Point and Ticonderago, and the ROYALS proceeded to New York for winter quarters. [Sidenote: 1760] Meanwhile the _Cherokee Indians_ had been carrying on a cruel warfare against the settlers on the frontiers of the southern provinces of North America, and in the early part of 1760 the two flank and four battalion companies of the ROYALS, mustering 400 men, were ordered to proceed, under the command of Major Frederick Hamilton, to South Carolina, to strike a decisive blow against the aggressors. They accordingly embarked from New York, and, with a battalion of Highlanders and some provincial troops commanded by Colonel Montgomery, sailed to Charleston, and marched from thence up the country to Fort Ninety-six, situate on the borders of the Cherokee territory. Having halted a short time at this place, the troops advanced on the 28th of May, and arrived on the 1st of June at Twelve-mile River. The scouts being unable to find any Indian tracks, it was concluded that the Cherokees were not informed of the march; and, although the men had already traversed twenty miles of rugged ground that morning, from Beaver-dams to the river, the commanding officer resolved to push forward immediately. The tents, waggons, and cattle, were placed in a square, a guard was placed over them, and, just as the sun was sinking beneath the horizon, the troops moved quietly forward along the rugged wood-lands. After a march of sixteen miles the detachment arrived at an Indian hamlet called Little Keowee, and the light company of the ROYALS was ordered to surround the houses and bayonet the inhabitants. As the ROYALS approached the houses, a company of Indian warriors, who were sleeping under the trees near the hamlet, raised their usual war-cry, and opened a scattering fire; but the soldiers--undaunted by the dismal yell of their antagonists--fired one volley,--then, rushing forward, encountered the Indians in close fight, and bayoneted the whole except the women and children. The troops then continued their route, and just as the first rays of morning began to dawn they arrived at Estatoe, the capital of the Lower Cherokees; the town had, however, been abandoned nearly an hour before; but about a dozen warriors were intercepted and slain. The town, which was found well provided with ammunition, provision, and magazines of corn, was plundered and laid in ashes, and many of the inhabitants who had concealed themselves perished in the flames. This service performed, the troops resumed their march, and laid several other towns and villages in ashes; an act of necessary severity, which excited painful feelings in the breasts of the brave men who executed it. Colonel Grant observes, in his narrative of these transactions, published in the South Carolina Gazette,--"I could not help pitying them; their villages were agreeably situated, their houses neatly built and well provided, having abundance of everything; they must be pretty numerous, for Estatoe and Sugartown