Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-10-08

as EngliShmen which were threatened
rights long inherited and dear
bought. When they read the great
declaration Of July 4, 1776, it had pow
er to move them, not because 1t told
of new and unfamiliar political princi-
pies, but because it restated in stirring
phrases the old and familiar. And
these were too precious to give up.
1t is these principles, therefore, their
supreme worth to them and to hu-
manity and the radiant heroism that
was spent to maintain them that in
vests this spot with the glory we COM
memorate today. 1t was a battle by
heroic men for principles that make
men heroic.
And the mere story of it is we'll
worth the telling anew. What is the
condition of the cause for which the
coIonlsts were fighting Immediately
before the battle Of Kings Mountain,
October Z, 1880? BY the middle OF
May of this year Augusta, Savannah
ana Charleston had fallen into the
hands of the British. Following these
victories they adopted the severest
measures for completing the work OF
subjugation, particularly in South Car
olina. Imprisonment, contiscation or
property, banishment, ruthless execu-
tion under the superficial forms OF
military law, robbery, murder were the
order of the day. Their most relent-
less leader, Tarleton secured the mid
die and lower country, leaving devas-
tation and ruin in his tracks. mo
quarteri" was his motto even in open
and honorable battle. 1t was only the
activity Of such leaders as Sumter,
Marion, Pickens and Bratton, striking
suddenly and getting swiftly away to
strike again, that seemed to keep
burning the spark of liberty and save
the state from that complete subjuSa-
tion at which the British aim.
In the up country Colonel Ferguson,
in many respects, the most skillful of
the British leaders, was vigorously
and effectively active. This man had
courage, dash, resourcefulness, power
of organization, tact and address IN
conciliating the disaffected and win
ming the hesitant over to the British
side, and a large amount of that per-
sonal magnetism that enters into the
makeup Of the real leader. This pict-
uresque and masterful man was doing
in the up-country what Tarleton was
doing in the low-country. His COM
mand consisted of provincial Ameri-
can troops from New York and New
Jersey and Tories from North and
South Carolina. The exceptional skill
of their leader had trained and organ
lied them into high state of eff
cheney.
The whole country was now in a
thorough state Of decentralization, and
to the ills of a foreign invasion were
added the horrors of civil war. Fami-
lies were divided into opposing camps
of Wings and Tories; father against
son; brother against brother; neigh
Dor against neighbor; the unhappy
state of the country furnished the
fruitful occasion for the expression of
all the baser passions of our human
nature. Open murder, secret assassi-
nation, theft, burnings, pillage were
the familiar happenings of the day.
No mans life or family, or home was
safe from the attack Of the midnight
prowler 1t was time Of gloom, and
the patriot cause seemed all but lost.
| But faith and courage had not quite
died out. There were a few who still
kept the torch of liberty alight in
hearts of gold and fought on against
desperate odds. On the 18th day OF
August, they closed q series of sharp
engagements with an attack on de-
tachment of Ferguson's troops at Mus
groves Mill on the Enoree river, and
gained a signal victory. Mccall, Will
liams, Hammond Brandon, Steen,
Charles Mcdowell and McJunkin were
the leaders. Among them, however,
was a new type of fighting man, now
for the first time entering upon the
stage of action. These were the rifle
men from over the mountains-men
from Georgia under Clarke, from the
Nolachucky, the Watauga, and the
Holston under Robertson, Sewer and
Shelby. These distant frontiersmen,
resting awhile from clearing new lands
and fighting Indians beyond the Blue