Appalachian History On 2 Wheels - Overmountain Victory Trail

Time to finish this up !

I have been wanting to finish the report in relation to the annual commerative march, which is in process now. Check the schedule in the link below, and try to suppoet the OVTA members keeping this history alive.

http://www.ovta.org/2008%20MARCH/2008%20March%20Schedule%20Master%20September%2015%202008.pdf

Follow their progress here:

http://www.ovta-org.blogspot.com/


Before the Quaker Meadows muster site, I will show the Elkin NC leg of the trail.

Approximately 300 mountain men gathered in Surrry, which is present day Elkin NC, under the leadership of Joseph Winston and Benjamin Cleveland. Their goal was to reach Quaker Meadows (Morganton) and meet with the VA group.

NC mountain men met here:




The Elkin leg of the trip was fairly uneventful, following present day Rt 268, but an interesting story exists around a tree in Wilkesboro called the "Tory Oak". The old oak is gone now but has been replaced and marked for preservation. Read the story of many hangings that took place here

http://www.wilkesboronorthcarolina.com/n_tory.asp

Original "Tory Oak"



Present day oak




Benjamin Cleveland's homeplace marker along the way. I searched for an hour, but never found the remains.




Some Revolutionary War soldiers gravesites I found along the way. These men in the 1700's endured hardships that we will never experience, and their lives were given for true liberty ! Imagine marching in 1780 on rough footpaths, moccasins or crude shoes, heavy musket, a piece of dried meat, a rolled wool blanket, for weeks ! Makes a cold MRE sound good doesn't it ? We should not take their effort for granted.





Now the Va group and the "Surry" group meet at Quaker Meadows, the home of Joseph and Charles McDowell. The muster grounds is beside present day K-Mart, but the house still stands, and is worth a visit.




Mcdowell House




Part of the muster grounds



Now the "ragtag" militia was approximately 1,100 strong, and ready for a final chase of Ferguson !

From Quaker Meadows they followed a valley that goes to Gilbert Town, near present day Rutherfordton, travelling along Cane Creek (not to be confused with Cane Creek at the previous mentioned mill). At cane Creek a skirmish with Loyalist had occurred a few days earlier.

Cane Creek skirmish site





Oct 3 encampment at Marlin's Knob





The "forgotten" Gilbert Town was the next destination. Gilbert Town existed before Rutherfordton and was the first county seat in western NC. Sadly, nothing remains today but a marker, and some written history.

http://www.overmountainvictory.org/Gtown.htm






Tracing the original trail from Gilbert Town, I had an interesting discovery. Heading SW, I noticed an abandoned RR, which seemed to follow the original route ! So I pulled a u-turn for the RR and found this marker beside the RR !




Now this is more like it !



I follow the RR at a mild pace (below 80 mph ), and it eventually crosse Rt 64. Stop, cross the road,......................



back on the throttle hard, and pop out in a city park ! People walking dogs, throwing frisbie, and a soccer game ! Accross the grass to the first street I can find and haul ass ! Good times !

I work my way towards SC and find a great gravel road that runs near the Green River, which was the way the march followed.




Alexander's Ford crossing and encampment should have been near here, but is not marked. I followed another gravel road down the river, but had no idea where the crossing was.

Nice old bridge along the river.




Nothing of interest from Alexander's Ford to Cowpens, so I follow the motorroute to Cowpens. According to written history this area was great "savannahs" and "plains" in the 1700's, and the home of many cattle farms, hence the name Cowpens. Near "the Cowpens", the mountain men traveled the "Green River Road", a trade route in the 1700's.

Historic Green River Road BTW - Do NOT try to ride this ! "That's all I got to say about that"




While I wasstopped to take these pictures, a park ranger came down the road and said, "you don't plan on riding that motorcycle through here do you ?"

"Uuuuuhhhhh, no, I'm just taking pictures"




Here at Cowpens the militia camped and ate a quick meal, because they now knew that Major Ferguson was a few miles away at Kings Mountain. The final chase would start at daybreak !

One obstacle stood in their way, the mighty Broad River. A crossing was known at Cherokee Ford, but it was very rough, especially for the pack animals and crude carts.

The Cherokee Ford was one of the hardest points to find on the trip, but a park ranger told me there was a marker beside the river. He had no idea where the crossing was though. Out come the maps, overlay the original map, ride in circles, "has to be down this road" I say...........................



Bingo !




Imagine crossing this in 1780 with pack animals, horse drawn carts, etc. !





With the river crossed, Ferguson was in their sites ! Their numbers had grown along the way and were now 1,500 -1,800 strong. They had a country to create !

The mountain men surrounded Ferguson at King's Mountain at approximately 3:30 pm on October 7, 1780. Their fighting method was unconventionall at that time. After making their way in the mountains for a hundred years, they fought using what we now call ""guerilla tactics". The typical method in those days was to form lines accross a clearing, and both sides shoot at each other. :huh The Overmountain Men hid behind rocks, trees, used natural ditches, etc. The 2,500 strong british force was defeated in one hour and five minutes !

The details of the battle spread through the colonies like "wildfire". Colonial militias changed their fighting tactics, and the british were defeated within a year ! I have read that the colonies were dangerously close to defeat, "until this battle, by these rough men".

Enjoy the pics from the King's Mountain battle site.








A Revolutionary War soldier:

"My fellow countrymen, remember what gave for thee, and protect it with thy life"





I hope everyone learned something, and enjoyed the report.

Find your own adventure, and ride it ! Adventure begins with YOU !

That was great, thanks for taking the time to post it.

After reading the first part of your post I went and looked at my family history to see if I had any long lost relatives involved. I was born in Elizabethton TN and have family there going back many generations. Turns out I have three relatives that fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain. Two fought for the Patriots and one fought for the Loyalists, which was not uncommon in that war.

I would love to duplicate your ride someday. Can you offer any tips or research material to facilitate things?

Glad you enjoyed it !

The research is the hard part, but that's what separates riders from followers.
Follow my links, use search engines, acquire a copy of original route (OVTA), scale map, apply to Gazetteers.

Thanks for sharing a part of your history, well worth the read.

nice write up

I'll have to look him up

He is a great guy, that keeps this part of history alive !

Nice work!!

I've been waiting to see if you were going to ford the Broad River
(you probably could have last summer with the drought)

You did a GREAT job tracing that route!

Thanks for taking us along

Great job, Don!

Great job.

Good thing that ranger didn't come along 5 minutes later.

I have watched the patriot with Gibson and health ledger..ohh about 20 times minimum.

I see a Lot of carry over with your ride report. I have a minor in history and classical civilization so i am no expert on American history.

It appears from what I have seen in the movie that an effort was made to somewhat be true to history.

Thanks,
great report

Awesome job Don!



Sincere appreciation for the work you put into this report.

That's a great movie
.....but...
Hollywood embelished it....as you might expect.
Bigger cannons than what's historical etc.

It was filmed here in York County SC though, Brattonsville, not far from where the Kings Mtn battlefield is located.

Also dlrides mentioned the Cowpens Battlefield....the tactics shown in the movie's Big battle closely resemble those used at Cowpens. Where they staged a retreat that lead the Brits into a trap.

Thanks again Don
With this battle's anniversary upon us I would expect there to be people out at the park in period dress this weekend. (no actual re-enactment but they do fire some muskets etc.)

Bravo Don!! Great History Lesson

Awesome job thanks for sharing.

X2

Great Job!!! Very interesting read! Thanks for your efforts!

Mo Boot

Great report, I've lived in the Carolinas for 20 some years and never been to Kings Mtn.

The next time you are up on the Kistler Hwy, the gravel road along Linville gorge, watch for a side road on the climb/decent at the Marion end. Up that road is a sign and placard about the overmountain trail. I saw your post a couple of times and thought the title was familar. When you went down the gravel road near along the gorge, and I recoginzed the views, it had to be that trail.

dave