On the day the militia left, Buchanan sent two scouts, Jonathan Gee and Seward Clayton, out into the countryside to find out what they could, but the two men did not return. Around the same time, John Watts had dispatched his own scouts, John Walker and George Fields, both mixed-race Cherokee men who were dressed like settlers, as part of an advance party. Clayton and Gee encountered the advance party and were killed, allowing Watts and his men to proceed toward Buchanan's Station undetected.
