Existing comment:
Loyal Carolina Men
"So soon as Charleston fell, there was a proclamation for all to come forward...peace and pardon should be granted....Vast numbers flocked in and submitted; some through fear, some through willingness, and others, perhaps, through a hope that all things would settle down and war cease."
-- John Roberts, south Carolina patriot
Finding enemies on all sides, Major Ferguson called for a defensive ring facing outward along this quarter-mile-long ridge. Ninety percent of the Tories who fought here did not wear the King's redcoat. In the war-torn Carolina backcountry in 1780, allegiances were bitter, confused, and sometimes fluid.Some men did switch sides, even in the heat of the battle. After all,the foes firing uphill at them were their own neighbors-and brothers.
Ferguson's Tory regiments - North and South Carolina
Unlike the uniformed provincials who had sailed south with Lord Cornwallis, these men had not come great distances to fight the King's battles. Their war was close to home. |