The year: 1780. The American Revolution -- hanging on a knife's edge. Washington holds his ground in the Mid-Atlantic, but the British launch a Southern offensive to divide the new "nation". They conquer South Carolina with victories at Charleston, Waxhaws, and Camden. The British are ready to send three invading forces into North Carolina.
The first of those forces: 1,000 American Tories, ready to lay "fire and sword" to their neighbors. Led by a British Colonel, they headed north. The "OverMountain" militia gathered to resist their advance. The Tories formed at Kings Mountain, a local high point. They had bayonets and training. An equal force of militia, with neither, but fighting for their homes, formed at the bottom of the mountain. Two Patriot charges were repulsed with bayonets, but the third overwhelmed the Tories -- they were 100% killed, wounded or surrendered. It was the largest "All American" battle of the war, and it turned the tide in the Carolinas in favor of the Patriots.
Cornwallis, the English general, sent out another detachment to defeat the rebels and penetrate North Carolina. At Cowpens, it encountered a crafty Continental corps under General Morgan. In a battle fictionalized by Mel Gibson in "The Patriot", he sent out sharpshooters who targeted the English officers with great effect, then fell back. He then deployed the local militia, who got off a few shots, and also fell back. The English, feeling that they were routing the enemy, charged, only to run into the hidden Continental army and cavalry, who surrounded and routed them with 90% losses. These two battles directly led to the British surrender at Yorktown a few months later.
The BikeMass351 crew decamped to the Carolinas -- we inspected the battlefields, and celebrated the Patriot victories. We camped near the Peachoid. And, we concluded: "Patriots win their revolutions, rebels are the ones who lost theirs".
Here's to the winners! -- Go Patriots!
