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Battle of King's Mountain - South Carolina

The Battle of Kings Mountain, October 7, 1780, was a decisive Patriot victory in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War. Frontier militia loyal to the United States overwhelmed the Loyalist American militia led by British Major Patrick Ferguson of the 71st Foot. In The Winning of the West, Theodore Roosevelt wrote of Kings Mountain, "This brilliant victory marked the turning point of the American Revolution."


The Battle of the King's Mountain lasted 65 minutes. The Loyalists suffered 244 killed, 163 wounded, and 668 taken prisoner. The Patriot militia suffered 29 killed and 58 wounded. Loyalist prisoners well enough to walk were herded to camps several miles from the battlefield. The dead were buried in shallow graves and wounded were left on the field. Of the captured, the Patriots hanged as many as nine Loyalists who had changed sides. Other accounts say the Tories were tried before North Carolina judges for violation of the state's criminal laws for crimes (such as pillaging). The battle, evincing fiercer than anticipated colonial resistance, made Cornwallis abandon his plan to take North Carolina. He retreated to the south.

After the battle, Joseph Greer of the Watauga Association at Sycamore Shoals (located at what is today the city of Elizabethton, Tennessee) set off on a 600 miles, month-long expedition to notify the Continental Congress of the British defeat at the battle. He arrived in Philadelphia on November 7, 1780.[ Greer's report of the American Patriot victory at Kings Mountain "re-energized a downtrodden Continental Congress."

The battle opened on October 7, 1780, around 3 pm when 900 Patriots (including John Crockett, the father of Davy Crockett), approached the steep base of King's Mountain at dawn. The rebels formed eight groups of 100 to 200 men. Two parties, led by Colonels John Sevier and William Campbell, assaulted the 'high heel' of the wooded mountain, the smallest area but highest point, while the other seven groups, led by Colonels Shelby, Williams, Lacey, Cleveland, Hambright, Winston and McDowell attacked the main Loyalist position by surrounding the 'ball' base beside the 'heel' crest of the mountain.

The Patriots crept up the hill and fired on the Loyalists from behind rocks and trees. Ferguson rallied his troops and launched a bayonet charge against Campbell and Sevier's men. With no bayonets of their own, the rebels retreated down the hill and into the woods. Campbell rallied his troops, returned to the base of the hill, and resumed firing. Ferguson launched two more bayonet charges during the course of the battle. During one of the charges, Colonel Williams was killed and Colonel McDowell wounded. However, after each charge the Patriots returned to the base of the hill and resumed firing. It was hard for the Loyalists to find a target because the Patriots were constantly moving using cover and concealment.

After an hour of combat, Loyalist casualties were heavy. Ferguson rode back and forth across the hill, blowing a silver whistle he used to signal charges. Growing desperate, he slipped on a plaid shirt to cover his officer's coat. A soldier on one side or the other saw this and alerted his comrades immediately. At the crest, as the Patriots overran the Loyalist position, Ferguson fell dead from his saddle with eight rifle balls in his body.

Seeing their leader fall, the Loyalists began to surrender. Eager to avenge defeats at the Waxhaw Massacre and elsewhere, the rebels did not initially want to take prisoners. Rebels continued firing and shouted, "Give 'em Tarleton's Quarter!" After a few more minutes of bloodletting, the Colonials asserted control and gave quarter to around 700 Loyalists.

In 1931, the Congress of the United States created the Kings Mountain National Military Park on the site of the battle. The park headquarters is in Blacksburg, South Carolina, and hosts hundreds of thousands of people each year.
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