Battle of Kings Mountain - Prelude To Battle

Prelude To Battle

Major Ferguson was appointed Inspector of Militia on May 22, 1780. His tasking was to march to the old Tryon County area, raise and organize Loyalist units from the Tory population of the Carolina Backcountry, and protect the left flank of Lord Cornwallis' main body at Charlotte, North Carolina. On September 2, he and what militia he had already recruited marched west, heading for the Appalachian Mountain hill country along what is now the Tennessee/North Carolina border. By September 10, he had established a base camp at Gilbert Town, North Carolina and issued a challenge to the Patriot leaders to lay down their arms or he would "lay waste to their country with fire and sword."

North Carolina Patriot militia leaders Isaac Shelby and John Sevier, from the Washington District (now present day northeast Tennessee), met after receiving Ferguson's "fire and sword" message and agreed to lead their militia against him.

Patriot leaders also sent a message to Virginia militia leader, William Campbell, asking him to join them. Campbell, in turn, called on Benjamin Cleveland to bring his Wilkes County North Carolina militia to join the rendezvous. The detachments of Shelby, Sevier and Campbell were joined by 160 North Carolina militiamen led by Charles McDowell and his brother Joseph. Campbell's cousin, Arthur, brought 200 more Virginians. Some 1,100 volunteers from southwest Virginia and present-day northeast Tennessee, known as the "Overmountain Men" (so named because they had settled into the wilderness west of the Appalachian Mountains ridgeline), mustered at the rendezvous at Sycamore Shoals near present day Elizabethton, Tennessee on September 25, 1780. Their movement had been permitted by easing tensions with the Cherokee, thanks to diplomacy by Benjamin Cleveland's brother-in-law, Indian agent Joseph Martin. The Overmountain Men crossed over Roan Mountain the next day, and proceeded in a southerly direction for about thirteen days in anticipation of encountering the British Loyalist force. By Sept. 30 they had reached Quaker Meadows, the Burke County, North Carolina home of the McDowell brothers, where they were joined by Benjamin Cleveland and 350 men. Now 1400 strong, they marched south to South Mountain, North Carolina, The five colonels leading the Patriot force (Shelby, Sevier, William Campbell, Joseph McDowell and Cleveland) then named Campbell the nominal commander but agreed that all five would act in council to command their pickup army.

Meanwhile, two deserters from the Patriot force reached Patrick Ferguson and informed him that a large body of militia was advancing towards him. After waiting three days for reasons that remain unclear, Ferguson elected to retreat back to Lord Cornwallis and the British main body in Charlotte, meanwhile sending a message to Cornwallis asking for reinforcements. The message did not reach Cornwallis until it was too late, one day after the battle. On October 1 Ferguson reached North Carolina's Broad River, where he issued another pugnacious public letter, calling for local militia to join him lest they be "pissed upon by a set of mongrels" (the Overmountain Men).

The Patriot militia pursuing Ferguson reached his former camp at Gilbert Town on October 4, where thirty Georgian partisans joined their camp, looking for action. On October 6, they had reached Cowpens, South Carolina (which was the site of the future Battle of Cowpens), they received word from local sympathizers that Ferguson was east of them, heading towards Charlotte and Cornwallis. They would have to hurry to catch him. Rebel spies reported that Ferguson was making camp atop Kings Mountain with some 1500 men. The intelligence was accurate. Ferguson, rather than pushing on until he reached Charlotte and safety (just a day's march away), camped out at Kings Mountain and sent Cornwallis another letter asking for reinforcements (which was also received too late). Kings Mountain was one of many rocky forested hills in the upper Piedmont near the border between North and South Carolina. It is shaped like a footprint with the highest point at the heel, a narrow instep, and a broad rounded toe. The Loyalists were encamped on a ridge to the West of Kings Pinnacle, the highest point of Kings Mountain.

Needing to make haste, the Patriot militia put some 900 men on horseback and made for Kings Mountain. They set out immediately, marching through the night of the 6th and morning of the 7th. It rained all night and through the morning. By sunrise on the 7th, they were fording the Broad River, fifteen miles from Kings Mountain. By early afternoon they had reached their goal, whereupon they surrounded the ridge where the Loyalists were encamped and attacked.