Caught in a Crossfire

Hard pressed on every side, Ferguson's men fell back to their camp in the saddle of the ridge ahead. As some Tories tried to surrender, bullets continued to pour into their ranks from all directions, and they found themselves pinned down in a deadly crossfire. Patriots rounding up Tory prisoners remembered how British Colonel Tarleton had ordered rebel prisoners taken at nearby Waxhaws to be killed in cold blood, and even as the heat of battle cooled atop Kings Mountain, few Tories were shown mercy. Ferguson's camp included tents and weapons for a thousand men, cattle and horses, and 19 large baggage wagons, and this encampment contained one-third of British military strength available in the South. A last diary entry found on the battlefield read: "The cursed rebels Came upon us killed and Took every Soul and So My Dear friends I bid you farewell for I am Started to the warm Country."

South Carolina · United States