Battle of Kings Mountain
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The Battle of Kings Mountain, October 7, 1780, was an important Patriot victory in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War. Frontier militia overwhelmed the loyalist militia led by Major Patrick Ferguson. In The Winning of the West, Theodore Roosevelt wrote of Kings Mountain, "This brilliant victory marked the turning point of the American Revolution."
For the Patriots, there was no overall command structure. Colonels William Campbell, John Sevier, Joseph McDowell, Benjamin Cleveland, James Williams, and Isaac Shelby each appeared in command of parts of their militia units. Even some of lesser rank, such as Captain Joseph Winston, Edward Lacey, and Frederick Hambright commanded mostly autonomous units.
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[edit] Background
After the defeat of Horatio Gates's army at the Battle of Camden, British General Cornwallis was convinced that Georgia and South Carolina were under British control, and he began plans to move into North Carolina. However, a brutal civil war between colonists continued to rage in South Carolina. The Whig frontiersmen, led by a group of self-proclaimed colonels of the rebellion—Isaac Shelby, Elijah Clarke, and Charles McDowell—conducted hit-and-run raids on Loyalist outposts. To protect his western flank, Cornwallis gave Major Patrick Ferguson command of the Loyalist militia.
Cornwallis invaded North Carolina on September 9, 1780, and reached Charlotte on September 26. Ferguson followed and established a base camp at Gilbertown and issued a challenge to the Patriot leaders to lay down their arms or he would, "Lay waste to their country with fire and sword." But the tough-talking words only outraged the Appalachian frontiersmen, who decided to bring the battle to Ferguson rather than wait for him to come to them. They crossed over the mountains and thus were called the "Overmountain Men".
[edit] Forces
With the exception of Major Daniel all of the participants of the battle were Americans, as the forces under his command were composed entirely of Loyalists. Ferguson commanded over 1,000 well-trained Loyalist milita. The Patriots, about 900 strong, were under the command of frontier colonels.
[edit] Battle
The battle opened on October 7, 1780, when 900 frontiersmen, including John Crockett, the father of Davy Crockett and Maj. Gilbert Christian, one of Tennessee's earliest settlers and leader of the "Over Mountain Men", approached the base of Kings Mountain at dawn. The rebels formed eight groups of 100 to 200 men. Two parties, led by Colonels John Sevier and William Campbell, assaulted the 'high heel' of the mountain, the smallest area but highest point, while the other six groups, led by Colonels Shelby, Williams, Cleveland, McDowell, and Winston, attacked the main Loyalist position around the 'ball' base beside the 'heel' crest of the mountain.
The Patriots crept up the hill and fired on the scarlet-clad Loyalists from behind rocks and trees. Ferguson rallied his troops and launched a bayonet charge against Campbell and Sevier's men. With no bayonets of their own, the rebels retreated down the hill and into the woods. But Campbell rallied his troops, returned to the base of the hill, and resumed firing. Two more times, Ferguson launched bayonet attacks. During one of the charges, Colonel Williams was killed and Colonel McDowell wounded. But after each charge, the frontiersmen returned to the base of the hill and resumed shooting. It was hard for the Loyalists to find a target because the Patriots were constantly moving.
After several hours of combat, Loyalist casualties were heavy. Ferguson rode back and forth across the hill, blowing a silver whistle he used to signal charges. Growing desperate, he slipped on a plaid shirt to cover his officer's coat. A soldier saw this and alerted his comrades immediately. At the crest, as the Patriots overran the Loyalist position, a dozen rifle balls struck Ferguson, and he fell dead from his saddle.
Seeing their leader fall, Loyalists lost heart and began to raise their arms in surrender. Eager to avenge defeats at the Waxhaw Massacre and elsewhere, the rebels were in no mood to take prisoners. Rebels continued firing and shouted, "Give 'em Tarleton's Quarter!" But after a few more minutes of bloodletting, the colonels asserted control and gave quarter to almost 700.
[edit] Aftermath
On the Loyalist side, 157 were killed and 163 seriously wounded, and the remainder, 698, surrendered. The Patriot casualties were 28 killed and 62 wounded. Loyalist prisoners well enough to walk were herded to camps several miles from the battlefield. The dead and wounded were left on the field. The Patriots hanged as many as nine Loyalists who had changed sides. Other accounts say that the Tories were tried before North Carolina judges for violation of the state's criminal laws. Those who were hanged were convicted of such crimes as arson, house breaking and murder of civilians.
Joseph Greer of the Watauga Settlement (or Watauga Association in what is today the city of Elizabethton located in Carter County, Tennessee) undertook a 600 mile (950 km), month-long expedition to notify the Continental Congress of the British defeat at the battle; he arrived in Philadelphia on November 7, 1780.[1] Greer's report of the American Patriot victory at Kings Mountain "re-energized a downtrodden Continental Congress."[2]
In 1931, the Congress of the United States created the Kings Mountain National Military Park on the site of the battle. The park headquarters is in Blacksburg, South Carolina, and hosts over a quarter million visitors each year.
[edit] External links
- National Park web pages
- Description of the Battle
- Roan Mountain (Tennessee) Citizens Club - Overmountain Men Celebration
- "'Kings Mountain Messenger' bravery remembered by few". Kate Howard. The Tennessean. July 4, 2006.
- Georgia Participants at Kings Mountain (offered by Georgia Society, Sons of the American Revolution)
[edit] Further reading
- Pat Aldreman; "Overmountain Men"; 1986, Overmountain Press, (juvenile literature), ISBN 0-932807-15-1; Papberback, ISBN 0-932807-16-X.
- Lyman Draper; " King's Mountain and Its Heroes: History of the Battle of King's Mountain"; 1996, Overmountain Press, ISBN 1-57072-060-6.
- J. David Damerob; "Kings Mountain: The Defeat of the Loyalists October 7, 1780"; 2003, DaCapo Press, ISBN 0-306-81194-4.
- Bobby G. Moss; "Patriots at Kings Mountain"; 1990, Scotia Hibernia Press, Paperback, ISBN 0-9626172-0-2.
- Bobby G. Moss; "Roster of the Loyalists in the Battle of Kings Mountain"; 1998, Scotia Hibernia Press, Paperback, ISBN 0-9626172-4-5.
