Battle of King’s Mountain, border between South and North Carolina. British General Ferguson and his 1,100 militiamen are attacked by approximately the same number of Americans. The British have the advantage of position on the mountain but are massacred by the American rebels. The American Frontiersmen and Over-mountain men, accustomed to conflict with the Indians, shout the so-called Tennessee yell, a shrill war cry characteristic of the Cherokee Indians (and still used a century later by Confederate rebels). The survivors attempt to surrender, but Ferguson, on horseback, lowers two flags with his saber. At this point, a barrage of gunfire rains down on the British general: perhaps fifty shots. Ferguson is hit by six or seven bullets, both arms broken, and falls from his horse. The Americans fire at will despite some white handkerchiefs as a sign of British surrender. They award him the so-called Tarleton Quarter. The British lose 290 soldiers and more than 700 are captured. The Americans lose 29 soldiers. The effect of the battle, a revenge for the defeat at Camden, forced the British to retreat to better protected positions. The British would no longer dare enter the South Carolina woods.
