Image size: 18" x 29" Edition size: Print-500 S/N ...... Canvas-10 S/N Price: Print-$250 ....... Canvas-$400 (when these are sold out they will only be available on our secondary market-call then for current price and availability-800-237-6077) The Battle of King’s Mountain, October 7, 1780 In September1780, Lord Charles Cornwallis invaded North Carolina. While the British army advanced north towards Charlotte, Major Patrick Ferguson lead a small, flanking force further to the west. The backbone of Ferguson’s command consisted of 100 of his American Volunteers, a detachment of “picked men” drawn from various Provincial “regular” regiments, still in the uniforms of their parent corps. However, he did his best to instill a sense of group cohesion by enforcing uniformity in the style of their cocked hats and hair. Ferguson also succeeded in procuring short, British military rifles for half of his “Rangers”, the others being armed with muskets. He trained his men to fight in a loose, two-rank formation with the riflemen posted in the rear rank, protected by the bayonets of the musketeers in front, responding to his commands eexecuted by sound of whistle or waving of the hat. The majority of Ferguson’s command, however, consisted of nearly 1000 Loyalist militia from the Carolina back country. Ferguson had previously been appointed Inspector of Militia and had trained some of them to fight in the same manner as his American Volunteers. They were armed with a mix of their own guns, mostly long rifles or fowlers, along with captured French muskets. Needing a dependable cavalry force, Ferguson created a small cadre of “rifle dragoons” from the American Volunteers and issued cutlasses to them and some of the mounted militia for fighting while on horseback. Ferguson marched towards the North Carolina border and issued a warning that threatened “fire and sword” to those who resisted British rule. By late September more than 1800 Patriot militia and “over mountain” men, mostly mounted riflemen, were on the march against him Learning of this, Ferguson began a slow retreat, but took post on the summit of King’s Mountain on October 6th, awaiting reinforcements and the return of a 200-man scout from his own command. It was a ridge that was nearly tree-less at top, but had rocky slopes wooded with old-growth hardwoods. That evening, the Patriots divided their force, sending a fast-moving column of some 900 of the “best horsemen” ahead to trap the Tories before it was too late. Riding all night tnrough a heavy rain, they were reinforced by approximately 600 others prior to reaching their destination by midday. The riflemen began to encircle the perimeter of the mountain and by three o’clock, most of them had reached their prearranged positions before an alarm was sounded. Overrunning the Loyalist outposts, “they were able to advance in three divisions...to the crest of the hill in perfect safety...and opened an irregular but destructive fire from behind trees and other cover.” Ferguson countered this by having the American Volunteers push them back, with the “”mountaineers flying whenever there was danger of being charged by the Bayonet, but returning again so soon as the...detachment faced about to repel another of their parties,” For nearly an hour, the battle raged in this see-saw fashion. Running out of ammunition, some of the Loyalist militia broke and others became confused and crowded the the flanks of the regulars. Ferguson, realizing that the situation was desperate, called for another bayonet charge before their position was over-run. While the regulars formed, he led a handful of mounted men—two militia officers and the few “dragoons” of the Volunteers yet alive—down the hill, hoping to cut a swathe through the advancing riflemen. Although he was dressed in a hunting shirt, the Patriots had been told to be on the lookout for an officer wielding a sword in his left hand (his right incapacitated by an earlier war wound) and Ferguson fell with at least seven balls in his body. With his death, further Tory resistance crumbled and this crushing defeat signaled the beginning of the end for British ascendancy in the Carolina backcountry. James L. Kochan |
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