They played a major role in the Overmountain Men who were instrumental in defeating Ferguson and the British at Kings Mountain.
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IIRC they were mad at the Brits for their barbarity in hunting down the American survivors of the disaster at Camden. The Brits searched, found, and executed the remnants of the Southern Army.
The men who had gone west came back across the river with their long rifles and destroyed the”untouchable” fortress the Brits had atop King’s Mountain wiping out the Brits. Their job done they went back across the river and fought no more. Thy had “evened the score.”
I’ve got an old family legend that’s a little on the ugly side, they couldn’t stand Ferguson, thought he was a fop and a dandy, especially hated that infernal whistle. They made a sport out of trying to shoot him off his horse in particular and did, he fell with his foot caught in a stirrup and his horse dragged him around. They shot the hell out of his body, just filled it with lead.