COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Battle of Kings Mountain has been described as the Revolutionary War’s “largest all-American fight." And it happened right here in South Carolina, near the North Carolina border.
On Oct. 26 at noon at the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, author and storyteller Randell Jones will shed new light on the battle in a free lecture. The program is titled, “Saving SC Col. Williams – a broader, bolder Kings Mountain Story.”
Jones recently worked with Bill Anderson of Charlotte and John Robertson of Shelby, N.C., to study aspects of the battle not explored before.
“I am telling a new story,” said Jones. “That is the key draw for a South Carolina audience. I contend that Col. James Williams is responsible for bringing about the battle by getting the Overmountain men to the right place. That is contrary to the traditional story told. Indeed, the story of the Battle of Kings Mountain begins at the Battle of Musgrove Mill.”
“We now know that the South Carolina militia marched as far as anyone else to get to a battle that was in their own back yard,” he added.
Williams, a colonel in the South Carolina militia, was killed at Kings Mountain. He led a 100-man detachment that joined with several other units at Cowpens. This combined force went on to win a major victory at the Battle of Kings Mountain, where the outnumbered Americans overwhelmed an 1,100 man Loyalist force, while suffering only twenty-eight fatalities. Col. Williams was one of those who died.
Randell Jones is an award-winning author and storyteller. He has written nine history books and produced two videos. Since 2007, he has served as an invited member of the Road Scholars Speakers Bureau of the North Carolina Humanities Council.
Again, the program is free, and open to the public.
About the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum
Founded in 1896, the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum is an accredited museum focusing on South Carolina’s distinguished martial tradition through the Revolutionary War, Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the War on Terror, and other American conflicts. It serves as the state’s military history museum by collecting, preserving, and exhibiting South Carolina’s military heritage from the colonial era to the present, and by providing superior educational experiences and programming. It is located at 301 Gervais St. in Columbia, sharing the Columbia Mills building with the State Museum. For more information, go to https://crr.sc.gov/.
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