KINGS MOUNTAIN
OPPOSING FORCES
PATRIOTS
LEADERS: William Campbell, Isaac Shelby, John Sevier, Joseph McDowell, Benjamin Cleveland, Joseph Winston, William Chronicle, James Williams PATRIOT MILITIA: c. 900
LOYALISTS
LEADERS: Major Patrick Ferguson LOYALIST MILITIA AND REGULARS: c. 900
KINGS MOUNTAIN, SOUTH CAROLINA 7 OCTOBER 1780
had been a bleak and unhappy 1779 for General Sir Henry Clinton, commander-in-chief of the British forces in North America, who wanted desperately to turn this troublesome conflict over to someone else and go home to England. Clinton insisted he needed two strong armies in America, not the one "pathetically small army" he actually had, but London had not heeded him, and his frustrations had swelled. But now he would strike a powerful blow against the colonial American rebels, or 'Patriots', as they called themselves. Sailing from New York harbour on 26 December
