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TuMday. Octobar 7, 1980-UNGS MOUNTAIN HERALO-Pa«* SB
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The Saga Of Preston Goforth
By Tom McIntyre
That crisp October afternoon was
filled with the roar of rifles, the splin
tering of bones and trees and the
stench of black powder.
For almost an hour the wooded
slopes and barren pinnacle shook
beneath the thundering feet of run
ning men and horses and all about
was heard the shouts of determined
men and the screams of dying men.
Toward the end of that bloody
hour in history a brave young British
Army career soldier grasped his
sword in his left hand and spurred
his horse toward his enemy’s line.
Seven lead balls fired from as many
angles knocked him from his saddle
to the blood-soaked earth where he
died within moments.
For all purposes the death of Col.
Patrick Ferguson ended the conflict
atop Kings Mountain. The end came
none too soon for hundreds of men
and much too late for countless
others.
Among the Americans who died
early on in the Battle of Kings Moun
tain was Preston Goforth Jr. In his
case the fight was brother against
brother and it is speculated that
Preston and John Goforth killed
each other. The latter remained loyal
to the King of England while Preston
championed the cause of the Pa
triots.
The day after the battle, Octobers,
1780, relatives of the combatants
wandered among the hacked and
shattered bodies strewn among the
tree-lined slopes searching for their
own. Nancy Elizabeth Potts Goforth
was there and she found her hus
band. With the aid of a black man
who had accompanied her to the
battlefield, Nancy Goforth placed
the body of Preston Goforth on a
sled used to haul rocks on the family
farm. A mule towed the sled and the
heartbroken widow and the black
man began the eight mile walk back
to Benson’s Creek.
Near the homeplace the ground
was prepared and Preston Goforth
was buried. History tells us he was
one of the few to be buried in home
soil. Countless others, both Ameri
can patriots and British loyalists,
found their last resting place in shal
low graves on the mountain where
they died.
Preston Goforth’s story began in
North Carolina in 1739 and ended on
October 7, 1780. A bit longer than
five months before he died on the
slopes of Kings Mountain he entered
220 acres on both sides of Benson’s
Creek, which lies just west of the
present Kings Mountain city limits.
During those months he and his
Preston Goforth Cabin
V 5 •• • •
wife, Nancy Elizabeth Potts Goforth
and their four children, Sarah, Pres
ton, George and a second daughter
whose name is not recorded, built a
homeplace and began clearing
timber for farm land. They began
building a life even though the Re
volutionary War was raging north
and south of them. It wasn’t until that
war moved to within eight miles of
the Goforth homeplace that he put
away the axe and picked up his rifle
and joined Hampton’s North
Carolina Troops.
Preston Goforth, the man, died on
that crisp October afternoon 195
years ago. But his legacy was chil
dren and good earth, the roots for
generation after generation of men
and women who have helped
strengthen the fibers of this and
countless other communities across
North Carolina.
The name of Preston Goforth will
not be taught to school children
along with George Washington,
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Frank
lin, Nathan Hale nor even Shelby,
Chronicle, Hambright or Cleveland.
But, at the age of 41, he sacrificed all
he had so that someday there would
be an America in reality as it was in
his dreams.
The original Goforth homeplace,
with several additions, and the place
where he sleeps, still stands one half
mile north of the John Gamble
Stadium as reminders of his pass
ing. ★
CITY AUTO & TRUCK PARTS
209 York Road Phone 739-4783
Lei us
pay tribute
to our forefathers
who fought so bravely,
that we might
enjoy the freedom
we do today
€>
Preston Goforth
KINGS MOUNTAIN
MCA CO., INC.
and Us affiliate companies
THE ENGLISH MICA COMPANY-VX MICA COMPANY, INC.
KINGS MOUNTAIN SILICA, INC.
A SALUTE
TO THE
MOUNTAINMEN
Part of Kings Mountain
for over 30 years,,,