Blue Ridge Country Sept/Oct 2024 - 63

that against us. " He had established his
position at the top of the mountain, with
commanding views of the entire countryside
around it. As the visitor today will
see, the way to the top is rugged and forbidding,
were it not for the asphalt walkway
that exists today. There are boulders
up and down the slopes.
Ferguson established his position on
the flat and even mountaintop, his 17
wagons in an arc facing northeast, with
his men around the perimeter, their muskets
loaded and bayonets fixed. Informed
of the loyalists' whereabouts, Shelby and
the other Overmountain Men had made
their approach through the rain the night
before, and at about a mile from the foot
of Kings Mountain, hitched their horses.
In the early afternoon of October 7, having
encircled the mountain, they awaited
the order to begin their ascent. Some
had not slept in 36 hours.
" My brave fellows, " Benjamin Cleveland,
one of the North Carolinians leading
troops that day, told his men, " we
have beat the Tories, and we can beat
them again. They are all cowards; if they
had the spirit of men they would join
their fellow citizens in supporting the independence
of their country. " They were
to " fire as quick as you can, " Cleveland
said. " ...When you are engaged, you are
not to wait for the command from me. I
will show you by example how to fight: I
can undertake no more. Every man must
consider himself an officer, and act from
his own judgment. "
Individual judgment was everything,
since even determining who was friend
or foe would not be easy. Except for Ferguson,
of course, all the men in the fight
were Americans, and none of them had
uniforms. There were no " redcoats " to
be seen and shot at. The loyalists were
said to put evergreen sprigs in their hats,
so some of the Overmountain Men put
pieces of cloth or paper in theirs.
At about 2 p.m., they got the order
to move and, with " Indian war-whoops "
echoing through the woods, they picked
their way up the slippery, rain-soaked
ground. Shelby's troops got to the top
first, in part because the loyalists' shots,
fired downhill, often flew over the heads
of their attackers.
Smoke soon settled over the entire
scene, and, at the summit, gun butts,
knives and tomahawks served as readily
as muskets for weapons. Finding themselves
surrounded, and running low on
ammunition, Ferguson's loyalists were
driven back toward their wagons. Some,
trying to surrender, were shot to death
anyway. Ferguson himself was shot out
of his saddle and died in the action.
It was all over in about an hour. When
darkness fell, the survivors got such sleep
as they could, " amid the dead and the
groans of the dying, " as James Potter Collins,
a North Carolina boy serving with
the rebels, would recall. The only surgeon
on the mountaintop that day, a loyalist
from New Jersey, worked throughout the
night, treating wounds and amputating
arms and legs by candlelight.
The next day, Collins recalled, the
" wives and children of the poor Tories
came in, in great numbers. Their husbands,
fathers, and brothers lay dead
in heaps, while others lay wounded or
dying. "
Burial of the dead " was badly done, "
Collins said. " They were thrown into
FACING PAGE FROM LEFT:
The 83-foot obelisk was
erected in 1909.
Writer Alan Crawford stands
beside the Col. Patrick
Ferguson Monument.
The plaque commemorates
separatist victory.
ABOVE: The Hambright
marker celebrates a colonel
who commanded North
Carolina troops.
LEFT: October 5-6 is the
next encampment weekend.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024 63
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Blue Ridge Country Sept/Oct 2024

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