North Carolina, boasting that he would soon conquer all the states south
of the Susquehanna river. But his line of march now lay far inland, and
the British armies were never able to accomplish much except in the
neighbourhood of their ships, where they could be reasonably sure of
supplies. In traversing Mecklenburg county Cornwallis soon found himself
in a very hostile and dangerous region, where there were no Tories to
befriend him. One of his best partisan commanders, Major Ferguson,
penetrated too far into the mountains. The backwoodsmen of Tennessee and
Kentucky, the Carolinas, and western Virginia were aroused; and under
their superb partisan leaders--Shelby, Sevier, Cleaveland, McDowell,
Campbell, and Williams--gave chase to Ferguson, who took refuge upon
what he deemed an impregnable position on the top of King's Mountain. On
the 7th of October the backwoodsmen stormed the mountain, Ferguson was
shot through the heart, 400 of his men were killed and wounded, and all
the rest, 700 in number, surrendered at discretion. The Americans lost
28 killed and 60 wounded. There were some points in this battle, which
remind one of the British defeat at Majuba Hill in southern Africa in
1881.

In the series of events which led to the surrender of Cornwallis, the
battle of King's Mountain played a part similar to that played by the
battle of Bennington in the series of events which led to the surrender
of Burgoyne. It was the enemy's first serious disaster, and its
immediate result was to check his progress until the Americans could
muster strength enough to overthrow him. The events, however, were much
more complicated in Cornwallis's case, and took much longer to unfold
themselves. Burgoyne surrendered within nine anxious weeks after
Bennington; Cornwallis maintained himself, sometimes with fair hopes of
final victory, for a whole year after King's Mountain.

[Illustration]

[Sidenote: Greene takes command in South Carolina, Dec. 2, 1780.]

As soon as he heard the news of the disaster he fell back to
Winnsborough, in South Carolina, and called for reinforcements. While
they were arriving, the American army, recruited and reorganized
since its crushing defeat at Camden, advanced into Mecklenburg county.
Gates was superseded by Greene, who arrived upon the scene on the 2d of
December. Under Greene were three Virginians of remarkable
ability,--Daniel Morgan; William Washington, who was a distant cousin of
the commande