In the vicinity of Cowpens during the Revolutionary War, a Patriot militia of 1,400 horse-mounted soldiers known as the Overmountain Men continued a two-week march in search of British Major Patrick Ferguson and his Loyalist army. They spent the night at The Cowpens on October 6, 1780, selected their 900 fastest men and horses that night, and completed their pursuit at the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780, where they defeated Ferguson in a battle that lasted one hour and that Thomas Jefferson considered the turning point of the American Revolution. Their march began on September 24, 1780, when Virginia militia from Washington County under Campbell mustered at Abingdon, Virginia, while on September 25 Shelby, Sevier, and Campbell gathered Watauga and Holston valleys militia at Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga River to join Burke County militia under Charles McDowell, and on September 26 another Patriot group sheltered powder from rain at Shelving Rock as 350 North Carolina Patriot militia from Surrey and Wilkes counties under Col. Benjamin Cleveland and Maj. Joseph Winston mustered at today's Elkin, departed the next morning, and joined other Patriots at Quaker Meadows. On September 27 the Patriots crossed Roan Mountain through recent snow at Yellow Mountain Gap, the trail's highest point, where two men deserted to warn Ferguson, and from September 28 through 30 the force split so Loyalists could not slip by before reuniting at Quaker Meadows. On October 1 and 2 the army stopped to dry out and prepare for battle, McDowell stepped aside, and Campbell took command; on October 3 the army camped by Marlin's Knob near Cane Creek while South Carolina Patriots under William Hill and Edward Lacey camped nearby at Flint Hill. At Gilbert Town on October 4 the army found Ferguson gone, possibly headed toward Ninety Six in South Carolina, and on October 5, after moving to the Green River thinking they were following him, small parties of Georgians under William Candler and North Carolinians under William Chronicle joined them before new information showed Ferguson was headed east, causing the Patriots to reverse direction. Convinced on October 6 that Ferguson was moving east toward Charlotte, they raced to meet Lacey and Hill's South Carolinians, united at Cowpens that evening, chose 900 of the best mounted and armed men to continue, ate hastily, and pushed on despite rain. On October 7 at 8 a.m. the Patriot army crossed the flooding Broad River at Cherokee Ford, and at 3 p.m. found Ferguson's 1,000-strong Loyalist army atop Kings Mountain; in the fierce fighting Ferguson and 120 Loyalists were killed and nearly all the rest were wounded or captured, while the Patriots lost 28 killed and 62 wounded. On the return, at Biggerstaff's Old Fields on October 14, 30 Loyalists were tried and nine were hanged. Today the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, extending 330 miles, along with Cowpens National Battlefield and Kings Mountain National Military Park, is protected and administered by the National Park Service, and this property is owned and operated by the City of Chesnee, South Carolina.