State

Retracing Bright’s Trace Hikers walk a historic route, where once flic overmoiiiitaiii men moved to head-off Ferguson’s Tories. By ROBERT L. (RIP) COLLINS Invariably the first snows of winter send old-timers to searching their memories of early snowfall records. At least one September snowfall in the Southern Appalachians has been well-documented by a reputable his¬ torian. In his account of Kings Mountain and Its Heros, Dr. L. C. Draper, nearly a century ago recorded the per¬ sonal statements of men from the Wa¬ tauga Settlement who made the arduous trek across Yellow Mountain Gap en- route to defeat the British Major Fer¬ guson and his command at Kings Mountain. On September 27th 1780,, the mounted militia of “Backwater Men” crossed Yellow Mountain Gap and en¬ countered snow “shoemouth deep.” According to their accounts the balds of the Roan and Yellow Mountains and the high meadows near Yellow Moun¬ tain Gap where they crossed at an alti¬ tude of almost 5,000 feet were covered with snow. Horton Cooper, Avery County His¬ torian, reports that, according to tradi¬ tion one of the men on that march froze to death on the mountain that night. More than one thousand men had assembled at Sycamore Flats on the Watauga River near the present town of Elizabethtown, Tennessee. At that time this was a part of the Watauga Settlement, considered by the settlers to be a part of “Washington County” in North Carolina. “Backwater Men” Many people in the more densely settled and politically prominent East referred to them as the “Overmountain men” or the “backwater men.” The land which they occupied was across the Eastern Continental Divide. West¬ ward flowing streams flowed “back¬ ward” to the mighty Mississippi rather than “forward” into the Atlantic which was better known in those revolu¬ tionary times. 1780 was the year when Lord Corn¬ wallis decided to improve upon Gen¬ eral Clinton’s strategy for putting down thei rebellious Americans. The British had conquered Charlestown and set out across the state to put down all rebels and reassure all those who declared their loyalty to the king. But rather than remaining in South Carolina and maintaining an army of occupation, General Cornwallis elected to march northward with plans to sub¬ due North Carolina and Virginia. His grand strategy was to cut across these two states and in so doing per¬ suade General Clinton to push south¬ ward completing a pincher movement Where Bright's Trace crosses the famed Ap¬ palachian Trail at Yellow Mountain Gap (elev. 4682), a backpacker stops to read the marker: 'The old road at this junction is route used by John Sevier and 'Overmountain Men' in cross¬ ing enroute to the Battle of Kings Mountain, N. C. during the War of the American Revolu¬ tion, 1775-1783, passes gap descending to Roar¬ ing Creek, N. C. on the right and Roan Moun¬ tain, Tenn., on left." which would cut the Atlantic States into half. As he moved toward Charlotte, Cornwallis assigned his western flank to an able and experienced young Ma¬ jor named Patrick Ferguson. Major Ferguson’s Threat Since June, Ferguson had been or¬ ganizing Tory militia in the Carolina backcountry, a job at which he had been extraordinarily successful. He was well-known in the British army because of his attempt to intro¬ duce the rifle into the ranks. At the bat¬ tle of Brandywine in 1777 he was op¬ erating with an experimental body of riflemen using an excellent military rifle which he had invented. In the summer of 1780 he was an officer of great promise, highly re¬ garded by Lord Cornwallis, his com¬ mander. Sweeping northwestward from the outpost at Ninety Six in South Caro¬ lina, Ferguson approached Gilbert Town, near the present day Ruther¬ ford ton. The cocky young Major met scant opposition and. recruited many Tories by the time he had reached the dividing line between the two Carolinas. Encouraged by success and angered by reports that many rebel's were “skulking” beyond the Blue Ridge, he broadcast the word that if the “back¬ water men” did not come down and swear loyalty to the King he would march across the mountains, hang the rebels and lay waste to the land with fire and sword. At Kings Mountain So it had come to pass on that early fall day that more than a thousand “backwater men” assembled at Syca¬ more Shoals and began their arduous march eastward, across Big Yellow Mountain Gap to personally deliver a reply to the young Major Ferguson. Mounting their own horses, shoul¬ dering their own rifles, slinging their в THE STATE, JUNE 1975