THOMAS, Isaac, scout, born in Virginia about 1735; died in Sevierville, Tennessee, in 1819. He early engaged in trading with the Indians, and about 1755 located among the Cherokees, in the vicinity of Fort Loudon. He was a man of immense strength and courage, and these qualities secured him great respect among the Indians. It is related that he once interfered in a feud between two Cherokee braves who had drawn their tomahawks to hew each other in pieces. He wrenched the weapons from their hands, when both set upon him at once, and he cooled their heated valor by lifting one after the other into the air and tossing them into Tellico river. One of these braves subsequently saved his life at the Fort London massacre, of which it is said that he and two others were the sole survivors. When peace returned he again settled among the Cherokees, having his home at their capital, Echota, where, in a logcabin, he kept the trader's usual stock of powder and lead, guns, traps, and other articles of value to the Indians. He was in high favor with Nancy Ward, the Cherokee prophetess, who was very friendly to the white settlers. She informed him early in 1776 of the hostile designs of the Indians, and on the 30th of May said to him" "Send my white brothers word to be ready, for the bolt will fall very soon, and at midnight." He sent off at once a trusty messenger to John Sevier and James Robertson at Watauga, but remained behind till the actual outbreak of hostilities. At midnight on 7 July, 1776, Nancy Ward came again to his cabin to urge his immediate departure for the settlements. At the imminent risk of his life he made the journey, and a few days later was with the little garrison of forty that repelled the attack of Oconostota on the fort at Watauga. It is questionable if Sevier could have resisted the overpowering force that was brought against him if he had not received timely warning through Isaac Thomas. Soon afterward he piloted the expedition that laid waste the Indian country, and subsequently, for twenty years, he acted as guide to General Sevier in nearly all of his many campaigns against the Creeks and Cherokees. Soon after the Revolution he relinquished trade with the Indians, and settled upon an extensive farm in Sevier county. He called the settlement which grew up about his station Sevierville, in honor of his general, and the place is now one of the most beautiful localities in the state of Tennessee.