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.

Loyalist Lieutenant Anthony Allaire

Lt. Anthony Allaire was a New York-born Loyalist (Tory) whom British Col. Patrick Ferguson brought south when the latter was seconded to the South Carolina campaign. According to [author Lyman C.] Draper, he was of Huguenot descent, born at New Rochelle in Westchester County, New York on 22 Feb 1755, and commissioned a Lieutenant in the Loyal American Volunteers where he served as Adjutant in Ferguson's corp during the seige of Charleston, at Monks' Corner, and in the up-country of North and South Carolina, including the Battle of Kings Mountain. He removed to New Brunswick, Canada in 1783 and died on his farm near Frederickton on 9 Jun 1838, "leaving a daughter who intermarried with Lieutenant John Robinson of the army."

(Source: http://www.tngenweb.org/revwar/kingsmountain/allaire.html)

Kings Mountain: Draper's Diagram

From King's Mountain and Its Heroes: History of the Battle of King's Mountain, by Lyman Copeland Draper, pub. 1881, P.G. Thomson, page 236:

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."

Samuel Campbell Clegg (1740-1779)

There's a great little book, Partisans & Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned the Tide of the American Revolution, by Walter Edgar, © 2001. It focuses on the South Carolina campaign, which, much like Washington's January 1777 Battle of Princeton, was an ultimate tide-turner when things were going terribly wrong for the patriots. Most interesting (to me, at least) was how, between the covers of this book, the Neels, McDowells, and other ancestors of mine all came together in this relatively small area of the Carolina backcountry, the Waxhaws. Apart from the patriots, though, I have to remember my loyalist 6x great-grandfather Samuel Campbell Clegg.

After the successful siege of Savannah by the British forces, a Colonel Boyd was dispatched to recruit a band of Loyalist militia in the back country of the Carolinas and to join the British forces in Augusta, Georgia. Colonel Andrew Pickens and his patriot forces planned to engage the Loyalists before they could cross the Savannah River. However, his scouts discovered the Loyalist band of about 600 men encamped on Kettle Creek, near present day Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia. On 14 February 1779 the Loyalists were surprised and defeated by the Whigs commanded by Colonels Andrew Pickens, John Dooly and Elijah Clarke. About 20 men were captured and 78 surrendered. All were marched to the stockade in Augusta, Georgia.
South Carolina authorities proclaimed the men criminals under civil jurisdiction, rather than prisoners of war; and most of them were marched to the Ninety Six jail in South Carolina. "On March 8, the prisoners crossed the Savannah and were held one night at Mathis Pond near Edgefield. A second night they were crowded into an unsanitary, cramped bull pen on Williamson's [Col. Andrew Williamson] Whitehall Plantation. They arrived under guard at the Ninety Six jail on March 10." They were charged with sedition and treason, crimes punishable by hanging and forfeiture of all property. For various reasons, about half of the men were released and charges dropped. About 20 men were sentenced to death and scheduled to be executed on April 17. The men were transferred to Orangeburg for security reasons. All but five men were granted reprieves and those were marched back to Ninety Six where they were hanged at Star Fort in late April 1779. The five men were Samuel Clegg, James Lindley, John Anderson, Aquilla Hall, and Charles Draper. (Source: Wikipedia)

Within Col. Elijah Clarke's command were my 5x great-grandfather William Lewis Queen, his brother (my uncle) Samuel Queen, and my 4x great-grandfather Joseph Wise. William Lewis Queen had been previously wounded and captured by the Tories, and imprisoned for about six weeks at Ninety Six. He probably had few regrets about what went down in 1779, but who knows. Seems the Southern campaign during the Revolution was essentially a civil war, loyalists vs partisan patriots, sometimes brother vs brother, with few Brits involved outside the officers. Very emotionally complex times.

Kings Mountain manuscripts, pre-Draper

From Western North Carolina: A History (1730-1913), by John Preston Arthur, published 1914, Edwards & Broughton, North Carolina, page 98:

"The white occupation of North Carolina had extended only to the Blue Ridge when the Revolution began;" but at its close General Charles McDowell, Col. David Vance and Private Robert Henry were among the first to cross the Blue Ridge and settle in the new county of Buncombe. As a reward for their services, no doubt, they were appointed to run and mark the line between North Carolina and Tennessee in 1799, McDowell and Vance as commissioners and Henry as surveyor. While on this work they wrote and left in the care of Robert Henry their narratives of the battle of Kings Mountain and the fight at Cowan's ford. After his death Robert Henry's son, William L. Henry, furnished the manuscript to the late Dr. J. F. E. Hardy, and he sent it to Dr. Lyman C. Draper, of Wisconsin. On it is largely based his 'King's Mountain and its Heroes' (1880)."