Recently my class went to visit the King's Mountain Battlefield. It is located about 3 hours by bus from Gilbert. We traveled on Interstate -85 and then on a country road to get there. If you don't know about this place - let me tell you. An important battle of the American Revolution took place there in Octobler of 1780. It all got started when Lord Cornwallis ordered Major Patrick Ferguson a Scottish officer to go into the Up Country of SC and pretty much demand that the people living there take a stand and support the British troops in SC. Before this, these folks were neutral - just minding their own business. Well, this order did not go over well with these pioneer type people. They did not like threats or demands. So, upon hearing all this, men from Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina grabbed their long rifles and provisions and headed south to intercept Ferguson and his Loyalist troops. (Loyalists were Americans that favored the British) The meeting was at Cowpens, because duh, there were cow pens there. It totally amazes me that anybody ever found each other without cell phones or GPS's. Anyway, these men organized themselves and headed to King's Mountain where Ferguson was camped. They were on top of the mountain and feeling confident that they were safe. Ferguson did not know just how angry these men were. Well, it was raining. These men (pioneer guys)stormed up the mountain, hiding behind the trees and bushes and aangrily attacked! It was a ferocious battle. Ferguson had two women in camp, both named Virginia, and they were running down the mountain really afraid. They told the Americans where Ferguson was and what he was wearing. Of all things - a red plaid shirt!! How dumb was he. I bet he really stood out. Well, he was killed and the battle was over. The Patriots won. The totally amazing thing here was after the battle the men , most of them, went back home. They had done the job and left. They didn't intend to join up for the rest of the war. Too cool. George Washington didn't even know this was going on. Old Cornwallis was freaked and he brought his troops back to SC to fix the problem. Big mistake!
This battle gave the Back Country folk time to organize and fight back. It truly changed the outcome of the war.
On the day we visited, It rained!!! Not a little Shower, RAIN!!! We got to hike up the mountain, and read the signs along the way telling us what happened in that location. Even though we were all soaked, we got to imagine how those soldiers felt because it rained on the day that the battle happened. We saw where Ferguson was killed and where he was buried. When you get to the top of the mountain, there is an impressive monument honoring the men that died there.
Because Kiing's Mountian is a preserved battlefield, we got to see a really cool place that I really didn't know about before. This place is operated by the Department of the Interior, so it gets tax money to operate. Based on what I learned I definitely think that other battlefields should be preserved. Who knows what cool stuff is out there?
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I went on this trip as well. Let me tell you , It rained. We were so soaked adn extremly cold. My camera will never be the same. Going up that mountain, the path was slick and covered with leaves and that made it worse. I will admit that I learned stuff I didn't know before, but who really cares what happened in the middle of nowhere over 200 years ago. I could get by without ever having to know this stuff. As far as preserving more of these place, don't we have enough?
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