Down with the Crown!

Today I ran away and went to South Carolina. Here I live like an Overmountain Man, so I took a trail that they might have taken during the Revolution. Where many of the militia walked to meet up at King's Mountain to help the Piedmont'ers defeat Ferguson. From Asheville through Hickory Nut Gorge t Lake Lure and Chimney Rock. Then backroads to Cowpens.

At Cowpens, I walked to the where the Second Line of the militia stood waiting to fire on the British that they could see clearly through the woods and pasture (thus the name Cowpens...no cows, though). I walked where the despised Tarleton (never forget Camden!) probably rode horseback, sabre in hand. The hour long battle was won by the Patriots on the heels of King's Mountain. This gave Tarleton a mortal blow sending him North and his final surrender at Yorktown.

Then I was off to King's Mountain and stood where Ferguson's horse was shot right from under him. He was plugged 7 times by musket balls and was dragged by his horse while his foot was still in the stirrups. What would've happened if Cornwallis or Tarleton had sent troops. (Cornwallis was in Charlotte, 40 miles away). Col. Patrick Ferguson is still there under a Scottish cairn. He is one of the more sympathetic of the Brits to me. Maybe because he was Scottish. I can't forgive him (and hardly understand) his wearing red and white plaid. This from a man who introduced camoflauge to the British army! What was he thinking?

It was great being swept back in time. Walking back into time with the Redcoats, the Overmountain Men, the militia, Patriots, Loyalists...it was a great day. As I drove back to Asheville, you see the mountains suddenly rise up from the Piedmont. They do rise suddenly and I think of the dauntingness of them to the colonial peoples. How my drive used to be (and still is to me) adventure. The new frontier. I think of those Overmountain Men and how after they defeated (and annihilated) the British and Loyalists at King's Mountain they disappeared into the mists of the mountains. I, too, disappear back to my mountain home. I'll be back until I'm called back to duty.