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Sattle Kings mnuntain
bicentennial iEiiition
(October 7. 1900
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Kings Mountain:
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Story Of Contradiction For Many Leaders
By
ED SMITH
(EDITOR'S NOTE: ThU arti
cle, which has undergone
some revision, deletions and
additions, wos first publish
ed in the Kings Mountain
- Herald on Oct. 7. 1971, the
191st anniversary of the Bat
tle of Kings Mountain. The
author was awarded The
Smithwick Cup by the N.C.
> Society of County and Local
Historians for the story. Mr.
Smith says thot the first
) # pttblished historical account
M of the Battle of Kings Moim-
tain was written by General
Joseph Graham in the early
1800s. Generol Graham's
home Vesovius Fximace is
where the Smiths now live,
so this present orticle was
written "probably in the
; same room where General
Graham wrote his first ac
count of the Battle. I hope he
opproves of mine." Smith
said.)
The Battle of Kings Mountain
was a story of contradictions.
Few events in the history of
the two Carolinas have received
more attention from historians,
dramatists or fiction writers. Yet
much of what has been written
has been inadequate, or in error,
and despite all of this attention a
great deal of what actually hap
pened there remains a mystery
today.
The basic facts are not open to
dispute, and are in fact well
known. On October 7, 1780, a
rainy, unseasonablly-chilly
Saturday afternoon, a force of
back-country Whig militia at
tacked a force of largely back-
country Tory militia on a hilltop
near Kings Mountain, and in a
bitter one-hour battle fought at
unusually close range, totally
defeated the King’s supporters.
o
©
^ The Tories were commanded
b by a highly<ompetent British ar
my regular. Major Patrick
Ferguson, who was killed during
the fighting. The Whig forces
consisted of a number of
separate militia units from along ~
the Southern frontier, each
under its own officers but loosely
; under the command of Colonel
' William Campbell of Virginia.
o
Consequently, the time and
place of battle, its leading par
ticipants and its outcome are
well known. When one attempts
to fill in many of the details,
however, or to speculate on the
whys and wherefores, confusion
results.
^ Much of the basic research on
the Kings Mountain battle was
done long ago. Later writers
have tended to copy the earlier
findings, and unfortunately no
real m^ern effort has been
made to fit recent historical
discoveries into the overall pic
ture of Kings Mountain. This ar
ticle represents an effort to fill
out that picture in fuller detail.
o
fact, however, that not a single
member of the American force
was an active member of the
Continental Army. All were
volunteers, members of local
militia units who set out on their
own initiative, without orders
from the regular army, to take
part in the expedition against
Ferguson’s Tories. Colonels
Isaac Shelby and John Sevier
risked bankruptcy by pledging
their own resources to under
write the expedition (should the
state government refuse to
honor their expense vouchers)
and the Americans took a
desperate risk in setting out
without doctors or medical sup
plies and very short on both food
and ammunition.
On the other side. Major
Ferguson’s own 12S-man Pro
vincial Corps — though a well-
trained regular army unit — con
sisted of American-born
volunteers from New York and
New Jersey. The remainder of
his forces were local TOTy militia,
mostly new recruits.
The Battle of Kings Mountain
would be civil war, in many
cases literally kin against kin and
neighbor against neighbor. Con
sequently - as such fights usually
are - it was unusually savage in
nature, with casualty rates much
higher than the normal engage
ment df that period.
BRITISH SURPRISED
It was shortly before three
o’clock in the afternoon when
the American force caught up
with Major Ferguson in his
hilltop encampment southwest
of the main peak of Kings
Mountain. Originally their
number had totalled over 1,800
men, but fatigue, short rations
and the need for haste had thinn
ed their ranks materially. Many
of these men had travelled for
several hundred miles to get
there; others lived within sight of
Kings Mountain.
They were not expected, or
were at least ahead of schedule.
Ferguson’s intelligence activities
had given him a fairly accurate
picture of the size and makeup of
the movement against him, but
his last word had placed the fron
tiersmen some SO miles away on
Green River still gathering their
forces. Apparently the British
commander had not expected
them to move as swiftly or as
boldly as they did.
"My brave fellows, we
have beaten the Tories
before, and we con beat
them agoin ... When we
come up to the enemy, olm
os well os you can and fire
os quick os you con. and
stand your ground as long os
you con. When you con do no
better, get behind trees or
retreot, but I beg you ... don't
run offl If we ore repulsed let
us make o point of reluming
and renewing the fight."
CoL Benjamin Cleveland
For two centuries, now, the
Battle of Kings Mountain has
been regarded by historians as a
classic, textbook example of
frontier warfare.
It is also regarded as the first
battle in which rifles played a
decisive role. It is an unusual
From this point on, however,
speculation plays a major role in
any writing on the events of that
day. This is particularly true
regarding the British $i^, for
their leader did not survive the
battle and his paiiers were never
evaluated.
Historians have been puzzled
by Ferguson’s conduct at Kings
Mountain, since he was a
demonstrably-capable officer. It
has been generally believed that
he intended to fi^t a defensive
battle from atop the ridge, and
that his acceptance of battle
under those conditions was due
to over-confidence, or contempt
of the foe.
According to tradition, he is
supposed to have boasted that
neither God Almighty nor all the
rebels in hell could drive him off
the hilltop. But this could have
as easily been a corruption of his
public reassurances to the local
Tories that he would not aban
don them to the Whigs by
retreating to the protection of
Lord Cornwallis’ army at
Charlottetown. Further, though
he was one of his army’s top ex
perts on field fortifications,
Ferguson made no efforts to
establish a defensive position on
his hilltop, and in his dispatches
to Cornwallis asking for rein
forcements he clearly expressed
his intentions to “give rather
than receive” an attack. For
these reasons it may well be that
historians generally have been in
error as to the British leader’s in
tentions at Kings Mountain.
It appears logical — to this
writer at least — that Ferguson
was simply surprised and attack
ed in a temporary encampment
atop the hill by an enemy alert
enough to land the first blow.
ACCIDENTAL VlCTrORY
All did not go smoothly for
the American side either. In fact
it actually appears evident today
that Kings Mountain was as
much an accidental victory for
them as would be the case at
Cowpens some three months
later! It subtracts little credit
from the frontiersmen to say so,
however, for they quickly
adapted themselves to a changed
situation and made the most of
it.
The American plan of battle
had been to surround the British
encampment and attack from all
sides simultaneously. Had they
succeeded in doing so, the odds
are very good that the Battle of
Kings Mountain might have
reached an entirely different
conclusion with the possibilities
ranging from a British victory to
that of a more-likely draw, with
both sides left scattered and
vulnerable.
In simple terms, had the
original plan of attack been suc
cessful, it would have forced
Ferguson into adopting
necessary counter-measures
while there was still time to have
done so successfully. As it turn
ed out, however, he would be
totally late in recognizing the
true nature of the attack against
him.
General J.F.C. Fuller whose
book “British Light Infantry in
the Eighteenth Century” is the
standard reference work on this
subject, wondered why
Ferguson did not simply cut his
way out of the trap on the
hilltop. He points out that in
order to have surrounded the hill
the frontiersmen would have
had to spread themselves
disasterously thin. Frontiersmen,
weilding rifles without bayonets,
habitually formed themselves in
to a thin skirmish line and
fought from behind cover. They
did so at Kings Mountain.
— Muzzle-loading weapons were
slow to load and fire. Conse
quently the volume of fire from
tdong any given portion of the
circling force would have been
so weak that the besieged force
could esily have cut its way clear
to safety. Yet to remain on the
hilltop would have been foolhar
dy for any competent military
man. Fuller said, for on the sum
mit, at the center or vortex of
the attackers firepower, its con
centration of perhaps one to two
thousand rounds per minute
would be lethal. So it would in
deed prove to be for the Tories.
Further, once free of the trap,
the besieged troops could have
counter-attacked along the thin
Turn to page 2B
KM - A Springboard
The Battle of Kings Mountain
proved to be a springboard laun
ching the careers of many fron
tier leaders.
A form of rough but pure
democracy ruled in those days.
Militia elected their officers, and
the mere fact that a man could
be chosen to be a leader in battle
by the tough-minded fron
tiersmen spoke eloquently
enough as to his abilities.
Many of the men who figured
prominently at Kings Mountain
went on to set examples in other
endeavors as well, in settling the
frontier and building a new na
tion. Though not without strug
gles, setbacks and—often con
troversy, they became generals.
Congressmen, Senators, state
legislators, judges and county of
ficials. Many were successful
traders, farmers and
businessmen. At least three serv
ed as Governors of their respec
tive states.
Even some who had served
that day on the other side of the
line were able to overcome the
stigma of their Tory associations,
to go home eventually and live
out successful lives amid their
former enemies!
Colonel William Campbell, of
Virginia, who had been elected
at least titular leader of the ex
pedition by his peers, went on to
fight later at Guilford Cour
thouse. Promoted to general, he
died in 1781, of pneumonia
while serving under LaFayette
in his native state.
Colonel Isaac Shelby went on
to become one of the frontier’s
most outstanding leaders. He
helped establish the state of Ken
tucky, and served as its first
Governor. During the War of
1812 he served as a general,
leading twelve regiments of Ken
tucky militia in the invasion of
Canada.
Colonel John Sevier was as
stirring and picturesque a figure
as the frontier ever produced.
After the war he played a
leading role in the breaking away
of the western counties from
North Carolina and the
establishment of the state of
Franklin. Arrested for “treason”
by North Carolina authorities,
Sevier leaped from a courthouse
window in Morganton at his
trial and rode home unscathed!
Later pardoned, he helped form
the state of Tennessee and serv
ed as its first Governor.
Jesse Franklin, a twenty-year-
old captain under Colonel Ben
jamin Cleveland at Kings Moun
tain, found a later career in
politics. He served as state
legislator, U.S. Congressman and
Senator, and in 1820-21, as
Governor of North Carolina.
Major Joseph Winston, also of
Cleveland’s Wilkes County regi-
By ED SMITH
Ferguson
Shelby
ment, went on to be a militia
general, state legislator and U.S.
Congressman. The town of
Winston (now part of Winston-
Salem) was named after him.
Col. Cleveland himself was
not as lucky. After the war he
lost his large land holdings and
home in Wilkes County in a
legal battle over land titles. He
moved to South Carolina, and
though in poor health
reestablished himself as a fanner
and local judge. As a crippled,
older man his weight ballooned
to over four hundred pounds, a
far cry from the muscular,
robust frontiersman he had been
in youth.
Col. James Williams of South
Carolina was the ranking
American casulty at Kings
Mountain, receiving a mortal
wound near the battle’s conclu
sion. Though his reputation as
an opponent of the British was
firmly established, he was engag
ed in a bitter dispute with his
fellow South Carolina Colonels,
Edward Lacey and James Hill as
to who was senior officer pre
sent, and thereby commander of
that state’s forces. Lacey ended
his military career as a brigadier
general, then served as both
judge and legislator.
Major Joseph McDowell did
more than his part to rid the
Piedmont Carolinas of Tory in
fluence, fighting all the way
from Ramsour’s Mill to Kings
Mountain to Cowpens. He serv
ed several terms later as a U.S.
Congressman.
Another victim of Kings
Mountain was Col. William
Graham, who survived physical
ly but found his reputation tar
nished. Col. Graham was Lin
coln County’s most outstanding
civil and military leader, the
North Carolina area closest to
the battlefield. He had served
conspicuously in the war, con
tributed greatly in feeding and
equipping his men and thrown
his own home open to refugees
from the war. Yet shortly before
the battle began he received an
urgent message from home, his
pregnant wife was desperately ill
and needed his help. Graham
asked for permission to leave.
His replacement. Major William
Chronicle, was killed during the
fighting, and Graham found
himself branded by many as a
coward. He never again took
part in public life.
Lieutenant Colonel Fredrick
Hambright, who led the local
Lincoln County troops for most
of the battle, was himself serious
ly wounded. He recovered,
however, and lived to be ninety
years old, leaving many descen
dants in this area.
Many KM Participants
Took Part In Executions
There was a popular saying
during the Revolutionary Period
that “A Tory is a creature whose
head is in England and whose
body is in America—so his neck
ought to be stretched!”
There were American Tories,
too, who prescribed similar treat
ment for “rebels” and “traitors to
the Crown”.
Many of the men who fought
at Kings Mountain—on both
sides—had taken parts in such
executions. Practically everyone
there approved of them, as did
society as a whole. The North
Carolina legislature had only
recently passed a bill legalizing
the summary execution of any
By ED SMITH
Tory caught engaging in acts of
terrorism, upon the concurrence
of two local magistrates. In near
by Virginia, a certain Captain
Lynch was acquiring such
renown for his relentless pursuit
of active supjporters of the
Crown that his name would find
its way into our language.
It was a two-way street,
however. Colonel William
Campbell—who had himself
taken an active part in the execu
tion of several notorious
Tories—narrowly escaped a
similar fate when captur^ by a
band of their fellows. Captain
Jesse Franklin, who serv^ at
Kings Mountain as Colonel
Cleveland’s adjutant, escaped
death by hanging under similar
circumstances when the bridle
his captors were using broke
under his weight and he was able
to get away in the darkness.
Franklin liv^ to serve later as a
very credible Governor of North
Carolina, the only participant in
the battle to do so.
Franklin’s superior in the
Wilkes County militia. Colonel
Cleveland, was himself a
relentless pursuer of Tories,
causing the execution of many
of them. Cleveland became
noted for acts of both impulsive
Turn to page 2B