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Photographer: National Park Service, Thomas Stone National Historic Site
Taken: May 26, 2019
Caption: Crossing the Mountains to Do Battle exhibit in the adjacent Museum of North Carolina Minerals.
Additional Description: As the summer of 1780 drew to a close, American hopes for independence was ebbing. Lord Cornwallis had just destroyed two American armies in South Carolina. Now the British general was poised to crush the American rebellion by invading North Carolina and sweeping north toward Virginia. As part of this campaign, British Major Patrick Ferguson headed for the Blue Ridge to suppress any possible resistance from western militia. With an army of 1,000 Americans loyal to the Crown, Ferguson threatened to unleash "fire and sword" upon all who refused to pledge allegiance to the King. Ferguson's threats backfired. Furious militiamen from "over the mountains" in North Carolina and southern Virginia set out after Ferguson, and were joined along their trek by militia from the Piedmont and from as far south as Georgia. Approximately 600 members of the growing Patriot army came through Gillespie Gap on September 29, 1780. Within days, they surrounded Ferguson and his troops at Kings Mountain, South Carolina and devastated the entire British command. Learning of Ferguson's terrible defeat, Cornwallis postponed his northern invasion. A year later, after a disastrous campaign in North Carolina, he surrendered to General Washington at Yorktown, effectively ending the American Revolution.
Submitted: August 28, 2019.
Database Locator Identification Number: p489975
File Size: 1.983 Megabytes

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