AFTERMATH OF THE CHEROKEE WAR Although the termination of the war ended the Indian threat to white occupation of the upcountry, lawlessness posed a threat. After two years of war with its dislocation of society, crime and chaos prevailed. Idleness in the stockades bred a contempt for the rights of others. The abandoned homes invited pilferage. Horse stealing became common. Cattle were killed or stolen. It was easier to steal than to work. As Dr. Ramsay concludes, "It had tainted the principles of many of the inhabitants, so as to endanger the peace and happiness of society." Unhappily the existing colonial government was inadequate to the task of restoring law and order in the upcountry. The closest court was 150 miles away in Charleston. The only local authorities were the justices of the peace who lacked criminal jurisdiction; they could only issue warrants for arrest. Prosecutors and witnesses had to make the long trek to Charleston for trial. The expense of transporting the criminal to that city was great and the chances of escape en route were many. Once there, the course of justice was unpredictable. If convicted, the criminal stood an excellent chance of being pardoned by the colonial governor. Although taxed for the support of the Church of England, the settlers of the upcountry had no established church - nor did they have schools, or roads, or representatives in the all-powerful Commons House of Assembly. Lands were taxed by the later but the abuse of the taxing power over the upcountry by the coastal section was more arbitrary than that of the House of Commons over the colonies. Gangs of outlaws lived on the fringes of the settlements and preyed upon the respectable farmers. The outlaws were absconded debtors, idlers, gamblers, unsavory refugees from northern colonies, deserters from the military forces, settlers ruined by the war; they were often mulattoes, Negroes, and half-breeds of white and Indian origins. These outlaw camps were of both sexes - when natural conditions did not furnish enough female recruits, the villains resorted to abduction. Woodmason says that thirty-five girls were once recaptured but had "grown too abandoned ever to be reclaimed." Govey and George Black, born in Fredericksburg Township on the Wateree River, were leaders of a desperate gang that terrorized the Fork of the Broad and Saluda after the Cherokee War. On june 16, 1767, they shot Captain Robert Buzzard at his home on Cannon's Creek, left him wounded, and then returned to steal his horses and household possessions. They then "Proceeded to the House of one Wilson, burned him in a shocking manner with Light wood and red hot Irons, and then took from him every Thing of Value he had." "Twelve days later Dennis Hayes, an aged storekeeper of Beaver Dam, received a visit from the gang. About nine o'clock at night, seven or eight men, all painted like Indians, pushed into his house. They tied the old man's hands behind his back looted 3000 (pounds) worth of goods, and before leaving ravished Mrs. Hayes and her ten-year-old daughter." ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com