American Victory at King’s Mountain

In September 1780, Lord Charles Cornwallis ordered Major Patrick Ferguson to secure North Carolina. Ferguson, a very capable British officer, issued a proclamation to the Overmountain Men of the Watauga River Valley in present day Tennessee to “desist from their opposition to British arms” or he would “lay waste their country with fire and sword.” Isaac Shelby and John Sevier rallied 1,000 men in Sycamore Shoals and advanced through Yellow Mountain Gap to the east side of the Appalachians. Ferguson decided to confront the Tennesseans at King’s Mountain, just inside the South Carolina border. The fight raged for an hour, but Ferguson’s militia was no match for the Tennesseans.
Tom Hand, creator and publisher of Americana Corner, how the Battle of Kings Mountain derailed Britain’s strategy to subdue the southern colonies, and why it still matters today.
Photo Credits:
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Library of Congress
New York Public Library
Kentucky Historical Society
Tennessee Virtual Archive
New York Historical Society Museum and Library
Kentucky National Guard
Brown University Library

[@eddieberry8450]

Thanks so very much for these interesting and concise lessons.

[@AmericanaCorner]

Thanks for watching. Take care.