Note 1285 — Chapter VIII

An unsuccessful attempt was made to detach Cameron, Stuart's deputy, from the king's service. He was offered a salary and compensation for losses if he would join the American cause. "He refused to resign his commission or accept of any employment in the colony service." Hearing later that he was to be seized, he fled to the Cherokee country. This alarmed the colonists, but they were quieted when they heard that he had written "that Captain Stewart had never given him orders to induce the Indians to fall upon Carolina, but to keep them firmly attached to his majesty" (Moultrie's Memoirs, i. p. 76). It appears from Stuart's correspondence that he received almost simultaneously, in the first part of October, satisfactory replies from the Indians and orders from General Gage to make use of the natives (Amer. Arch., 4th ser., iv. p. 317). The Catawbas, a relatively insignificant tribe, were said to be friendly to the rebels. The Cherokees were ready for attack (Almon's Remembrancer, Part iii., 1776, p. 180).