those submissions. As he later related to a British writer, however, Hamilton discovered that "although many of the people came in to take the oath of allegiance, the professions of a considerable number were not to be depended upon; and that some came in only for the purpose of gaining information on his strength and future designs. In various quarters, he met with opposition and all their places of strength held out until they were reduced. The reduction of most of these was not, however, a work of great difficulty, as they consisted only of stockade forts, calculated for defense against the Indians."(n34) Dooly, and whatever men would follow him, withdrew to South Carolina to seek help. Dooly, now a militia colonel without a state, faced a particular problem in finding allies in South Carolina. During the previous summer's Indian troubles, more than five hundred South Carolina militiamen had come to Wilkes County's aid under Gen. Andrew Williamson, originally an illiterate cattle driver from near Dooly's former home at Ninety Six who had risen to wealth and prominence before the war. The South Carolinians failed to discover any hostile Creeks, or even Dooly and his Georgia militiamen; they only found local people who overcharged them for provisions. Williamson wrote to his subordinates that Dooly could not be trusted and to avoid having any future dealings with him. Now, Dooly needed help from those same men.(n35) Dooly made an appeal to Andrew Pickens, colonel of the Upper Ninety Six Regiment and Williamson's long time subordinate. Pickens and his command were guarding the Carolina frontier against the Cherokees while Williamson and the rest of his brigade were trying to block the British forces at Augusta from entering South Carolina. Pickens brought two hundred men to Dooly's aid but, once in Georgia, he insisted upon and received command of all of their forces. Together they pursued Hamilton's and Campbell's horsemen across Wilkes County, northeast to southwest, from Thomas Waters's plantation, near the mouth of the Broad River, to Heard's Fort. They finally caught up with and besieged their prey at Robert Carr's Fort, near the Little River and the last outpost in Wilkes County that the horsemen intended to visit. After an attempt to entrap the Loyalists between the fort and his men failed, Pickens had the fort's water supply cut off as he prepared to use a burning wagon and even cannons