Sycamore Shoals at Fort Watauga

Sycamore Shoals at Fort Watauga

Responding to the call for a muster, the militiamen from North Carolina's overmountain region and those from southwest Virginia gathered on September 25, 1780 in the flats adjacent to Sycamore Shoals and next to Fort Watauga.

During the muster, local powder maker Mary Patton produced 500 pounds of powder for the militiamen to use on their campaign. (See Grave of Mary Patton for more information.)

Another hero of the muster was Samuel Doak, a Princeton-educated Presbyterian minister who gave a sermon and a prayer to the departing militiamen and with it their battle cry; "The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon."

Today, the Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area sits on those flats and interprets through exhibits, videos, and reenactments the historic events that unfolded at that site during the colonial and Revolutionary War eras.

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