OTD in History: The Battle of Kings Mountain
Whipping British poppy tommywobbles in 1780
Source: revolutionarywar.us
October 7th, 1780. This is a lesser-celebrated battle of the Revolution during which Patriots beat the Loyalists and thus made it extremely difficult for Cornwallis to secure the South in his broader campaign against Washington.
The Patriots numbered around 900, and the Redcoats around 1100, but the boys had home-field advantage and knew how to sharp-shoot. They did that thing that Mel Gibson did in The Patriot and targeted essential personnel. The Loyalist officer, Ferguson, got capped a bajillion times.
The Loyalists took insane casualties in this defeat, around a quarter of their number, while the Patriots suffered less than a tenth. I can’t be completely sure but I think the boundaries of North and South Carolina have changed since this war was fought. Technically it happened in North Carolina back then, and the battlefield is now in the South.
I asked Grok for clarity and its response was that the boundary didn’t have an official survey to show the precise line, but I don’t know if that’s true. Clankers lie. If you know, tell me in the comments.