Sharp County record., 1880-12-02
Kings M ,Gntain.


The people of Charlotte and its vicini-
ty, and, indeed of all the upper coun.
ties of the Carolinas and northwestern
Georgia, recently joined in celebrating
the hundredth anniversary Of the battle
of Kings Mountain, fought the 7th of
October, 1880.
Kings Mountain was, with the eX-
ception of the gallant repulse of the
fleet of Sir Peter Parker from Charles
ton Harbor, in June, 1776, the first VIC
tory of importance gained by the
colonial forces at the South during a
war which had been going on for five
years and q half In the winter of 177S
the British overran Georgia and Flori-
da and captured Savannah, which they
held to the close of hostilities. The
following spring at Brier Creek on the
Savannah, the Southern troops under
Lincoln were beaten by the British
General Provost and lost about two
thousand men. In June Provost
defeated them again at Stony
Ferry, near Charleston. In Octo-
Der an attempt Of the combined
French and American forces to capture
Savannah was repulsed with vigor
that broke the attacking army to frag-
ments. Pulaski being among the slain.
In May, 1880, Sir Henry Clinton be-
sieged and captured Charleston, making
prisoners its 5000 defenders, and TAX
ing 400 cannon and all its provisions and
stores. Then he overran South Caro-
lima as he had Georgia and Florida.
The entire Southern army having thus
disappeared, except for few hundred
partisan rangers under Marian and
Sumter, ensconced in the swamps,
Washington sent another army to the
rescue, composed of most OF his Mary
land, Delaware and Virginia troops,
under Gates; who had the prestige of
Saratoga to help him. Cornwallis, with
an inferior force, met Gates army a5
Camden, in South Carolina, and routed
it.
Such was the prelude of Kings
Mountain During two years the pat
riot forces at the South had been defeat
ed wherever they appeared in the field,
except, perhaps, in minor skirmishes.
Two armies, the army of Lincoln and
the army of Gates, had been destroyed;
all the chief cities were in the hands Of
the British, and as much of the interior
rs they chose to occupy. CORVALLIS
found nothing more to do with his
troops except to invade North Carolina,
and deliver it into the hands of the
Tories. While executing this purpose
he detached Major Ferguson, with a
force of about 125 men, in advance, on
the same errand. But in arousing the
loyalists of the mountain region Corn
wallis more efectually aroused the
patriots. The latter collected from all
quarters, to the number of about two
thousand, and the best armed and best
mounted half of these undertook to in
tercept Ferguson. Alarmed at the up
rising that officer was fastening to re-
join CORVALLIS, who had occupied
Charlotte, in North Carolina.
Ferguson was oyertaken at Kings
Mountain, an eminence in South Caro-
lima close to the northern border He
had now something over a thousand
men with him, mostly recruits from the
loyalist inhabitants. These latter seem
to have been of little assistance to him,
and in few hours fighting on the after
noon of October Z, 1880, nearly the
whole body was surrounded and cap
tured, about 450 of them being killed
or wounded. The American loss was
twenty-eight killed and sixty wounded.
The action at Kings Mountain, then,
was an engagement of secondary or
der, the cutting off of adetached body
and not pitched battle of main armies.
Nevertheless it had vast effect oD the
conduct of affairs in the Carolinas. 1t
gave a check to that Tory enlistment
which was going on with rapidity and
threatened to swamp the patriot cause
at the South. 1t caused the postpone
ment of CORVALLIS plans in North
Carolina 1t aroused the mountain re-
gions to take part in the conflict which
had now been brought to their neigh
borhood. Above all, it was the first
success at the South after years of uni
form disaster. .-NeU York SIN.