Biggerstaff's Old Fields

Biggerstaff's Old Fields

On Friday, October 13, 1780, the patriot force and its loyalist prisoners marched six miles to descend upon the plantation of loyalist Captain Aaron Biggerstaff. He had been mortally wounded during the battle and left for dead. On the 14th, the officers agreed to hold courts martial to satisfy the complaints of the patriot militiamen who had seen among the prisoners men who had committed crimes, they claimed, against themselves and their families. The officers condemned 32 men to be hanged. That night, the unfortunates were swung off by torchlight three at a time from an oak tree. After nine had been hanged, the officers stopped the executions.

Randell Jones, A Guide to the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail