Blacksburg in York County, South Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)
Liberty!
Gunshots and the shouts of hundreds of men battered the slope you see just ahead as one of the fiercest battles of the American Revolution broke out. Every man here that day knew that the Carolina backcountry had burned and bled since May when the British landed on the coast. Unrelenting civil war had scourged the South with partisan plundering, bushwhacking, and brutal massacres—neighbor against rancorous neighbor, and fathers against sons.
For the first time since Lexington and Concord, people living in the nearby Piedmont and over-mountain settlements had to make a hard choice. The men who charged through these woods were determined to defend their homes. They had taken up arms against the King and his officers, and now they would spill blood-for a new country.
3 p.m. October 7th, 1780
(captions)
Patriot fighters here wore their everyday frontier clothes, not military uniforms. Some Whigs put scraps of white paper in their hats, the only way to distinguish a friend from a Tory foe.
Militiamen answered the call to duty armed with an assortment of weapons from their farms and hunting camps-long rifles, hunting knives, muskets, and tomahawks.
Erected by Kings Mountain National Military Park - National Park Service - U.S. Department of the Interior.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: War, US Revolutionary. A significant historical date for this entry is October 7, 1780.
Location. 35° 8.491′ N, 81° 22.638′ W. Marker is in Blacksburg, South Carolina, in York County. Marker can be reached from Kings Mountain Park Road, on the right when traveling east. Located along a 1.5 mile walking trail around the Kings Mountain Battlefield. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Blacksburg SC 29702, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. God Save the King! (here, next to this marker); Carolina Backwoodsmen (here, next to this marker); Americans Vanquished (within shouting distance of this marker); American Victors (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Two Parks, One Mountain (about 300 feet away); Kings Mountain Battlefield Trail (about 400 feet away); Fighting in a Forest Primeval (about 500 feet away); Major Winston's (about 600 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Blacksburg.
More about this marker. The background illustration on the marker depicts frontier soldiers in action on October 7th, 1780. In the upper right is a map indicating Where the Whigs Came From.
Also see . . .
1. Kings Mountain National Military Park. National Park Service website entry (Submitted on September 1, 2019.)
2. Kings Mountain National Military Park, Historic Resource Study. National Park Service PDF (Submitted on September 1, 2019.)
Credits. This page was last revised on February 24, 2022. It was originally submitted on April 5, 2009, by Stanley and Terrie Howard of Greer, South Carolina. This page has been viewed 1,083 times since then and 6 times this year. Last updated on September 1, 2019. Photos: 1. submitted on April 5, 2009, by Stanley and Terrie Howard of Greer, South Carolina. 2. submitted on September 1, 2019. 3. submitted on August 22, 2010, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. 4. submitted on September 13, 2015, by Brandon Fletcher of Chattanooga, Tennessee. 5. submitted on April 5, 2009, by Stanley and Terrie Howard of Greer, South Carolina. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.