Kings Mountain Anniversary
Occasion on
Ос*1о1мкг
7 will give llie general
pnlilie firs! opportunity fo see flie nafional
park that lias been developed about the
battlefield.
By J. K. IIKKIJN
CELEBRATION of the 151»th an¬
niversary of the Battle of Kings
Mountain on October 7 will hold
s|K4'inl significance for the Carolina#
ami the nation at large, as descendants
of patriots who won American inde¬
pendence reaffirm this country’s ideals
in the face of a world upheaval.
Dr. .1. Kion McKissick, president of
the I’niversity of South Carolina, has
been chosen ns speaker at the exercises
that will attend the celebration, epon-
sored by the Kings Mountain chapter
of the Daughters of the American
Revolution, of York. S. C.
Park Improvements
The hundreds expected to gather
from the Carolina# and adjoining
state# will have an additional incen¬
tive to attend, for many will have their
first opportunity to see the national
park that has lieen developed about
the battlefield. Beautiful roads have
been built, and paths laid out to the
historic spots on the battlefield all
carefully marked and identified.
With the development, visitors may
now got a vivid picture of this battle,
rightly characterized “the turning
point of the American revolution."
and may properly appreciate the dar¬
ing and bravery of the baekwoodmen
garbed in buckskin hunting shirt* and
coon.-kin caps, shouldering long Deck-
erd rifles, who defeated the army of
one of the ablest of the British gen¬
erals.
In 1814 Dr. William McLean, of
Lincoln County, who fought ns a
surgeon in the Colonial army, at his
own expense, had the bones of soldiers
slain in the battle collected and buried
with proper honors, and then erected
the first monument to be placed on
mountain crest. Time anti vandals
have almost demolished this stone, and
no longer can lie read the inscription :
(on the east side) “Sacred to the mem¬
ory of Major William Chronicle, < ’apt.
John Mattocks. Wm. Robb and John
Boyd, who were killed on the 7th of
October, 1780, fighting in defense of
America." On the west side of the
stone wan the additional inscription:
“Colonel Ferguson, an officer of his
Britannic Majesty, who was defeated
and killed at this place Oet. 7. 1780."
Sixty-six years later, in 14.80, an¬
other monument was erected on the
battlefield, familiarly known as the
“old monument" — 2s feet high pro¬
vided at a cost of $2,SOO, of which
$2,000 was provided by the legisla¬
tures of North and South Carolina,
and the remainder raised by public
donation. A short time later. Maj.
A. II. White, of Rock Hill. S. C\. had
erected at his own expense granite
pillars to mark the spots where Col¬
onel Ferguson fell mortally wounded
as he led the Redcoats in gall.iut
charge, and where he was buried.
Much credit for enlisting the inter¬
est of the I’nited States government
in giving proper recognition to the
battlefield is given the Kings Moun¬
tain chapter of the D.A.R. A monu¬
ment easting $30,000, built of blocks
of granite, was placed on the field in
100!) by the federal government. At
• be base, on four sides, are memorial
tablets of bronze, giving recognition
to each leader and group taking part in
the coup.
After acquiring the land surround¬
ing the battlefield, the government,
over the past decade, has been placing
markers at the historic spots and de¬
veloping the place into one of the most
attractive of its national parks. The
cairn of stones which marked llie
In Roleigh, it's olwoys
THE SIR WALTER
More thon a hotel — A North
Corolino institution
Finest accommodations
Air-conditioned Coffee Shop
The center of everything
• pot where Colonel Ferguson fell from
his horse into a ravine was allowed
to remain.
Outstanding celebrations at the bat¬
tleground hare lieoii held in ISIS.
1855. 1880, 1909 and the sesqui-cen-
tenninl in 1930 when President Hoover
delivered an address.
While the Kings Mountain battle
ground is ill South Carolina, about 1.5
miles across the North Carolina boun¬
dary. the oily of Kings Mountain is
in the Tar Heel state, often causing
confusion in the minds of ihose un¬
familiar with the region. However.
North Carolina has n very definite
claim of intere-t in the sjmt because
some of the most effective fighting
was done by the mountaineers led by
Campbell. McDowell. Shelby and
others.
Open Ferguson Grave
The grave of Colonel Ferguson was
opened some 35 years after the battle,
according to a Forum letter to a North
Carolina newspaper of that period,
and a rusted pocket knife was re¬
claimed.
Wrote Robert I . Durham in the
Forum: “When the grave was pointed
out to Dr. Janie» W. Tracy by Old
Man Harmon. 80-year-old man who
had been a boy of 15 visiting the
scene of the encounter and claiming
to know Ferguson’s burial place, two
skeletons were found. One skeleton
was that of a woman something of a
confirmation of the tradition that one
of Col. Ferguson’s two mistresses. Vir¬
ginia Sal was killed in the battle and
was buried in the grave with him. Tin-
silver whistle worn by Ferguson about
bis neck was not found, but a rusted
pocket knife was taken."
The knife mentioned is said to be
in the Duke University museum.
Tbe program to be carried out on
October 7 will be a most interesting
one throughout and a large attend¬
ance is expected. Visitors will find
many places of outstanding historical
interest in the park and will be well
repaid for taking the trip to the bat¬
tlefield.
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