cold and hunger. Some of the men who separated from the main body perished.
At what date Major Lewis and other survivors of the expedition returned to the settlements, we have not found stated. Governor Dinwiddle alludes to their return, in a letter to Washington, dated April 8th. He takes no blame to himself, but indulges in sarcasm towards Lewis. "Major Lewis," he says, "and his men are returned, having done nothing essential. I believe they did not know the way to the Shawnesse towns. I expect him in town to give an account of his march, &c." To Governor Dobbs he writes, April 13: "The expedition against the Shawnesse proved unsuccessful. They were gone upwards of a month; met with very bad weather; a great part of their provisions lost crossing a river, the canoes being overset. They were obliged to eat their horses, and are returned, having taken the Frenchmen, who I believe are of the neutrals, bound to Fort Duquesne. The commissioners that went to the Cherokees, &c., are not returned, but write me the Cherokees and Catawbas are in good humor and profess great friendship. They are ready to assist us with their warriors, if they can have a fort built for their women and children."
Fifteen of the returned Cherokees visited the Governor at Williamsburg, and he endeavored to induce the whole party, reduced to sixty, to march to Winchester and join Washington.
Andrew Lewis made his peace with the Governor. At any rate, whether in wrath or as a token of favor, he was immediately ordered to proceed to the Cherokee country, now East Tennessee, and build the fort those Indians had stipulated for as a condition of their sending reinforcements. He was directed to enlist sixty men who could use saw and axe, "taking great care to be as frugal as possible," to be much on his guard "against any surprise from the enemy lurking in the woods," and to lose no time about the business. This order was issued April 24th. Of course it required some time for Major Lewis to get ready, and in the meanwhile he was the superior military officer in Augusta.
On the 27th of April, in consequence of a report that the French and Indians had invested Winchester, the Governor called out the militia of ten counties, and Major Lewis was ordered to speed the departure of the Cherokees under Pearis to join Wash-
