Browse Items (36 total)

After crossing the Broad River at Cherokee Ford, the mounted patriot militiamen gathered information from locals about where Major Ferguson and his loyalist army might me. A young woman shared that she had just that morning taken eggs to the major's…

On September 28, 1780, when the Overmountain militia leaders at Gillepie Gap decided to split their forces to descend the eastern face of the Blue Ridge Mountains, colonels Shelby and Sevier took their men by the more northerly route toward North…

Greenlee Ford was the shallow crossing of the Catawba River used by travelers. The party of some 1400 backcountry militiamen crossed the river on the morning October 1, 1780 and marched up the valley of Silver Creek as they proceeded south toward…

The grave of William Campbell is a certified site of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail. It is on private property, but respectful visitors are welcome. The grave is about 25 miles northeast of Abingdon in Seven Mile Ford at the family…

Mary McKeehan Patton learned how to make gunpowder from her father and then operated a powder mill in Pennsylvania with her husband. They sold it and moved south when the prospect of a British invasion made living there dangerous. They built a new…

Colonel James Williams was the highest ranking officer killed at the Battle of Kings Mountain. He was wounded in the last minutes of the battle on October 7, and tended by his son, Daniel. His men carried him carefully on their withdrawal on October…

After camping along the North Toe River at Grassy Creek, the Overmountain patriots marched up Grassy Creek on September 29 to reach the crest of the Blue Ridge. From Gillespie Gap, they could look far into the Catawba River valley. They faced there a…

Gilbert Town was a small frontier settlement occupied at different times by patriot and British forces. British Lt. Anthony Allaire wrote in his diary: "This town contains one dwelling house, one barn, a blacksmith's shop, and some out-houses…

William Lenoir lived in the Yadkin River Valley and served in the Wilkes County Militia under Colonel Benjamin Cleveland. His home on the Upper Yadkin River was built in 1792 near the site of his fortified home of the same name which he occupied…

On the evening of October 5, 1780, the patriot militiamen reached the Green River but had lost the trail for Patrick Ferguson's retreating army. Nevertheless, good fortune intervened. A large band of South Carolina militia had withdrawn into North…