*"This,"  writes  the  venerable  historian,  Dr.  J.  G.  M.  Ramsey,  "is  the  tradition  of
the  country,  and  I  fully  believe  it."— MS.  letter.  June  21st,  1880

•fit  is  not  altogether  certain  that  the  over-mountain  men  camped  here  the  first  night;
but  such  is  the  tradition,  and  such  the  probabilities.  If  they  did  not,  then  they  went  on
beyond  the  mountain  summit,  accomplishing  some  twenty-eight  miles,  which,  with  the
trouble  of  driving  cattle,  would  seem  quite  improbable.      It   is   only  by  concluding   that


AND  ITS  HEROES.  Vll

The  next  morning,  Wednesday,  the  twentj'-seventh,
probably  weary  of  driving  the  cattle,  some  of  which  had
stampeded,  they  killed  such  as  were  necessary  for  a  tempo-
rary supply  of  meat,  thus  considerably  delaying  the  march
that  day.  Relieved  of  this  encumbrance,  they  pressed  for-
ward some  four  miles,  when  they  reached  the  base  of
the  Yellow  and  Roan  Mountains.  "The  next  day"
—  evidently  after  leaving  the  Sycamore  Shoals, — says
Ensign  Robert  Campbell's  diary,  "we  ascended  the  moun-
tain;" which  they  did,  following  the  well-known  Brighfs
Trace,  through  a  gap  between  the  Yellow  Mountain  on  the
north,  and  Roan  Mountain  on  the  south.  The  ascent  was
not  very  difficult  along  a  common  foot-path.  As  they
receded  from  the  lovely  and  verdant  Crab  Orchard  vallej^,
"they  found,'' says  Campbell's  diary,  "the  sides  and  top
of  the  mountain  covered  with  snow,  shoe-mouth  deep ;  and
on  the  summit,"  adds  the  same  diarist,  "there  were  about
a  hundred  acres  of  beautiful  table-land,  in  which  a  spring
issued,  ran  through  it,  and  over  into  the  Watauga."  Here
the  volunteers  paraded,  under  their  respective  commanders,
and  were  ordered  to  discharge  their  rifles ;  and  such  was
the  rarity  of  the  atmosphere,  that  there  was  little  or  no
report.*  This  body  of  table-land  on  the  summit  of  the
mountain  has  long  been  known  as  "  The  Bald  Place, ^''  or,
"  The  Bald  of  the  Tellowr

An  incident  transpired  while  the  troops  were  at  "  the
Bald"  that  exerted  no  small  influence  on  the  campaign.
