Kings Pinnacle (43 page)

“It’s nothing that I can’t
handle. We are packing up and leaving to ride to Charlotte in the
morning. Now where were we, Ginny?” asked the dashing young
major.

Virginia Sal giggled and
then fell into his arms.

* * * *

Alex

“
It looks like they are
sending a courier riding toward Charlotte,” reported the
Longhunter.

“We need to stop that
messenger, but we can’t risk a rifle shot this close to them.
They’re bound to hear it and know that we are out here,” replied
Alex.

Alex pulled his longbow off
his shoulder and attached the bowstring. He notched an arrow and
pulled the arrow back, bending the bow. Controlling his breathing,
he took deadly aim on the British courier riding at a trot toward
the east. As the courier came into range, Alex released the arrow
and let it fly toward the courier. The arc of the arrow was not too
high, but the speeding arrow soon found its mark in the neck of the
courier, who tumbled off his horse and lay dead on the
trail.

“I ken that wee bow of yours
has come in mighty handy from time to time,” said Hugh.

“I dinna ken I have the
patience for one, but I like yer idea of using primitive weapons.
The tomahawk is more my style. I think I will get hold of one of
them,” continued Hugh.

“Some of you men chase down
his horse and dispose of his body,” ordered Alex and two of his men
shot off to accomplish that task.

Alex and his men had been
shadowing Major Ferguson and his army for two days and sending back
reports to the main body of Overmountain Men regarding the location
and disposition of the Loyalists. He did not have enough men to
confront Major Ferguson’s vastly superior numbers, but he hoped he
could cut off the major’s communications with Charlotte and delay
his retreat long enough for the main body of Overmountain Men to
catch up.

Hugh was seen the next day
with a tomahawk tucked into his belt. No one knew where it had
found it.

* * * *

Major Ferguson

The Loyalists, under the
command of Major Ferguson, were on the march toward Charlotte early
the next morning. They had been rousted out by their officers, had
hurriedly packed their gear and baggage and were already on the
trail. They had gone only a few miles when one of their scouts
appeared on the horizon and rode back to meet them.

“Sir, the trail narrows into
the trees ahead of us, and someone has felled a number of trees
into an interlocking grid that covers the road. The men would have
to climb over the downed trees, and I don’t know how the baggage
train will get over it,” reported the scout.

“How difficult will it be to
clear the trail?” asked Major Ferguson.

“We could do it with axes,
but it will take a while,” replied the scout after which Major
Ferguson turned to Captain DePeyster.

“I want you to take a
detachment of men with axes and go ahead of us to clear the trail,”
ordered the major.

“Yes, Sir, I’ll get to it
immediately,” said the captain.

“We will rest the men here
until the trail is clear. Send back a messenger as soon as you have
the trail clear so that we can proceed.”

“Yes, sir,” replied Captain
DePeyster, who pulled his reins around to begin the task of
rounding up some men and axes.

* * * *

Alex

“
That’ll slow ‘em down a
wee bit,” said Hugh as he watched the Loyalists scouts arrive at
his hastily constructed abatis made of interlocked tree trunks
lying across the trail.

Hugh and all of Alex’s men
had worked during the night, felling trees that grew close beside
the trail so that they formed an interlocking grid that could not
easily be crossed by men, horses, or wagons. The technique that
they used was to hack down trees so that the tops fell toward the
approaching enemy diagonally across the trail. First one tree on
the right side of the road was taken down and then the second tree
on the opposite side of the trail was hacked down. The men
alternated cutting down trees from both sides of the trail that
fell diagonally on one side and then the other until they had
created a large interlocked grid, forming a giant obstacle on the
trail.

They knew that it would take
the Loyalists a lot of time and effort to clear the trail. Because
of the interlocking pattern, it couldn’t be cleared by attaching a
rope to a tree and pulling it off the trail. The Loyalists couldn’t
navigate around it because the trees were too dense on both sides
of the trail. If the Loyalists decided to turn around and find
another trail, it would set them back even more. The only thing
that the Loyalists could do was to chop the trees away with
axes.

“We need to send someone to
tell the main body that the British are making a run for Charlotte
or Fort Ninety-Six. They need to hurry if they want to catch up to
them,” said Alex, as he left to find a messenger to send back to
inform the main body of Overmountain Men about the new
development.

The abatis did its job and
slowed the British, but they eventually cut their way through to
continue their march toward Charlotte.

* * * *

Major Ferguson

“
How close to Charlotte
are we?” asked Major Ferguson.

“I would estimate that we
are about thirty-five miles west of Charlotte right now. We could
be there in about ten to twelve hours from now if we push ahead,
which I strongly suggest that we do,” replied Captain
DePeyster.

“What do the local people
call this area?”

“I’m not sure what they call
the area, but that mountain straight ahead of us is called Kings
Mountain.”

“That mountain looks like a
very defensible position. Let’s ride up to the summit and take a
look,” said the major.

Kings Mountain was a
sixty-foot-tall mountain located in a heavily forested area on the
border between North Carolina and South Carolina. Its steep sides
made it difficult to approach directly in a straight line riding
from the base to the summit. The easiest trail to the top wound
back and forth across the face of the slope.

The entire summit was shaped
like an inverted footprint with a narrow heel print to the
southwest and a broader ball of the foot area to the northeast. The
southwest portion of the summit was slightly higher than the larger
northeast portion of the summit. There was a slight saddle between
the heel and the toe of the summit near the arch of the footprint.
The highest point on the summit was located near the heel and was
called Kings Pinnacle.

When Major Ferguson and his
officers had reached the summit, they dismounted to survey the
site.

“This looks excellent. We
can fire down on the rebels from all directions since we will hold
the higher ground. On this mountain, we can hold out as long as it
takes for reinforcements to arrive. Our progress toward Charlotte
has not been without delays and I do not want to get caught by the
rebels on the level ground between here and Charlotte. Gentlemen,
move our army to this mountain top and deploy the men in strong
defensive positions. Here we can hold off the rebels and have clear
fields of fire against them if they attack us up here. We will make
our stand against them here,” ordered Major Ferguson.

“Sir, with due respect, I
suggest that we continue on to Charlotte, where we will have a much
more defensible position in the town. We can combine our troops
with General Cornwallis’s troops to create a force vastly superior
to the one the rebels have,” said Captain DePeyster.

“
I think that you
overestimate the number and fighting ability of the rebels,
Captain.”

“Those Overmountain Men from
the west are not like the other rebels here in the east,
air.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“They are better fighters,
and they are hardened to battlefield conditions. They learned
fighting techniques from our Cherokee allies. And they have already
defeated them.”

“I don’t think that they are
much different from your ordinary backcountry man, and I will not
be pissed on by a set of mongrels,” countered Major
Ferguson.

“Sir, I ask you again to
proceed on to Charlotte with utmost haste.”

“You are bordering on
insubordination, Captain DePeyster. I suggest that you drop that
line of thought and begin thinking about making arrangements for my
army to camp here on this mountain. Have my tent pitched near the
troop’s tents on the northeast section of the summit, and stock it
with wine. Be sure that Sal finds her way there. Also, Captain
DePeyster, bring me another courier that I can send to General
Cornwallis,” concluded Major Ferguson, who turned to look away from
his captain, clearly disgusted by the conversation and Captain
DePeyster’s comments.

“Yes, sir,” replied the duly
cowed Captain DePeyster. “Sir, by the by, reports indicate that the
Overmountain Men are on our trail, though still a few days behind
us, and now their force has grown to be approximately the same size
as our force.”

“Evenly matched in number,
eh? Well, we should have no problem with them in an even fight. We
are better trained, better supplied, and better commanded. We
probably have reinforcements on the way right now also. I want the
troops to set up camp as soon as they arrive and then to start work
on defensive positions immediately,” said Major
Ferguson.

* * * *

* * * *

Alex

“
The British have camped
on top of Kings Mountain, to the northeast of the pinnacle, and
from the looks of it they are digging in to stay there,” said the
Longhunter.

“We need to make sure that
they stay where they are,” said Alex.

“Round up Robert and Hugh,
and then let’s deploy our men so that we have the mountain
surrounded. I don’t want any couriers or messengers to break
through. I want to hold them here, if we can, until the main body
arrives.”

“Okay, I’ll find Robert and
Hugh.”

Alex deployed his men in a
ring around the base of Kings Mountain, with two men placed every
hundred yards or so. The men were instructed to make sure that no
one passed through the blockade. One man was to be awake at all
times. It was unlikely that the Loyalists would send a messenger
after dark, but Alex wanted to make sure that they didn’t. Alex,
Robert, and Hugh took turns all day and all night riding a circuit
around the base of the mountain, checking on the sentry posts to
make sure that the men were awake and supplied with anything they
needed.

The Longhunter and Jonas
were true frontiersmen and knew how to move soundlessly through the
forest. The Longhunter had lived with the Iroquois for a while and
had learned their hunting techniques. The messenger that Major
Ferguson finally sent toward Charlotte the next day could be heard
coming down the mountain a mile away as he crashed through the
brush, riding east. Alex had anticipated more messengers dispatched
in that direction. He had placed the Longhunter and Jonas on the
northeast side of the mountain for that very reason. The courier
didn’t stand a chance against the Longhunter and Jonas. His throat
was cut before he reached the first creek.

“It looks like the British
are going to have to fight us without any help,” said the
Longhunter, winking at Jonas.

“I suspect so,” replied
Jonas, grinning and wiping the blood off his knife.

Early that afternoon, an
advance party of nine hundred Overmountain Men rode in and
dismounted at the base of Kings Mountain. They had ridden flat out
all night on horseback and were spoiling for a fight. Their leaders
located Alex and consulted with him on the status of the deployment
of the Loyalists.

“Captain Mackenzie, let’s
get this over with and rid the country of these vermin,” said
Colonel Sevier. “We have the mountain surrounded. All that remains
is the cleaning up. The plan is simple. Let’s surround the mountain
with patriots and destroy the Loyalists.”