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 1779 with 8,500 troops in 90 transports,