TELE BATTLE OF KING’S MOUNTAIN OCTOBER 7, 1780 e ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI IN THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, AT CHARLOTTE, APRIL 19, 1907 BY FRANKLIN BREVARD McDOWELL PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY yess bee SS Dre ba BATTLE OF KING’S MOUNTAIN OCTOBER 7, 1780 ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI IN THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, AT CHARLOTTE, APRIL 19, 1907 BY FRANKLIN BREVARD McDOWELL PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY Raleigh Commercial Printing Company, Printers and Binders 1907 p 182 5f THE BATTLE OF KING’S MOUNTAIN Fellow-members of the North Carolina Society of the Cin- connate: The battle of King’s Mountain is unique in its character, and almost without a parallel in the annals of the old civil- zation and the new. The victory was a triumph of a principle which has shaken society to its centre and disrupted many of the governments of the world. By its ending, the doctrine of the divine right of kings perished in America, and the divine right of the people to select their rulers was established. General Washington regarded this event as one of surpassing brillianey, and readily foresaw in its termination, the culmi- nation of the American Revolution. Had the conflict ended differently, the odium of rebellion and the reproach of a lost cause would have attached to the name of Washington, the inspiration and founder of our Society. His colossal figure now stands upon an imperishable base among the statesmen, patriots and chieftains of the — world. The brief sketch, which I shall read, was prepared from unpublished letters written by Governor Isaac Shelby, one of the foremost officers in the battle of King’s Mountain, and from traditional testimony of the neighborhood, collected from reliable sources, and I feel that the account, as far as it goes, 18 as substantially correct as history can be. The un- published documents referred to were found some years ago in a secret drawer of a piece of family furniture, and were among the papers of my grandfather, Franklin Brevard, who at the time of his death was collecting material with which to write a full description of this great event in the history of the American Colonies. 4 After the defeat of General Gates and the surprise and complete dispersion of Generals Sumter and McDowell’s com- mands, no appearance of an American corps existed to the southward of Virginia, and many of the Whigs from the Carolinas and Georgia, with General McDowell at their head, retreated to the west side of the Alleghany Mountains for refuge from a pursuing foe. It was at this gloomy period. of the Revolution that General McDowell and Colonels Shelby, Sevier and Campbell began to concoct,a plan of col- lecting troops and making a forced march to surprise Colonel Ferguson, who had advanced up to the foot of the mountains on the east side, threatening to lay waste that portion of the country for its opposition to His Majesty’s arms. It was understood that Ferguson’s army was encamped near Gilbert Town; and, as General McDowell with his followers, and Colonels Shelby, Sevier and Campbell with their regiments, were marching thither, they fell in with Colonel Cleveland, an officer of great zeal in the cause of liberty, with several hundred men, and later with Colonel James Williams and other field officers of distinction from South Carolina, and they all joined forces. It was now discovered that the American army, thus acci- dentally collected without a head, was a mere confused mass, incapable, it was thought, of performing any decided military achievements.. The senior officers were not popular, there being evidence of jealousy among the leaders, and as the cam- paign was a volunteer scheme, it developed that those entitled to command would not be chosen. It was then determined to send for General Morgan or General Davidson to take the command, and General Charles McDowell, with the sanction of his associate officers, went voluntarily in search of one of the Generals. To allay the spirit of jealousy and to compliment one of another State, Colonel Campbell, of Virginia, was made officer of the day; and the Americans, coming sooner than expected, upon the trail of the British, deemed it unwise to 5 await the mission of General McDowell before making the attack. On gaining information of the position of Fergus- on’s army, the American line of battle was formed as fol- lows: Colonel Campbell’s regiment, commanded by himself, formed the centre column to the right, and Colonel Shelby’s regiment formed. the centre column to the left. The right wing was composed of Colonel Sevier’s regiment, Colonel Joe McDowell’s regiment, Colonel Winston’s regiment, and commanded by Colonel Sevier in front. The left wing was composed of Colonel Cleveland’s regiment, the regiments of Colonels Williams, Lacey and Brandon, and headed in front by Colonel Cleveland himself. In this order, the American army, after many struggles and much skirmishing, advanced in four lines, until it arrived in sight of the enemy’s camp on King’s Mountain at 3 o’clock in the afternoon of Saturday, the 7th day of October, 1780. The centre column then wheel- ing to the right and left, formed a front, marched up and attacked the enemy, while the right and left wings were marching around. ‘The action became general, and lasted one hour and a half. The Americans had upwards of sixty killed and wounded. They killed and took of the enemy eleven hundred; and seventy-five of the number were left dead upon the field. Among the latter was Colonel Patrick Ferguson, who fell at the close of the action. About the same time, or shortly afterwards, Colonel Williams was mortally wounded by some Tories, and soon died. Herewith are given some of the incidents of this remark- able battle. Ferguson encamped upon the summit of the mountain, and made the impious boast that the ‘Almighty himself could not drive him away.” The American backwoods- men, raw recruits and undisciplined militia, were the agents that God had gathered from the cabins and hamlets of the Carolinas, Georgia and Virginia to dispossess the defiant disputer. The pinnacle of the mountain was bare, while the base and approaches were sheltered by dense undergrowth 6 and friendly trees. These were natural breastworks for the Americans, who with but little exposure could pick out British and Tories with fatal precision. The habit of sight- ing wild game, such as squirrels, hawks, and wolves, at long range made these frontiermen the most accurate and danger- ous sharp-shooters of the world. Ferguson had invented a breech-loading rifle that could be fired seven times a minute, but its accuracy and precision were not perfect. His regular troops used these guns in this engagement, and it was doubtless the first time they had been so employed in the War for American Independence. The British finding that their vision was impaired and deflected by the elevation, sought protection by fitting bayonets in the barrels of the carbines, but when they charged, they were again at a disadvantage, as they could only use the bayonets and could not fire the rifles. During the attack, Shelby was impetuous and rushed fiercely up the heights. Campbell, with coat off and collar open, and imprecating like a teamster, scaled the steepest passes. ‘Thrice were the American troops driven back at the bayonet’s point, and thrice they recovered and charged again. One time Cleveland was driven down, and his followers were in great confusion, but he rallied them with the ery, “Come, boys; let’s try ’em again. We’ll have better luck next time.” A company of tories with butcher knives tied to their guns for bayonets, made a desperate, but futile effort to hurl the Americans from their vantage ground. The whole mountain became surrounded, and all avenues for the British were cut off. | The British, widely overshooting from their high eleva- tion, were mowed and felled by a tempest of deadly hail. Refraction was their destruction. Ferguson, proud and im- perious, swore that he would never surrender to “such d d banditti,” and with his sword cut down two of his own men who had hoisted the white flag; and his body pierced with many bullets fell from the saddle with one foot hanging in is the stirrup. At this juncture, when the British had virtually surrendered, a band of Tories fatally wounded the intrepid Colonel Williams, who, as he fell, besought his companions, “For God’s sake not to give up the hill.” To avenge his treacherous death, the slaughter became terrific, and men who raised the white flag were ruthlessly shot down in the maddened frenzy. Captain DePeyster, an officer second in command to Ferguson, who had surrendered, addressing Colonel Campbell, said, indignantly, “This is d——d un- fair,” and the rebuke brought the Whigs to a sense of shame, and caused a cessation of the bloody work. This tragic occurrence was the daybreak of American liberty. General DePeyster thus describes the breech-loading rifle invented by Ferguson and first used by him in the battle: “The length of the piece itself is fifty inches, weight seven and one-half pounds. The bayonet is twenty-five inches in length, and one and one-half inches wide, and is commonly called a sword-blade bayonet; flat, lithe, yet strong, of fine temper, and capable of receiving a razor edge, and when unfixed as serviceable as the best balanced cut and thrust sword. The sight at the breech is so arranged that, by ele- vating, it is equally adapted to ranges ranging from one hun- dred to one hundred and fifty yards. The greatest curiosity is, namely, the arrangement for loading at the breech.’ An English author thus particularized concerning Fer- guson’s invention: “In these pieces there is an opening on the upper part of the barrel, and close to the breech, which is large enough to admit the ball. The chamber where the charge is lodged is without rifles, and somewhat wider than the rest of the bore, so as to admit a ball that will not drop out of the barrel, with- out taking on the figure of the rifles and acquiring the rotary motion when discharged.” James Ferguson, in his biography of Colonel Ferguson, says: “As the bore of the British rifle was large and lead was searce in the Carolinas, the Americans destroyed all the rifles captured at King’s Mountain.” 8 Tf tradition is to be credited, Patrick Ferguson was a libertine, ‘for he had two mistresses with him at the time of his death. Custom, however, seems to have sanctioned such practices among the British officers in America at that time, and friends and foe alike concede his superb courage and magnificent leadership. He had long been a dread and a ‘ terror to the Americans, and so great was the curiosity to look upon his dead face that many of the wounded Americans asked to be carried to his corpse, so that they could have that satisfaction. There were no coftins obtainable for the burial of even the most distinguished dead, but the form of Fergu- son, the lion-hearted warrior, was wrapt in a cow’s hide, and interred in a ravine near the battle field. He was given the best and most costly burial that could then be afforded. Miss Sallie Patterson, a nonagenarian, now living near Gastonia, relates the following tradition handed down in her immediate family. At the siege of Savannah, James Mc- Elwee, of York County, South Carolina, with a number of other American soldiers, were captured and confined on prison ships, and so harshly treated that many of them sick- ened and died. During their imprisonment, while the birth- day of King George was being celebrated, the commanding officer offered a clean suit of clothes, a drink of rum, and a good dinner to every prisoner who would shout, ‘‘God save the King!” The temptation was so great to the half-starved vermin-infested Americans that many, worn-out and_half- crazed from weakness, drank the health of the King. But McElwee, tearing the shirt from his body, shouted, “God save George Washington and the American Colonies,” until tired; and then, jumping with both feet upon the garment, said defiantly, “McElwee and the vermin will die together.” The commander, filled with admiration, patted him upon the shoulder and declared that he was too brave a man to die. McElwee’s defiance was the spirit that actuated the Ameri- cans in the attack at King’s Mountain. Continuing, Miss Patterson relates that she had two grand- fathers in the engagement at King’s Mountain, one named 9 Patterson and the other named Ware. Arthur Patterson, his two sons, William and Thomas, and Ben Lindsey belonging to Hambright’s company, were surprised by Ferguson’s troops at their homes, where they had gone for provisions and clothing; and, being tied, were carried to Ferguson’s head- quarters. They were tried that night, condemned to be hanged, and the hour of execution was fixed at sunrise the next morning. Just as Thomas Patterson was being led out to the gallows, the firing of the Americans was heard in the distance down the mountain, the captors ran for their arms and the condemned man made his escape. His companions were found, tied and handcuffed after the fight, and were released by their friends. At the commencement of the action one of Ferguson’s mistresses who had prepared breakfast (Ferguson, feeling secure, slept late) ran from the tent with a cup of coffee which the British commander drank as his horse was being saddled. Mrs. Arthur Patterson, who lived in the neighborhood, visited the battle-ground in the afternoon, and assisted in caring for the wounded, and Mrs. Bettie Goforth, a neighbor, hauled her dead husband home on a sled. A young Tory named Pander, belonging to Ferguson’s camp, was captured the evening before the battle and terrified into disclosing the countersign, and that was the means by which the Americans gained such advantageous information. They gave the countersign at night, and thus passed the pickets and sentinels, and easily gained full knowledge of the enemy’s position. The battle of King’s Mountain occurred at a time when the Americans were worn out, disheartened and well-nigh ready | to give up the contest. The British, though sorely harassed by the guerrilla warfare, and the hardships unavoidable in an enemy’s territory, were sanguine of a speedy termination of the bloody strife. They apparently had valid reason for such an expectation and hope, because the remnants of the regular commands were scattered over a number of contigu- ous States and no respectable force of an organized character 10 could be heard of within a hundred miles. The result of the contest was the virtual close of the Revolution. The victory was so unexpected and complete that the Americans were astonished at their own temerity, and hur- riedly left the field of their triumph, taking along their prisoners, fearing that the dreaded Tarleton should overtake them and cut them to pieces. On the other hand, the British were so overwhelmed by the disaster, and over-estimating the number of their new foes, retreated in an entirely different direction. The singular spectacle was thus presented of the two hostile armies fleeing from each other, and no troops in pursuit of either. The activity of the backwoodsmen of the border counties was a possibility that no one could safely pre- dict; hence the element of doubt, entering the British mind, confused the commanders, and upset all their calculations. In Ferguson’s command was a trained and splendid Eng- lish soldiery, supplemented by Tories well acquainted with the character of the country. and as daring and obstinate fighters as ever trod the earth. The opposing forces, on the contrary, were raw, undisciplined militia from the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia. Being unaccustomed to battle, and having no success to their credit, they were pitted against some of the best fighters in the wide world. The Americans were a body of untrained frontiermen, with no artillery, no bayonets, no camp equippage. They were mostly men without uniforms, clad in jeans or cotton goods, woolen hats or coon-skin caps; some were barefooted, others with moccasons or coarse shoes. Each carried his trusty Deckard (a home-made rifle), with no haversack, except a wallet of parched meal, and a few pounds of maple sugar. A lot of leaderless settlers hastily summoned together, pos- sessing no knowledge of military tactics, equipped according to faney and opportunity, and having no plan of attack, no common understanding, save to take the mountain, they stormed the accounted impregnable position of Ferguson. — 11 When they reached the summit and discovered the huddled enemy, they wrought fearful execution. Before the British could fly, the fierce faces of the backwoodsmen burst upon them through the smoke, and with heavy rifles and ugly blades, the bloody work began, and within a few hours such destruction ensued as to blast England’s hope of sovereignty over the American continent. Ferguson died defiantly and sublimely. Disdainful, des- perate and full of fury, cutting down his assailants right and left with his sword, and swearing with his latest breath that he would never “surrender to such d——d banditti,” only fell from his horse when hacked with knives, pierced with bullets and clubbed with guns. When the brave commander fell, the rout and dismay of his soldiers were complete. There is no such picture in modern history, and no more remarkable battle in the wars of the ages. And nowhere in America have the backwoods pioneers left a more unmistak- able imprint than upon the rocky steeps of King’s Mountain battle-field. ‘‘Mighty mother of a lion line! Be proud of those strong sons of thine Who wrenched their rights from thee.”’ Te 4 ii uy i) ker ee So oy oee rt, ee re