Kings Mountain National Military Park

The site of a pivotal Revolutionary War battle on October 7, 1780, where Patriot militia defeated Loyalist forces in a decisive American victory. The battle lasted only 65 minutes but resulted in heavy casualties.

The Battle of Kings Mountain, fought on October 7, 1780, was one of the most decisive engagements of the American Revolution and one of the few major battles waged entirely between Americans -- no British regulars served on the field. Major Patrick Ferguson, a Scottish officer and the only Briton present, commanded approximately 1,125 Loyalist militia atop a rocky, wooded ridge in what is now York County, South Carolina. After Ferguson issued a proclamation threatening to march over the mountains, hang rebel leaders, and lay waste to their country with fire and sword, roughly 910 Overmountain Men from present-day Tennessee, Virginia, and the Carolinas mustered at Sycamore Shoals on September 25 and marched to confront him.

The battle began around 3:00 in the afternoon and lasted only sixty-five minutes. The Patriot militia crept uphill through the undergrowth and attacked from all sides, using the trees and terrain as cover against Loyalist bayonet charges. Ferguson, mounted on his horse and recognizable by a silver whistle he used to signal commands, became an easy target. He was struck by at least eight musket balls and killed, his body dragging from the stirrup as his horse fled down the slope. The Loyalists surrendered shortly after. The toll was devastating: 157 Loyalists killed, 163 wounded, and 698 captured, against only 28 Patriots killed and 62 wounded. One participant recalled that the dead lay in heaps on all sides. Thomas Jefferson later called the battle "the turn of the tide of success," and General Washington praised the militia as proof of the spirit and resources of the country.

The battlefield has been preserved much as it appeared that October afternoon, and the paranormal reports have accumulated over two centuries. Visitors walking the 1.5-mile trail report hearing the crack of musket fire, shouted commands, and cannon blasts echoing across the ridge when no reenactment is taking place. The smell of gunpowder -- sharp and sulfurous -- has been reported by hikers who find no source for the odor. Some accounts describe the far more unsettling scent of decomposing flesh, a grim reminder that bodies were buried in shallow graves across the battlefield. Ghostly campfires have been spotted flickering among the trees at night, only to vanish when approached.

The most persistent apparition is that of Major Ferguson himself. Locals near the old Cleveland homestead along the Yadkin River have reported seeing a horseman in a British officer's uniform galloping along the riverbanks, looking confused and bewildered, as though trying to find his way back to the mountain to change the outcome of the battle. According to local legend, Ferguson's ghost returns at midnight on the anniversary of his death, October 7, to confront anyone brave or foolish enough to be standing at his gravesite, which is marked by a cairn of stones along the battlefield trail. Full-body apparitions of soldiers in Revolutionary War uniforms have been reported near the monument and along the wooded ridgeline. The National Park Service maintains a 3,945-acre site with a visitor center, and annual commemorative events are held each October.