Kings Mountain

"By 1780 the northern campaign of the American Revolutionary War had been fought to a stalemate so England turned its military strategy toward the South.  The tactic seemed simple: re-establish the southern royal colonies, march north to join loyalist troops at the Chesapeake Bay, and claim the seaboard.  But a sudden battle in the wilderness exposed the folly of England's scheme and changed the course of this nation."

~ Excerpt from the N.P.S. Kings Mountain brochure

Yesterday on a beautiful fall day I set out to explore a Revolutionary battlefield that I had never heard of.  Few American history textbooks mention Kings Mountain.  Yet the video I saw at its National Park stated that the road to Yorktown (and General Cornwallis' surrender) began at Kings Mountain.

"It may be doubted by some whether the Invasion of North Carolina may be a prudent measure, but I am convinced it is a necessary one and that if we do not attack that Province, we must give up both South Carolina and Georgia."

~ Major General Charles Cornwallis

British Major Patrick Ferguson 

British General Cornwallis sent Major Patrick Ferguson north from Charleston into western North Carolina.

In a simultaneous push to the east, Lt. Col. Banastre Tarlteton outraged many North Carolinians by giving no quarter to patriots when they attempted to surrender at Waxham.  Now known as the Waxham Massacre, 263 Americans under the command of Colonel Abraham Buford were either killed or grievously wounded.

Major General Cornwallis, Major Patrick Ferguson and Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton

As Ferguson traveled through western Carolina, he raised a battalion of southern loyalists.

Ferguson invented the Ferguson Breech Loading Rifle.

Then he sent a message to the "over-the-mountain" patriots of the Smoky Mountains, threatening to kill them all if they did not submit to his demands.  Enraged, the Scotch-Irish backwoodsmen vowed to finish Ferguson once and for all.  And they did!

The park ranger demonstrates how to load the rifle.

Both sides were almost evenly matched.  British forces numbered 1,000 while the patriots, also called Whigs, had 900 men.

Ferguson chose the high summit of Kings Mountain (named for a settler and not King George III) to stand his ground.

On October 6, 1780, Ferguson sent a dispatch to Cornwallis and Tarleton who were in Charlotte 40 miles away, asking for their help.  Neither responded.

On October 7th, patriots reached the base of Kings Mountain and surrounded the hill.

Colonist leaders included Col. William Campbell, Col. Isaac Shelby and Col. John Sevier. 

"When we encounter the enemy, don't wait for a word of command.  Let each of you be your own officer, and do the very best you can...If in the woods, shelter yourselves and give them Indian play; advance from tree to tree...killing and disabling all you can."

~ Colonel Isaac Shelby

They used their skill as backwoods men to mount an assault, tree by tree, against Ferguson's men.

"This distinguished race of men are more savage than the Indians, and possess everyone of their vices, but not one of their virtues.  I have known...these fellows to travel 200 miles through the woods never keeping any road or path, guided by the sun by day, and the stars by night, to kill a particular person of the opposite party."

~ George Hanger, British officer

Cornwallis noted that fighting the over-the-mountain men was like "sitting naked on a hornet's nest.

With cries of "Give 'em Buford's play," referring to the commander who lost so many men in Tarleton's Waxham Massacre, the patriots attacked the summit.

"These things are ominous---these are damned yelling boys!"

~ Abraham De Peyster, New York loyalist officer

"Fire as quick as you can, and stand your ground as long as you can.  When you can do no better, get behind trees or retreat; but I beg you not to run quite off.  If we are repulsed, let us make a point of returning, and renewing the fight."

~ Benjamin Cleveland, North Carolina patriot leader

The loyalist men were not equipped with Ferguson breech loading rifles.  They found that their shots went high.  So they fixed their bayonets to the end of their rifles and charged down the hill, only to be beaten back time after time by the Americans.

"Ben Hollingsworth and myself took right up the side of the mountain, and fought our way from tree to tree, up to the summit.  I recalled I stood behind one tree and fired until the bark was nearly all knocked off and my eyes pretty well filled with it.  One fellow shaved me pretty close, for his bullet took a piece out of my gun stock.  Before I was aware of it, I found myself apparently between my own regiment and the enemy, as I judged by seeing the paper the Whigs wore in their hats and the pine twigs the Tories wore in theirs.

~ Thomas Young, 16 years old, South Carolina patriot

One of Ferguson's two mistresses, Virginia Paul, mounted a horse and rode down the hill, stopping long enough to tell the colonists that Ferguson was wearing a checkered shirt.  His other lady, Virginia Sal, was killed at the summit.

The grave of Major Patrick Ferguson

Many of Ferguson's loyalists, realizing that they were fighting neighbors and friends, switched sides during the battle.

"History has done scant justice to its significance, which rightly should place it beside Lexington and Bunker, Trenton and Yorktown, as one of the crucial engagements in our long struggle for independence."

~ President Herbert Hoover, dedication speech at the opening of Kings Mountain National Park

On such a peaceful fall day, I could hardly imagine the killing and chaos of October 7, 1780.  But I'm glad the patriots prevailed.