Battle of Kings Mountain
Following the British victory at the Battle of Camden in August 1780, a detachment of Loyalists under Major Patrick Ferguson was dispatched to suppress Patriot activity in the mountains. After routing a small force under Charles McDowell, Ferguson sent a message to the Overmountain settlements, warning them that if they refused to lay down their arms, he would march over the mountains and "lay waste the country with fire and sword." Sevier and Sullivan County militia colonel Isaac Shelby agreed to raise armies and march across the mountains to engage Ferguson.
On September 25, 1780, the Overmountain Men, as they came to be called, gathered at Sycamore Shoals to prepare for the march. This force consisted of 240 Washington County militia commanded by Sevier, 240 Sullivan County militia commanded by Shelby, and 400 Virginians commanded by William Campbell. To provide funds for the march, Sevier obtained a loan from John Adair, putting up his own property as collateral. The combined force departed across the mountains on September 26, eventually linking up with the remnants of McDowell's men.
On October 7, the Overmountain Men caught up with and surrounded Ferguson, who had entrenched his loyalist forces atop Kings Mountain, near the present day North Carolina-South Carolina border. Sevier's men comprised part of the south flank, along with the forces of Campbell and McDowell. Patriot forces initially failed to break through the Loyalist lines, but the frontier sharpshooters gradually decimated the British ranks. At the height of the battle, Sevier and Campbell charged the high point of the British position, giving the Americans a foothold atop the mountain. Ferguson was eventually killed attempting to break through Sevier's line, and the Loyalists surrendered shortly afterward. Sevier's brother, Robert, was mortally wounded in the battle.
Read more about this topic: John Sevier
Famous quotes containing the words battle of, battle, kings and/or mountain:
“I have just read your dispatch about sore tongued and fatiegued [sic] horses. Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietem that fatigue anything?”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“For WAR, consisteth not in Battle only, or the act of fighting; but in a tract of time, wherein the Will to content by Battle is sufficiently known.... So the nature of War, consisteth not in actual fighting; but in the known disposition thereto, during all the time there is no assurance to the contrary. All other time is PEACE.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)
“Such is the caprice of Romans ... who reject kings in name but not in practice, and accept an Emperor mightier than a hundred kings.”
—Pierre Corneille (1606–1684)
“The most stupendous scenery ceases to be sublime when it becomes distinct, or in other words limited, and the imagination is no longer encouraged to exaggerate it. The actual height and breadth of a mountain or a waterfall are always ridiculously small; they are the imagined only that content us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)