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One of his fellow soldiers stole his tobacco from him, when he threatened he would whip him for it as soon as he should put his eyes on him. Cleveland expostulated with Greer, telling him his men ought to fight the enemy and not each other. 'I'll give him a hint of it, anyway," said Greer, and when he met the tobacco pilferer he knocked him down. Greer's hint was long a by-word in all that region.--Col. W. W. Lenoir." It is claimed that Greer killed Colonel Ferguson at King's Mountain. If so, Greer's hints were rather rough.

Greer Gets Another Kind of Hint.-- Just twenty years after the memorable capture and rescue of Cleveland by Greer, to wit: on the first Saturday of April, 1801, the Three Forks Baptist Church, of which he was a member, gave Cleveland's "hero" a "hint" to appear at the next meeting of that organization and answer to the charge--not of having looked upon the wine cup when it was red--but of having partaken of the apple juice after it had been distilled. Brother and Sister Wilcoxen were cited to appear as witnesses against him. But Ben did not take the hint, neither did he continue his membership with that church!

The Wolf's Den Tradition.-- There is still a tradition in the neighborhood of the Wolf's Den that Ben Greer killed or wounded Riddle at that place soon after Cleveland's rescue, one version saying that Riddle was only wounded and then taken to Wilkes and hanged. Indeed, the place in the gap between Pine Orchard and Huckleberry Knob, through which the wagon road from Todd to Riddle's Fork of Mear Camp Creek now runs, is still pointed out as that at which Greer and his men camped in the cold and wind, without fire or tent, till they saw the campfire on Riddle's knob flame up, after which they crept up to that lonely spot and either killed or wounded the redoubtable Tory. But Dr. Draper has an altogether different story to tell about Riddle's capture and execution.

Cleveland Hangs Riddle.-- Dr. Draper says (p.444) that soon after Cleveland's rescue Riddle and his men made a night raid into the Yadkin Valley, where, on King's Creek, they captured two of Cleveland's soldiers, David and John Witherspoon, and "spirited them away into the mountain region on the Watauga

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River in what is now Watauga County," where both were sentenced to be shot, when it was proposed that if they would take the oath of allegiance to the king, repair to their home and speedily return with the O'Neal mare--a noble animal--and join the Tory band, their lives would be spared. This the Witherspoons agreed to, and returned with not only the mare, but with Col. Ben Herndon and a party also, when they captured Riddle, Reeves and Goss, "killing and dispersing the others." These were taken to Wilkesboro, court-martialed and executed" on the hill adjoining the village, "on a stately oak, which is yet (1881) standing and pointed out to strangers at Wilkesboro." Wells, too, his wounds still unhealed, was captured and taken to Hughes' Bottom, one mile below Cleveland's Round About home-place, and hanged by plow lines from a tree on the river bank, without trial and in spite of the protestations of James Gwyn, a lad of thirteen, whose noble nature revolted at such barbarity. But Cleveland's cruelty was too well known to need further comment, for it is recorded of him that he once forced an alleged horse-thief to cut off his own ears with a dull case knife to escape death by hanging--all without trial or evidence of any kind whatever (p. 447). Cleveland moved to South Carolina at the close of the Revolutionary War, where he died while sitting at the breakfast table, in October, 1806, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. Cleveland County in this State was named in his honor. Dr. Draper says he was buried in the forks of the Tugalo and Chauga, Oconee County, South Carolina, but his grave with a stone marking it is in the churchyard of New Hope Baptist Church , near Staunton, Wilkes County, North Carolina, according to several recent statements of Col. J. H. Taylor, the father of Mrs. John Stansbury, of Boone. However, some claim that this is Robert Cleveland's grave-stone. So much for two versions of Riddle's death.

But there is still another, for Col. W. W. Presnell, for many years register of deeds for Watauga County and a brave one-armed Confederate soldier, still points out at the foot of a ridge north of James Blair's residence, on Brushy Fork Creek, two low rock cliffs, between which and the hollow just east hollow just east of them

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stood until recently a large white-thorn tree upon which W. H. Dugger and other reputable citizens of a past day said Cleveland had hanged Riddle and three of his companions. Certain it is, according to Dr. Draper (p. 445), that "Colonel Cleveland was active at this period in sending out strong scouting parties to scour the mountain regions, and, if possible, utterly break up the Tory bands still infesting the frontiers." Others say that two of these men were named Sneed and the third was named Warren.

The Killing of Charles Asher.-- Col. Joseph C. Shull has among his papers grant No. 841 to Charles Asher to 300 acres of land in the county of Washington, on both sides of the Watauga River, dated the 11th day of July, 1788. Charles Asher located this land at what was afterwards and still is known as Shull's Mills in Watauga County, North Carolina, after having married one of the daughters of Samuel Hix, the Tory who settled first at Valle Crucis and afterwards hid out at the Lybrook place near Banner's Elk. His son was surprised in his new log cabin in what is now colonel Shull's orchard, by Joseph White's men soon after the close of the Revolutionary War.(1) Asher ran, but was shot and killed, his body falling where it was buried, near Colonel Shull's cow barn in the meadow in front of his residence.

Benjamin Howard.-- This gentleman was the first transient boarder in the vicinity of Boone, for he built the cabin which stood in front of the Boy's Dormitory of the Appalachian Training School and on the site of which Col. W. L. Bryan had erected a substantial monument. Howard's home was near Elkville on the Yadkin, but as he herded cattle in the valley of New River, he built this hut for the accommodation of himself and his herder. When too hotly pressed by the Whigs or American Patriots, Howard sheltered himself in a cave at the base of a long, low cliff a quarter of a mile north of the knob above the
__________
Note: (1) Joseph White was a major in Col. Joseph McDowell's regiment after the Revolutionary War (Col. Rec., Vol. XXII, p. 460), and went on three tours with small detatchments on the north-west side of the Blue Ridge. (Id., p. 99.) In "North Carolina: A History," published by Edward Buncombe Chapter D.A. R., it is erroneously stated (p. 100) that White also was killed. White is mentioned by Doctor Draper, pp. 149-199 and 257, while on page 474 it is stated that White probably commanded a company at King's Mountain.

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town of Boone which has borne his name for years. His daughter, Sallie, when still a child, is said to have endured a severe switching rather than reveal his whereabouts when met in the road one day by a band of men in search of her parent. She married Jordan Councill the first. Her father took the oath of allegiance to the United States in 1778, however (Col. Rec. Vol. XXII, p. 172), and Miss Sallie soon afterwards became a staunch American herself.

Edward Moody, Patriot.-- Under a large white-oak tree, two feet in diameter, on a sunny ridge overlooking the site of his earthly home, is a rather small, white marble stone bearing the following meager inscription:

EDW'D MOODY,
HOWE'S, VA.
MIL. REV. WAR.

When one reflects that this memorial was erected by the government of the United States on the Fourth day of July, 1910, in the presence of the largest gathering of people that has ever taken place in Watauga County, and remembers that the stone is intended to mark the grave of one of the heroes of the American Revolution, one's heart does not swell with any great amount of pride or gratitude. Yet, that is all there is to mark the last resting place of a brave man who shed his blood that these United States might be free! That is all to tell coming generations that here lies the dust of a patriot and a gentleman. Even the dates of his birth and death have been forgotten. But while he lived no man stood higher in the love and respect of all who knew him. He was the husband of "the Widow Moody" to whom the Rev. Henry H. Prout paid a glowing tribute in the "Life of W. W. Skiles."

William Jonas Braswell, Hero.-- In a lonely field now owned by W. H. and Harstin Ollis, under two hickory trees, a third of a mile above the old Gen. Albertus Childs' place on Three Mile Creek, is another one of these "monuments" at the unveiling or dedication of which our great government occasionally invites

its citizens to be present. It contains an even more economical inscription than that of poor Edward Moody. It follows:

WM. BRASWELL,
M. C. MIL.,
REV. WAR.

"That's the crap," as our farmers say in derision of a small offering. This was unveiled to the light of day and to the indignation of all right-think people in 1913, the crowd in attendance numbering nearly five hundred. That seems to be all this great and powerful government cold find out about this dead hero, now without a vote. But others remember something else of him, John Wise, born May 9, 1835, relating that Braswell lived on Lower Creek in Burke County, and hunted through the country lying between that locality and Black Mountain, in what is now Yancey. He had relatives in Pensacola, near Big Tom Wilson's old home, "under the Black." When a very old man, Braswell, his wife and a girl names Yarber started late one fall from Lower Creek to Pensacola to visit people named Mace, relatives of his wife, probably. They had to spend the night in camp under a rock on a high ridge leading up from Burke to the Linville country, then and now a much used highway for local travel, a wagon road now replacing the former trail. They could not procure fire, and cold-snap coming on, the old man "froze down," to us Captain Wise's forceful phrase. When the chill morning dawned his wife and the Yarber girl met Jacob and William Carpenter at the ford of Linville River, to which point they had hastened through the darkness, seeking aid. The women went onto Carpenter's house in the meadow in front of Captain Wise's present residence, while the two Carpenter men hastened on to the camp rock, where Braswell was found, very low, but still alive. Placing him on a horse, they mananged to keep him there by walking on each side of him and holding him in the saddle till they reached home. There he died after having revived for a short time, and was buried where the so-called "monument: now stands. His name was William

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Jonas Braswell, but to have spelled all that out on a tomb-stone would have required, at five cents a letter, at least fifty cents more: Hence, etc. The present wagon road does not pass very near the old camp rocks, but there are still remembered, while the high ridge on which they stand have preserved that part of a hero's name which a niggard nation consigned to oblivion, for it has been called ever since "Jonas' Ridge."

William Davis.--What?-- Hero: Patriot: Let us see. His grave is near the road in front of the Gen. ?Albertus Childs' house on Three Mile Creek, now owned and occupied by Robert Moseley. Two common "mountain rocks" mark the place of his burial. Two other graves beside his are similarly designated. No munificent government, proud of his record, has "sought his frailties: or his virtues "to disclose." Why? For he was a soldier of the Revolutionary War as well as those over whose ashes grave-stones have been erected. Who knows? Probably a bit of red-tape was missing somewhere. maybe his name does not appear on any roster or muster roll. Yet, in the congressional Library, at the nation's capital, is an allegorical painting called "History." It represents a gray-haired sire telling the story of the past to his son, and this son selling the same story with additions to his son, and so on down the line till the printed page is reached. The name of that oral story is "Tradition." Well, tradition says that William Davis was not only a brave soldier, but a mighty hunter as well, when the wilderness was to be conquered and weaklings stayed at home and sneered at the illiterate and lowly. Davis came to America with William Wiseman and William Penley long before the Revolution. He settled first in Virginia and afterwards came to Ashe County, where he married Frances Carpenter, sister of the first Jacob Carpenter. Then he moved to what is still called Davis Mountain, near Crossnore, on the upper waters of Linville River. When the game was exhausted there, he moved to Three Mile Creek and built four log houses "all in a row," with communicating doors between and a chimney at each end. Standing before a blazing fire in one end of the house, with the three intervening doors open, one looks through four large, low-ceiled

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comfortable rooms to cherry-red flames leaping up the chimney at the father end--one of the "fairest pictures of calm content that mortal ever saw." The date of the building of this old structure i recorded on one of the inside logs, but it has been ceiled over and cannot now be seen. But it was made there many, many years ago. The present Jacob Carpenter, his grand-nephew, of Altamont, knows the date of his birth and death, but they would cost the United States some "good money" to have them carved on a 12 X 24 inch stone. Davis died November 18, 1841, when 114 years of age. Still, as he had no middle name, it does seem that the Government, with a big G, might "sort of look after" uncle Billy, who fought his battles for him before Uncle Sam was born, he having been shot through the hips at King's Mountain. His wife, who sleeps beside him, was certainly a heroine, whether Uncle Billy was a hero or no, for on one occasion, in February, while in a sugar camp on Davis Mountain, he had to be away from her on a cold night. One of her cows found a calf that night, and Mrs. Davis brought it to camp with her and fought off the wolves with fire-brands till morning.

A Revolutionary Welshman.-- On the south fork of New River, on Harvey Phillip's farm at McGuire post office, is the grave of a soldier of the Revolutionary War. His name is Jones, but the given name has been lost. That he was a Welshman is implied by his name. Close by him sleeps Benjamin Blackburn, another Revolutionary soldier, from whom has descended a long line of useful and honored citizens.

Mose Yarber.-- The United States has also been equally generous to her dead and gone soldier of the War of 1812, for, in the same graveyard which holds the ashes of Edward Moody, our great government has erected another monument, which, at five cents a letter, including apostrophes, must have cost at least thirty cents more than did Edward Moody's. But it managed to spell out his full name, instead of contracting it as it did with the latter's given name, recording it as Edw'd, instead of Edward, thus saving at least five cents, assuming that the comma cost a nickle. As the enduring marble embalms his name and record, we have the following:
 

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MOSES YARBER
McNEIL'S CO.
S. C. MIL.
WAR 1812.

These abbreviations stand for whatever the reader may elect to attribute to them, the punctuation rendering the following story as intelligible as any: "Moses Yarber McNeai's County, saw cow Millie Warranted 1812.

Two of Yarber's daughters live within two miles of his grave, Jemimah and Catharine, the former having been born April 27, 1825, and the latter February 18, 1830. Moses was blessed with other children also--William, born February 23, 1810; Annie, born July 15, 1816; Mary Ann,, born June 9, 1818--but they have been dead a number of years. Moses himself died November 30, 1867. But just think what an unheard-of sum it would have cost our Government--again that bid G--to have s=recorded that fact--with every abbreviation possible, sixty-five cents! His daughters knew the date of his death when, on the 4th day of July, 1910, this stone was erected. They knew also that Moses had married Elizabeth Edwards, a daughter of Henry Edwards, of Darlington District, South Carolina, and a soldier of the Revolutionary War. Thus, these two old ladies, in poverty and alone, have the proud consciousness that their father's full name will be preserves as long as that gravestone endures, if only posterity has the intelligence to guess that his name was Yarber and not McNeil, but what interpretation it will give to the balance of the inscription must always be problematical. Moses and his family moved to Flat Top, now Linville City, about 1838, and from there to their present home in 1855. They have note voted, these good women; if they had, it is likely that they would have also a pension apiece. Sic transit!

Two Old Tory Knobs.-- On Riddle's Fork of Meat Camp are two knobs or peaks which are known, one as Hangman's Knob and the other as Wiley's Knob, from the fact which tradition still mantains, that at their bases two Tories, hiding out during the Revolutionary War, made their headquarters. They were, doubtless, a part of Riddle's gang.

Old Battle in Watauga?-- In Robert Love's pension papers it is said that "he was in command of a party of Americans in 1780 against a party of Tories in July of that year." This band of Tories was composed of about 150 men, and they were routed up New River at the Big Glades, now (1833) in Ashe County, North Carolina, as they were on their way to join Cornwallis." Col. W. L. Bryan says that the Big Glades were on the south fork of New River, near Deep Gap.

Guarded Major Andre.-- Nathan Horton, whose grave-stone in three Forks churchyard records the fact that he was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, according to a tradition still preserved in his own family, guarded Major Andre when the latter was executed for treason, at which time he carried a shotgun loaded with one ball ald 3 buckshot. A fine old Grandfather clock of mahogany, with elaborate face and works, brought by Nathan Horton from New Jersey when he emigrated to Ashe soon after the Revolution, is now in the home of j. Crit. Horton, on New River, five miles from Boone.

Following are the names of other Revolutionary soldiers who lived and died in Watauga: Benjamin Bingham, great uncle of Hon. Thomas Bingham, who is said to have fired the last gun at Yorktown, Va.; John Adams, born in France and came over with Lafayette's soldiers as a drummer-boy of sixteen years, remaining, concealed in a flour barrel, at Philadelphia, when Lafayette returned to France; the brothers, George, Absalom and William Smith, were in the Virginia army and at Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown.