easy to proceed direct to Charlotte as to make the circuit that he did. The Americans did not reach Gilbert Town until the 4th October. Ferguson's retreat emboldened them and hastened their pursuit. They followed exactly the route he took, and they did not overtake him until the afternoon of the 7th. This shows he had over five days start of them, which at the rate he marched would have carried him into Charlotte, or brought him within the reach of the helping hand of Cornwallis. There are only two explanations for Ferguson's movements. Either he expected to be reinforced by Tory orginizations, or he did not know the extent of the force about to overwhelm him. The latter alternative contradicts received opinions, and is the best proof that he acted in accordance with a plan which he considered judicious, a plan which he carried into the grave with him.

"The epithet Tories has been used immediately above for the first time because if the large parties of Tories who were collecting along the route passed over by the Americans had been truehearted Loyalists, they would not have left Ferguson in the lurch to perish in the trap into which he had been lured by delusive promises of support. At the Cow Pens, 6th October, the Whigs were informed that a body of 600 Tories were assembled at Major Gibbs', four miles to their right, and would join Ferguson the next day. On the morning of the 7th Ferguson was within 15 or 20 miles of these Tories, and if they had simply followed up the Americans as the latter followed Ferguson, they could have fallen upon the rear of the Americans, captured or stampeded their horses, and taken the associated Whig Colonels in the very act. Judging from the few known facts of which historians are in possession, such Tories deserved the epithet with which Cleveland stigmatized them in his battle-speech.

"Before entering upon a description of the battle, this appears to be the proper point at which to settle the numbers engaged. General Davidson, (Gates papers), wrote that 3,000 men were assembled at Gilbert Town on the 1st October. Ramsey, (228), says 'scarce a single gunman remained that day, 25th September, at his own house.' The first rendezvous had been at Watauga on the 25th September. This place is beyond the Stone Mountains, in the present state of Tennessee, further to the northwest of Gilbert Town than the latter is west of Charlotte. This proves that there was no force between Ferguson and Cornwallis on the 1st October, nor for three days afterwards, to militate against a safe retreat to Charlotte. Ferguson was not afraid of the 'mountain men,' but he knew that he did not have numbers sufficient to cope with the force nor the kind of force which was marching against him. Like any wise commander he fell back on his supports, and they proved the veriest Pharaoh's reeds.

"How many men did Ferguson actually have? McKenzie says that his militia constituted 'a fluctuating body, whose numbers could not be depended on as they increased or diminished,

with the report of the day.' Allaire's estimate foots up 906 or 907, which agrees more closely with the majority than the factitious calculation founded on the ration return, so often quoted, 1,125.

"In regard to the American Whigs, their organization and march, there are a number of clear indications to establish the correctness of Ramsey's account. The first spontaneous assemblage of the improvised column of backwoodsmen and their associated colonels was at the Sycamore Shoals, or Watauga, on the Watauga River, then in the northwest corner of North Carolina, or now over in the border in Northeastern Tennessee, on the 25th September.

"The associated Whig forces consisted of Colonel Shelby's 240 from Sullivan County, then in the northwest corner of North Carolina, now in East Tennessee; of Colonel John Sevier's (Xavier's) 240 men, from Washington County, then in the northwest North Carolina, now a part of East Tennessee; of Colonel Charles McDowell's 160 refugees from Burke and Rutherford Counties, western North Carolina, who had fled before the Loyalists to the western waters across the mountains; and of Colonel Willam Campbell's command 400 men, from Washington County, southwest portion of Virginia, bordering on Tennessee. This made. 1,040 mounted riflemen. On the 26th, these began their first march, passing along the valley of Gap creek, and encamped the first night at Talbot's Mill. "The staff was incomplete; rather, there was no staff; no quartermaster, no commissary, no surgeon, no chaplain. As in all their Indian campaigns, being mounted and not encumbered with baggage, their motions were rapid. Each man, each officer, set out with his trustworthy Deckhard on his shoulder. 'A shot pouch, a tomahawk, a knife, a knapsack and a blanket, completed the outfit. At night, the earth afforded him a bed, and the heavens a covering, the mountain stream quenched his thirst; while his provision was procured from supplies acquired on the march by his gun.' Some beeves were driven in the rear, to furnish subsistence while in the settlements, but they impeded the rapidity of the march, and after the first day, were abandoned. After passing the mountain, the troops, sparing the property of the Whigs, quartered and subsisted upon the Tories.' On the 27th they continued on, following Bright's Trace across the Yellow Mountain, almost due north of Gilbert Town. At the foot of the Alleghanies proper, 16 to 18 miles distant from Gilbert Town, they were joined on the 30th by Colonel Benjamin Cleveland and Major Jacob Winston with 350 to 400 men from Wilkes and Surrey Counties, Northwestern North Carolina.

"From the 1st to 3d October no movement was made. Ramsey (231) says because the weather was so wet. Here Colonel Campbell was selected to command, to avoid entrusting the office to Colonel McDowell, because the latter was considered as 'too far advanced in life and too inactive for the command of such an enter

prise as we were then engaged.' Colonel Campbell was made the leader at the suggestion of Shelby to reconcile difficulties, 'not on account of any superior talent or experience he was supposed to possess.' Colonel Charles McDowell then turned over his command to his brother, Major Joseph McDowell, and set out to communicate the condition of things to General Gates and consult with him. Here, on Green River, or at Gilbert Town, Wednesday, 4th October, the American forces, according to Davidson, 'formed a conjunct body, consisting of 3,000; from this body were selected 1,600 good horse, who immediately went in pursuit of Colonel Ferguson, who was making his way to Charlotte.' Colonel Shelby says, 'On the next night, 5th (?) it was determined, in the council of officers, to pursue him unremittingly with as many of our troops as could be well armed and well mounted, leaving the weak horses to follow on as fast as they could. We accordingly started about light next morning with 910 men thus selected. Continuing diligently our pursuit all that day, we were joined at the Cow Pens on the 6th by Colonel John Williams of S. C., and several field officers, with about 400. men.'

"Mark this: it is most important testimony from the highest authority, and determines that the American numbers were from 1,310 to 1,370 in the fight, because at the Cow Pens the 910 selected out of the first aggregate were joined by 60 men from the Lincoln County, west of Gilbert Town, in North Carolina, and about 400 under Colonel John Williams from the Spartanburg District, then embracing the whole circumjacent country of South Carolina, which furnished the guides, whose pilotage had as much to do with Ferguson's defeat as any other cause. Although referred to in several other places, it may be as well to mention it here that Williams is said to have had in his pocket a commission as Brigadier-General from Governor Rutledge of South Carolina, and that he it is, not Campbell (according to Allaire), whom the British considered as commanding against them on the 7th.

"For the last thirty-six hours of the pursuit the Americans did not dismount but once. This was at the Cow Pens. About 12 m., of Saturday, the 7th, the advance guards met some unarmed men who had just quitted Ferguson, and from them his position was accurately ascertained. The rain, which had poured down all the previous morning, ceased shortly after noon, and the sun shone out brightly. A council of war was held, dispositions made for the attack, and its course determined, to surround their enemy and attack him on all sides simultaneously. Then the riflemen, and without breaking their fast, or taking any rest, moved on to assume their stations around the fatal hill. Within a mile of the Loyal position, a messenger was arrested bearing a dispatch from Ferguson to Cornwallis, urging the latter to hurry forward reinforcements. This paper is said to have stated the number under the command of Ferguson. What number did it mention? What became of the paper? Why was it never textually quoted? It would settle the disputed question of the British force.

"The King's Mountain range extends northerly and southerly about sixteen miles with several lateral spurs. The highest peak of this system might be recognized in Crowder's Knob, crowning a northeasterly radiation in North Carolina, while the most prominent summit in the opposite direction at the end of a southeastern rowel is Henry's Knob, north by west of Yorkville, in South Carolina. Although the elevation of King's Mountain, proper, is given at 1,500 feet above the sea level, that portion of the ridge on which the battle was fought, about a mile and one-half south of the dividing line between north and South Carolina, does not rise more than 100 feet above depressions drained by adjacent streams.

"At the very outset, in describing the battle-ground a difficulty occurs. According to Map Xll., accompanying Marshall's Life of Washington, and likewise the beautiful map attached to Tarleton's history of his campaigns of 1780-1, there is a road or wagontrack distinctly laid down on the first, leading from the Cow Pens, by the Cherokee Ford, to Ramsour's Ferry, and thence to Charlotte; on the second from the Cherokee Ford-the Cow Pens, where Morgan routed Tarleton is omitted-to Tryon, half way to Ramsour's (Ransower's?), and thence by the Great Tuckesege (Togaseechee) Ford, of the Catawba, to Charlotte, eighteen miles to the southeast, where Cornwallis lay with the main body of the British army. (L. F. B. A. R., 11.627). From Clarke's Fork of (Buffalo?) Creek (Lossing calls it 'Kings' Creek, which, if cor rect, would solve a multitute of difficulties), which is shown on the plan to the eastward of Ferguson's right, is almost imperceptible to the group or series of greater or lesser undulations among which the collision occurred. These hills, gravelly, sparsely strewn with a few small boulders, are covered with hard and soft wood, some grand trees, but mostly a smaller growth of post-oaks, laurel and sorrel. The large trees stand far apart, and even the lesser ones are not close together, so that they present scarcely any impediments to the movements of troops. The big trees afforded excellent cover for riflemen, who, stealing from one to another, found in them admirable temporary screens, (blindages) or mantlets to protect their approaches. In fact they might be compared· to the huge shields of which the English archers-the sharpshooters of the period prior to the introduction of firearms-availed themselves for protection while clearing the works of a besieged place of their defenders. Lossing, who saw it many years ago, justly observes 'it was a strange place for an encampment or a battle; and to one acquainted with that region, it is difficult to understand why Ferguson and his band were there at all.' This is the most logical conclusion, and the artist's sketch reveals the locality, which would seem to be the very last which a professional soldier would select whereon to make a stand against a preponderating force of the best marksmen in the world.

"The whole fighting was done within an area of less than half of that of Madison Square, (N. Y. city), and some correct idea of

it may be had by supposing that the American Whigs occupied the surrounding houses and picked off the British Loyalists in the open square from the windows, until, finally, when the troops in the square are pretty much killed, disabled, or demoralized, the Whigs made a simultaneous rush from the houses and captured the remainder. The cleared area or bare summit of the King's Mountain range, ‘narrow, stony ridge' on which Ferguson pitched his camp, has an outline not unlike that of an Indian paddle, with the end of the blade pointing south of west; 'the shadow of the timber at half-past one P. M. ranging with its median line.' Colonel Shelby states that the Loyalists 'were encamped on an eminence called King's Mountain, extending from east to West, which on its summit was about 500 to 690 yards long and 60 or 70 broad.' These bearings must be correct, because they reconcile contradictions, and explain why Ferguson fronted as he did, which would be inexplicable if his line of battle faced as General Graham would make it, according to the shadow. Graham sets down the length of Ferguson's encampment (line (?) at 80 poles (1,300 feet), which does not contradict Shelby. After an examination of perhaps one hundred authorties, it is still extremely difficult to reconcile many of the particulars. It is most consistent however, to believe that Ferguson's line fronted southerly and easterly, with his camp on the left, occupying pretty much the open space from 1,170 to 1,320 feet in length and some 210 feet in width. If such is not the case the American reports go to water.

"Still, in justice to a soldier of so much ability as Ferguson is admitted by friend and foe to have been, the selection of the battle ground must have been due to some good reason. It is very likely that he chose an open place that he might have militia under complete and constant supervision, fearing that if he fought in the woods his levies might instantly or quickly dissolve under a hot fire if not under his own eyes or those of his trusted subordinates, 'in whom,' (as in their immediate commanders), Mckenzie assures us, 'perfect confidence might on all occasions be placed.' As to the militia the same contemporaneous authority is far less compli

He says that in the course of this campaign, Ferguson had 'from one to two thousand militia, a fluctuating body, whose numbers could not be depended upon, as they increased or diminished with the report of the day.' No one would dare question the fact that many of these Loyalists were animated by the highest sentiments of honor and duty, but what could have been the principles of the majority, when Colonel Martin Armstrong, in command in Surrey County, in North Carolina, and in charge of those captured at King's Mountain 7th October, in writing to General Gates on the 7th November, states the Torie prisoners all enlisted into the Continental Service, excepting a Small number, which the Justices have committed to Halifax, there being but a few of the British.' Such sudden conversions, or pervisions, would indicate very little constancy, unless they transferred their