Prelude to Kings Mountain, August 1780

The disparaging news of Thomas Sumter's embarrassing defeat by Banastre Tarleton and his legion at Fishing Creek on 18 August 1780 did not stop the strategic movements of the backcountry militia. On the upside, for the patriot rebels, August 18th was the day two hundred horsemen rode forth from Colonel Charles McDowell's rebel camp on the Broad River. They were headed for Musgrove's Mill on the Enoree.

Having obtained information that a party of four or five hundred tories were encamped at Musgrove's Mill, on the south side of Enoree River, about forty miles distant, Col. McDowell again detached Shelby and Cols. Williams and Clarke to surprise and disperse them.

—John Haywood*

As battle at Musgrove's was winding down after a strategically arduous, yet ultimately decisive victory for the rebels, news of Horatio Gates's defeat at Camden on the 16th of August arrived. Retreat was rapid and long, but timely. Isaac Shelby returned to the western side of the mountains as Colonel Elijah Clarke escorted their seventy prisoners to a northern "place of safety."

It was after this, the Loyalist defeat at Musgrove's Mill, but, moreover, the unabashed British victory at Camden, that British commander Patrick Ferguson sent forth Samuel Phillips, a prisoner-of-war, to deliver a message to the “officers on the Western waters,” that if they did not: 

“...desist from their opposition to the British army, and take protection under his standard, he would march his army over the mountains, hang their leaders, and lay their country waste with fire and sword.”

—Isaac Shelby**

Word was sent out for the western militia to muster at Sycamore Shoals. Momentum was about to gather again. 

*John Haywood, The Civil and Political History of the State of Tennessee, published 1823 by W. H. Haywood; reprinted 1891, Publishing House of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; Nashville, Tennessee

** Isaac Shelby, Gov. Shelby's Pamphlet. Battle of Kings Mountain. To the Public., published 1823, excerpt

The Battle of Camden, 16 August 1780

In May 1780 the regular Continental army, those not imprisoned, had retreated northward to Hillsborough, North Carolina, above Durham, and even as far as Virginia, in the aftermath of Charleston's surrender to the British. The Waxhaw Massacre of Abraham Buford's troops that month also signaled retreat for anyone lucky enough to survive.

Late in July, though, with Major General Horatio Gates at the helm, the Continental army returned southward into the Carolinas. They gathered at Charlotte to regroup, calling in the local militia to meet with Continental Army officers. Gates was intent upon taking on Lord Cornwallis and regaining South Carolina. 

He was targeting Camden in particular, a key crossroads which had become a Loyalist stronghold of about a thousand men under British commander Lord Francis Rawdon. Lord Cornwallis was advised of Gates's movement days earlier and arrived on the scene to support Rawdon with additional troops, including Banastre “Butcher” Tarleton and his notorious dragoons.

Soon after your Lordship had first taken possession of Camden, you detached me to Waxhaw with my own regiment, thinking that as it was an Irish corps it would be received with the better temper by the settlers of that district, who were universally Irish and universally disaffected. My conduct towards the inhabitants, and the extraordinary regularity of the troops under my command, I must assert to have been such as ought to have conciliated their firmest attachment; yet I had the fullest proofs that the people who daily visited my camp, not only held constant correspondence with the rebel militia then assembling at Charlotteburg, and with those who were harassing Lieut.-Colonel Turnbull's detachment, but also used every artifice to debauch the minds of my soldiers, and persuade them to desert from their colours. The encouragement which they gave to the men, and the certain means of escape with which they furnished them, succeeded to a very alarming degree, and the rage of desertion was not stopped by our return to Camden.

When your Lordship left me to command in the Back Country, you left me in the territory of an enemy, awed solely by apprehension of our force from open opposition. I soon found (as your Lordship's experience since will readily lead you to believe) that I was betrayed on every side by the inhabitants. Several small detachments from me, were attacked by persons who had the hour before been with them as friends in their camp. As the rebels, however, had not strength to assail the body of the army, they endeavoured to weaken it by treachery. I had the clearest conviction that the militia who swarmed daily in our camp, not only held forth every allurement that could entice the soldiers to desert, but actually furnished horses to such as would go off, and forwarded them from house to house till they were beyond the reach of pursuit.

—Letter from Lord Francis Rawdon to Lord Charles Cornwallis, excerpt

(It is not indicated nor probable that any of the Burke County, North Carolina, McDowells or their overmountain colleagues participated in the Battle of Camden. Thomas Sumter, William Davie, and Francis Marion were more likely to be leading the South Carolina militia. Gates had even reduced his own regular army numbers by sending support troops to Sumter and Marion, who had been sent back to the swamps by Gates. The battle is, however, important in context of what followed for those men.)

Horatio Gates made some questionable choices, especially the choice to hold a large portion of his regular army in reserve. Despite his known lack of faith in militia, he chose to create the entire left  flank from them, while the opposite flank was regular army helmed by Baron Johann de Kalb. In sum, early morning 16 August 1780, within an hour of the first volley, the Continental Army was totally routed by Lord Rawdon and his men. The militia dropped their arms and fled. Baron de Kalb suffered three bullets and eight bayonet wounds, then took three days to die. The battle was still playing out when General Gates mounted his horse and galloped for Charlotte. There, he procured a fresh horse and fled another 120 miles north to Hillsborough. He ran. His troops that were able to flee, aimed for the safety of Charlotte. 

General Gates fled & left his army a great many of whom was killed & taken prisoner and the balance thrown into utter confusion.

–Pension application of Richard Crabtree, excerpt

Errors were made by an overconfident General Gates, and the total collapse of his left flank left about 800 Continentals facing over 2000 British troops. Cornwallis sent in a charge by Tarleton  and his legion. The Continentals turned tail and fled. 

Brigadier General Griffith Rutherford of the Carolina militia had accompanied commander Horatio Gates to Camden. Rutherford was wounded, captured, and ultimately incarcerated in the British prison at St Augustine, Florida, until his exchange in summer of 1781. Gates's regular army and its officers ultimately retreated to Hillsborough, leaving no provision for the patriot militia. 

…and the mortified militia, were left to depend upon their own exertions, and their own fortitude; which, notwithstanding the discouragements they had met with, did not fail. They assembled—formed themselves into small partisan corps—and actually combated successfully, the first detachments of the enemy that came afterwards into their country. These are facts which entitle the patriots of Mecklenburg and Waxsaws, [sic] to a whole page of eulogium, in the best history that shall record the circumstances of the revolution.

—Otho Holland Williams, Adjutant to General Horatio Gates*

In the meantime, militias on the county and local levels, if not casualties or prisoners, disappeared back into the countryside to regroup and continue to strategize. Colonel Charles McDowell and his militia withdrew to the west of the mountains.

* Otho Holland Williams, A Narrative of the Campaign of 1780, transcribed by William Johnson, included in Johnson's Sketches of the Life and Correspondence of Nathanael Greene, published 1822 by A.E. Miller, Charleston, South Carolina

The Battle of Ramsour's Mill, 20 June 1780

Derick Ramsaur, who was among the first Germans (generally called Dutch [mistakenly for Deutsch]) emigrants to Tryon County, [North Carolina,] erected his mill prior to 1770 on the west bank of Clark's Creek, where the Morganton road bridge at Lincolnton now spans the stream. 

… After the battle of Alamance, Governor Tryon wrote the Secretary of State that the counties of Mecklenburg, Tryon, and western Rowan beyond the Yadkin River were contemplating hostilities and that he had sent General Wadell with the militia of those counties and some other troops to require the inhabitants to take the oath of allegiance. One of the points at which they were assembled for this purpose was Ramsaur's Mill.

—William A. Graham*

By mid-June of 1780, about 1300 Loyalist troops, under the commands of Lieutenant Colonel John Moore and Major Nicholas Welch, gathered at Ramsour's Mill near present-day Lincolnton, North Carolina. Colonel Charles McDowell was advised of their proximity and numbers. His brother Major Joseph McDowell, of Quaker Meadows, and cousin Captain Joseph McDowell, of Pleasant Gardens, were also on point regarding the situation. 

The friends of Britain in Tryon County were not confined to the Germans; there were probably as large a percent of the English Tories. Neither Moore nor Welch were German. Colonel Moore returned to the vicinity and appointed a meeting for June 10th at his father's (Moses Moore) residence on Indian Creek, seven miles from Ramsaur's. The place of the "Tory Camp" is still pointed out, and is on the Gaston side of the county line on the plantation which was owned by the late Captain John II Roberts. Forty men met him on that day. He delivered Lord Cornwallis' message, but before they dispersed a messenger informed them that Major Joseph McDowell [of Quaker Meadows] (who was one of the most ubiquitous officers of the North Carolina Patriot Militia during the Revolution) was in the neighborhood endeavoring to capture some of the men who were present. Moore, having a force double in number to that of McDowell, sought him and followed him to South Mountains, but did not overtake him. He then dismissed the men with directions to meet at Ramsaur's Mill on the 13th of the month.

—William A. Graham*

Colonel Charles McDowell dispatched Isaac Shelby and a number of his men to assist North Carolina militia from Mecklenburg, Tryon, and Rowan counties. Colonel Francis Locke led the approximately 400 patriot troops in their goal to dislodge Moore, Welch, and their troops. (General Rutherford, with Colonel William Davidson's infantry and Major Daire's cavalry, arrived from Charlotte too late to participate in the action.) The Loyalists had encamped at a strategically important position seated on a high ridge that sloped about 300 yards down to the mill on Clarke's Creek, and a similar distance to a creek branch at the bottom of the eastern slope.

Captain Joseph McDowell (of Pleasant Gardens) served as commander of one of Locke's companies. On 20 June 1780, he led the initial cavalry charge along Old Sherrill’s Ford Road which drove Moore's pickets back into their camp. Colonel Locke moved infantry into position in concert with the cavalry maneuver. 

The contest eventually became one of sharpshooting, as not much ground was gained in either direction. The patriots successfully picked off the enemy's officers one by one; the leaderless Loyalists eventually ceased firing and abandoned the ridge. As Locke's troops stood atop the ridge, a white flag was seen flying down by the far creek. About fifty prisoners were taken, those who had been unable to reach the bridge. Those who had successfully crossed, dispersed and escaped. 

The Battle of Ramsour's Mill exemplified the degree to which the summer's southern backcountry battles constituted civil war. Not a single British soldier or officer was present. Neither was there any regular army from either side. It was a battle of Patriot militia versus Loyalist militia. They were locals, for the most part, and many were related by blood and/or marriage.

*William A. Graham, The Battle of Ramsaur's Mill, June 20, 1780; booklet, volume 4, published 1904, E.M. Uzell, Printers; Raleigh, North Carolina

Clinton's 3rd Proclamation rallies the Backcountry

… that unfortunate Proclamation of the 3d of June has had very unfavorable consequences. The majority of the Inhabitants in the Frontier Districts, tho’ ill disposed to us, from the circumstances were not actually up in arms against us; they were therefore freed from the Paroles imposed by Lt. Colonel Turnbull and myself; and nine out of ten of them are now embodied on the part of the Rebels.

—Letter from Lord Francis Rawdon to Lord Charles Cornwallis dated 7 July 1780, excerpt

On 3 June 1780 Sir Henry Clinton inadvertently (and figuratively) shot himself in the foot. On that day he issued the third of his "Proclamations" in the aftermath of the Continental Army's surrender of Charleston. It was well and good that the proclamation released from parole all prisoners, excepting those taken during the British siege of Charleston, and restored to them their full rights as citizens. The stray bullet, so to speak, was the stipulation that all released parolees were required to take an oath of allegiance to the British empire, or else to be considered in rebellion. In other words, there was no such thing as neutrality subsequent to parole.

Sir Henry Clinton, with one piece of paper, guaranteed the continuance of the American Revolution in the Southern theatre. Not long afterward, Clinton and his fleet returned northward, to New York, and left the Carolinas to the jurisdiction of Charles, Earl of Cornwallis, aka Lord Cornwallis. The Loyalist troops of the Southern theater were his to command, and the Carolinas his to secure. 

The Continental regular army was either imprisoned or headed northward, so any Carolina patriot action in the aftermath of Benjamin Lincoln's surrender of Charleston was left to local and county militias. Paroled prisoners, not wishing to abide by Clinton's ultimatum, rallied to the patriot cause. As Cornwallis dispersed forces northward from Charleston into the Carolina backcountry to subdue remaining belligerents, patriot Colonel Charles McDowell, with networked knowledge of the advancing enemy, gathered his growing militia at a position at Smith's Ford on Broad River between Spartanburg and Rock Hill, South Carolina. 

Isaac Shelby, re: Charles McDowell, per Draper

From King's Mountain and Its Heroes: History of the Battle of King's Mountain, by Lyman Copeland Draper, pub. 1881, P.G. Thomson, pp. 188-190:

[Isaac] Shelby's object in suggesting Colonel [William] Campbell's appointment [to command at Kings Mountain], is best explained by himself. "I made the proposition," says Shelby in his pamphlet, in 1823, "to silence the expectations of Colonel [Charles] McDowell to command us—he being the commanding officer of the district we were then in, and had commanded the armies of militia assembled in that quarter all the summer before against the same enemy. He was a brave and patriotic man, but we considered him too far advanced in life, and too inactive for the command of such an enterprise as we were engaged in. I was sure he would not serve under a younger officer from his own State, and hoped that his feelings would, in some degree, be saved by the appointment of Colonel Campbell." In his narrative, in the American Review, December, 1848, Governor Shelby makes no reference to McDowell's age, but simply states, that he "was too slow an officer" for the enterprise. 
Though Colonel Shelby speaks of McDowell's age as objectionable for such a service, it really deserved little, if any, consideration. He was then only some thirty-seven years of age—Colonel Cleveland was some years older, and Shelby himself, the youngest of the Colonels, was only seven years his junior. It may be curious to note, that "Old Put," then in active service, was twenty-five years older than McDowell, General Evan Shelby, the Colonel's father, who, the year before, commanded an important expedition against the Chicamauga Indian towns, was twenty-three years older, General Stark fifteen, Washington eleven, Marion ten, Sumter at least four, and General Greene one. The real objection to Colonel McDowell was not so much his age, as his lack of tact and efficiency for such a command; and, it has been hinted, moreover, that his conduct at the Cane creek affair was not without its influence in producing the general distrust entertained of his fitness to lead the mountain men on this important service. The expression was quite general, that General Morgan or General Davidson should be sent to take the command; the former, especially, who had gained such renown at Saratoga, and had recently joined General Gates, was highly esteemed by the mountaineers.

Colonel McDowell, who had the good of his country at heart more than any title to command, submitted gracefully to what was done; but observed, that as he could not be permitted to command, he would, if agreeable, convey to head-quarters the request for a general officer. This was warmly approved, as it was justly declared that he was well acquainted with the situation of the country, and could, better than any other, concert with General Gates a plan of future operations, and they would await his return. The manner in which this was presented gratified McDowell, who at once set off on his mission, leaving his men under the command of his brother, Major Joseph McDowell. Passing through Burke county, McDowell's command, particularly, was considerably increased by relatives, friends and neighbors; and there John Spelts, or Continental Jack, as he was familiarly called by his associates, first joined Shelby's regiment, but fought under McDowell. Colonel Campbell now assumed the chief command; in which, however, he was to be directed and regulated by the determination of the Colonels, who were to meet every day for consultation.
Everything was now arranged quite satisfactorily to the Whig chiefs; and their men were full of martial ardor, anxious to meet the foe, confident of their ability, with their unerring rifles, to overthrow Ferguson and his Loyalist followers, even were their numbers far greater than they 
were represented.

Col. Joseph "P.G." McDowell, per John Wheeler

From Reminiscences and Memoirs of North Carolina and Eminent North Carolinians, by John H. Wheeler, published Columbus, Ohio: Columbus Printing Works, 1884:

Colonel Joseph McDowell was born on 25th February, 1758, at Pleasant Gardens, in Burke County. He was always called Colonel Joe of the Pleasant Gardens, to distinguish him from General Joe of Quaker Meadows.
He was a soldier and a statesman, and the most distinguished of the name.
He early entered the profession of arms. At the age of 18 he joined General Rutherford in an expedition, in 1776, against the Cherokee Indians, in which he displayed much gallantry and desperate courage. It is known that in a hand-to-hand fight he killed an Indian chief with his sword.
He was active in repressing the Tories, and took part in the battle at Ramsour's Mill, on 20th June, 1780, near Lincolnton, as mentioned by General Graham in eulogistic terms, for his conduct on that occasion, and materially aided in achieving a complete victory over a superior force.
At Cane Creek, in Rutherford County, with General Charles McDowell, he led the militia, chiefly of Burke County, and had a severe skirmish with a strong detachment of Ferguson's army, then stationed at Gilbert Town, and drove them back.
Immediately afterward he aided in measures which culminated in the glorious victory of Kings Mountain.
This was the darkest period of the dubious conflict. Gates was defeated at Camden; Savannah and Charleston surrendered to the British; Sumter, at Fishing Creek, (18th August, 1780;) Cornwallis, in all the pride and circumstance of a conqueror, held the undisputed possession of Charlotte and its vicinity.
Ferguson, with strong force, was winning the attachment of the people from liberty to loyalty; while the Tories ravaged the whole country with vindictive fury.
There was not a regular soldier south of Virginia, and every organized force was scattered or disbanded. The time had come, and these brave men felt that they must do or die.
Amid all these disastrous circumstances, the patriotic spirits of Cleaveland, Campbell, Sevier, and McDowell did not despair. They determined to attack the forces of Ferguson. They were all of equal rank, and as the troops were in the district of Charles McDowell, he was entitled to the command.
From a manuscript letter of Shelby, in my possession, he says:

Colonel [Charles] McDowell was the commanding officer of the district we were in, and had commanded the armies of the militia all the summer before, against the same enemy. He was brave and patriotic, but we considered him too far advanced in life and too inactive to command the enterprise.
It was decided to send to headquarters [between Charlotte and Salisbury] for some general officer to command the expedition.
Colonel McDowell, who had the good of his country more at heart than any title of command, submitted, and stated that he would be the messenger to go to headquarters. He accordingly started immediately, leaving his men under his brother, Major Joseph McDowell.

The next day Shelby urged that time was precious and delays dangerous. The advance was made. Colonel Joseph McDowell [of Pleasant Gardens], the subject of our present sketch, led the boys of Burke and Rutherford Counties to battle and to victory, (7th October, 1780,) and his command was on the right wing of the attacking forces, and aided greatly in insuring victory. Ferguson fell bravely fighting and his army completely routed.

Charles McDowell & The Kings Mountain Command

From "The McDowells of Burke County Divided Over Who Commanded at King's Mountain," A Sketch by Judge M. L. McCorkle, Charlotte Democrat, Charlotte, NC, 6 July 1894:

[Joseph] McDowell [b. 1715], of Quaker Meadows, married Margaret O'Neil. They were married in Ulster, Ireland. They determined to encounter all the perils in search of what better fortune might await them on this side of the broad ocean. They first settled in Pennsylvania. Thence they soon moved to Winchester, Va. There their sons, Charles and Joe, were born—the former in 1743; the latter in 1755. They removed to North Carolina and settled at Quaker Meadows. Their sons soon grew to manhood. Charles, afterwards General Charles, early embarked in the War of the Revolution. He was soon placed in command of Burke and Rutherford Counties, a large military district at that time. Stoutly he had held the mountain passes against the Indians, and had made several successful expeditions against the Cherokees; one called the Rutherford campaign, another the Stono expedition. He was engaged in a number of skirmishes with the Tories. He had a small force under him to resist Col. Ferguson. With this force he went across the mountains to obtain assistance, and was in consultation with Colonels Shelby and Sevier. It was decided that each should make an effort to raise all the men he could, and that they should meet on the Wautauga. Colonel Shelby informed Colonel William Campbell, of Washington County, Virginia, of their purpose and asked them to join them. They met on the Wautauga and were joined by Colonels Cleveland, Campbell, Sevier and others. They immediately crossed the mountains near the head of the Catawba river. They ascertained that they were nearly all of the same rank, and had no general officer to command them. It was decided to send Colonel Charles McDowell to Hillsboro, to see General Gates and procure a general officer to command the troops. In the meantime, they elected Colonel Campbell, the red-headed Argyle, as commander-in-chief of all the forces present.
It is said that Colonel Campbell was placed in command through courtesy, on account of his being from a sister State and also on account of his having the largest number of men under him. Colonel Charles McDowell turned his regiment over to the command of Major Joe McDowell, of Pleasant Garden, until he should return from his mission; but the great battle was fought before he returned. This was the last of Colonel Charles McDowell's military career. He lived many years after the war at his paternal home Quaker Meadows, and served his country and district many times in the Senate of North Carolina, from 1783 to 1788. He died at Quaker Meadows greatly beloved and respected by all who knew him. The following tablet was placed over his grave: "To the memory of General Charles McDowell, A Whig officer in the Revolutionary War, who died, as he had lived, a patriot, the 31st of March, 1815, aged about 70 years." 

"... the transmontane men..."

From History of the McDowells and Connections, by John Hugh McDowell, pub. 1918, C. B. Johnston, pp. 234-235:

On the 29th of August, 1780, Colonel Ferguson moved into Troy (now Rutherford County) and camped, first at Gilberttown, three miles north of Rutherfordton, with the purpose of capturing Charles McDowell and destroying his command, and ultimately crossing into Washington and Sullivan counties (now Tennessee) and dealing with Shelby and Sevier of the Watauga settlement. Ferguson left Gilberttown with a detachment in search of Charles McDowell, but McDowell laid in ambush at Bedford Hill, on Crane [sic, Cane] Creek, and fired upon his forces while crossing the creek at Cowan's Ford. Major Dunlap was wounded and Ferguson was forced to retire to Gilberttown.
After this affair, Charles McDowell retreated across the mountains to warn Shelby and Sevier of the threatened desolation of their country, and to invite their co-operation in an attack on Ferguson. It was agreed that the transmontane men should be gathered as expeditiously as possible, while McDowell should send messengers to Colonels Cleveland and Hernando, of Wilkes County, and Major Joseph Winston, of Surrey. The energies of Shelby, of Sullivan and Sevier, of Washington County, N. C., then embracing the present State of Tennessee, were quickened by the message which Ferguson had released a prisoner to convey, to the effect that he would soon cross the mountains, hang the leaders and lay that country waste with fire and sword.
The clans were summoned to meet at Quaker Meadows on the 30th of September, 1780. Meantime Charles McDowell returned to watch Ferguson, protect cattle by assailing foraging parties, and give information to Shelby and Sevier of Ferguson's movements.
Rev. Samuel Doak invoked the blessings of God upon the Watauga men, as they left for King's Mountain to meet Ferguson, whose blasphemous boast had been that God Almighty could not drive him from his position. Those trustful old Scotchmen afterwards believed in their hearts that the hand of God was in the movement which cost him his life and destroyed his force.

Ramsour's Mill, per Graham

From The Battle of Ramsaur's Mill, June 20, 1780, by William A. Graham, 1904, Major on Staff of Adjutant General of North Carolina (excerpts):

... Lord Cornwallis' plan of campaign was to move with the main body of regulars by a central route through Charlotte and Salisbury, and to send a small force under a competent commander to his right to organize his friends in the upper Cape Fear section, and another force to his left to embody the adherents of Britain in upper South Carolina and in Tryon County, North Carolina; to reinforce his main army and also to protect his outposts from the attacks of NC Militia Colonels McDowell, Cleveland and others aided by the "over the mountain men," as those beyond the Blue Ridge were called.
...
In those days there were no post offices or country stores for the congregating of the people. The flouring mills were the points of assembling, and the roads usually named for the mills to which they led.
...
The German population in North Carolina, who mostly came here from Pennsylvania, were, during the Revolutionary War, generally favorable to Great Britain.
...
After the battle of Alamance, Governor Tryon wrote the Secretary of State that the counties of Mecklenburg, Tryon, and western Rowan beyond the Yadkin River were contemplating hostilities and that he had sent General Wadell with the militia of those counties and some other troops to require the inhabitants to take the oath of allegiance. One of the points at which they were assembled for this purpose was Ramsaur's Mill.
...
General Griffith Rutherford, Colonel Neal, Captains Alexander, Shaw, and others were at that time officers of the militia.
...
In some instances this was a fight between neighbors and kindred,... In the thickest of the fight a Dutch Tory, seeing an acquaintance, said: "How do you do, Billy? I have knowed you since you was a little boy, and never knew no harm of you except you was a rebel." Billy, who was out for business and not to renew acquaintance, as his gun was empty, clubbed it and made a pass at his friend's head, who dodged and said: "Stop! Stop! I am not going to stand still and be killed like a damn fool, needer," and immediately made a lick at Billy's head, which he dodged. A friend of Billy whose gun was loaded put it to the Dutchman's side and shot him dead.
...
The troops engaged, except Reep of Lincoln, and Major Wilson, Captains Knox and Smith of Mecklenburg, were from (what to 1777 had been) Rowan County. The officers' surnames were found among the militia officers of the county in the proceedings of the "Committee of Safety," of which many of them were members.
...
This was a battle between the ancestors of the North Carolina Confederate soldier,...
...
This battle is but little known in history, yet is one of the most important in results and best-fought of the American Revolution. King's Mountain and Ramsaur's Mill at that time were both in Lincoln County, and not twenty miles apart. If Moore had obeyed Lord Cornwallis, and delayed organization until Ferguson advanced, he could have reinforced him with two thousand men. If the Whigs had been defeated matters would have been in even worse condition. Ramsaur's Mill was the first and most important "act" in King's Mountain. It destroyed Toryism in that section and caused Bryan, with his followers, to leave the "forks of the Yadkin" and not return until Cornwallis came.

The Overmountain Men, September 1780

From Historical Handbook Number Twenty-Two, 1955, Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C., excerpts:

"Despite fears of a possible ambush, the patriots crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains safely on September 29. The two units, into which the volunteer army was divided, passed, respectively, through Gillespie Gap and what is believed to have been McKinney's Gap. Shortly afterwards, they were reunited at Col. Charles McDowell's plantation, at Quaker Meadows, near the present site of Morganton, N. C. Here they rested during the evening of September 30. ...
The arrival of [Benjamin] Cleveland and [Joseph] Winston on September 30 and the night of pleasant relaxation at the McDowell home raised the spirits of the mountain men. The following day, October 1, they continued their southward march to a gap of South Mountain near the headwaters of Cane Creek. Here they camped during inclement weather through October 2.
While the men rested, the leaders of the expedition met in an evening council to review the progress of the march. First, measures were adopted to correct disorders in the columns resulting from the weariness of the march. More important, however, was the election of Col. William Campbell to serve as temporary commander of the combined volunteer units. In recognition of Col. Charles McDowell's seniority, he was entrusted on October 1 with a mission to General Gates' headquarters to request a permanent commander. He was instructed to ask for the assignment of either Gen. Daniel Morgan or Gen. William Davidson of the American Continental Army. McDowell's regiment was turned over to his brother, Maj. Joseph McDowell."

Isaac Shelby to William Hill, 1814

Frankfort,
The seat of Government
of Kentucky, March 4th, 1814

Dear Sir
I have to acknowledge receipt of your favor of the 7th of January last, which came to hand only four days ago. And now haste to answer it, by the first Southern Mail.
You inform me that you are about to write the history of the Battle of Kings Mountain, and several others, that were faught in So. Carolina, and you request such information as I can give you.
My antient private papers are all at my farm fifty miles from this place and owing to my official duties here I may not have it in my power to go to my farm under two or three months– But I can inform you that I have documents, and data, in my possession, which will afford a more detailed account of the action at Kings Mountain, and the causes that led to that event, than can be given by any other man alive.
I will communicate them to you, as soon as I can spend a few days at home and also of the action faught at Ceder Spring, near Warfords Iron Works, in July 1780, of the taking of the British fort, on Thicketty, in the same month, and of the action at Musgroves Mill on the Enoree River, in August of the same year, & of the reduction of a British post at Colliton Hall, near Monks Corner in Nov. 1781, at all of which I was an eye witness.
You are very correct when you say that "Historians & those who have wrote of the Revolution, either through want of information or design have given a very erroneous account of those events etc." of the action on Kings Mountain. I have seen no history any thing like the truth.
The case which you state of "Col. Williams having robbed Major McDowell of the credit of reducing a post of the Enemy" must I presume allude to the battle faught at Musgroves Mill on the Enoree river, on the 19th of August, 1780, for I recollect of none other from whence prisoners were taken to Hilsborough– I commanded the right wing in that action, and Col. Elija Clarke of Georgia the left– there were many field officers in the action who had volunteered their services from McDowell's camp, at Smith's ford of Broad river of which Col. Williams was one who had a few men who always adhered to him. His object was, if the enterprise succeeded, to reach his own home somewhere near Ninety Six but in which he was disappointed by the rapid and Mariculous retreat we were forced to make from the field of battle on account of an express from Col. McDowell informing us of the defeat of he Grand Army, under General Gates near Camden. Our retreat was up towards the mountains and along them into No. Carolina from whence I crossed over the western waters where I lived ; left the prisoners we had taken in the action with Col. Clarke who I understood consigned them to the care of Col. Williams to take to Hilsborough in No. C.
I understood afterwards he did, and arrogated to himself the sole honor of Commanding the action in which they had been captured.
Be so good to acknowledge the receipt of this letter and let me now what direction to give a letter, to reach you more certainly. One directed to me at this place will come safe to hand & I shall expect a line from you before I write you again.

Very respectfully,
Your most Ob. servant,
Isaac Shelby

William Hill, Esq.

The Propaganda of Patrick Ferguson

An appeal to the inhabitants of the Carolina backcountry to join the Loyalist militia serving under the King:

Denard's Ford, Broad River,

Tryon County, Oct. 1, 1780.

Gentlemen: Unless you wish to be cut up by an inundation of barbarians, who have begun by murdering an unarmed son before the aged father, and afterwards lopped off his arms, and who by their shocking cruelty and irregularities, give the best proof of their cowardice and want of discipline; I say, if you wish to be pinioned, robbed, and murdered, and see your wives and daughters, in four days, abused by the dregs of mankind--in short, if you wish or deserve to live and bear the name of men, grasp your arms in a moment and run to camp.

The Backwater men have crossed the mountain; M'Dowell, Hampton, Shelby, and Cleaveland are at their head, so that you know what you will have to depend upon. If you choose to be p––d for ever and ever by a set of mongrels, say so at once, and let your women turn their backs upon you, and look out for real men to protect them.

PAT. FERGUSON,

Major 71st Regiment.

Dividing the Spoils at Kings Mountain

From History of the McDowells and Connections, by John Hugh McDowell, pub. 1918, C. B. Johnston:

After the battle they divided Ferguson's belongings among some of the field officers. To Colonel Cleveland they gave Ferguson's white charger, because he lost his in battle; to Colonel Campbell they gave his correspondence; to Colonel Sevier, his sword and sash; to Colonel Shelby, his large silver whistle; to Major Joe McDowell, they gave his china set, and he gave them to his daughter Ann, who married Captain Charles McDowell of Quaker Meadows, and she gave them to her four daughters—they are in the hands of their descendants to this day. Both of the Joe McDowells of Pleasant Garden and Quaker Meadows, in the great battle above spoken of, commanded the Burke and Rutherford regiments, one on the right wing—the other on the left.

John Hugh McDowell, re: the Josephs McDowell

From History of the McDowells and Connections, by John Hugh McDowell, pub. 1918, C. B. Johnston:

Joe, of Pleasant Garden, was a mere boy at the commencement of the Revolutionary War. Young as he was, he immediately went into active service in the Patriotic Army. He soon was promoted to the rank of major, in which his cousin Charles was colonel. He was engaged with it in every fight where his cousin commanded. When his cousin Charles retired from the command of the Burke and Rutherford Regiment he was placed in command. At the battle of King's Mountain he commanded the regiment, and Colonel Joe, of Quaker Meadows, commanded the right wing of a ‘portion’ of the regiment ‘under him.’ Hence, there is a dispute, which had the chief command in that gallant struggle. They were equally brave, equally patriotic, and equally able. One is known as Major Joe of Pleasant Garden, the other as Colonel Joe of Quaker Meadows. Both were at the Cowpens, where Colonel Tarleton succumbed to the sturdy blows of Col. Morgan. Major Joe possessed the fighting qualities which distinguished the family in all its branches. In the Rutherford campaign he killed an Indian in a hand-to-hand fight. He served from the beginning of the war to the close. He was not only a distinguished fighter, but an able statesman and civilian. He was a lawyer by profession. Several of his law books are now in my possession, in which he signed his own name. His autograph is "J. McDowell, P. G."

Loyalist Lt. Allaire, re: Cane Creek

Tuesday, 12th [September 1780]. Maj. Ferguson, with forty American Volunteers and one hundred militia, got in motion at two o'clock in the morning, and marched fourteen miles through the mountains to the head of Cane creek, in Burke County, in order to surprise a party of Rebels we heard lay there. Unfortunately for us, they had by some means got intelligence of our coming, in consequence of which, Mr. McDowell, with three hundred infamous villains like himself, thought it highly necessary to remove their quarters. However, we were lucky enough to take a different route from what they expected, and met them on their way, and to appearance one would have thought they meant sincerely to fight us, as they drew up on an eminence for action. On our approach they fired and gave way. We totally routed them, killed one private, wounded a Capt. White, took seventeen prisoners, twelve horses, all their ammunition, which was only twenty pounds of powder, after which we marched to their encampment, and found it abandoned by those Congress heroes. Our loss was two wounded and one killed. Among the wounded was Capt. Dunlap, who received two slight wounds. After the skirmish we returned to one Allen's to refresh ourselves. We got in motion about four o'clock in the afternoon, and countermarched about six miles to a Rebel Mr. Jones', where we halted all night.

(Source: Diary of Lieut. Anthony Allaire, of Ferguson's Corps. Memorandum of Occurrences During the Campaign of 1780.) 

Cane Creek: Prelude to Kings Mountain

From Biographical History of North Carolina, by Samuel A'Court Ashe, published 1908, C.L. Van Noppen, North Carolina, pg. 302:

On August 29th [1780] Cornwallis wrote to Sir Henry Clinton that Ferguson was to move into Tryon, now Lincoln County, with what the latter thought was a reliable body of militia. Ferguson accordingly advanced to Gilbert-town, three miles north of the present village of Rutherfordton, where he issued a proclamation to the citizens to renew their allegiance and join the king's army. Learning that McDowell had retired, and that the Watauga leaders had crossed the mountains to their homes, Ferguson began to send out parties of foragers to ravage the county of Burke. This aroused Colonel Charles McDowell, and learning that he was again mustering his men, Ferguson sent out a detachment in search of him. But he again failed to surprise McDowell, who was lying in ambuscade for him at Bedford Hill, three miles southwest of Brindletown and near Cowan's Ford of Cane Creek. On the [12 September 1780, per Lt. Anthony Allaire’s diary] approach of Ferguson's men, McDowell's men fired upon them, killing many of the Tories and wounding Major Dunlap, the trusted lieutenant of Ferguson. Ferguson was forced to retire hastily to Gilbert-town.

The Battle of Musgrove's Mill, August 1780

From The Annals of Newberry: In Two Parts, by John Belton O'Neall, John Abney Chapman, pub. 1892, Aull & Houseal, Newberry, SC, pp. 263-266:


In August, 1780, General John McDowell [sic, actually Colonel Charles], of North Carolina, commanded about two thousand militia, who were stationed at Smith's ford, on Broad River, which was about fifteen miles below the Cherokee ford. Colonel Isaac Shelby, of North Carolina, commanded a regiment under General McDowell. The term of service for which the men had enlisted was just about expiring. It was ascertained that there were about seven hundred tories camped at Musgrove's Mill, on the Enoree River, a few miles distant from the camp of [British] Major [Patrick] Ferguson. Col. Shelby conceived the plan of breaking up this camp and routing the tories. For this purpose, having obtained leave from General* McDowell, he raised about seven hundred volunteers from the army, without regard to rank; very many field officers having volunteered, Col. [Elijah] Clarke, of North Carolina [actually Georgia], was made second in command. 
To effect their design, it was necessary that the affair should be conducted with both secrecy and despatch. Accordingly, Shelby's force left General McDowell's camp on the 18th of August, a short time before dark. They traveled on through the woods until dark, and then fell into the road and proceeded on all night, passing within three or four miles of Ferguson's camp, and going beyond it to the tory camp at Musgrove's Mill. This post was forty miles from McDowell's camp.

Soon aftar daylight, when Shelby had arrived within half a mile of the camp, a citizen was taken prisoner, from whom he learned that the night previous the Queen's American regiment, commanded by Colonel [Alexander] Emines [sic, Innes], from New York, had reached the post at the mill, and that the enemy were then from twelve to thirteen hundred strong. Just as this information was received, the enemy's patrol fell in with the advanced corps of Shelby's force. The patrol was immediately fired on, and driven in with the loss of seven men. This gave the enemy the alarm. Although the tory force was so much larger than had been expected, neither Shelby nor his men thought of anything but meeting them. Ground was selected for an engagement, stretching at right angles across the road, about half a mile from the Enoree River. The army was formed, Shelby taking command of the right wing, and Colonel Clarke of the left. Colonel [James] Williams, of South Carolina, was stationed in the road in the centre, though without a separate command.

Whilst the tory force was forming, Shelby and his men were not idle. Immediately after taking their places in line, and securing their horses, they commenced making breastworks of logs. In half an hour they had one breast high. So soon as this was completed, Shelby sent Capt. [Shadrach] Inman, with a company of mounted men in advance, to make a false attack on the enemy. This feint was well executed. lnman and his men charged on the enemy, fired their pieces, and then, as directed, fled in apparent confusion. The enemy's centre, on whom the false attack had been made, seeing the light of this force, immediately pressed forward in pursuit, in considerable disorder, shouting, "Huzza for King George.'' On approaching the breast-work, they were unexpectedly met with a deadly fire. The superiority of the enemy in numbers emboldened them to press forward their attack, not withstanding the advantage which our troops possessed by the breast-work. After an hour's hard fighting, the left wing of the enemy, composed of the Queen's regiment, drove our right wing, under Shelby, from their breast-work. Our left wing, which was opposed by the tories, maintained its position. The battle was maintained some time longer, the right wing gradually giving way, whilst the left flank retained its connection with the centre at the breast-work. At this juncture, Col. Clarke sent his reserve, consisting of forty men, to Shelby's aid. Shelby thereupon rallied his men and ordered a charge, which was well seconded by officers and men, and the enemy were broken and fled in confusion. The rout now became complete along the whole line, and the enemy were pursued to the Enoree River, with great slaughter. Above two hundred of the enemy were killed, and two hundred prisoners were taken. On our side, Capt. Inman, who had conducted himself most gallantly, and thirty men, were killed.

The broken forces of the enemy having crossed the Enoree, it became necessary to follow up the pursuit on horseback. Shelby called back his forces, and mounted with the intention of pursuing the scattered tories, and then turning against Fort Ninety Six. While consulting with Col. Clarke, a messenger arrived from General McDowell, bringing a letter from Gov. Caswell to McDowell, informing him of Gates' disastrous defeat at Camden, on the 16th of August, and advising all officers commanding detachments to retreat, or they would be cut off.
Col. Shelby, perceiving the hazardous position in which he was placed by this unexpected calamity, with Cornwallis in front and Ferguson on his flank, immediately ordered a retreat. Taking his prisoners with him, he traveled all that day and the ensuing night, without rest, and continued their march the day succeeding, until an hour by sun, when they halted and fed their horses. Although they had thus been marching and fighting incessantly for forty-eight hours, the indomitable energy of their commander permitted his troops no rest, when there was danger of losing all by delay. Halting, therefore, no longer than was required to feed their horses, the line of march was resumed. It was well it was so; for the news of the defeat of the tories at Musgrove's Mill had reached Ferguson, who had despatched a strong detachment to intercept Shelby and release his prisoners. By making a hard forced march, this detachment reached the spot where Shelby and his men had fed their horses within thirty minutes after they had left it. But not knowing precisely how long Shelby had been gone, and the detachment being entirely exhausted, the pursuit was relinquished and Shelby reached the mountains in safety with his prisoners. 
The time of service of the men having expired, and there being no opportunity of doing any immediate active duty by a partisan corps, when they reached the road which led to Col. Shelby's residence, he and the men from his neighborhood returned home; the prisoners being left in charge of Colonel Clarke. After going some distance, Col. Clarke in like manner returned home, giving the prisoners in charge of Col. Williams, who conducted them to Hillsborough. At this place Col. Williams met with Gov. Rutledge, who, finding him in charge of the prisoners, supposed he had commanded the expedition in which they were taken, and as a reward for tho gallant achievement gave him a brigadier general's commission. Without detracting from the merits of Col. Williams, who was a gallant officer, is it right to say that this is an example too frequent in military history, where the rewards of a bold achievement fall on the wrong shoulders? 
Col. Shelby described the battle at Musgrove's Mill as the hardest and best fought action he ever was in. He attributed this to the great number of officers who were with him as volunteers. Considering the nature of the march and the disparity of numbers, the action at Musgrove's Mill must be considered as one of the most brilliant affairs fought by any partisan corps during the revolution.

_____________

*Blogger's note: During the Revolutionary War, Charles McDowell of Quaker Meadows, Burke County, North Carolina, served as a district commander with a Colonel's rank in the western Carolina patriot militia. Post-war, he gained the rank of General, serving as head of the Morgan District Brigade in the North Carolina Militia.

The Call for the Overmountain Men

From King's Mountain and Its Heroes, by Lyman Copeland Draper, pub. 1881, P.G. Thomson, page 84:

"When Colonel [Charles] McDowell became convinced that Ferguson's movement to the north-western portion of South Carolina, threatened the invasion of the North Province also, he not only promptly raised what force he could from the sparsely populated settlements, on the heads of Catawba, Broad and Pacolet rivers, to take post in the enemy's front and watch his operations; but dispatched a messenger with this alarming intelligence to Colonels John Sevier and Isaac Shelby, on Watauga and Holston, those over-mountain regions, then a portion of North Carolina, but now of East Tennessee; urging those noted border leaders to bring to his aid all the riflemen they could, and as soon as possible.
Sevier, unable to leave his frontier exposed to the inroads of the Cherokees, responded at once to the appeal, by sending a part of his regiment under Major Charles Robertson; and Shelby, being more remote, and having been absent on a surveying tour, was a few days later, but joined McDowell, at the head of two hundred mounted riflemen, about the twenty-fifth of July, at his camp near the Cherokee Ford of Broad river."

Gen. Joseph Graham, re: Kings Mountain

"Colonel Charles McDowell, of Burke county, on the approach of Ferguson with so large a force, had gone over the mountains to obtain assistance, and was in consultation with Colonel John Sevier and Colonel Isaac Shelby what plan should be pursued, when the two paroled men spoken of arrived and delivered their message from Colonel Ferguson. It was decided that each of them should use his best efforts to raise all the men that could be enlisted, and that this force, when collected, should meet on the Wataga, on the 25th of September. It was also agreed that Colonel Shelby should give intelligence of their movements to Colonel William Campbell, of the adjoining county of Washington, in Virginia, with the hope that he would raise what force he could and co-operate with them. They met on the Wataga the day appointed, and passed the mountains on the 30th of September, where they were joined by Colonel Benjamin Cleaveland, and Major Joseph Winston, from Wilks and Surry counties, North Carolina. On examining their force, it was found to number as follows, viz:

"From Washington county, Virginia, under Col. Wm. Campbell 400
"From Sullivan county, North Carolina, under Col. Isaac Shelby 240
"From Washington county, North Carolina, under Col. John Sevier 240
"From Burke and Rutherford counties, North Carolina, under Col. Charles McDowell 160
"From Wilks and Surry counties, North Carolina, under Col. Cleaveland and Major James Winston 350
Total 1390

"Col. Ferguson having accurate intelligence of the force collecting against him, early on the 4th of October, ordered his men to march, and remained half an hour after they had started writing a despatch to Lord Cornwallis, no doubt informing him of his situation and soliciting aid. The letter was committed to the care of the noted Abraham Collins (him of counterfeit memory) and another person by the name of Quinn, with injunctions to deliver it as soon as possible. They set out and attempted to pass the direct road to Charlotte, but having to pass through some whig settlements, they were surprised and pursued, and being compelled to secrete themselves by day and travel by night, they did not reach Charlotte until the morning of the 7th of October, the day of the battle. Colonel Ferguson encamped the first night at the noted place called the Cowpens, about twenty miles from Gilbertstown. On the 5th of October he crossed the Broad River, at what is now called Dear's Ferry, sixteen miles. On the 6th, he marched up the Ridge Road, between the waters of King's and Buffalo creeks, until he came to the fork, turning to the right across King's Creek, and through a gap in the mountain towards Yorkville, about fourteen miles. There he encamped on the summit of that part of the mountain to the right of the road, where he remained till he was attacked on the 7th.
"When the troops from the different counties met at the head of the Catawba river, the commanding officers met, and finding that they were all of equal grade, and no general officer to command, it was decided that Col. Charles McDowell should go to headquarters, supposed to be between Charlotte and Salisbury, to obtain Gen. Sumner or Gen. Davidson to take the command. In the meantime, it was agreed that Col. William Campbell, who had the largest regiment, should take the command until the arrival of a general officer, who was to act according to the advice of the colonels commanding, and that Major McDowell should take the command of the Burke and Rutherford regiment until the return of Col. McDowell."

(Source: Sketches of North Carolina, Historical and Biographical, Illustrative of the Principles of a Portion of Her Early Settlers, by Rev. William Henry Foote, New York, Robert Carter, 58 Canal Street, 1846)

"The Mountain Men," per Teddy Roosevelt

From The Winning of the West, Vol. 3, by Theodore Roosevelt, published 1900, G.P. Putnam's Sons:

"Having reduced South Carolina to submission, the British commander [Ferguson] then threatened North Carolina; and Col. [Charles] McDowell, the commander of the whig militia in that district, sent across the mountains to the Holston men praying that they would come to his help. Though suffering continually from Indian ravages, and momentarily expecting a formidable inroad, they responded nobly to the call. Sevier remained to patrol the border and watch the Cherokees, while Isaac Shelby crossed the mountains with a couple of hundred mounted riflemen, early in July. The mountain men were joined by McDowell, with whom they found also a handful of Georgians and some South Carolinans; who when their States were subdued had fled northward, resolute to fight their oppressors to the last. The arrival of the mountain men put new life into the dispirited whigs."