Stuart and Cameron could no longer influence the Indians.

"All that could now be done was to give them strict charge not to pass the Boundary Line, not to injure any of the King's faithful subjects, not to kill any women and children"; and to threaten to "stop all ammunition" if they did not obey these orders.
The major part of the Watauga militia went out to meet the Indians and defeated a large advance force at Long Island Flats on the Holston.

The Watauga fort, where many of the settlers had taken refuge, contained forty fighting men under Robertson and Sevier.

As Indians usually retreated and waited for a while after a defeat, those within the fort took it for granted that no immediate attack was to be expected; and the women went out at daybreak into the fields to milk the cows.

Suddenly the war whoop shrilled from the edge of the clearing.