possession, when the British garrison was unexpectedly re-enforced. The torture
of Tantalus seized the backwoodsman at this sudden turn of affairs, but realizing the
futility of further efforts in this direction, he withdrew to await future developments.
It was at this critical moment when Toryism was again threatening Upper Georgia
that Elijah Clarke collected the helpless women and children of the Broad River
settlement, and, with the aid of Col. William Candler, conveyed them over the moun
tains to the Watauga valley in the extreme northeast corner of Tennessee. This
humane task having been successfully accomplished, he was soon back in the midst
of the fighting. Though not in actual command, it was Colonel Clarke, at the head
of his Wilkes riflemen, who won the day in the battle of Blackstocks in South
Carolina, by skillfully turning the enemy's flank. Again wounded at Long Cane
he had scarcely recovered before he was seized by an attack of small-pox. But he
was nevertheless on hand at the siege of Augusta, where the final consummation of
his dream was realized in the hoisting above the fort of the triumphant American
colors.
As a reward for his gallant services in the Revolution, the State of Georgia gave
him a commission as major-general and a handsome grant of land. He was also
chosen to represent the state in treaty negotiations with the Indians. Whenever
there was trouble in Upper Georgia, the settlers turned instinctively to Elijah Clarke;
and some few years later, at the battle of Jack's Creek, with his son, John Clarke,