Yellow Mountain Gap

Yellow Mountain Gap

The Overmountain Men marched over the mountain barrier following a narrow path known as "Bright's Trace." It followed a route used by Indians and created over centuries by migrations of deer, elk, and buffalo to cross the mountains. That path offered the men a challenging climb as it had rained the evening before. When they arrived at the top of the ridge, they found themselves standing in snow described later as "shoe-mouth deep."

Parading the men at the top, the officers discovered that two men known to have leanings toward the loyalists were missing. It was feared this pair of spies had run ahead to warn British Major Patrick Ferguson that a band of a thousand militiamen were coming over the mountains after him.

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