A rugged, independent and self-reliant group of people
had settled on the lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. And, their very
presence in that territory placed them in opposition to the King of England.
After all, George III had declared those lands closed to settlement by his
American subjects in 1763.
2 Hence, it should have been clear to everyone that
the life circumstances of these folks made them Patriots. In other words, the
British should have known that they wouldn’t find many Loyalists among them.
3 Nevertheless, Lord Cornwallis (General Sir Henry
Clinton had returned to New York after the capture of Charleston) was
attempting to build a Tory army to complete the subjugation of the Southern
Colonies. Toward that end, he had sent Major Patrick Ferguson into the Carolina
backcountry to recruit Loyalist Americans into the British Army and subdue any
Patriot resistance he might encounter along the way.
4 At first, Ferguson’s efforts were rewarded with
great success. Loyalists flocked to his side, especially after Cornwallis’
victory over the Americans at Camden. However, with his confidence buoyed by
the numbers that had swelled his ranks, Ferguson overreached.
5 He sent a blunt message to the settlers on the other
side of the mountains: “You will immediately cease to offer any resistance to
Britain or her allies; or I will march over these mountains, hang your leaders,
pursue your people with the sword and burn their goods with fire!”
6 The message was not well received on the western
side of the mountain. Joseph Bullard was chopping firewood for the winter when
a messenger on horseback from John Sevier approached his cabin on Limestone
Creek.
7 “Colonel Sevier wants you to come to Sycamore Shoals
as soon as possible,” the man blurted out. “Them Redcoats is gonna try to cross
the mountains and attack us, and he wants to git a group of us together and
whup them first,” he explained.
8 Joseph planted his axe in one of the stumps nearest
to him. “Let me git my gun and my coat, and I’ll ride with you,” he replied.
9 Bullard returned a few minutes later with his horse
and another younger looking man. “This is my boy, Isaac,” he explained. “He’s
goin with us.” The boy nodded and quickly mounted his horse without uttering a
word.
10 They arrived at the designated meeting place on the
banks of the Watauga River in short order and found a large number of
frontiersmen already assembled there. “Hello, John,” Bullard called out when he
spotted his friend.
11 “Joe, you ole rascal, sure is good to see you
here,” Sevier replied. “Where else would I be?” Joseph asked with a smile.
12 “We’ve got to teach these people a lesson, friend!”
John exclaimed as he handed him a copy of Ferguson’s letter. “Now you know I
can’t read,” Joseph protested.
13 Then the Colonel proceeded to tell his old friend
about what the British commander had written. “Yeah, we’re goin to have to
teach him a little lesson,” Joseph grinned.
14 “By the way, the men have elected you as their
Captain,” John informed him with a slap on the back. “Well, look at me!” Joseph
exclaimed.
15 Colonel Isaac Shelby had noticed the two men
talking across the camp and had walked over to greet them. “Are all your men
here, John?” he asked. “Yeah, yours?” “They’re here,” Shelby said.
16 “I’d like to get started first thing in the
morning,” he continued. “We’ll be ready,” John nodded.
17 “You two could be brothers,” Shelby remarked as he
observed the two men’s faces. “You really do look like each other,” he repeated
as he turned to walk away.
18 By the twenty-sixth of September, over a thousand
men marched out of Sycamore Shoals and headed over the mountains. They would
ever after be known as the “Overmountain Men.”
19 When Major Ferguson learned that the frontier
militia was on its way, he ordered his men to retreat towards Charlotte. Then
he sent a message ahead to Cornwallis: “I am being pursued by a large group of
mongrels and backwater men – a few hundred reinforcements should finish this
business.”
20 The reports, however, that the Major continued to
receive from his scouts were not encouraging. In fact, the numbers and speed of
movement which they were reporting were alarming.
21 Finally, Ferguson realized that Cornwallis was
still too far away, and that the wilderness militia would overtake him before
any help arrived from that quarter. As a consequence, he decided to make his
stand at a clearing atop King’s Mountain (near South Carolina’s modern border
with North Carolina). “It will be easy to defend this position,” he reassured
his nervous troops.
22 A cold rain was falling when the Patriot militia
arrived at the foot of the mountain. Nevertheless, on the eighth day of
October, they began to climb up the rock strewn and tree covered hillsides
toward their enemies.
23 They made good use of the cover and were almost at
the top when Ferguson ordered a bayonet charge and pushed them back down the
mountain. The rugged woodsmen, however, were able to hold their own and quickly
managed to stop the advance of the Tories and regain the ground which they had
just lost.
24 The Patriots let out a war whoop, blew on conch
shells and horns and swarmed over the crest of the hill into the open ground
before them. Joseph, Isaac and about a dozen other men saw Ferguson rear up on
his white horse and took aim. The Major tumbled off of his horse. He was dead
before he hit the ground.
25 And, although the Loyalist militiamen quickly began
to surrender when they saw their leader fall, the “Overmountain Men” continued
to fire into their ranks. In fact, when the rifles finally fell silent, over
three hundred Loyalists were lying dead or wounded on the battlefield.
26 Lord Cornwallis was stunned when the news of what
had happened reached him. That group of backwater rabble had won a major
victory over one of his best officers!
27 After the battle was over, Thomas Camp (who had
returned home in the meantime) took his younger brother Stephen to look over
the battlefield which was only a short distance from their homeplace. As the
nine-year-old walked over the ground, he noticed a conch shell lying on the
ground before him. He reached down to pick it up.
28 “One of the soldiers used that as a horn when we
charged up the mountain,” Isaac Bullard explained to the youngster. “Can I have
it?” he asked. “Sure,” Isaac smiled. Of course, Stephen had no way of knowing
that day that his shell would one day end up on display in a museum in
Washington D.C. (a city which did not yet even exist).
29 Joseph approached his son from the other direction
and gently tapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s go home, son,” he said in a low
almost wistful voice. Then they turned and walked slowly over the edge of the
mountain and disappeared down the steep slope before them.
30 These are the generations of Joseph Bullard:
31 Joseph was the father of Mary and Isaac.
32 Mary Bullard married David Rutledge, and they were
the parents of James.
33 James Rutledge married Lucinda Hill, and they were
the parents of Alfred Franklin and John Overton Rutledge.
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