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Page 12A-KINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD-Thursday, October 6, 1983
Patterson’s Essay
From Page 2-A
Irish, English, French and Ger-
man ancestry; most were hard-
working farmers and hunters.
Almost five years passed before
they were directly affected by
British forces in the South.
Stories of British atrocities fired
their determination to defeat
Ferguson and give the British a
taste of their own medicine.
Summer, 1780, found
Ferguson marching through the
Carolinas, met by mountaineer
militia regiments who engaged
him in fierce actions.
August, 1780, Cornwallis
defeated Gates’ American forces
at Camden, a great British vic-
tory. The only real American
Army in the South had been
shattered. The mountaineers
returned home to rest and
strengthen their forces, resolving
to met Ferguson again.
Meanwhile, Cornwallis mar-
ched toward Charlotte, inten-
ding to invade North Carolina.
To protect his left flank, he
ordered Ferguson northward in-
to western North Carolina. In
September, 1780, Ferguson
camped at Gilbert Twon
(Rutherford today). He com-
manded eleven hundred four
trained soldiers and Loyalists. A
British prisoner, Samuel Phillips,
went to Col. Isaac Shelby, the
Patriot militia commander in
Sullivan Country, North
Carolina, and recognized leader
of the mountaineers. Ferguson
- warned Shelby that he would
“march his army over the moun-
tains, hang their leaders and lay
their country waste with fire and
sword, if they did not desist”
from opposing the British. The
challenge coundn’t be ignored.
On Sept. 25, 1780, over one
thousand mountaineers gathered
at Sycamore Shoals near
Elizabethton, Tennessee. Shelby
led 240 North Carolinians,
Charles McDowell, 160, John
Sevier, 240; William Campbell
brought 400 Virginians, and
James Williams led a South
Carolina force.
Shelby and Sevier would later
become the first governors of
Kentucky and Tennessee,
respectively, while Campbell’s
relative by marriage was Patrick
Henry.
Each mountaineer carried a
knapsack, corn bag, and Ken-
tucky rifle. These rifles were ex-
tremely accurate at more than
two hundred yards. Only at Lex-
ington and Kings Mountain did
the outcome hinge on the ac-
curacy and range of these rifles.
A five-day march begin Sept.
26, 1980. Benjamin Cleveland
and three hundred fifty Virgi-
nians joined it. Campbell was
Red Cross
UW Agency
From Page 2-A
Red cross is the largest
volunteer organization in the
world, in the United States and
in Cleveland County.
Volunteers serve here locally as
members of the Disaster team, as
instructors to teach Safety
classes, as nurses and workers at
bloodmobiles, as Youth Club
members, as Red Cross Board
members, as volunteer office
workers, as telephone contacts
for the SAF & V emergency
messages, as committee members
making comfort items for
veterans in veteran hospitals,
and helping to provide other ser-
vices whenever Red Cross help is
needed. Red Cross is an interna-
tional organization known
through the world and in
Cleveland County as “the Good
Neighbor.”
Scott Biddy
Visiting Here
Fireman John Scott Biddy of
the U.S Naval Base in Norfolk,
Va. is spending a ten-day leave
visiting his parents, Mrs. Iris B.
Biddy of Kings Mountain and
Roy Biddy of Shelby.
Scott returned recently from a
six month deployment covering
the Mediterranean, Indian
Ocean, and the Carribbean. His
ship, the U.S.S. Monongahela,
an oiler, was responsible for
refueling other ships and aircraft
in that area. The last month of
the deployment was spent in
Libya, Algeria, and Lebanon. He
was presented awards for Sea
Service, Expenditionary Action,
Battle E, and Rifle Range.
Scott is the grandson of Mrs.
Bessie Biddy and Mrs. Otis
Barber of Kings Mountain.
chosen as commander of the
Patriot forces.
Ferguson's spies informed him
of the mountaineers’ approach.
On October 2, Ferguson sent
word to Cornwallis that he
would stand and fight if he
weren't outnumbered. Oct. 6,
1780, Ferguson reached Kings
Mountain, one and one-half
miles south of the North
Carolina border, and camped to
await the Patriots.
Kings Mountain is a rock,
wooded, Blue Ridge spur, rising
sixty feet above the surrounding
plain. A barren plateau, six hun-
dred yards long and seventy feet
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wide on one end and one hun-
dred twenty feet at the other, lies
at its crest.
Learning of Ferguson’s posi-
tion, some nine hundred of the
best frontiersmen moved
through the rainy night October
6th, stopping at noon, Oct. 7,
1780, about one mile from the
mountain. They formed a
horseshoe around its base, sur-
rounding the British.
Loyalist Alexander Chesney
was about to tell Ferguson all
was quiet when the surprising at-
tack came. Sevier and McDowell
formed the right flank, with
Campbell and Shelby at Center,
Fo
cy
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Church.
and the Cleveland-Williams
forces to the left. Campbell’s
men opened fire and the battle
was one.
The British rained down a
volley fire but the woods pro-
tected the Patriots. The Patriots’
center force charged uphill, but
British bayonets caused retreat.
The barren crest made the
British easy targets for the
mountaineers to kill; the British
overship the enemy. When
British soldiers chased the
Patriots downhill, they were kill-
ed attempting to get back to the
crest. Twice the Patriots were
forced to retreat.
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Ferguson, bedecked in hun-
ting shirt and silver whistle,
charged on horseback downhill,
urging the British forward. The
Patriots shot him down with
seven balls penetrating his body.
His second in command, Capt.
De Peyster, surrendered, but
many, Patriots continued firing,
remembering British atrocities.
Col. Campbell managed to stop
his men after the second truce
flag was sent down. The Battle
of Kings Mountain was ended.
The Patriots killed two hun-
dred twenty-five Loyalist,
wounded one hundred sixty-
three, and took seven hundred
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sixteen prisoners. Only twenty-
eight Patriots were killed and
sixty-two
Conclusion
The Battle of Kings Mountain
is significant because it caused
disenchantment with the
Loyalist cause and resulted in
many Southerners’ joining the
. American forces. All of the
fighters had been American ex-
cept Ferguson. Cornwallis lost
his foothold in North Carolina.
In Clinton’s own words, the Bat-
tle of Kings Mountain was the
“first link in a chain of
events...ending in the total loss
of America.” 3
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