William R Gray

Research Notes

• William R Gray 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". on 7 October 1780 at Kings Mountain, Cherokee County, South Carolina, United States of America, .³
• He This story was forwarded by Steve Meyer, as written in the Cedar Valley Daily Times
  
  
  
  CONNECTIONS TO OUR NATIONS FIRST VETERANSBy STEVE MEYER Times Correspondent
  There is no veteran that is undeserving of a special reverence in this country, but the point could be easily argued that the most honorable would be our first veterans—the ones who fought to establish our great nation in the revolutionary war.
  
  From 1775 to 1783 some 200,000 patriots soldiered for the American cause of liberty against superior numbers of British forces. Four thousand four hundred thirty five of them gave their lives and six thousand one hundred eighty eight were wounded.
  
  Imagine the honor I felt when it was made known to me a few years back that I have a direct connection to those men who so brazenly laid down their lives to lay the foundation for our great nation.Owing to the meticulous research of genealogist Marion Van Tiger from Ackley, Iowa, it has been established that my 8th great-grandfather William Gray was one those who gave his life for the cause. He was killed in the Battle of King’s Mountain in North Carolina on October 7, 1780.The battle proved to be the turning point in the British Southern campaign. The American Continental army had suffered successive defeats at Charleston, Waxhaws, and Camden, South Carolina, in the summer of 1780. By the fall, only the voluntary militia units remained in the field to oppose the armies of the British General Cornwallis.To recruit and equip militia loyal to the British cause, Cornwallis sent Major Patrick Ferguson into the western Carolinas. He was to raise a loyal militia army and suppress the remaining Patriot militia. Intending to cow the Patriots, in September he sent a proclamation to the mountain settlements, telling them to lay down their arms, or he would march his army west, and "lay waste the countryside with fire and sword."Ferguson’s move did not have the desire effect. In fact, it backfired on him and resulted in the march of the famous Overmountain men from the Sycamore Shoals of the Watauga River across the mountains in search of Ferguson.Overcoming hunger, weather, wrangling, and intrigue, the Patriots attacked and destroyed Ferguson's Loyalists at Kings Mountain. The battle succeeded in cutting the British troops off from their advance on the flank of Federal troops.The total force in the Patriot army was 910 men.William Gray was one of those Overmountain men. He was 35 and a Lieutenant in the rag-tag assembly of volunteer militiamen, which he had belonged to for a year when he was killed. Up until the Battle of Kings Mountain his unit had seen very little action.At the point of battle where William Gray was killed, the fighting was hand-to-hand. The patriots were forced to withdraw from their position, and the casualties were left on the field. Eight years later when the position was revisited, only scattered bones of the militiamen were found. Today a monument at the location serves as attribute to their sacrifice.The sacrifice of William Gray includes much more than his ultimate sacrifice, for it also meant the demise of his fortunes and family. He was a horse trainer and is said to have had a large horse farm. He was also a slave owner. While he was away fighting the Battle of King’s Mountain, British Tories took all of his stock and horse whipped his wife Lydia (Richardson) Gray. The couple had six children—John (age 12), Ephram, William, Bella, Era and an eight-month-old daughter whose name is not known.
  Upon hearing of her husband’s death, Lydia is said to have gone crazy. Some of the children were raised by neighbors and friends, including the eight-month-old daughter, whom Lydia eventually took back under her wings when she was five-years-old.
  
  This is just the story of one veteran—-one of our nations first. All who have fought for our nations freedom, though they may not have given ‘the last full measure’ have indeed sacrificed something on behalf of those who enjoy the freedom we have in this country. Let us not forget them on this solitary day set aside in their honor.
  
  
  
  
  WILLIAM GRAY
  The story of King's Mountain is linked to the story of the "Overmountain Men". These were frontiersmen and their families who had settled west of the Appalachian Mountains. The 1763 Treaty of Paris had ended the French and Indian War. As reward to those native Americans who had helped the King of England in that war, all settlement west of the Appalachians was forbidden to the American colonists. Because revolution loomed as being inevitable, many colonists openly defied the Proclaimation Treaty and settled there anyway.
  
  For the first five years of the American Revolution, the Patriots ruled the southeast. Then, in 1779, the British successfully invaded Savannah, Georgia and conquered Charleston in May 1780. The year 1780 was grim for South Carolina Patriots as they suffered major defeats and criminal treatment at the hands of Loyalist (Tory) militia and British regular armies.
  
  With South Carolina firmly in British hands, General Cornwallis decided to take North Carolina and march into Virginia. By September of that year, British Major Patrick Ferguson had occupied the South Carolina upstate. He moved into North Carolina and felt confident enough to issue his fateful decree to the settlers west of the Appalachians. He sent word that "...If the backwater men did not desist from opposition to British Arms, (he) would march over the mountains, hang their leaders and lay waste to their country with fire and sword!" These were fighting words to the Overmountain Men!
  
  Leaders such as John Sevier, Issac Shelby, Willam Campbell, William Cobb, and Charles McDowell were outraged with Ferguson's words, so they organized about 900 Patriot frontiersmen from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and what would become Tennessee. The majority of them set out from the Watauga Settlements on the Holston and Watauga Rivers on their quest to find and destroy the hated Ferguson. Their route took them on a hike of nearly 300 miles until they finally found Ferguson and his Tories camped on Kings Mountain on the border of North and South Carolina. Ferguson's position there was well suited for the defense of the upper piedmont, routes to and from Charlotte, North Carolina, and the valleys of the Broad and Catawba Rivers from the Overmountain Men he knew were looking for him.
  
  Under the command Colonel William Campbell of Virginia, the frontiersmen surrounded the mountain. Campbell gave the order to charge up the mountain, yelling to his men to "...Shout like hell, and fight like demons." Ferguson made a fatal mistake. Deciding that his well trained men could easily defeat the rag-tag volunteer militia below, he ordered British-style countercharges down the slopes of Kings Mountain. The Overmountain Men didn't know anything about European-style warfare, so they calmly hid behind trees and rocks and shot Ferguson's forces to pieces. Three times the Patriots charged then fell back under Loyalist counterattacks, inflicting severe casualties on the enemy each time. Ferguson, seeing his troops being slaughtered, ordered a final counterattack. His hope was to break into the open and head for Charlotte, where the main British force was stationed. In this attempt he was killed, shot off his horse with eight bullets piercing his body. With their leader gone, the Loyalists soon surrendured.
  
  The victory at Kings Mountain was as complete as any the Americans had during the entire war. The Patriots killed, wounded, or captured the entire British force of over 1100 men, while suffering only the loss of 28 killed and 62 wounded. (206 British were killed and 128 wounded.) The British had to give up thier plans of taking North Carolina and Virginia, and had to go on the defensive in South Carolina instead.
  
  Kings Mountain National Military Park commemorates a pivotal and significant victory by American Patriots over American Loyalists during the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War. The battle fought on October 7, 1780 destroyed the left wing of Cornwallis' army and effectively ended Loyalist ascendance in the Carolinas. The victory halted the British advance into North Carolina, forced Lord Cornwallis to retreat from Charlotte into South Carolina, and gave General Nathanael Greene the opportunity to reorganize the American Army. Within a year, Cornwallis's army had retreated to the Yorktown Peninsula, Virginia, where he was surrounded by George Washington's Army and defeated, ending the American Revolution, and allowing us to become the first country to overthrow a king and establish democracy. The Battle of Kings Mountain and the bravery of the overmountainmen were definite turning points in American History.
  
  Kings Mountain National Military Park was established on March 3, 1931 by an act of congress "in order to commemorate the Battle of Kings Mountain." in 2011.