scription:

"Sacred to the memory of
MAJOR WILLIAM CHRONICLE,
CAPTAIN JOHN MATTOCKS,
WILLIAM RABB,
JOHN BOYD,

"Who were killed here fighting in defence of America, On the
7th of October, 1780."

Many fragmentary but interesting incidents connected with the battle
of King's Mountain have come down to our own time and unfortunately,
many others have been buried in oblivion. The following incident was
related to the author by a grandson of a brave soldier in that battle.
Moses and James Henry both actively participated in that hotly
contested engagement.

A few days after the battle, as James Henry was passing through the
woods near the scene of conflict, he found a very fine horse,
handsomely equipped with an elegant saddle, the reins of the bridle
being broken. The horse and equipments were, as he supposed, the
property of an officer. He took the horse home with him, considerably
elated with his good luck; but his mother met him at the gate, and
immediately inquired whose horse it was he had in charge, he replied,
he supposed it belonged to some British officer. "James," said the
mother, "turn it loose and drive it off from the place, for I will not
have the hands of my household stained with British plunder."

The incident illustrates the noble Christian spirit which actuated our
good mothers of the Revolutionary period.

The other brother, Moses Henry, evinced great bravery in the same
engagement, and was mortally wounded. He was taken to the hospital in
Charlotte, and was attentively waited upon by Dr. William McLean until
he died. His widow, with several others under similar bereavement, was
granted a liberal allowance by the county court of Lincoln. Moses
Henry is the grandfather of Col. Moses Henry Hand, a worthy citizen of
Gaston county, N.C.

WILLIAM RANKIN.

William Rankin was born in Pennsylvania, on the 10th of January, 1761,
and at an early age joined the tide of emigration to the Southern
States, and settled in "Tryon," afterward Lincoln county, N.C.

He first entered the service as a private in Captain Robert
Alexander's company, Colonel William Graham's regiment, and marched to
Montfort's Cove against the Cherokee Indians. In 1779 he volunteered
under the same officer, and marched by way of Charlotte and Camden to
the relief of Charleston, but finding the city completely invested by
the British army, the regiment returned to North Carolina. In 1780, he
aga