On October 7th, 1780, the American militia, led by 1100 Overmountain Men from what is today Tennessee, cornered the British at King’s Mountain, South Carolina. In the decisive battle that followed these men changed the course of the Southern campaign for American Independence. The Battle of King’s Mountain was led and fought by backwoodsmen, including the father of Davy Crockett and many of the earliest names in Tennessee history.
Sixty or so years later in a narrow valley, in 1840 and 1843, not far from where our farm is located, down a small gravel road, two of those heroes of the American Revolution were buried in a small church cemetery. The church is long gone. Only a hundred or so graves are found in this out of the way spot. This year, as we have done for a dozen years, Cindy and I place flowers on the graves of Big Jim Campbell and William Moore to honor their memory.
Very nice. Any idea why they are buried here and not someplace else? One might assume they were parishioners, but were they kin, neighbors, bosom buddies? It doesn’t take too much imagination to conjure the scene of a lazy Autumn evening with little ones running about the yard and these two reminiscing about the event(s) that changed their lives, and the life of this country. And there might still exist a VERY old oak or other tree that witnessed such a scene… if they could talk.
Are there indications at the cemetery of family sizes or better still – do you know of any living descendants for either of these veterans?
The Moore’s are still pretty thick on the ground. My guess is they both ended their lives in the care of family members in this valley. The cemetery contains innumerable graves of veterans of 1812, Cherokee Wars, Civil War (both sides), WWI, WW2, Korea, Vietnam. Plenty of children in their infancy. Moms in childbirth. Men in war. But other than that they all seemed to live into their eighties or beyond.