Kings Pinnacle (44 page)

“Yes, sir,” replied Alex.
“Let’s have at it.”

* * * *

Major Ferguson

“
What the devil is that
screaming all about?” asked Major Ferguson.

He had just emerged from his
tent, tucking his shirt into his trousers, after his earlier
exertions with Sal and an afternoon nap. Virginia Sal stuck her
head out of the tent flap and peered at the major.

“Sir, it’s the damned
yelling boys charging up the mountain at us; this is ominous,”
replied Captain Abraham DePeyster, who came running up to the
major’s tent.

“Nonsense,” replied the
major. “Deploy the men in our defensive positions around the camp
and repel the backwoodsmen.”

“Yes, sir,” replied the
captain, leaving to rally the Loyalists and direct them into their
defensive positions.

The Loyalists were literally
taken by surprise, but they did hold the high ground. It was going
to be an uphill battle, so to speak, for the Overmountain
Men.

Alex and his men joined the
battle with the other Overmountain Men charging up Kings Mountain.
The patriots used cover and concealment, firing from behind rocks
and trees. When the Overmountain Men got close enough to the
summit, Major Ferguson, sitting on his charger in his British
uniform with his checkered duster draped over it, would blow his
silver whistle and order a bayonet charge to drive the patriots
back down the mountain. The patriots did not have bayonets for
their rifles and could not resist the charge. The Overmountain Men
would then regroup at the base of the mountain and charge back up
again.

“Captain DePeyster, tell the
men that they are shooting too high at the rebels because of the
downhill angle of the shots. Tell them to lower their aim,” shouted
Captain Ferguson.

“Yes, sir,” the harried
captain yelled back. “Sir, we are taking a lot of casualties and
the number of wounded men is beginning to overwhelm the
medics.”

“Take a few men off the line
to help the medics and round up any other non-combatants including
Sal to help them also.”

“Yes, sir,” replied the
captain, who left to accomplish the task.

The wounded Loyalists were
soon lying everywhere. Virginia Sal took charge of a number of
them.

“Move some of the most
wounded into Major Ferguson’s tent,” said Virginia Sal to an
orderly.

“Yes ma’am; will do,”
replied the orderly.

The work inside the tent was
grisly, and soon Virginia Sal stuck her head out of the tent flap
to see if there were any more wounded men to move into the
tent.

The musket ball struck her
in the side of her head. Her bright red hair made her an easy
target, and she was dead before she hit the ground. Major Ferguson
saw her fall but could do nothing about it. Well, so much for
Virginia Sal, thought the major.

* * * *

Alex

After an hour of fighting
and being constantly driven back, Alex was becoming concerned that
the Overmountain Men would lose heart for the fight. They had been
making almost no progress in taking the summit and were suffering
high casualties. It looked as if the Loyalists’ position on the
summit was impregnable.

Alex asked the Longhunter
and Jonas to scout out the Loyalists’ positions on the mountain and
give him the layout of their defenses. When the Longhunter and
Jonas returned, Alex called a war council of his own men, much like
he had seen General Washington do. His council consisted of Alex,
Robert, Hugh, the Longhunter, and Jonas.

“What do the Loyalists’
positions look like up top?” asked Alex.

“Most of them are formed up
into a circular defense around the northeast part of the summit
where their tents and camp are located,” said the Longhunter. “But
there are several of them stretched out in a long line from their
camp all the way across the saddle to the southwest summit across
Kings Pinnacle.”

“They have over one thousand
men total on the summit. How many of them are stretched out in that
line from the camp to the southwest summit?” asked Alex.

“I would say no more than
maybe two hundred or maybe a few more,” answered the Longhunter and
Jonas nodded.

“How many men do they have
at the end of the line at the southwest most point of their
line?”

“No more than twenty or
thirty.”

“Do they have any
reinforcements positioned up there anywhere near the Kings
Pinnacle?”

“Not that I saw,” replied
the Longhunter. “Jonas, did you see any?”

Jonas shook his head,
indicating that he had not.

“Do you think we can climb
the southwestern most point of the mountain?”

“It’s pretty steep over
there, but it can be done. We might have to fix some ropes in a few
places, but it can be done.”

“Okay, here’s what I want us
to do. First, Robert, I want you and Hugh to gather thirty men
including you two, the Longhunter, and Jonas. Choose men that are
young, spry and our best shots. Meet me, the Longhunter, and Jonas
at the base of the mountain at its southwest most point,” said
Alex. “We will gather there in ten minutes. Let’s get
moving.”

The Longhunter, Jonas, and
Alex trotted out to the southwest base of the mountain to scout the
best trail up the mountain. When Robert, Hugh, and the additional
men arrived, Alex, the Longhunter and Jonas were waiting for them.
They formed up so that Alex could address them.

“Men, we are going to divide
up into five groups with six men in each group. I will head up one
group, Robert, Hugh, Alexander Glendenning, and Jonas will head up
the other four. First, we are going to climb this side of the
mountain. Alexander and Jonas will show us the easiest way up that
they have scouted for us. When we get near the top, I want each man
to stomp out a level reloading spot just below the top rim. When I
give the command, I want one man from each of the five groups to
step up to the top rim and lean forward into a firing position. As
soon as you assume a firing position, you will pick out a target,
zero in, and fire as soon as you can accurately sight a
target.”

“Take your shot, aim low,
and remember they don’t have any fortifications on this side of the
mountain. If you hit a man in the leg, it will take him out of
action. That’s as good as a kill. Don’t worry about firing too low.
They will be hunkered down. Remember that a shot that is too low
may skip off the ground and may still score a hit. As soon as you
fire, scurry back down to reload at your reloading spot. Then the
next man in your group will step up to the top and take a shot.
Then the number three man and so on. By the time the number six man
has taken his shot, the number one man should be reloaded, and then
it will be his turn again. We will maintain a steady rate of fire
using this rotation system and keep it up as long as it takes to
drive them off of their positions on this side of the
summit.”

“I want to kill or disable
as many as we can and get them moving back toward their camp on the
northeast side. As soon as they start moving in that direction, we
will all climb up and herd them in that direction, taking turns
firing into their ranks. As soon as we take Kings Pinnacle, we will
have the high ground on them and can fire down on them for a
change.”

“I want everyone to load up
and close their flintlocks, but do not cock them. We don’t want to
let the enemy know in advance that we are coming up this side of
the mountain,” concluded Alex.

The climb was not easy but
went off without a hitch. As soon as the men were ready and in
position near the top, Alex gave the command and began the musket
fire using the rotation system. They kept it up at a steady pace,
just as Alex had planned it. The Loyalists fired back, but Alex and
his men were firing at them from a position where only their heads
were exposed to enemy fire and the patriots suffered no casualties.
After several minutes, the steady musket fire by Alex and his men
began to take its toll. The Loyalists began retreating toward their
camp and possible reinforcements.

Alex gave the command for
all his men to climb up and herd the Loyalists toward their camp.
The men followed orders, yelling like the Cherokees as they climbed
up and attacked.

“Let’s keep them moving back
toward their camp,” shouted Alex as his men moved forwarded, firing
as they went.

Alex was fighting alongside
Robert and Hugh as the three of them led the attack into the
Loyalists troops. The men advanced by alternating firing and moving
forward, and soon they had taken Kings Pinnacle. They formed a
firing line on Kings Pinnacle and, as a result, they had the
Loyalists bottled up on the northeast side of the top of Kings
Mountain.

The other patriot troops,
who were acting independently, saw what Alex had done and decided
to attack in mass also. As the attack of the Overmountain Men
gained momentum, the Loyalists soon began to raise white flags in
surrender. The patriots were not ready to accept their surrender,
and Major Ferguson was not ready to surrender either. Riding on his
charger, he drew his sword, hacked off several of the white
surrender flags, and attempted to rally his men.

Alex soon spotted Major
Ferguson riding on his charger, blowing his silver whistle to
direct his troops against the patriots’ charge.

“Hurrah, brave lads; the day
is ours!” yelled the major in a futile attempt to rally his
troops.

Alex thought that if he
could get off a shot at the major, it might quickly end the battle
and spare some lives. Without Major Ferguson’s influence, the
Loyalists were sure to surrender. He reloaded Slayer and took aim
at Major Ferguson, leaning into his firing position on Kings
Pinnacle. Just as Alex squeezed off the shot, the major’s horse
reared up on its hind legs and the shot grazed the major’s head,
knocking him off his horse. Unfortunately for Major Ferguson, one
of his spurs caught in the stirrup, and the horse bolted. The major
was dragged along by the running horse.

Amazingly, the horse ran
straight up toward Kings Pinnacle and straight at Alex, Robert,
Hugh, the Longhunter, and Jonas, who were all standing there. Hugh
jumped out on the trail along the top and blocked the horse’s path,
holding up his arms to create a barrier. The horse saw Hugh and
stopped right in front of him. Hugh grabbed the reins and quieted
the horse. Then Alex, Robert, and Hugh walked around the horse and
looked down at Major Ferguson, lying beside his horse, with his
boot caught in the stirrup. The major rolled over and appeared to
be almost unhurt, except for a few scratches, despite having been
dragged a hundred yards by his horse.

As he rolled over and laid
eyes on Alex, Major Ferguson pointed at Alex and shouted, “You,
Mackenzie!”

“Why, hullo Patrick,” said
Alex as he raked his long blond hair back out of his eyes with his
left hand. “I haven’t seen you since my almost wedding at the
Coldstream Bridge toll house in Scotland.”

“And I haven’t seen ye since
ye almost tortured me to death at that blasted British Fort
Craghead,” added Hugh.

“Mackenzie, I promised my
Uncle Jamie that I would kill you. And I will. Of that ye can be
sure,” said Major Patrick Ferguson glaring at Alex. Then he pulled
a pistol out of his belt, cocked his flintlock, and aimed it at
Alex’s head. Finally, he pulled the trigger.

Alex was at first frozen
when he saw Patrick pull the pistol and take aim at him, but he
recovered just in time to duck. The pistol shot went harmlessly
over his head. Robert and Hugh immediately pulled pistols from
their belts and fired at Major Ferguson point blank. Both shots hit
the major squarely in the chest. He died instantly as the musket
balls passed through his heart. Several other men, including the
Longhunter and Jonas, emptied their pistols into Major Ferguson’s
body after the fact “just to make sure,” according the
Longhunter.

* * * *

Epilogue

Without Major Patrick
Ferguson to lead them, the Loyalists were overwhelmed by the
Overmountain Men and quickly surrendered. The Overmountain Men
began to take revenge on the Loyalists, angered by the battle and
previous engagements where the Loyalists showed no quarter to the
patriots. But the killing was soon curtailed by the Overmountain
Men’s officers. The offers to surrender were accepted, and the
prisoners were secured.

Major Patrick Ferguson’s
corpse was stripped of his clothes by the Overmountain Men, and
then he and Virginia Sal were buried in a shallow grave near the
site where his tent was located. His body had a total of eight
musket ball holes in it.

Thomas Jefferson called
the Battle of Kings Mountain, “The turn of the tide of success" in
the Revolutionary War. In his book,
The
Winning of the West
, Theodore Roosevelt
wrote of Kings Mountain, "This brilliant victory marked the turning
point of the American Revolution."

And it was a turning point;
it provided a rallying cry and a boost to the morale of the
patriots, who had suffered so many defeats against the
British.