The Battle of Kings Mountain

If you are at all interested in knowing more about why we are not subjects of the Queen, I highly recommend a trip to Kings Mountain Battle Field just off I-85, exit # 2 in North Carolina.
The park has a very well done museum telling the story of the battle as well as about the settlers who were in the area at the time with illustrations and sound. The gift shop has many books about this battle and the revolution in general. Several of them looked interesting including a reprint of an officer's journal of the day. There is a nice one and half mile paved trail with interpretive markers which skirts the front of the mountain and then goes along the top where there are two large towering markers, one paid for by the state and a Federal one which looks like the Washington Monument. 
The British came in at Charleston and were fighting their way northward winning battle after battle.They had had very few actual British soldiers, relying  mostly on picking up Loyalist fighters as they went along. They came to Kings Mountain and took up a position along the ridge top. American militia from Tennessee, Virginia, and both Carolinas surrounded the mountain and just waited. Finally the British got bored and started to advance down the steep slope. The British style of combat was to march in a straight line into battle shooting as they went. The Americans were mountain people, squirrel hunters and they fought "Indian style," which means hiding behind trees and picking them off one by one while uttering war whoops. Neither side had uniforms. The British put greenery in their hats and the Americans put something white in theirs to distinguish but visibility was bad due to all the black powder hovering in the damp air.The British commander covered his "Red Coat" with a plaid shirt but it did not save him as he lost his life and is buried on the mountain.  There was a high probability of friendly fire. Long story short, the Americans prevailed. Thomas Jefferson called it the turning point of the war. The thing that was new to me was this was like the Civil War, neighbor against neighbor.
About halfway through our trek around the mountain a man walking his dog passed and spoke to us while we were reading a marker. Gene noticed his Navy Seal cap and thanked him for his service. We continued to walk along together and he ended up telling us so much more of the story than is on the markers. More about the individual families in the fight, many of whose descendants still live in the area.
This battle was so famous in its day that it was commemorated five times with great crowds gathering at the site. President Hoover came and spoke at one of these occasions and there were between 75-80 thousand people there. They had a photo of the event. And I had no knowledge of it whatsoever!