Rutherford's regiment rendezvoused at Fort McGahey with the Guilford and Surry County regiments under Colonels James Martin and Martin Armstrong on July 23, 1776. From there, the three groups traveled through the Blue Ridge Mountains at the Swannanoa Gap, passed up the valley of Hominy Creek, and crossed the Pigeon River. They then passed through Richland Creek, near the present day town of Waynesville, North Carolina, and crossed the Tuckasegee River near an Indian settlement. They moved further onwards towards the Cowee Gap, where they had a small engagement with a band of Cherokee, in which one of Rutherford's men was wounded. After that conflict, they marched to the Overhill Cherokee Middle Towns (on the Tennessee River), where he met General Andrew Williamson of South Carolina on September 14 at Hiwassee. Williamson was on a similar mission and readily joined forces with the original three regiments.