I don't know much about the colonial era and our United States' Revolutionary War. In recent years, we've been trying to fill in some of the gaps of our knowledge.
South Carolina is a good place to fill in some of those gaps, as this colony was the site of over 200 Revolutionary War battles, more than any other state.
The Battle of Kings Mountain (October 7, 1780), which lasted all of 65 minutes, was a major turning point of the Revolutionary War, yet, in my schooling, I had never heard of it. President Theodore Roosevelt said of it, "This brilliant victory marked the turning point of the American Revolution."
I learned about two of the South Carolina battles, the Battle of Cowpens and the Battle of Kings Mountain, from visiting the South Carolina State House in Columbia, South Carolina. The people of South Carolina are justly proud of their role in obtaining the independence of the then-13 colonies.
On our way to Greenville, South Carolina in February, we took a slight detour to visit Kings Mountain National Military Park (not to be confused with Kings Mountain State Park). This park is near the border of North and South Carolina - in fact, from the South Carolina Welcome Center we had to backtrack and exit off Interstate 85 in North Carolina and use a North Carolina local road to reenter South Carolina and the military park. This can get a little confusing, but we made it.
Kings Mountain, incidentally, is not named after King George III, but a local settler.
To me, battlefields are sacred ground, and Kings Mountain was no exception. You walk a quiet path on a mid February Sunday, and you would never guess at the bloodshed that occurred here on an October day in 1780.
Until you view historic plaques.
And a marker at the gravesite of a Scottish officer in the British Army, Patrick Ferguson, designer of the Ferguson rifle. (Fans of Louis L'Amour will recognize this name).
The Ferguson Rifle display at the visitor center's museum.
Back to the silence of the forest where history was made so many years ago - history that helped to shape the county we of the United States live in today.
"K" Day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. My theme: Exploring South Carolina and the Eastern United States.
I appreciate the contrast you draw on: the silence of the forest and the violence of battle and bloodshed that it holds in its history.
ReplyDelete...I love old cemeteries!
ReplyDeleteI love visiting old battlefields.
ReplyDeleteWow, thank you, Alana, for sharing so much history! I get very emotional visiting battle grounds, but then, these are also important places that should never be forgotten by the future generations.
ReplyDeleteFascinating. In a nearby town, Redding, there's a park where Revolutionary troops lived, awaiting orders. It's strange to go there now and think of the lives that passed through hundreds of years ago. Had no idea South Carolina had such history too.
ReplyDeleteNicely done!
ReplyDeleteMy A to Z Blogs
DB McNicol - Small Delights, Simple Pleasures, and Significant Memories
My Snap Memories - My Life in Black & White
That must have been a great visit. Kind of eerie too, I suspect.
ReplyDeleteLove the cemeteries with these old tombstones and epitaph
ReplyDeleteI always feel meditative when I visit hallowed grounds like this one. The year I began my blog, I visited Civil War battlefields of the 1864 Overland Campaign in Virginia that my gg grandfather's Union Army unit was in -- including the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse locations. Previously, I'd only seen the battle sites in books, but they were enormous and humbling in person.
ReplyDeleteI find old battlefields/war memorials hard to walk, the epitaphs and the ages of the fallen soldiers just turns my brain inside out...
ReplyDelete