Battle of King´s Mountain

   Soldiers in these opposing forces were irregulars and as such, many Revolutionaries from the frontier areas would have dressed as for a hunting expedition. The Loyalist militia were issued with muskets and bayonets and may well have worn red uniform coats, but probably wore civilian garb. The Revolutionaries brought with them their hunting weapons, in many cases small bore rifled muskets made by the German gunsmiths of Pennsylvania, which they used with devastating effect on the Tories.

   The winners in this battle were the Patriots, leaving the Loyalist force annihilated. In September 1780, Major General Lord Cornwallis, after beating Major General Gates and the American Revolutionary army at Camden, advanced north with the intention of invading North Carolina and Virginia. Major Ferguson occupied an outpost well to the West of the main British army with a small force of his own riflemen and a larger band of Loyalist militia. The militia on each side remained consistently unreliable in battle during the war. The one area in which the Loyalist militia excelled was in plundering their enemies. Ferguson had built for himself an unenviable reputation for ferocity against the rebels.

   Major Patrick Ferguson was sent by Lord Cornwallis to embody the Loyalist militia among the mountains west of the Broad River. A substantial Revolutionary force gathered against Ferguson from west of the mountains, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. Many men with considerable skill joined his standard, armed with rifled weapons. They decided to cross the river at the Cherokee Ford, October 1, 1780 and encamped among the hills of King's Mountain. The Revolutionary force caught up with Ferguson encamped on the steep and wooded King’s Mountain, on 7th October 1780.

   The Revolutionaries surrounded the Loyalist on the top of the mountain and a classic battle between the bayonet and the rifle ensued. The Revolutionaries attacked with the battle cry of “Tarleton quarter”. The Loyalist militiamen, attempting to drive back the assaulting Revolutionaries at the point of the bayonet, were shot down until they were huddled in a confined group on the summit. Ferguson suppressed all attempts to surrender until he was shot from his horse and killed. The Loyalist threw down their weapons but the Revolutionaries continued to shoot, in spite of the efforts of their officers to bring about an end to the carnage. The battle exactly reflected the savagery of the war in the Southern Colonies. Finally, 300 Loyalist were killed or wounded. The spoils of victory were 800 prisoners and 1,500 stand of arms. Only a party that had been out foraging escaped to warn Cornwallis of the disaster. The defeat of the British changed the aspects of the war in the South; it awed the Loyalist and encouraged the Patriots.