In the summer of 1780, as British forces under Lord Charles Cornwallis worked to secure the South through Loyalist militia, Major Patrick Ferguson moved into North Carolina and threatened the people beyond the Appalachian Mountains with destruction if they did not submit to King George. In response, Virginia men gathered on September 24, 1780, then joined more Virginians under Colonel William Campbell and Wataugans under Colonel Isaac Shelby and Colonel John Sevier at Fort Watauga near Sycamore Shoals on September 25. These men crossed the high mountains through deep snow to strike Ferguson before he could carry out his threats, and Campbell was chosen to lead the combined force. After learning that Ferguson was encamped on King's Mountain in South Carolina, just over 900 Overmountain Men from Virginia, present day Tennessee, North and South Carolina, and Georgia rode out from the Cowpens on October 6 in pouring rain and by midafternoon on October 7, 1780, encircled Ferguson and his troops. In a battle lasting sixty-five minutes, the American Patriots killed or captured Ferguson's entire Loyalist force of 1,100, leaving Ferguson dead on the field, with about 225 dead, 163 wounded, and 716 captured among the Loyalists, while the Patriots suffered 28 killed and 62 wounded. Fighting with the skills of woodsmen and Indian fighters and often without formal training, uniforms, provisions, or promise of pay, these hunters, farmers, settlers, and backwoodsmen helped change the course of the Revolution. The victory at King's Mountain spread quickly through the colonies, encouraged militia in North Carolina and Virginia, demoralized Loyalists across the South, revived the Continental Congress, and became a major turning point in the American Revolution that contributed to the chain of events leading to Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown a year and 12 days later.
