9634
Cornwallis reached Charlotte toward the close of the month, where he expected to be joined by Ferguson and his Loyalists. But he was doomed to disappointment; that officer was soon afterward killed, and his whole force was broken up in a severe battle on King's Mountain.Oct. 7Cornwallis was diligent in issuing his proclamations, in which he denounced "the rebels offered pardon to those who should seek it, and protection to persons and property to those who would accept it. Gates, in the mean while, had retired, with the remnant of his army, to Salisbury, and soon proceeded to Hillsborough. Hundreds, who were stanch patriots, came forward and accepted protection from Cornwallis, for they saw no alternative but that and the ruin of their families and estates. Among them was Colonel Thomas Polk, who thereby incurred the suspicions of his countrymen; but when the danger was over, he renounced the forced allegiance. Non-conformity would have insured the destruction of all his property; he wisely accepted a protection, saved his estate, and was under a cloud of distrust only for a short season. *
When Cornwallis marched from Camden, on the east side of the Wateree, Tarleton traversed the country, with his legion, on the west side of that river. At the Waxhaws, Cornwallis halted, and there Tarleton united with the main body.
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On the fifth of September, Major William R. Davies was appointed, by Governor Nash, colonel commandant of cavalry, and, with Major George Davidson, was very active in collecting supplies for Gates's broken
* Colonel Polk was commissary of provisions at that time. The acceptance of protection from the British was considered equivalent to a renunciation of republicanism. He was, therefore, denounced as a Tory. Among Gates's papers in the New York Historical Society is the following order, issued after Cornwallis had retreated to Winnsborough: "From a number of suspicious circumstances respecting the conduct and behavior of Colonel Thomas Polk, commissary general of provisions for the State of North Carolina, and commissary of purchases for the Continental troops, it is our opinion that the said Colonel Polk should be directly ordered to Salisbury to answer for his conduct; and that the persons of Duncan Ochiltree and William M'Aferty * be likewise brought under guard to Salisbury. Given unanimously as our opinion, this twelfth day of November, 1780."
* William Richardson Davie was born at Egremont, near Whitehaven, England, on the twentieth of June, 1756. He came with his father to America at the age of five years, and was adopted by William Richardson, a maternal uncle, who lived near the Catawba, in South Carolina. He commenced study at Princeton, but during the summer of 1776 entered the army as a volunteer. He resumed his studies after the battle of Long Island, graduated in the autumn of 1776, and returned to Carolina, where he commenced the study of law in Salisbury. He was elected lieutenant of a troop of horse in 1779, and was attached to Pulaski's legion. He soon rose to the rank of major. At Stono, below Charleston, he was wounded in the thigh. When he recovered, he returned to Salisbury and resumed his books. In the winter of 1780, he raised a troop of cavalry, with which he was very active in beating back the enemy, while forcing his way northward. He was in the battle at Hanging Rock; with Rutherford at Ramsour's Mills, and nobly confronted the British army at Charlotte, after a brilliant display of courage and skill at Wahab's plantation. General Greene appointed Davie commissary general of the Southern army; and he was with that officer in his Retreat, and at the battles at Guilford, Hobkirk's Hill, and Ninety-Six. In 1783, he commenced his career as a lawyer, and the same year married the daughter of General Allen Jones. He was a member of the convention which framed the Federal Constitution. He was instrumental in procuring the erection of the buildings of the University at Chapel Hill, and as grand master of the Masonic Fraternity, he laid the corner stone. He received the commission of major general of militia in 1797, and in 1798 was appointed a brigadier in the army of the United States. He was elected governor of North Carolina the same year, and in 1799 was appointed an embassador to France by President Adams. On his return, he was engaged in some Indian treaties, but on the death of his wife in 1803, he withdrew from public life. He died at Tivoli, near Landsford, in South Carolina, in December, 1820, in the sixty-fourth year of his age.
* M'Cafferty, as the name is properly spelled, was a wealthy Scotchman, and was employed by Cornwallis as a guide when he left Charlotte
Cornwallis's March toward Charlotte.—Operations of the Americans against him.—Skirmish at Charlotte.
army, and in repressing the depredations of the British. They had continually maneuvered in front of the approaching enemy, and fell gradually back to Charlotte as the British pressed onward. While encamped at Providence, Davie learned that some Tories and light troops were on the western bank of the Catawba, not far distant. He determined to beat up their quarters; and early on the morning of the twenty-first of September,1780he surprised them at Captain Wahab's * plantation, and killed and wounded sixty, while he lost but one man wounded. He took ninety-six horses, with their equipments, and one hundred and twenty stand of arms, and returned to his camp, having marched sixty miles within twenty-four hours.
On the day of the engagement at Wahab's, Generals Sumner and Davidson, with their brigades of militia, arrived at Providence. On the advance of the British, they retreated to Salisbury, ordering Colonel Davie and Major Joseph Graham to annoy the enemy on his march. Four days afterward, Cornwallis having established a post at Blair's Mill, on Five Mile Creek, commenced his march toward Charlotte, by the Steel Creek road. Davie and Graham were on the alert, annoying him all the way. They took several of his men prisoners, in one or two skirmishes. Davie reached Charlotte at midnight,Sept. 25and determined to give the enemy a warm reception. He dismounted his cavalry, who were armed with swords, pistols, and muskets, and posted them in front of the court-house, under cover of a stone wall, breast high. His infantry and Graham's volunteers were advanced eighty yards in front on each side of the street, covered by the garden inclosures of the villagers. While this arrangement was in progress, Tarleton's legion, the van of the royal army, approached. Tarleton was sick, and Major Hanger was in command. As soon as he reached the Common at the entrance of the village, and observed the Americans, Hanger's trumpeter sounded a charge. The cavalry moved slowly, while the flanking infantry attacked Graham and his party. While they were engaged, Hanger, with his cavalry, rushed toward the court-house, when Davie poured a deadly volley upon them. They recoiled, but were instantly rallied on the Common. In the mean while, the contest in the street was warmly maintained. Again the cavalry charged, and again fell back in confusion to the Common. The British infantry having gained Davie's right, he withdrew from the courthouse, and formed his line on the eastern side of the town. Cornwallis had now reached the cavalry, and upbraided them for want of courage. They charged a third time, when Davie, having mounted his men, gave the enemy such a reception that they again fell back to the Common. The 71st and 33d British regiments of Webster's brigade (which fought so gallantly at Guilford nearly five months afterward) now advanced to the support of the light
* Captain Wahab was with Davie on this occasion, and for the first time in many months had the opportunity of embracing his wife and children. Before he was out of sight of his dwelling, he saw his dear ones driven from it by the foe, and their shelter burned to the ground, without the power to protect them.
Retreat of the Americans from Charlotte.—March of Cornwallis Southward.—Young Ladies of Mecklenburg and Rowan.
troops. Davie, perceiving the contest now to be very unequal, retreated toward Salisbury, leaving Cornwallis master of Charlotte. Colonel Francis Locke (who commanded at Ramsour's) and five privates were killed; and Major Graham and twelve others were wounded in this action. The British lost twelve non-commissioned officers and privates, killed; Major Hanger, two captains, and many privates, were wounded. Cornwallis remained in Charlotte until the fourteenth of October, when he retreated southward. It had been his intention to advance northward; but the loss of Ferguson and his corps, and the general lukewarmness, if not absolute hostility of the people, and the constant annoyance by the American troops, * caused him to retrograde, and on the twenty-ninth he established his head-quarters at Winnsborough, in Fairfield District, South Carolina, midway between the Catawba and Broad Rivers. There we shall leave the earl for the present.
The British army, while at Charlotte, lay encamped upon a plain, south of the town, on the right side of the road. Cornwallis's head-quarters were next to the southeast corner of the street from the court-house; and most of the other houses were occupied, in part, by his officers. I found no person in Charlotte yet living who remembered the British occupation and the noble deeds of the patriots; but history, general and local, fully attests the patriotism of its inhabitants during the whole war. ** It was never visited by the British army after Cornwallis returned to Winnsborough, and only for a short time was the head-quarters of the American army, while Gates was preparing for another campaign. It was at this place General Greene took the command of the Southern army from Gates, fifty days after Cornwallis decampedDec. 3, 1780
* Provisions soon became scarce in the British camp, for the people in the neighborhood refused a supply. In Colonel Polk's mill, two miles from the town, they found twenty-eight thousand weight of flour, and a quantity of wheat. Foraging parties went out daily for cattle and other necessaries, but so hostile were the people that Webster's and Rawdon's brigades were obliged to move, on alternate days, as a covering party. There were few sheep, and the cattle were so lean that they killed one hundred head a day. On one day, according to Stedman (who was commissary), they killed thirty-seven cows with calf. Frequent skirmishes occurred. On one occasion, the plantation of Mr. M'Intyre, seven miles north of Charlotte, on the road to Beattie's Ford, was plundered, the family having barely time to escape. While loading their wagons with plunder, a bee-hive was overturned, and the insects made a furious attack upon the soldiers. While their commander stood in the door laughing at the scene, a party of twelve patriots approached in a moment, the captain, nine men, and two horses lay dead upon the ground The British hastily retreated to their camp, believing that a large American force was concealed near.
** On one occasion, the young ladies of Mecklenburg and Rowan entered into a pledge not to receive the attentions of young men who would not volunteer in defense of the country, they "being of opinion that such persons as stay loitering at home, when the important calls of the country demand their military services abroad, must certainly be destitute of that nobleness of sentiment, that brave and manly spirit which would qualify them to be the defenders and guardians of the fair sex."—South Carolina and American General Gazette, February, 1780.
* One of the twelve was George Graham, brother of General Joseph Graham. He was born in Pennsylvania, in 1753, and went to North Carolina, with his widowed mother, when six years of age. He was educated at Queen's Museum, and was strongly imbued with the republican principles of the Scotch-irish of that region. He was one of the party who rode from Charlotte to Salisbury and arrested those who proposed to detain Captain Jack, as mentioned on page 621. He was active in partisan duties while the British were at Charlotte. After the war, he rose to the rank of major general of militia, and often served his country in the State Legislature. He died at Charlotte, on the twenty-ninth of March, 1826, in the sixty-eighth year of his age.
Departure from Charlotte.—Gold Region of North Carolina.—Tuckesege Ford.
"We marched to the Cowpens, Campbell was there,
Shelby, Cleveland, and Colonel Sevier;
Men of renown, sir, like lions, so bold—
Like lions undaunted, ne'er to be controlled.
We set out on our march that very same night;
Sometimes we were wrong, sometimes we were right;
Our hearts being run in true liberty's mold,
We valued not hunger, wet, weary, or cold.
On the top of King's Mountain the old rogue we found,
And, like brave heroes, his camp did surround;
Like lightning, the flashes; like thunder, the noise;
Our rifles struck the poor Tories with sudden surprise."
Old Song.*
9637
HE Sabbath which I passed in Charlotte was exceedingly unpleasant. The morning air was keen and hazy; snow fell toward evening, and night set in with a gloomy prospect for the morrow's travel. I breakfasted by candle-light on Monday morning, and before sunrise was on the road for King's Mountain and the Cowpens. I passed the United States Branch Mint, upon the road leading from the village to the Tuckesege or Great Catawba Ford, and at the forks, about a mile from the town, halted a moment to observe the operation of raising gold ore from a mine, by a horse and windlass.
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This mine had not been worked for fifteen years, owing to litigation, and now yielded sparingly. The vein lies about seventy feet below the surface. This is in the midst of the gold region of North Carolina, which is comprehended within the limits of eleven counties. **
From Charlotte to the Catawba, a distance of eleven miles, the country is very hilly, and the roads were bad the greater portion of the way. I crossed the Catawba at the Tuckesege Ford, the place where General Rutherford and his little army passed, on the evening of the nineteenth of June, 1780, when on their way to attack the Tories at Ramsour's Mills. *** I was piloted across by a lad on horseback.
The distance from shore to shore, in the direction of the ford, is more than half a mile, the water varying in depth from ten inches to three feet, and running in quite a rapid current. In the passage, which is diagonal, two islands, covered with shrubbery and trees, are traversed. This was Charley's first experience in fording a very considerable stream, and he seemed to participate with me in the satisfaction experienced in setting foot upon the solid ground of the western shore. I allowed him to rest while I made the above sketch,
* The song called "The Battle of King's Mountain," from which these lines are taken, was very popular in the Carolinas until some years after the close of the war. It was sung with applause at political meetings, wedding parties, and other gatherings, where the ballad formed a part of the proceedings. Mr. M'Elwees, an old man of eighty-seven, who fought under Sumter, and with whom I passed an evening, within two miles of King's Mountain, remembered it well, and repeated the portion here given.
**& These are Randolph, Montgomery, Richmond, Davidson, Stanley, Anson, Cabarras, Rowan, Iredell,
Mecklenburg, and Lincoln, all east of the Catawba.
* See page 597.
**** This view is from the western bank of the Catawba, looking down the stream.
Passage of the South Fork of the Catawba.—Loss of Way in a Forest.—Road to King's Mountain.
and then we pushed on toward the South Fork of the Catawba, almost seven miles farther.
I was told that the ford there was marked by a row of rocks, occurring at short intervals across the stream; but when I reached the bank, few of them could be seen above the surface of the swift and swollen current. The distance across is about two hundred and fifty yards, and the whole stream flows in a single channel. The passage appeared (as it really was) very dangerous, and I had no guide. As the day was fast waning away, a storm seemed to be gathering, and there was not an inhabitant within a mile, I resolved to venture alone, relying upon the few rocks visible for indications of the safest place for a passage. Taking my port-folio of drawings from my trunk, and placing it beside me on the seat, and then folding my wagon-top, I was prepared to swim, if necessary, and save my sketches, if possible. Charley seemed loth to enter the flood, but once in, he breasted the stream like a philosopher. Twice the wheels ran upon rocks, and the wagon was almost overturned, the water being, in the mean while, far over the hubs; and when within a few yards of the southern shore, we crossed a narrow channel, so deep that my horse kept his feet with difficulty, and the wagon, having a tight body, floated for a moment. The next instant we struck firm ground. I breathed freer as we ascended the bank, and with a thankful heart rode on toward Falls's house of entertainment, away among the hills near the South Carolina line, twenty-six miles from Charlotte.
On account of numerous diverging ways, it was very difficult to keep in the right road from the South Fork to Falls's. I tried to reach there before dark, but the clouds thickened, and night fell suddenly. In the uncertain twilight, I missed a diverging road which I was directed to pursue, and got into the midst of a vast pine forest. Just before entering the woods, I had a glimpse of Crowder s Knob, the highest peak of King's Mountain, estimated to be three thousand feet above the level of the sea.1 It was about twelve miles distant, and loomed up from the wilderness of pines which intervened, like some ancient castle in the dim light. For more than an hour I pursued the forest road, without perceiving the diverging one which I was directed to follow. I stopped to listen for sounds of habitation. All was silent but the moaning of the wind among the pine boughs, the solemn voice of an owl, and the pattering of the rain upon my wagon-top. For almost another hour I rode on in the gloom, without perceiving an opening in the forest, and I began to think I should be obliged to "camp out" for the night. Again I listened, and was cheered by the distant barking of a dog. I gave Charley a loose rein, and in twenty minutes an open field appeared, and the glimmer of a candle. A shout brought the master of the cottage to the door, and, in reply to my solicitation for food and shelter until morning, he informed me that a contagious disease, which had destroyed two of his family, yet prevailed in his house. He could not offer me the hospitalities of his roof and table, but he would mount his horse and guide me to Falls's, which was four miles distant. I was glad to avoid the contagion, and to reward him liberally for his kind pilotage. I ascertained that I had been within a quarter of a mile of Falls's, but, missing the "turn out," had traversed another road several miles back in the direction of Charlotte!
Mr. Falls was the postmaster, and an intelligent man, apparently about sixty years of age. It was the anniversary of the battle of New Orleans, in 1815,Jan. 8and as the old man had a brother killed in that engagement, it was a day always memorable to him. I was entertained with the frank hospitality so common in the Carolinas, and at my request breakfast was ready at early dawn. A more gloomy morning can not well be conceived. Snow had fallen to the depth of two inches during the night, and when I departed, a chilling east wind, freighted with sleet, was sweeping over the barren country. King's Mountain battle-ground was fourteen miles distant, and I desired to reach there in time to make my notes and sketches before sunset. The roads, except near the water courses, were sandy and quite level, but the snow made the traveling heavy. Six miles from Falls's, I forded Crowder's Creek, a stream about ten yards wide, deep and sluggish, which rises from
* The sides of this peak are very precipitous, and its top is accessible to man only upon one side.
Visit to the King's Mountain Battle ground.—Character of the Locality.—View of the Battle-ground
Crowder's Knob, and, after a course of eighteen miles, falls into the Catawba. A little beyond it, I passed a venerable post oak, which was shivered, but not destroyed, by lightning the previous summer. It there marks the dividing-line between North and South Carolina. At noon the storm ceased; the clouds broke, and at three o'clock, when I reached the plantation of Mr. Leslie, whose residence is the nearest one to the battle-ground, the sun was shining warm and bright, and the snow had disappeared in the open fields.
When my errand was made known, Mr. Leslie brought two horses from his stable, and within twenty minutes after my arrival we were in the saddle and traversing a winding way toward Clarke's Fork of King's Creek. From that stream, to the group of hills among which the battle was fought, the ascent is almost imperceptible. The whole range, in that vicinity, is composed of a series of great undulations, from whose sides burst innumerable springs, making every ravine sparkle with running water. The hills are gravelly, containing a few small bowlders. They are covered with oaks, chestnuts, pines, beaches, gums, and tulip poplars, and an undergrowth of post oaks, laurel, and sour-wood. The large trees stand far apart, and the smaller ones are not very thick, so that the march of an army over those gentle elevations was comparatively easy. Yet it was a strange place for an encampment or a battle; and to one acquainted with that region, it is difficult to understand why Ferguson and his band were there at all.
0639m
We tied our horses near the grave of Ferguson and his fellow-sleepers, and ascended to the summit of the hill whereon the British troops were encamped and fought. The battleground is about a mile and a half south of the North Carolina line. It is a stony ridge, extending north and south, and averaging about one hundred feet in height above the ravines which surround it. It is nearly a mile in length, very narrow upon its summit, with steep sides. From its top we could observeCrowder's Knobin the distance, and the hills of less altitude which compose the range. ** The sun was declining, and its slant rays,
* This view is from the foot of the hill, whereon the hottest of the fight occurred. The north slope of that eminence is seen on the left. In the center, within a sort of basin, into which several ravines converge, is seen the simple monument erected to the memory of Ferguson and others; and in the foreground, on the right, is seen the great tulip-tree, upon which, tradition says, ten Tories were hung.
** The range known as King's Mountain extends about sixteen miles from north to south, with several spurs spreading laterally in each direction. One of these extends to the Broad River, near the Cherokee Ford, where I crossed that stream on my return from the Cowpens. Many of its spurs abound in marble and iron, and from its bosom a great number of streams, the beginning of rivers, gush out. The battleground is about twelve miles northwest of Yorkville, and one hundred and ninety from Charleston.
Past and Present.—Major Ferguson detached to the Upper Country.—Gathering of Tories.—Surprise at Greene's Spring.
gleaming through the boughs dripping with melting snows, garnished the forest for a few moments with all the seeming splendors of the mines; gold and silver, diamonds and rubies, emeralds and sapphires, glittered upon every branch, and the glowing pictures of the Arabian Nights, which charmed boyhood with the records of wondrous visions, crowded upon the memory like realities. Alas! on this very spot, where the sun-light is braiding its gorgeous tapestry, and suggesting nothing but love, and beauty, and adoration, the clangor of steel, the rattle of musketry, the shout of victory, and the groans of dying men, whose blood incarnadined the forest sward, and empurpled the mountain streams, were once heard—and there, almost at our feet, lie the ashes of men slain by their brother man! History thus speaketh of the event:
On the sixteenth of August, 1780, the Americans, under General Gates, were defeated by Cornwallis, near Camden, and dispersed. Two days afterward, Tarleton defeated Sumter at Rocky Mount, and elsewhere the American partisan corps were unsuccessful. The whole South now appeared to be completely subdued under the royal power; and the conqueror, tarrying at Camden, busied himself in sending his prisoners to Charleston, in ascertaining the condition of his distant posts at Ninety-Six and Augusta, and in establishing civil government in South Carolina. Yet his success did not impair his vigilance. West of the Wateree * were bands of active Whigs, and parties of those who were defeated near Camden were harassing the upper country. Cornwallis detached Major Ferguson, a most excellent officer and true marksman, of the 71st regiment, ** with one hundred and ten regulars under the command of Captain Depuyster, and about the same number of Tories, with an ample supply of arms and other military stores. He ordered him to embody the Loyalists beyond the Wateree and the Broad Rivers; intercept the Mountain Men, *** who were retreating from Camden, and also the Americans, under Colonel Elijah Clarke, of Georgia, who were retiring from an attack upon Augusta; endeavor to crush the spirit of rebellion, which was still rife; and, after scouring the upper part of South Carolina, toward the mountains, join him at Charlotte. Ferguson at first made rapid marches to overtake the Mountain Men, and cut off Clarke's forces. Failing in this, he proceeded leisurely, collecting all the Tories in his path, until about the last of September, when he encamped with more than a thousand men, at a place called Gilbert Town, west of the Broad River, near the site of the present village of Rutherfordton, the county seat of Rutherford, in North Carolina. **** These were all well armed, (v) and Ferguson began to feel strong. True to their instincts, his Tory recruits committed horrible outrages upon persons and property wherever they went, and this aroused a spirit of the fiercest vengeance among the patriots. At different points, large
* The Wateree River is that portion of the Catawba which flows through South Carolina. It is the Catawba to the dividing-line of the states, and, after its junction with the Congaree, is ealled the Santee. The Congaree is formed by a union of the Broad and Saluda Rivers at Columbia, the head of steam-boat navigation upon the Santee and Congaree, from the ocean.
** This was the regiment that behaved so gallantly at the battle of Guilford.
*** The pioneers who had settled in the wilderness beyond the mountains, now Kentucky and Tennessee, were called Mountain Men.
**** While Ferguson was in Spartanburg District, on his way toward Gilbert Town, a detachment of his little army had a severe skirmish with Colonel Clarke and his men at Greene's Spring. Clarke and his company, some two hundred in number, had stopped at the plantation of Captain Dillard, who was one of them, and, after partaking of refreshments, proceeded to Greene's Spring. The same evening Ferguson arrived at Dillard's, whose wife soon learned, from the conversation of some of his men, that they knew where Clarke was encamped, and intended to surprise him that night. She hastily prepared supper for Ferguson and his men, and while they were eating she stole from the room, bridled a young horse, and, without a saddle, rode to the encampment of Clarke, and warned him of impending danger. In an instant every man was at his post, prepared for the enemy. Very soon Colonel Dunlap, with two hundred picked mounted men, sent by Ferguson, fell upon the camp of Clarke. Day had not yet dawned, and the enemy were greatly surprised and disconcerted when they found the Americans fully prepared to meet them. For fifteen minutes the conflict raged desperately in the gloom, when the Tories were repulsed with great slaughter, and the survivors hastened back to Ferguson's camp.
* (v) Those of his recruits who were without arms Ferguson furnished with rifles. Some of them so fixed the large knives which they usually carried about them, in the muzzle of their rifles, as to be used as bayonets, if occasion should require.
Leaders of the Mountain Men.—Ferguson West of the Broad River.—Expedition against him.—Concentration of Troops.
bodies of volunteers assembled simultaneously, without concert, and placed themselves under tried leaders, the chief of whom were Colonels Campbell, of Virginia; Cleaveland, Shelby, Sevier, and M'Dowell, of North Carolina; and Lacy, Hawthorn, and Hill, of South Carolina.
9641
They all had but one object in view—the destruction of the marauders under Ferguson. They were men admirably fitted by their daily pursuits for the privations which they were called upon to endure. They had neither tents, baggage, bread, or salt, and no Commissary Department to furnish regular supplies. Potatoes, pumpkins, roasted corn, and occasionally a bit of venison supplied by their own rifles, composed their daily food. Such were the men who were gathering among the mountains and valleys of the Upper Carolinas to beat back the invaders.
On his way to Gilbert Town, Ferguson had succeeded in capturing two of the Mountain Men. These he paroled, and enjoined them to tell the officers on the Western waters, that if they did not desist from their opposition and "take protection under his standard, he would march his army over the mountains, hang their leaders, and lay waste their country with fire and sword." * While Colonel Charles M'Dowell, ** of Burke county, who, on the approach of Ferguson, had gone over the mountains to obtain assistance, was in consultation with Colonels Shelby and Sevier, the paroled prisoners arrived, and delivered their message. These officers were not dismayed by the savage threat of Ferguson, but decided that each should endeavor to raise all the men that could be enlisted, and that the forces thus collected should rendezvous at Watauga on the twenty-fifth of September. It was also agreed that Colonel Shelby should give intelligence of their movements to Colonel William Campbell, of Washington county, in Virginia, hoping that he would raise a force to assist them.
The following official report of events from the meeting of these several forces at Watauga, until the defeat of Ferguson, I copied from the original manuscript among Gates's papers. It is full, yet concise, and being official, with the signatures of the three principal officers engaged in the affair, attached, it is perfectly reliable: ***
"On receiving intelligence that Major Ferguson had advanced up as high as Gilbert Town, in Rutherford county, and threatened to cross the mountains to the Western waters, Colonel William Campbell, with four hundred men, from Washington county, of Virginia, Colonel Isaac Shelby, with two hundred and forty men, from Sullivan county, of North Carolina, and Lieutenant-colonel John Sevier, with two hundred and forty men, of Washington county, of North Carolina, assembled at Watauga, on the twenty-fifth day of September, where they
* General Joseph Graham, who lived in the vicinity of King's Mountain, and knew many of those who were employed in the battle, wrote a graphic account of the events connected with that affair. His account is published in Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, page 264—269, inclusive.
** The M'Dowells were all brave men. Joseph and William, the brothers of Charles, were with him in the battle on King's Mountain. Their mother, Ellen M'Dowell, was a woman of remarkable energy. Mrs. Ellet relates that on one occasion some marauders carried off some property during the absence of her husband. She assembled some of her neighbors, started in pursuit, and recovered the property. When her husband was secretly making gunpowder in a cave, she burned the charcoal for the purpose upon her own hearth, and carried it to him. Some of the powder thus manufactured was used in the battle on King's Mountain.—Women of the Revolution, iii., 356.
*** General Gates sent a copy of this report to Governor Jefferson for his perusal, and desired him to forward it to Congress. His letter to Jefferson is dated Hillsborough, November 1, 1780.
**** Isaac Shelby was born on the eleventh of December, 1750, near the North Mountain, a few miles from Hagerstown, in Maryland. His ancestors were from Wales. He learned the art of surveying, and at the age of twenty-one years settled in Western Virginia. He was with his father, Evan Shelby, in the battle at Point Pleasant, in 1774. He was afterward employed as a surveyor under Henderson & Co., in Kentucky. In July, 1776, he was appointed captain of a company of minute-men by the Virginia Committee of Safety. Governor Henry appointed him a commissary of supplies in 1777, and in 1778 he was attached to the Continental Commissary Department. In the spring of 1779, he was elected a member of the Virginia Legislature, from Washington county, and in the autumn Governor Jefferson gave him the commission of a major. He was engaged in defining the boundary-line between Virginia and North Carolina, the result of which placed his residence in the latter state. Governor Caswell soon afterward appointed him a eolonel of the new county of Sullivan. In the summer of 1780, he was engaged in locating lands for himself in Kentucky, when he heard of the fall of Charleston. He returned home to engage in repelling the invaders. He raised three hundred mounted riflemen, crossed the mountains, and joined Colonel Charles M'Dowell, near the Cherokee Ford, on the Broad River. In that vicinity he was very active, until he joined other officers of like grade in an attaek upon Major Ferguson, on King's Mountain. Colonel Shelby soon afterward suggested to Greene the expedition which resulted so brilliantly at the Cow-pens. In the campaign of 1781, Shelby served under Marion, and was in the skirmish at Monk's Corner. Colonel Shelby was a member of the North Carolina Legislature in 1782; and ten years afterward, he was among the framers of the Constitution of Kentucky. In May of that year, he was elected the first governor of the new state. He served one term with great distinction; and in 1812, consented again to an election to the chief magistracy of Kentucky. His energy and Revolutionary fame aroused the patriotism of his state when the war with Great Britain broke out. At the head of four thousand volunteers, he marched to the shores of Lake Erie, to assist General Harrison in his warfare with the British and Indians in the Northwest. During the whole war, his services were great and valuable in the highest degree; and for his bravery at the battle of the Thames, Congress honored him with a gold medal. In 1817, President Monroe appointed him his Secretary of War, but on account of his age (being then sixty-seven), he declined the honor. His last public act was that of holding a treaty with the Chickasaw Indians, in 1818. in whieh General Jackson was his colleague. He was attacked with paralysis, in February, 1820, which somewhat disabled him. He died of apoplexy, on the eighteenth of July, 1826, at the age of seventy-six years. Shelby county, in Kentucky, was named in honor of him in 1792. A college at Shelbyville also bears his name.
Selection of a Commander-in-chief.—March to the Cowpens.—Colonels Shelby, Campbell, and Williams.
were joined by Colonel Charles M'Dowell, with one hundred and sixty men, from the counties of Burke and Rutherford, who had fled before the enemy to the Western waters. We began our march on the twenty-sixth, and on the thirtieth we were joined by Colonel Cleaveland, on the Catawba Priver, with three hundred and fifty men, from the counties of Wilkes and Surry. No one officer having properly a right to the command in chief, on the first of October we dispatched an express to Major-general Gates, informing him of our situation, and requested him to send a general officer to take command of the whole. In the mean time, Colonel Campbell was chosen to act as commandant till such general officer should arrive. We marched to theCowpens, on Broad River, in South Carolina, where we were joined by Colonel James Williams, *** with four hundred men, on the evening of the
* Colonel Charles M'Dowell. His brother, Major M'Dowell, commanded his regiment till his return.
** William Campbell was a native of Augusta, Virginia. He was of Scotch descent, and possessed all the fire of his Highland ancestors. He was among the first of the regular troops raised in Virginia in 1775, and was honored with a captain's commission. In 1776, he was made lieutenant colonel of the militia of Washington eounty, and, on the resignation of Evan Shelby, the father of Governor Shelby, he was promoted to colonel. That rank he retained until after the battle on King's Mountain and at Guilford, in both of which he greatly distinguished himself, when he was promoted by the Virginia Legislature to the rank of brigadier. La Fayette gave him the eommand of a brigade of riflemen and light infantry. He was taken sick a few weeks before the siege of Yorktown, and soon afterward died at the house of a friend. He was only in the thirty-sixth year of his age when he died. His military career, like those of Warren and Montgomery, was short, but brilliant, and on all occasions bravery marked his movements. Foote relates that in the battle on King's Mountain he rode down two horses, and at one time was seen on foot, with his coat off, and his shirt collar open, fighting at the head of his men. He also says, that on one occasion Senator Preston, of South Carolina, a grandson of Campbell, was breakfasting at a house near King's Mountain, and, while eating, the old landlady frequently turned to look at him. She finally asked him his name, and remarked, apologetically, that he appeared very much like the man she had most dreaded upon earth.. "And who is that?" Preston inquired. "Colonel Campbell," replied the old lady, "that hung my husband at King's Mountain." *
*** James Williams was a native of Granville county, in North Carolina. He settled upon Little River, Laurens District, in South Carolina, in 1773, where he engaged in the pursuit of a farmer and merchant. He early espoused the patriot cause. Williams first appears as a colonel in the militia, in April, 1778. In the spring of 1779, he went into actual service, and he was probably at the siege of Savannah. He was with Sumter in 1780, but does not seem to have been permanently attached to the corps of that partisan. In the early part of that year, he was engaged in the battle at Musgrove's mill, on the Ennoree River. After that engagement, he went to Hillsborough, where he raised a corps of cavalry and returned to South Carolina; and during Ferguson's movements, after crossing the Wateree, Williams continually hovered around his camp. In the sanguinary battle upon King's Mountain, he was slain. He was near Major Ferguson, and both officers received their death-wound at the same moment. He died on the morning after the battle, and was buried within two miles of the place where he fell. Tradition says that his first words, when reviving a little soon after he was shot, were, "For God's sake, boys, don't give up the hill!"
* Sketches of North Carolina, page 271.
Pursuit of Ferguson.—The Battle.—Colonel Sevier.—Frankland.
sixth of October, * who informed us that the enemy lay encamped somewhere near the Cherokee Ford, of Broad River, about thirty miles distant from us. By a council of principal officers, it was then thought advisable to pursue the enemy that night with nine hundred of the best horsemen, and have the weak horse and footmen to follow us as fast as possible. We began our march with nine hundred of the best men about eight o'clock the same evening, and, marching all night, came up with the enemy about three o'clock P.M. of the seventh, who lay encamped on the top of King's Mountain, twelve miles north of the Cherokee Ford, in the confidence that they could not be forced from so advantageous a post. Previous to the attack on our march, the following disposition was made: Colonel Shelby's regiment formed a column in the center, on the left; Colonel Campbell's regiment another on the right, with part of Colonel Cleaveland's regiment, headed in front by Major Joseph Winston; **