As we move toward our nation’s semiquincentennial, I’m focusing on the related contributions and connections of folks of the Fork, the Knox County lands between the French Broad and Holston rivers. I wrote last week about the Campbells and others who gathered at the Pemberton Oak in the days before the Battle of King’s Mountain. Today, we’ll spend some time thinking about their next steps.
After the militiamen crossed the Watauga River to the fort at Sycamore Shoals in September 1780, they met up with others who were there for the same purpose: to respond to British Major Patrick Ferguson’s threat against them.
Charleston had fallen to British forces in mid-May. The Waxhaws massacre just days later demonstrated the ruthlessness of British and Loyalist soldiers and increased the ire of Patriot militiamen in the region. Although “Huck’s Defeat” at the Williamson Plantation in July boosted Patriot hopes, Lord Cornwallis’s victory over American troops at Camden in August caused great concern. The Patriot victory at Muskgrove Mill just three days later, however, demonstrated that the backcountry Loyalists could be defeated. Thus, the men at Sycamore Shoals were motivated. And inspired…