Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1855-10-18
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sfDC1EO OBE5R 6, 1855.

DgI1O BEEs 1S. as
q should give you its sympathgon this occasion
She. sent2you no aid in the hour Of Your :great
est need II is a blessed thing to give even
cup g cold water in a rightspirris it Wass.no
then possible to give even that All homo
must be awarded to the South, since she VA
left to herself alone, in thchour Other utmos
distress s.%+s ss.is33is. s. &.
The romance Of the American Reyolutior
has its scenes for the most part in the South
and the battle of Kings Mountain, Of which
we celebrate the seventy-ffth anniversary to.
day, was the most romantic of all.
The achievement was opportune The Anne.
nean @ army arm for the South was routed and dis.
I Persed = charleston was in the power Of the
enemy. the government scattered the paper
currency all but worthless, ,Gadsden prisoner,
doomed TO the dungeons of St. Augustine Sum.
ter forced 70 retire beyond the State, on the
one side, andsPickens on the other; Cornwall,
us hoplng;'to extihguish the gcbelliopo h,
ss'sn q 5mprs0n@s q promising himself,
'tthat before :winter-tthe whole country South
of the Delaware would be subjected" The
genius of liberty never bows his head in 4des-
pair; but there was cause fer anxiety-the
faultless partizap, the. .lion:hearted Marion,
stood alone in his impenetrable Businesses as
the sentinel of Carolina.slz a.
Such was the almost hopeless distress, of
which the tidingsH penetrated the hardy dwell
lerso on the Watauga, the Nollichucky, and the
three forks of Holston All the difficulties
which stood in their way could not make them
hesitate They had distance to overcome in
collecting their forces, but. swift runners hur-
ried up the valley; they had to cross'the high
est range of the Alleghanies, where there was
not SO much as bride path they scould, drive
no beeves, but must depend mainly on parch-
ed corn for their sustenance; meeting from re-
mote districts, they had to organize themselves
on the instant for action with unity.
The movement commends itself still more
to our admiration as voluntary act Of patrio.
tism. It was planned by no Congress-it was
ordered by no Executive. All that is best,
springs from the heart, and the expedition to
Kings Mountain sprung from the heart of the
common people west Of the Alleghanies They
were eheered by no martial music, as your ora
tor'has truly observed they had no gilded BAN
ners, no Dodding plumes; they were Southern
farmers in theirsevery day dress, come to ezer!
else, though in q emost signal manner; their
esery-das courage and. love Of country and viz
those from Which diEthish tSssh .hss saGela.sss
Do you think refer to the fact that they attack
ed an enemy superior in numbers and still more
in the munitions of war, posted on yonder
height which you see is precipitously steep, and
bristling with the slaty rock which crops out
all along its sides and summit? No. Those
things had for them no terror. But their de-
parture, they knew, was the signal for British
emissaries to excite hordes of worthless savages
to burn their homes and murder their wives
and children. Every breeze from the West
might seem to bring to their ears the echo of
the Indians war-whoop, the dying groans of
those they loved best. This was the fear which
they had to cast under foot.
Let us rejoice, then, that the success Of the
men engaged at Kings Mountain was, as they
expressed it, "complete to wish" The firing
was as heavy as could be conceived for the
numbers engaged; the dislodging of the enemy
from their advantageous situation was "equal
to driving men from stoney breastworks;" the
vigor of their resistance isproved by their hold
ing out, till every third man among them was
wounded Or slain; and of all the British force
which was to have formed the central point of
British power in the back country, and which
Ferguson had commended to CORVALLIS for it's
courage and ability not more than twenty,
perhaps not even one of the survivors escaped
captivity.
To finish the picture of this battle, the con-
sequences of the victory must be called to mind
1t struck dismay into the tories, and checked
the concerted system of house, burning and do
mestic cal""so which was filling Carolina with
Tue uedullcSG uOliOAo VI SA'ii 49,; Vt was lfthp
turning point" of victory which checrea o''
Sumter, and Col. Washington and Morgan to
their successes, and enabled Greene to collect
an army; it was the "fataV blow which utter
ly concerted the plans of CORVALLIS, and for
ccd him into that change of policy which had
its end at Yorktown. The men of that day
fought, not for Carolina,not for the South; they
fought for America and for humanity and the
ultimate effects of their heroism cannot yet be
measured. The States are bound together by
commerce, and dove-tailed by canals, and II,
vcrs, and railroads; but the recollection Of
the crowded hours of this glorious action Of
our fathers speaks to the heart, and makes us
feel, more than all the rest, that we are one
people.
Let the battle ground before us be left nc
longer as private property; let it be made the
Inheritance of the people, that is, of all who
are heirs to the benefits that were gained or
the day which we commemorate. Let monu
taaent rise upon its peak as memorial OF th'
hcroism of fathers-as an evidence Of the piet.
of their sons. The deeds that were there per