The Battle of Kings Mountain was a military engagement between Patriot and Loyalist militias in South Carolina during the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War, resulting in a decisive victory for the Patriots. The battle took place on October 7, 1780, 9 miles (14 km) south of the present-day town of Kings Mountain, North Carolina in what is now rural Cherokee County, South Carolina, where the Patriot militia defeated the Loyalist militia commanded by British Major Patrick Ferguson of the 71st Foot. The battle has been described as "the war’s largest all-American fight".
The British Legion was the name of a British provincial regiment established during the American Revolutionary War, composed of British Loyalist American infantry and dragoons. It was colloquially known as Tarleton's Raiders, the Green Horse, and the Green Dragoons, after the British officer who led most of its day-to-day activities, Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, and the green uniform coats of its officers. "Legion" was an 18th-century term for a military unit the size of a regiment, but consisting of infantry and cavalry, or infantry, cavalry, and artillery, all under one command, to make it more flexible for scouting or irregular operations than a regiment, which consisted of infantry or cavalry alone.
The King's Royal Regiment of New York, also known as Johnson's Royal Regiment of New York, King's Royal Regiment, King's Royal Yorkers, and Royal Greens, were one of the first Loyalist regiments, raised on June 19, 1776, in British Canada, during the American Revolutionary War.
The Overmountain Men were American frontiersmen from west of the Appalachian Mountains who took part in the American Revolutionary War. While they were present at multiple engagements in the war's southern campaign, they are best known for their role in the American victory at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780. The term "overmountain" arose because their settlements were west of, or "over", the Appalachians, which was the primary geographical boundary dividing the 13 American colonies from the western frontier. The Overmountain Men hailed from parts of Virginia, North Carolina, and what is now Tennessee and Kentucky.
The Battle of Musgrove Mill, August 19, 1780, occurred near a ford of the Enoree River, near the present-day border between Spartanburg, Laurens and Union Counties in South Carolina. During the course of the battle, 200 Patriot militiamen defeated a combined force of approximately 300 Loyalist militiamen and 200 provincial regulars.
The Queen's Rangers, also known as the Queen's American Rangers, and later Simcoe's Rangers, were a Loyalist military unit of the American Revolutionary War. They were named for Queen Charlotte, consort of George III. Formed as a light corps in the tradition of the ranging companies in British service during the Seven Years' War, the Queen's Rangers operated on the flanks and in advance of Crown forces, manning outposts and patrolling, as well as carrying out reconnaissance and raiding operations.
The Volunteers of Ireland, also known as the 2nd American Regiment and the 105th Regiment of Foot, was a British Provincial military unit, raised for Loyalist service, during the American Revolutionary War, which was later added to the British regular army. The Volunteers of Ireland should not be confused, with the contemporaneous Irish Volunteers an autonomous militia that supported the Irish Patriot Party, in the 1770s and 1780s.
Adams' Rangers, also known as Adams’ Company of Rangers, were a British Loyalist local volunteer corps and independent military company raised to support the British Army during the American Revolutionary war. Led by Dr. Samuel Adams of Arlington, New Hampshire Grants, the Rangers made their most significant contribution to the British war effort by serving with the ill-fated Burgoyne Expedition in the Saratoga campaign of 1777.
The Battle of Monck's Corner was fought on April 14, 1780, outside the city of Charleston, South Carolina, which was under siege by British forces under the command of General Sir Henry Clinton in the American Revolutionary War. The Loyalist British Legion, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, surprised an American force stationed at Monck's Corner, and drove them away. The action cut off an avenue of escape for Benjamin Lincoln's besieged army. Aside from the British Legion, and the 33rd Foot and 64th Foot led by Lt. Col. James Webster, the force included Loyalists, the American Volunteers, led by Maj. Patrick Ferguson.
The Battle of Hanging Rock was a battle in the American Revolutionary War that occurred between the American Patriots and the British. It was part of a campaign by militia General Thomas Sumter to harass or destroy British outposts in the South Carolina back-country that had been established after the fall of Charleston in May 1780.
McAlpin's Corps, also known as McAlpin's Corps of Royalists and the American Volunteers, referred to either of two loyalist units in the British Army, in British Canada, commanded by Major Daniel McAlpin, during the American Revolutionary War. In most instances, the name described the American Volunteers, a corps of American Loyalists, who served in the 1777 Burgoyne Expedition, of the Saratoga Campaign. The term was also used, at times, to refer to a 'battalion' put under the command of McAlpin, in 1779, formed from the remnants of General Burgoyne's several loyalist corps, including the "American Volunteers", the King's Loyal Americans, the Queen's Loyal Rangers, and Adams' Rangers.
Huck's Defeat or the Battle of Williamson's Plantation was an engagement of the American Revolutionary War that occurred in present York County, South Carolina on July 12, 1780, and was one of the first battles of the southern campaign to be won by Patriot militia.
Frederick Hambright was a military officer who fought in both the local militia and in the North Carolina Line of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. He is best known for his participation in the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780. Serving as a statesman early in the Revolution, Hambright joined the War in 1777, ranked a lieutenant colonel in a local militia. His early actions were limited to occasional checks on Loyalist groups. This changed in 1780 with Hambright's important role at the Battle of Kings Mountain, which occurred near his lands in the newly formed Lincoln County, North Carolina. Hambright was commended for his bravery during the battle, though suffering a wound which forced him to permanently resign from military service.
Associators were members of 17th- and 18th-century volunteer military associations in the British American thirteen colonies and British Colony of Canada. These were more commonly known as Maryland Protestant, Pennsylvania, and American Patriot and British Loyalist colonial militias. But unlike militias, the associator military volunteers were exempt from regular mandatory military service. Other names used to describe associators were "Associations", "Associated", "Refugees", "Volunteers", and "Partisans".
Colonists who supported the British cause in the American Revolution were Loyalists, often called Tories, or, occasionally, Royalists or King's Men. George Washington's winning side in the war called themselves "Patriots", and in this article Americans on the revolutionary side are called Patriots. For a detailed analysis of the psychology and social origins of the Loyalists, see Loyalist.
The Royal Nova Scotia Volunteer Regiment, also known as the Loyal Regiment of Nova Scotia Volunteers and Loyal Nova Scotia Volunteers, from 1775-1780, the Royal Regiment of Nova Scotia Volunteers, from 1780-1783, and the Royal Nova Scotia Volunteer Regiment and Nova Scotia Volunteers, was a British Loyalist provincial battalion, of infantry, raised in 1775, to defend British interests, in the colony of Nova Scotia. The unit was commanded by Col. Francis Legge, until replaced by Col. John Parr in 1782. The Royal NS Volunteers never saw combat, but did play an important role in the defense of the colony of Nova Scotia, in the later years, of the American Revolution.
