Existing comment:
From the signs:
Charging Cold Steel -- Three Times
Everyone knew Colonel Sevier's rugged frontiersmen for their long-rifle marksmanship -- and their touchy eagerness for a brawl. But no experienced military man of that day expected men armed only with hunting rifles to be able to face and defeat real soldiers, trained to use the bayonet.
It had never happened -- until Kings Mountain. Three times longhunters from eastern Tennessee charged up this mountainside. Once, then twice they were chased back down by Tories wielding 17-inch-long bayonets. Somehow Sevier's patriots found the courage to stop running, turn around, and go back up against that fearsome cold steel one last time.
Every man at Kings Mountain, Whig or Tory, knew that only six weeks ago, patriot militia had been overwhelmed in battle at Camden, South Carolina. There, well-drilled Crown troops had used standard European tactics and cold steel to send the Whigs running for their lives.
Drive the Enemy
The ridge ahead was craggy and rough, and covered with flame and smoke. Campbell's Virginia regiment had drawn a tough and bloody assignment: to lead the first strike against the Tories. They were the first to close with the enemy, the first to hear the thunder of the drums, and the first to face the terror of the bayonets coming downhill. Some patriots stood their ground and were run through. Most broke and ran.
The loyalists stopped their charge at the foot of this hill. William Campbell stood half-way between his foe and his own men, now on the run. As he saw his neighbors make tracks for the next ridge, he shouted, "Halt! Return my brave fellows, and you will drive the enemy immediately!" One by one, the Virginians slowed, turned about, and rallied to attack again.
Personal leadership proved crucial here. Colonel Campbell made time to visit every corps while marching to Kings Mountain. Face to face, he had urged each man to do his duty. And his own Virginians suffered the most casualties of any patriot corps. These men marched the most miles to get into this fight. Although their homes in the Virginia mountains were far removed from the great plantations of the Tidewater, this regiment did include African-Americans -- three free men of color and colonel's servant, John Broddy.
Americans in Redcoats
"These things are ominous -- these are the damned yelling boys!" -- Abraham DePeyster, New York loyalist officer
British war drums bellowed the alarm as 120 battle-hardened veterans in red took their places in line here. They were the first to face the Whig woodsmen moving up through the trees below. Mounting bayonets as they had in countless drills before, they charged the riflemen.
British hopes to end the 6-year-long rebellion rested on Americans such as these. Leaders in London thought that a backbone of provincial soldiers could set the example, training Tory militia to march and fight properly. Together the Americans in redcoats and local loyalists might well re-establish Crown control in the South. |