Page 69 - ASM Book 9/2020

63
BAattle at Kings Mountain Led to Final Victory
volunteer force of 900 Overmountain Men defeated British Major Patrick Ferguson’s 1,018 man loyalist regiment on a small mountain that straddles the North and South Carolina border on October 7, 1780. Their victory was the first link in a chain of events that ultimately led to the surrender of the British Army 12 months and 12 days later at Yorktown, Virginia.
The Overmountain Men became outraged when they received a message from British Major Ferguson. The message read: “If you do not desist your opposition to the British Arms, I shall march this army over the mountains, hang your leaders, and lay waste to your country with fire and sword.”
Isaac Shelby
and John Sevier,
prominent militia
leaders in the
region, sent word
for volunteers
who wanted to
confront Major
Ferguson to meet
at Sycamore Shoals
in North Carolina
on September 25.
The frontiersmen
came from the hills
and valleys west of
the Appalachian
Mountains of North
Carolina, Tennessee,
Virginia, South
Carolina and Georgia.
On September 26, more than a thousand angry men started marching towards Kings Mountain. Most were on horseback, the rest walked.
After they arrived at Kings Mountain on October 7, they immediately surrounded the small mountain and began their Indian style assault – shooting from behind trees and rocks with their Kentucky and Pennsylvania long rifles. When the 65 minute battle ended, 157 of Ferguson’s men were killed, 163 wounded and the remaining 698 were captured. The patriot losses included 28 killed, 62 wounded and none captured.
Major Ferguson was killed during the battle. He made an easy target for the Overmountain Men by riding his horse wearing a green and white checked duster-shirt over his uniform. He was buried on the battlefield.
It was an unexpected but satisfying victory that provided a giant leap in America’s struggle for independence. Thomas Jefferson called the Kings Mountain victory, “the turn of the tide of success” in the War
for Independence.
“Let each one of you be your own officer, and do the very best you can, taking every care you can of yourselves, and availing yourselves of every advantage that chance may throw in your way. If in the woods, shelter yourselves, and give them Indian play; advance from tree to tree, pressing the enemy
and killing and disabling all you can.”
- Isaac Shelby, Overmountain Leader