The Battle of King’s Mountain was a pivotal battle of the American Revolution. All of those who fought were American militiamen with the one exception of Colonel Patrick Ferguson, a Scot, who led the Loyalists. This is his monument:
I visited the historic site on a sunny day in October, and the play of shadow on the marker makes it almost impossible to read the inscription. Suffice to say, he was despised by his enemy and loved by his men, a good epitaph for a soldier. He had two mistresses with him at the time, one of whom was killed in the battle. Ferguson himself was killed in a dramatic fashion leading a charge on horseback when trapped in a desparate situation.
The battle took place on an October day as well, but it was overcast and rainy. I do not know for sure if my ancestor Michael Eisan was at the battle, but a book I purchased at the battlefield gift shop, The Loyalists at King’s Mountain, names him (or Michael Isom) as one of the combattants. So, of course, in my novel, I have written the battle scene from his point of view, that of an ordinary Loyalist militiaman.
The Patriots won this battle. Many of them were Overmountain men who came from what is now Tennessee to fight Ferguson. King’s Mountain is situated in South Carolina right on the border with North Carolina. In fact, the entrance to the park is from North Carolina.
Rest in peace, those who died here. All of the Loyalist militiamen were either killed, wounded or captured.
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