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Local Boys & Spies
The patriots who formed battle lines at the foot of this hillside were local boys who knew Kings Mountain well. Some had used the large clearing atop the ridge as a deerhunters' camp.
Local men from the South Fork settlements had helped the Whig colonels scout out where the King's men had taken their stand. as 25-year-old Major William Chronicle ordered his militia to "Face the hill!," many a men knew he would have to face close Relatives or neighbors among the Tories they wold soon fight.
Colonel Hambright's militia
Major Chronicle's militia - Gaston County, North Carolina
Near here Whig scouts questioned a Tory girl who had just been up to Ferguson's campsite to deliver some chickens. From her, and from John Ponder, a 14-year-old local lad just captured with the major's last letter in hand, they learned a key fact. The British commander was wearing an unusual "checked hunting shirt" over his fine officer's redcoat. |