This is one of my favorite battles that occurred on October 7, 1780, in South Carolina, in the Revolutionary War. I believe that it was the sharp blow that started a chain of events leading to final British defeat in the war. The battle may be unique in the Revolutionary War in that every combatant except one, was an American. The British Army was all American Loyalists except the commander, the famous Patrick Ferguson, a Scot. In 1780, the US fortunes were at a low ebb. The British were triumphant everywhere in the South. Georgia and South Carolina had fallen. The Continental Army was in mutiny in the North. In the South the army had almost been destroyed at the Battle of Camden. Many Americans who supported the Revolution took an oath not to oppose the King, and although not an oath of allegiance, it was the same thing. The British were planning to invade North Carolina, and then Virginia, and then to link up with the British forces in the North and end the war. Things never looked blacker for American independence. A three pronged advance into North Carolina unfolded with Ferguson leading the western prong. Ferguson was unusual in that he liked and trusted Americans and tried to win them over. He was being quite successful at it also. There was a thorn to the King however, and that was the people who lived over the mountains in what is now Tennessee. They were ruled by nobody and had not participated in the war to any extent up to now. Ferguson made a mistake. He sent a peremptory order over the mountains for these men to submit to the King or he, Ferguson, would bring fire and sword upon them and make them submit to the King. This stirred up the hornet's nest. The Over Mountain men met and decided to eliminate Ferguson. They came over the Appalachian Mountains and started to seek Ferguson. Ferguson knew they were coming and decided to meet and defeat them on Kings Mountain, South Carolina. He stood on his heights and challenged the colonists. The Over Mountain men picked their best fighters, elected their colonels, among them Isaac Shelby, John Sevier, William Campbell, Joseph McDowell and others and advanced on Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780. About 1000 rebels surrounded about 1000 Tories on the mountain. The rebels split up into 8 or 9 groups and assaulted the mountain. The Tories on the mountain were well trained but as is common with troops on a height, they fired high and caused few casualties. Kings Mountain is shaped like a footprint of a left foot and the Tories were pressed back into the heel and the ball of the foot. Ferguson order bayonet charges that successfully pressed the rebels back as they had no bayonets; however, the charge would become spent and the rebels would return. Eventually Ferguson was killed and the Tories collapsed and surrendered. The rebels started a general massacre based on "Tarleton's Quarter," the British policy of massacre pressed by that fearsome British Officer Banastre Tarleton. The Colonels finally reined in the the troops but several Tories were hanged by the vengeful rebels. Such is often the case in civil war which this was. The Tory dead and wounded were left on the battlefield and it became a terrible place. Wolves howled for months on the mountain as they and hogs scavaged the dead. The rebels left the battlefield as is to send a message to all tories what they might expect if they fought for the King. This war in the South was savage. The bones were not properly buried until 25 years later. When word of the victory reached Congress in Philadelphia, no member of Congress knew any of the leaders. Such was the uniqueness of the victory. It became the decisive blow. The British advance was halted. Cowpens and Guilford a few months later ended the British advance and made the Brits decide to head to the coast and eventually Yorktown.