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THE BATTLE AT KING’S MOUNTAIN
October 7, 1780

GENERAL LORD CHARLES CORNWALLIS was a general of the British
army. After winning many battles in the South, in early 1780 he had begun his
move into North Carolina. One of his Majors was PATRICK FERGUSON.
FERGUSON was successful in recruiting several thousand “up country” Loyalist
to “punish” rebel settlements.

Beyond the mountains in Western North Carolina in what is today called
Tennessee lived hardy frontier folk often referred as “over the mountain” men.
Many of these men joined with North Carolina Partisans to fight the Loyalist.
Major FERGUSON raided some of the settlements of these mountain people and
warned them that unless they ceased their opposition to royal authority he would

cross the mountains and destroy their homes. That was a mistake for by doing
that he won only the intense hatred of these mountain people and they assembled
a force to fight him in North Carolina before he could cross over the mountains.

In North Carolina the Patriots had only a force of about 1,000 but soon they were
joined with 400 Virginians and 240 who came from “over the mountains”. This
entire force consisted of tough frontiersmen; men who could ride a horse through
the woods, were crack shots with rifles, and were accustomed to hardships.

England’s MAJOR FERGUSON observed all these rebel volunteers gathering
and was feeling the pressure of a possible attack. He began trying to move closer
to CORNWALLIS’ troupes but in order to reach them he had to cross by Kings
Mountain, a wooded and rocky spur of the Blue Ridge mountains. Enroute he

stopped to rest his men and selected as a resting place a position on top of Kings
Mountain 600 yards long, 70 yards wide on one end and 120 yards wide on the
other. This space could easily accommodate his force of 900.

After marching through a rainy night and morning, the rebels arrived near Kings
Mountain on October 7th. When they were about a mile away, they hitched their
horses and moved into attack position. Their approach was so quiet and
FERGUSON’s security was so poor that the rebels were within one quarter mile
before the first shot was fired. Coming up the mountain one of the rebel
commanders shouted, “Here are the boys. Shout like hell and fight like devils.”

Ch. 10 Pg. 7