Thicketty Fort

Captain Johnson had a hard time wrestling Tory Captain Patrick Moore into submission.  Moore and his Loyalist sympathizers had been on the run from their defeat at Ramsour’s Mill near Lincolnton, NC for 12 days and were not too willing to fall into the hands of these Liberty Men. At six foot seven inches tall(1), Moore was giving his fair share and was able to open up multiple cuts on Johnson’s head and thumb. Despite it all, Captain Johnson was hauling him in towards the rest of the Patriot contingent.  The spilled blood; however, got into the Johnson’s powder and he misfired as reinforcements arrived for the Loyalist leader.  While Johnson retreats through the bushes, Captain Moore escapes and is able to make it home on Thicketty Creek, outside of Gaffney, SC. (2)

Captain Moore had reinforced a fort there and commanded a body of loyalist men with good stores of weaponry.  Undaunted by his near fatal encounter with Johnson, Moore’s command had become a staging point for the Tories to launch raiding parties on the Patriot homes and farms in the back country. So much so that it raised the ire of not only General Sumter in South Carolina, but also Col. McDowell from NC.  Both were in the area of conflict attempting to win and subdue the land for the cause. Independently they had both sent out warriors to attack Fort Thicketty.  Elijah Clarke, Isaac Shelby, Andrew Hampton and Charles Robertson met and combined their forces to put and end to the threat. 

The fort itself was surrounded by abatis that made it difficult to approach without impaling oneself on the pointed timbers.  Similar structures were used at the star fort at Ninety-Six and other conflict areas. Fort Thicketty sat upon a rise above the creek and had loopholes in the walls from which to fire at the enemy from cover. To overcome even a crude abatis takes coordination and firepower under extreme exposure.  To make offensive operations against the fort even worse, the fort had only one opening by which to enter the enclosure.  Moore’s men were more than confident that they could repel the forces that approached their bastion in the back country.(3)

Colonel Shelby and his men of daring were not ones to shrink from a fight.  Shelby arrived at the fort on July 26, 1780 and sent word to Moore to surrender at once.  Moore refused, and he and his Tory militia steeled their nerves for the fight. Col. Shelby then arrayed all 600 of his men into firing positions in a way that was meant to intimidate.  All along the wood line surrounding the fort, Moore and his militia observed the Liberty Men step out with their rifles and storied hunting shirts.  Certainly, they had the set jaws and determination of men used to conflict on the Indian frontier and mimicked their leader as they put on a show of force.  Shelby, again, called out for a parley with Moore.  Moore assured his men, as he left out for the discussion of terms, that he would not be surrendering and that he intended to fight.

Perhaps it was his recent brush with death at the hands of some of these same men outside of Lincolnton.  Or perhaps it was his subsequent near-death experience near the Wofford’s Iron works at the hands of Captain Johnson not 24 days removed.  Or perhaps it was a combination of so many seasoned fighting men standing before Moore’s little fort of friends and neighbors. Whatever the single or combination of reasons, Captain Moore agreed to surrender the fort if his men were spared and paroled.  To the dismay of his men, the Loyalist Captain walked back to the fort under Patriot escort and turned the fort over without firing a shot in defense.

 

Col. Shelby’s ruse worked, and the Sons of Liberty were fortunate, indeed.  Among the stores of weaponry were found ready muskets loaded with “buck and ball” at the gun ports of the fort.  Had Captain Moore fought it out, Colonel Shelby may have been hard pressed to win without cannon.  At the very least he would have paid dearly with the lives of his men to win the day.   Captain Moore’s capitulation without a fight saved many lives that day on both sides, but he held the title of coward in the eyes of his superiors in General Cornwallis’ camp.(2, Ibid)

The month was a sore one for the British in the upstate.  Having taken Charleston, the British had set their sights on the upcountry, but suffered some setbacks.  Lt. Col. Turnbull wrote Cornwallis about his Ramsour’s Mill investigation and chastised the Loyalist timing at Lincolnton.  He also warned of the Scots Irish,  "As for the majority Scots-Irish inhabitants of the Catawba River Valley," Turnbull wrote: "I wish I could say something in their favor. I believe them to be the worst of creation - and nothing will bring them to reason but severity.”(4)  

But Cornwallis did not understand what the threat in this quarter really was. He was on the move and was concentrated on the Continental army.  He had a destiny with Gates at Camden.  His response for the left flank of his army was to send Major Patrick Ferguson.  He would write later, after the blinders were off, "A numerous and unexpected enemy came from the mountains.  As they had good horses, their movements were rapid."(3,ibid)

 

A reckoning was coming!  And for the next 72 days Liberty was in question.  Freedom Reigns!

(1)      Kings Mountain and It’s Heroes:  The Battle of King’s Mountain, October 7^Th, 1780, and the Events Which Led to It, Lyman Copeland Draper, Anthony Allaire

(2)      Parker’s Guide to the Revolutionary War in South Carolina, John C. Parker Jr.

(3)      Before they were Heroes at King’s Mountain, Randell Jones

(4)      Neighborhood in Constant Alarm: The Battle of Ramsour’s Mill and Partisan Divisions in the Carolina Backcountry Communities During the American Revolution, Austin William Smith

The Ulster Scots of the Revolution in the Carolinas and Virginia.

They came in droves, as if the flood gates had opened on some Scots Irish dam across the sea. With their recent inclusion into the United Kingdom they sought freedom and land in the British colonies as new British subjects. They disembarked at New York, Philadelphia, Wilmington and Charleston. They pooled money and families together and set out on the Great Wagon Road in their Conestoga wagons. Different from the planters of the Pee Dee and Coastal regions, they preferred the Piedmont and Mountains of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Men of force and iron were needed in this wild unsettled region that was a buffer between the Indians of the upstate and the gentry of the sandy regions. The wilderness filled up with families of hardy stock, willing to forge a living in the outer territory of the new land. 

When the French and Indian War broke out in 1756, the British treated these stout immigrants with the same disdain that their grandparents and parents had been treated in Scotland and Ireland…not as equals, but as second-class citizens. All the while they were expected to die for the mother country in preservation of the empire. And they beat back the French and the Indians and forced their capitulation in the name of the Crown, but they did not win their full measure of citizenship.

By 1776 generations of Ulster Scots lived free and without encumbrances from the empire seat so far away. Petitions to government for redress against grievances were met with either unrighteous force or general apathy, and never timely. The Empire had stretched beyond the limits of the infrastructure of its government.  New Bern, Charleston and Williamsburg were a long way from the Holston river valley or the Yadkin, Broad and Catawba rivers in Virginia and the Carolinas. This distance only added to the bad experiences of the governed concerning the government. 

And grievance upon grievance mounted year after year until an enlightened leadership made a stand against the tyranny. Across the colonies the conversations turned to common rights and common ideas of government…self-government. And though it was based on a natural law known in the breasts of every free man, they were radical in terms of sitting governments in world history. The Scots Irish had learned to live and flourish on their own in terms of self-government with the moral compass of these natural laws. They, as a people, understood the building blocks of a civil society and recognized when a form of government was not working and had become tyrannical.  These, after-all, were the literate, pious and independent children of the great Scottish Enlightenment.

And all the remonstrations still could have been for naught, and these men and women of the empire would have stayed willingly as faithful subjects, had the King and his generals acted rightfully. Instead, the British came with threats to hang the leaders of the Ulster Scots and lay waste to their towns with fire and sword unless they came and took an oath to this King who was so far away. This same King that bribed the Cherokee to wage war on the settlements from Spartanburg to Nolichucky. The King’s men burned houses, arrested clergy, and confiscated livestock without due payment. British Officers enlisted the local thieves as soldiers and gave them authority to legally ply their formerly illegal trade. Chaos was fomented by the very government that wanted their allegiance.

So, they came in droves.  Not by the tens or dozens, but by the hundreds...each time they were called in from their fields for service. They chose to live life on their own terms and fight back. 

At Fort Thicketty, in the upstate of South Carolina, they rode with Colonel Isaac Shelby and their mere presence forced a capitulation without a shot being fired. At Musgrove Mill in Spartanburg County, South Carolina they combined forces and routed the British with ease. At Kings Mountain, near the North and South Carolina State line, they combined forces again with independent commands, surrounded and obliterated one third of the standing British army in the Carolinas. And at Cowpens they helped the Continental army win the day and decimate still more of Cornwallis’ standing army, thereby starting the chain of events that ended the war and established a new nation.

We can still walk where the intrepid heroes once raised rifle and saber in defense of Liberty. On the trails and roads of old we can stroll under the canopies of the white oak and tulip poplar while our ankles brush by the green ferns along the way. Squirrels and fox, deer and owl, all co-exist on these sacred grounds. The whispers of the wind are all that is left of those awful conflicts, save the man-made markers and graves that dot the anointed landscape. Thankfully we are fortunate to be able to reflect upon these noble deeds of men and women who may have been poor in terms of wealth, but were rich in their determination to live free.

Protected now from the conquest of civilization’s steady roll,

where man made monuments stand with the beauty of nature’s soul. 

Envision yourself amid the battle cries and smoke while charging into the fray…

but remember dear friend,

you do so with liberty won on that hallowed day. 

Eric K. Barnes

Sources for this article include:

The Winning of the West, Theodore Roosevelt

Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution in the Carolinas and Georgia, Benson J. Lossing

King’s Mountain and It’s Heroes: History of the Battle of King’s Mountain, October 7^th, 1780, and the Events Which Led to It, Lyman C. Draper and Anthony Allaire

History of the Upper Country of S.C., John H. Logan

Before They Were Heroes at King’s Mountain, Randell Jones

Parker’s Guide to the Revolutionary War in South Carolina, John C. Parker Jr.

Hanging Rock

Col. William Davie yelled to the British at Hanging Rock in Lancaster county, "Soldiers, if you value your lives, ground your arms, and officers surrender at once!" They didn't. He won. He later harassed Cornwallis' 2000 man army in the streets of Charlotte with only 150 cavalry, and was probably the reason Charlotte was called a "Hornet's Nest." Soldier, lawyer, future NC Governor and co-founder of UNC Chapel Hill, he lived a bold and intrepid life of service so that we could be free. Freedom reigns!

(1) Parker's Guide to the American Revolutionary War in South Carolina, John C. Parker Jr.

Buford's Massacre

A mass grave in Lancaster, South Carolina entombs 113 men from Virginia who died at the hands of British soldiers! Eyewitnesses said the Virginians were throwing down their guns and trying to surrender when the British soldiers, led by Colonel Tarleton, began hacking them to death with their swords. Another 150 men were treated for severe injuries in a nearby church…many not surviving the week. Patriot Colonel Buford admits defeat. Britain claims victory over South Carolina. Ulster Scots from the upstate and mountains are incensed and vow to hold the lobster backs accountable. History reveals they made true on their word within the year. You can find this site off of Hwy. 522 in Lancaster County.  Freedom Reigns! (1)

(1) Parker's Guide to the American Revolutionary War in South Carolina, John C. Parker Jr.

Rev. Martin Hwy 97 Chester Cnty

                                                      

"My hearers," he said, in his broad Scotch-Irish dialect— "talk and angry words will do no good. We must fight!"

Highway 97 in York and Chester counties was part of the New Acquisition District during the revolutionary war.  We find stories of valor and intrigue dotting the various communities along that holy thoroughfare.  Reverend William Martin preached a sermon at the Covenenter Meeting house in 1780 that was considered a rallying cry to the locals to rise up against the British occupation.  Coming on the heals of the massacre of Col. Buford in the Waxhaws on May 29, 1780 by British Col. Tarleton, Reverend Martin gave a sermon to a large and angry crowd,

 "As your pastor—in preparing a discourse suited to this time of trial—I have sought for all light, examined the Scriptures and other helps in ancient and modern history, and have considered especially the controversy between the United Colonies and the mother country. Sorely have our countrymen been dealt with, till forced to the declaration of their independence—and the pledge of their lives and sacred honor to support it. Our forefathers in Scotland made a similar one, and maintained that declaration with their lives; it is now our turn, brethren, to maintain this at all hazards."

With eloquence and intellect mixed with a fire brand of emotion he stretched out his hand toward the Waxhaws and continued,

"Go see," he cried— "the tender mercies of Great Britain! In that church you may find men, though still alive, hacked out of the very semblance of humanity: some deprived of their arms—mutilated trunks: some with one arm or leg, and some with both legs cut off. Is not this cruelty a parallel to the history of our Scottish fathers, driven from their conventicles, hunted like wild beasts? Behold the godly youth, James Nesbit—chased for days by the British for the crime of being seen on his knees upon the Sabbath morning!" 

 from The Women of the American Revolution. v.3 by EF Ellet (1848).(1)

Lord Rawdon dispatched some cavalry to the community, killed a number of local militia and burned the Reverend’s house.  Reverend Martin was arrested and imprisoned.  Released later by General Cornwallis, he died in 1806. (2)

This story of the patriotic zeal is memorialized off of Highway 97 just east of I-77.  The Covenenter Meeting House Granite Marker and the Catholic Presbyterian Church are silent monuments to the story of Freedom.  Freedom Reigns!


(1) http://clydesburn.blogspot.com/2016/11/rev-william-martin-sermon-extract-south.html

(2)Parker’s Guide to the Revolutionary War in South Carolina. P 150, by John C. Parker, Jr. (2013)

Josiah Culbertson

Murder or self defense? You would be hard pressed to second guess a man like Josiah Culbertson.  A Hunter and tracker, he would join one Patriot band and then another as a situation arose.  At times he served under Col Roebuck's Spartan Regiment and  Col. Shelby’s “Over the Mountain Men."  He was a true Son of Liberty. He was daring, fearless and direct. Sam Brown, on the other hand, was the person who carried off Culbertson’s father-in-law and two sons to the British soon after the fall of Charleston. Now Sam Brown was back again and threatening Culbertson’s wife while the Major was in the field. Whether Brown was acting at the behest of British Colonel Ferguson or on his own, the intent was clear that danger to the Culbertsons was imminent at the hands of this scoundrel. Upon hearing the facts of the altercation from her very lips, the Major vowed to put an end to Brown’s terrorism on his family. Culbertson tracked him down and killed him at a distance of two hundred yards near Morris Bridge Road, Spartanburg County (near present day I-26). Another Loyalist, upon hearing of the shooting, made bold threats to avenge Brown’s death. Such is the way of a lawless environment in a civil war, where nothing is civil. They met at the Green Spring near the end of what is now a private drive called Glendarosa on August 8, 1780. Both took aim with their rifles; Culbertson was the one who walked away with ne’er a scratch. The Tory was left at room temperature on the banks of that lonely creek.(1)(2) There was no law, judge or jury to contest the rights and wrongs. It was kill or be killed.  It was war.

Freedom Reigns!

(1) King's Mountain and its Heroes: History of the BAttle of King's Mountain, October 7th, 1780, and the Events Which Led to It, Lyman Copeland Draper, Anthony Alaire
(2)  Parker's Guide to the American Revolutionary War in South Carolina, John C. Parker Jr.

July 12-16, 1780, Spartanburg County

When asked his name Noah replied, “Hampton.”  Enraged, “they cursed him for a Rebel, and ran him through with a bayonet.”(1) Yet the British were having the worst of this running battle from July 12-16, 1780.  Loyalists Captain James Dunlap ran into the Hampton’s, Capt. John Jones and other Patriots under General McDowell in and around Landrum.  Night raids were made by both sides with success, but in the end, it was Dunlap that was fleeing for safety on a wild race for shelter at Fort Prince.  On his heels was another Hampton, Captain Edward “Ned” Hampton.  As the dead and wounded were counted from Spartanburg to Landrum to Inman the costs were mounting on both sides. In the end Dunlap abandoned Fort Prince.(2)

 

Faint markers of these skirmishes dot the upstate as civilization moves on.  Houses, woods and kudzu have invaded these blood-stained landscapes and most of their secrets are lost to time.  For the inquiring minds; though, there are still some reverent moments of thankfulness found in finding just the area of these life and death conflicts where freedom was in the balance.  Freedom Reigns!

  “Men are not made for war. But, neither are they made for slavery.” Jean Guéhenno, 1942.

(1) North Carolina, 1780-'81: Being a History of the Invasion of the Carolinas ...By David Schenck

(2)  Parker's Guide to the American Revolutionary War in South Carolina, John C. Parker Jr.

Freedom Reigns!

Fort Charlotte to Ninety Six July 12-17, 1775

Victory thwarted by treachery and deceit in July of 1775! Patriot Major James Mayson's men successfully snatch the gunpowder and supplies from Fort Charlotte (Savannah River) on the 12th. But they lose it 5 days later when the militia at Ninety Six turn back to the Crown. Mayson's men march into Ninety Six and are forced to surrender to those who were thought to be Patriots! William Cunningham, the nephew of Loyalist General Robert Cunningham, is in the Patriot militia with Mayson. William would later turn out to be a turncoat and become a bloodthirsty murderer by war's end.(1)(2) Freedom Reigns!

(1) Parker's Guide to the American Revolutionary War in South Carolina, John C. Parker Jr.
(2)South Carolina History Walter Edgar

The Legend of Tom Dula

Tom Dooley was innocent! Hanged for a murder he did not commit? There is no one happy in Happy Valley, NC as Tom Dooley (Dula) is last seen on the back of a wagon, pickin’ a banjo and heading for Statesville to meet his Hangman. Word on the street is that Laura Foster was killed by one of Tom Dooley’s other women; possibly Anne Foster. That “word on the street” never made a difference for Tom in the late 1860s.

The events surrounding this murder just after the Civil War galvanized the small and isolated community. Happy Valley was anything but…Happy. The microscope of public scrutiny revealed a lover’s triangle with a twist of STDs. It was discovered that Tom had more than two lovers in the community that could have given him syphilis. His anxiety led him to make heated and inflammatory statements that were used against him in trial. But, no one keeps a secret better than a spurned lover. It is rumored that Laura Foster was stabbed in the chest and buried in a shallow grave by one of them, possibly Anne…Laura’s cousin.

Today the truth is but a whisper among the old trees in this beautiful corner of the North State. The Kingston Trio immortalized the tale in their 1958 hit song. The lonely grave can be seen, still, off of NC Highway 268 in Happy Valley (between Caldwell and Wilkes Counties). A small white fence guards the final resting place of Laura Foster in a field across from a stone marker erected by the Woodmen of the World. A lonesome place for one of the more morbid chapters of Southern folklore.

https://northcarolinaghosts.com/mountains/tom-dooley/

http://www.murderbygaslight.com/2010/01/hang-down-your-head-tom-dula.html

The Capitol Cornerstone

Found it!  The cornerstone laid by George Washington for the Capitol building.  Washington refused to allow the new government to become a monarchy and went to great lengths to make sure he was true to the vision set forth by the framers of the Constitution.  The Presidency would wield the power of the government with the legislative and judiciary branches, through a system of checks and balances, so that tyranny would not hold sway.  Of the people, by the people, for the people.  Freedom reigns!

It speaks to the character of Washington that he demurred to service to the Constitution of the fledgling republic rather than assert his military success and accede to a throne of his creation.