A Decisive Win And Its Fallout

Anne Mitchell 0:00

Cornwallis is like, you know what? We're not gonna finish off that thing anymore, right? We're not gonna go up north. So he brings what is left of his army. Of the uh English troops, 157 killed, 163 wounded, and 668 captured. It was a very decisive victory. The Patriots lost 28 men and had 62 wounded. Very decisive victory. But what happens to all the loyalists in the area? A lot of them are like, you know what?

Meeting Frederick Hambright In Records

Crista Cowan 0:28

Let's go be patriot. Stories That Live In Us is a podcast that inspires you to form deep connections with your family, past, present, and future. I'm Crista Cowan, known online as The Barefoot Genealogist. Counting down to the upcoming celebration of America's 250th birthday, you'll meet families from each state whose stories are woven into the very fabric of America. Tales of immigration, migration, courage, and community that remind us that when we tell our stories, we strengthen the bonds that connect us. So join me for season two as we discover from sea to shining sea the stories that live in us. Well, we are getting close to the end of our season about America 250. And I've loved that we've been able to share stories as we've moved west about expansion, about adventure, about people who were explorers, about people who suffered tragedy. There's just been some really cool things that we have shared. But I wanted to make sure we got in at least a couple episodes about people who actually served in the Revolutionary War. And South Carolina seemed like the perfect place to do that. And my guest, Ann Mitchell, who has been on the podcast before, has probably the singular deepest roots in the state of South Carolina of any person I know. So when I asked if she wanted to share a story, she immediately knew exactly what story she wanted to share. One of the most significant turning points of the Revolutionary War was the Battle of King's Mountain. And Anne has a very personal connection to that battle. Enjoy my conversation with Ann Mitchell. Well, Ann, I'm so excited you're here. I don't know if I wore too bright of a color for one of your murder and mayhem stories.

Anne Mitchell 2:32

Okay. Well, tell us what you tell us what you brought for us today. Well, my assignment was to find one of my South Carolinian ancestors who maybe has something to do with the Revolutionary War. And I found one. Oh and he is a character, but a character of the good kind. He's not on the murder side unless you consider battle murder, but he's an interesting character. His name is Frederick Hambright. He was born in 1727 in I think it's Moosbach, Germany. Okay. In 1738, and I just did go through these details. I don't know these usually off the top of my head, just so you know. Uh, in 1738, he was about 11, and he came to America with his brothers and his father, maybe his mother. Back then, records are really unclear, and a lot of it is hearsay. But everybody thinks that's what happened. He and then they moved to Virginia. All right. That's where they came to from Germany? From Germany. Okay. Right. And how are you related to this man? Oh, he's my sixth great-grandfather. Six times on mom's side or dad's side? My mom's side. Okay. Okay. So 1738, he comes to Virginia. They move in with a group of people, you know, rural communities, they settle down. He meets um Sarah Hardin, who is my sixth great-grandmother. They get married about 1755.

Crista Cowan 3:56

And with the last name Harden, I suspect she was probably of English extraction. Probably, yes. And so, like, he came how old was he? He was 11.

From Virginia To The Carolina Frontier

Leadership Roles And Complicated Legacies

Anne Mitchell 4:05

So he had some time to learn English before he got married. Yes. Okay. And uh he had a version of Pennsylvania Dutch, they called it. But I mean, it he always had a thick German accent, which comes up later in the story. Oh. Okay. Next foreshadowing. So he married Sarah, and her and her family, some of her brothers, I think her father, him, they all head on down the Great Wagon Road, you know, that runs down like in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Appalachians. They go down, they settle somewhere in the um Charlotte area. So if you think about North Carolina. The Piedmont, right. So if you think about North Carolina, there's that line between North Carolina and South Carolina. So they're settled very much like right there on the state line. They hop back, they all hop back and forth between North Carolina and South Carolina. In fact, the end of his life, he's in South Carolina, and that's where he passes away. But and the battle he's in is in South Carolina. So but they're all in the Carolina. Were they still considered two separate colonies at that time, or were they? Yes, they were two separate colonies. Um land. He had at the time of his death, he had four enslaved people. Uh he had others throughout time. It is unclear how many children he and Sarah had. Sarah was his first wife. Um, it could have been eight, it could have been ten. It's records get a little he's a fun person actually to research because um the answers are not clear. Sure. I don't know about you, but if it's just there, what's the point, right? It's like I need to dig, I need to get into all the records. So my fifth great-grandmother is Elizabeth Hambright, and this is the oldest child. Okay. And she was born when? 1755, 1756. Again, you know, dates are very, very iffy back then. So they're still colonies. Um they had that she was born in Virginia, right? And they came down after, but so she's the oldest of this brood. Um he got his start fighting in the military in the um battles against the Cherokee Indians, because in that area there were, you know, Indian skirmishes, all those kind of things. So he was a lieutenant colonel by the time he got to the Revolutionary War. He was also um involved in um he was not county government. It's not like he was a politician, but he was a justice of the peace. He was a commissioner, he held those different kinds of offices. Those were civil service jobs back then, really, like volunteering in your community. Right. He was um he was a Presbyterian, he founded a Presbyterian church. That's odd for a German. I know, right? Because usually you think Lutheran, that kind of thing. But I'm suspecting that Sarah Hardin and her folks, because you know how you have the dominant family, right? I mean, because he traveled with her family down to North Carolina. So he came down there and I'm suspecting that they were Presbyterians. But he has a church and he, and there's um, you know, I have the deed, a copy of the deed. I don't have the actual deed, but a copy of the deed where he gave the land to the church and they built the church. And Grover, this church is in Grover, North Carolina. Grover, I'm not making this up. Cleveland County, North Carolina. And yes, yes, my friends, they picked that name because they thought it might get the attention of the president, because before that was something like Smithville or something. But so Grover, North Carolina, and now you know. Okay, so, anyways. So before the Declaration of Independence, and I forget the year now, but a bunch of the counties in North Carolina, they were having none of this whole British thing, right? And you do have to remember in that area of North, um, Lower North Carolina, Upper South Carolina, there was a lot of Patriots and there were a lot of loyalists, right? It was very, very mixed population on what side people were. Um, but there were uh groups of men.

Crista Cowan 8:17

It was that was that as divisive as like politics today? Like is that comparable or do you or did they kind of live in harmony at all?

Anne Mitchell 8:28

Uh it depends. Okay. I think it was a lot like today. I mean, people weren't out in the street all the time like fighting each other or anything. I mean, it wasn't like total chaos, but people were would get angry with each other. Yeah. Right? I mean, it was it was definitely a thing. And it got worse during the World War II.

Crista Cowan 8:45

And for him being German, he's gonna have no loyalty to the Loyalist cause, right? No. Okay.

Anne Mitchell 8:52

But his wife's family is British or I they may be Scotch-Irish. I don't know. Well, then they really don't. I mean, if you look at my Scotch-Irish from Amherst County, Virginia, when the Revolutionary War came along, they're like, We're our guns. Yeah, we're going. And they all went and they just wanted to shoot the English, right? That was their thing. Anyways, so no, but he had no loyalty to the English, to the king, whatever. Um, and I'm sure because he was a wealthy man, paying taxes was not his thing. So they did they the different counties sign these resolves where they're basically like, we want no part of this, we have the right to live free without taxation and all this kind of stuff. And he's on one of those documents for Terran County, which later becomes Lincoln County. And um what I love about these documents is when you look at all the men who signed them, I'm related. Any one of these documents, I'm related to have these people because they all lived in these communities and they all married each other, right? So, um, and as you know, uh fan clubs, right, networks on ancestry. I keep putting all these groups of people in because I want to study them and see how they're all related and what new clues I can find. So he gets involved in that. So he is very clear, it is very clear to him what um what his stance is.

Crista Cowan 10:10

And this is in like decades leading up to the revolutionary.

Patriots And Loyalists Living Side By Side

Anne Mitchell 10:13

It was like a few years back. I think it was in 74. Okay. Oh, okay. Okay, so you know, and then in 1970, or 19. 1776, of course, we declare, but most of the early fighting was up north in the northern colonies. It was Massachusetts and New York and New Jersey and all that kind of stuff. But then eventually, by the time we get to 1780, early in 1780, Sarah Hardin dies. Okay. Um, my fifth great-grandmother Elizabeth has married by then, and her husband, Joseph Jenkins, was also fighting with um, getting ready to fight with uh Frederick at that time. But there were younger children. So this is an she dies early 1780. And by that time, he's how old by this time? Let's see, he was born in 1727, so 1780.

Crista Cowan 11:06

So he's in his 50s. He's in his 50s.

Anne Mitchell 11:08

Yes. Like it's not a young man.

Crista Cowan 11:10

Yeah, that's my point, right? Like, I think a lot of times, especially those of us who've, you know, heard stories about World War I or World War II, right? In the Civil War, we think of it of fighting as a young man's like in experience. And yet with the Revolutionary War, especially, you have generational families like this, this man and his son-in-law fighting side by side, and he is not young. He is not young. And not young, even like maybe we might consider late 50s young today. Right, right, right.

Why The War Shifts South

Anne Mitchell 11:38

But back then, but that was old back then. That was old back then, and he and he had his sons and his neighbors. I mean, there was a whole bunch of them, right? So, what had happened in the war, and if you've seen the wonderful Ken Burns documentary, I hope you have, I hope everyone has, but in the sixth and final episode, they do talk about Battle of King's Mountain. But what happens leading up to that, nothing is really going well for the Patriots at that point, right? And it's the Revolutionary War is uh is somewhat of a battle of exhaustion. Can we exhaust the English and their resources? But Cornwallis starts coming through South Carolina. The idea is he wants to come through South Carolina and then move up through North Carolina and you know, attack that way. And is he coming in, like is he coming up from Charleston area? So they're coming in off the sea. They're coming in off the sea. Okay. And um, so there's different battles that are happening. They are not going well, right? Calpins, all these other battles, and the Patriots are losing. So Patrick Ferguson is leading this charge. He's a well-respected, he's a really good military officer for the English army. Um, he's traveling with his army. He has his wife with him, or maybe his mistress, I can't remember. That's the adultery part, because you know I have to always have some of that in there as well. Um, but they're traveling along. He's doing really well. He's a really good army officer. So they get to this place called Kings Mount, which is in South Carolina. There's a town, Kings Mountain, which is in North Carolina, but the battlefield is in South Carolina. All right. Is it an actual mountain? It's an actual mountain. It's not a big mountain, it's more of a hill. I've hiked it in less than an hour. So it's it's and it's got a nice pig. It's actually a beautiful, beautiful battlefield. Yeah. It's so quiet, and there's dogwoods, and the whole thing is just a little bit. I love how we've done that. Yeah, um, you know me. I love to go to the places that they were. So this battle, they he Patrick Ferguson takes his men and he puts them on top of the mountain. Because he figured, I mean, that's a great place to defend. Exactly. Um he doesn't really build embankments or entrenchments like they usually do because it's gotten pretty cocky at this point. There are no continental armies in the area. Okay. There, none of George Washington's continental armies are in the area. So what we've got here are militiamen. There's a group of Tennesseans.

Crista Cowan 14:11

Can you like help us contextualize the difference between the Continental Army and the militia?

Militia Versus Continental Army Explained

Anne Mitchell 14:17

So the Continental Army is technically going to be paid by the U.S., the government of the U.S. if we win the war. A lot of them don't get paid, a lot of them don't get paid very much. And then that was the promise. Right. And they're part of George Washington's army. And are they technically more trained or more experienced? Often they're as the war went on, they became more trained, they became more experienced. Yes. The militias, though, are pretty experienced, right? They fought in the Cherokee Wars, they fought in different wars. Um they're a rough and rowdy group. So they're frontiersmen. They're frontiersmen. They've defended their own territory for a long time. Yes. Okay. And the interesting thing about them is they have rifles because they go hunt. Right. Because they have to kill deer, whatnot, to feed themselves and their family. Rifles are more accurate than the muskets that the British have. So this word comes back that Patrick Ferguson is coming to Kings Mountain. He's moving through. There's a group called, I think, the Over Mountain Men from Tennessee. They come down because they're like, we are having none of this. They're militia. There is a group of Patriot militia from the North Carolina, South Carolina. I mean, there's a line there, but to the people who live there, they all just live in this area. They are having none of this. There is also a group of loyalists. It's about half and half at that time in that North Carolina, South Carolina area. So think about this. Everybody's making this decision of which side is going to win? Which side do I want to be part of? There's the people who are like, I want none of this. They're feisty. This is where my guy was. Um, they, you know, we're going to, we do not want any part of the English government. But there are a lot of people who are like, you know, I don't think we're the Patriots are going to win. They we want to, or they for whatever reason they want to be part of the English government. So it's about half and half. But there's spies going back and forth all over the place.

Crista Cowan 16:28

But the militia, the people who are on the Patriot side, they're willing to put their lives on the line for this. The loyalists aren't joining the British Army.

Inside The 65 Minute Battle

Anne Mitchell 16:36

No, no, no, no. They might occasionally, but no. Okay. It's more of the side they are on. But the Patriots are like, no. So they know. So it's this hill, right? King's Mountain. It's this basically this really big hill. I mean, it's it's not really mountain. It's well, whatever. It's a Carolina mountain. It's a Carolina mountain. But um, so Patrick Ferguson is up here on top. So all the militias sort of surround him like this. This battle lasts 65 minutes. That's it. 65 minutes. And Patrick Ferguson is for a long time. Him and his men are holding their own. They're on top of the mountain, they're shooting down. A couple of the big commanders get shot on the Patriot side, but they keep fighting. And they don't fight where they line up and then they just march towards each other and shoot. Who thought that was a good idea? The British for a really long time. Right? Who thought that was a good idea? Okay. But these guys are used to hiding in the woods and fighting, you know, Native Americans and they're they're hunting deer. They're not just like out there in the open. So they're you know shooting and and they're a lot more accurate. So um Patrick Ferguson is like, we're we're cleaning the day. We're about 60 minutes into the battle. And uh one uh oh my gosh, I've forgotten the name of the commander who was killed. He fell. On the Patriot side. On the Patriot side. And this is when Frederick stands up, he's on his horse, and I've got to read this because I want to get this right, all right? So James Williams says, for God, he's what another one of the commanders, for God's sakes, boys, don't give up the hill. Because it's not looking great at this point. Hambright, Frederick Hambright, sorely wounded, his boot overflowing with blood, and his hat riddled with three, count them, three bullet holes, declined to dismount, but pressed gallantly forward, exclaiming in his Pennsylvania Dutch, I'm not even gonna pretend the accent here, huzzah, my boys, fight on and the battle will soon be over. He stayed on his horse, he met that moment and they charged up the hill. They ended up shooting and killing, no one's really sure, shooting and killing Patrick Ferguson. He had seven bullet holes in him, and they won the day. So what happens after that? Well, to Frederick, he's in bad shape. Right. I mean, but you could admire the man, right? He's like, no, I am not giving up. I am moving on, we're getting up this hill. And there were a lot of brave men there. He wasn't the only one, but he was it was that moment. You had somebody to rally the troops. Right. Rally the troops. He met that moment, and um they take him to a local log cabin in the area. He ends up building a house quite near there. And he's nursed to health by a woman named Mary Dover, who he later marries and has another eight to children. He was a very prolific man, let me say. Um he walked with a limp for the rest of his life. Right. And he was older and it was, it was, I mean, he had a bullet hole in his thigh. He was very um, he was wounded. So what was interesting though is a lot of the loyalists at this point, because suddenly everything changed, right?

Crista Cowan 20:14

So is that battle like is that a turning point?

The Rally Cry In Bloody Boots

Anne Mitchell 20:17

It is a turning point. In fact, Theodore Roosevelt, I have more quotes, Chris, I have more quotes. Theodore Roosevelt, yes, that Theodore Roosevelt. The brilliant or this brilliant victory marked the turning point in the American Revolution. Because what happens is Cornwallis is like, you know what? We're not gonna finish off that thing anymore, right? We're not gonna go up north. So he brings what is left of his army. Of the uh English troops, 157 killed, 163 wounded, and 668 captured. It was a very decisive victory. The Patriots lost 28 men and had 62 wounded. Very decisive victory. But what happens to all the loyalists in the area? A lot of them are like, you know what? Let's go be patriots. Maybe I picked the wrong side. I picked the wrong side. And some of the men who had been like spying for the English, they found them and they hung them. They had no sympathy for those men, right? It was like, because so you know, you get back, this is where it starts to get ugly. And there's a lot of fighting. If you go through and you read the local histories, the local histories are fascinating in the Syria at the time. I mean, they were fighting, they were warning each other, they were, I mean, it was just crazy. But they took their revenge, they were mad. But this turned the tables, and then the American armies started to go through and uh ended up at Yorktown eventually. And it was sort of a big turning point in the war. And in fact, Herbert Hoover, and this is there's a bunch of monuments up there, but uh, but you know, one of the things that he says about this battle is it was a little army, a little battle. And it was 65 minutes, 65 minutes, about a thousand men. But it was a might portent. History has done scant justice to its significance, which rightly should be placed besides Lexington, Bunker Hill, Trenton, and Yorktown. The great thing about doing family history is that you learn these things. I would have never known this battle. Right? But it was that moment, that ancestor who at the moment when he needed to stand up. And you always want to believe that when our moment comes, we will stand up and do the right thing, even if it's hard. Yeah. But he did. Yeah. And it's just like I haven't in the sense of awe of him. I mean, he was he a perfect human? No, of course not. I'm sure there were plenty of things he did that were questionable. Yeah. But in that one moment when history called upon him, he stood up and he did the right thing and he helped get them over the finish line.

Crista Cowan 23:00

Literally stood up in blood-soaked boots.

Turning Point And Revenge Politics

Anne Mitchell 23:02

Blood-soaked boots. He was standing on, he was on a horse. In his stirrups. In his stirrups, right? And uh the state of North Carolina gave him a sword to commemorate this. It is on display at the um Visitor Center Monument at Kings Mount National Park. And uh I went to a few years back, I was in the area, and I went to Kings Mount. I remember walking up the hill that day because I was looking, I knew that DR, daughters of the American Revolution, had put up a monument to him. And I walked up the hill and it was just so beautiful and quiet. And I love battlefields because they just have this sense of serenity. Even though you can imagine, whether it's Revolutionary War or Civil War, whatever it is, you can just imagine that the chaos, the chaos that was happening. But you get to the top and there's this little sign that says Colonel Hambright and you go, and there's this little monument. And that's who he was. And his they there is, I have never been, but every, I believe it's every October, uh his descendant get together for a family reunion. They reenact the battle and all that kind of stuff. So I mean it's a it's a thing. But I I just am so in awe of being descended from somebody like that. And as we approach the 250 anniversary, it just takes on a special meaning, you know? You're just like I want to be like that when my time comes, and I just hope that I have that in mind. Um he lived to 1817, so he lived almost 90 years. Uh, and he they he and Mary and there's so many children. Um, they uh he built a log cabin in near the base of King's Mountain and uh in South Carolina. He was like, this could do either North or South Carolina. Uh and um he passed away there and uh he had 700 acres for slaves and who knows how many children, but uh what an interesting man, what an interesting life. He was an immigrant, moved. I mean, moving then wasn't easy, but he made his mark in history and nobody talks about it really. Yeah.

Crista Cowan 25:17

Yeah, like I've heard of the Battle of King's Mountain, but I had no idea any of the story around it. And then for you to have that personal connection, like that's so incredible because we know that there are people who made those choices in those moments.

Anne Mitchell 25:31

Right.

Crista Cowan 25:32

And and you just don't always hear them, or those stories just don't always get passed down. So at what point in your exploration of your family history did you come across this story, or were you always kind of raised knowing about it?

Anne Mitchell 25:44

I did nothing about it. Nothing about it. And I was um, you know, you're you're just working your way back generation by generation. And um I found Elizabeth and she'd married Joseph Jenkins, and then I started to find member Therese that said her father was Frederick. And I was like, well, that would be cool if it were true. And uh so this is, you know, maybe a decade ago, I had discovered this information. And then, you know, you go and you you search out the documents, right? Because you're like, I gotta prove it. Suggestion, great, let's prove it. And then I prove it. I'm like, okay, I found the wheels, all that good stuff. And uh then it was just the, you know, as time permits, you start to dig up more information about all the different things that happened. And it's just so fascinating. And I have loyalist ancestors too, not quite as inspiring, but uh um, because you never knew who was gonna be on what side down it.

Crista Cowan 26:36

Well, and you also, I mean, like, it's interesting because we laud the Patriots now and their choices in those moments, but that's because they won. They won, right? There's nothing like being a winner. Yeah. And but, you know, had the other side won, that would have been considered traitorous behavior. It would have been. And so ultimately, like, we we make the best decisions we can in the moment about our lives and our families and how we want to support them and move forward in the world. And sometimes we're on the losing side.

Anne Mitchell 27:01

Sometimes we're on the losing side. Sometimes sometimes we make decisions. They may be the right decisions for us in that moment, but they don't end up being revered by history. Yeah. And we always do have to remember that as well.

Crista Cowan 27:15

Yeah.

Anne Mitchell 27:16

But it is a bit of pride to know that you come from somebody like that. Right. Well, especially this year. Yes, right. And it was just because when you and I were talking, it was like, do you have Revolutionary War? I'm like, please. But this one, this one I think is one of the most interesting.

Genealogy Lessons And Later Carolina Conflict

Crista Cowan 27:31

So fascinating. And and South Carolina, like the fact that it played such a pivotal role in the Revolutionary War, I think is also something that a lot of people don't know. No, they don't. Because we do. We associate it, like you know, like Roosevelt said, with with, you know, Yorkstown and Lexington. And yeah, like um, I have family who fought in battles in New Jersey, and like we associate it so much with the North, but the fact that it came that far south. But then you also have the situation where, you know, 80 years later, South Carolina plays a really pivotal role in the Civil War.

Anne Mitchell 28:01

Right. And in that very area, which is if you think about it, so you have the Patriots and the Loyalists, and they're very split. It is um, and if you listen to the Kim Burns documentary, he refers to it as sort of a civil war down there. And he's not wrong. You have these two groups of people that are just sort of fighting each other and always doing whatever. So you get to the Civil War, right? That whole thing happens. And then afterwards, um Grant, when he was president, at some point took about eight to ten counties and put them under martial law because they were such a disaster. And the York County, which is where Kings Mountain Battlefield is, this is where groups of people were very split during Reconstruction, were fighting each other. It was just, I mean, this area is just always people just never agreeing on anything. And not and not a peaceful disagreement. Let's sit down over a cup of coffee and talk this out. It could be, you know, there was a lot of Klan activity down there. There was a whole lot of things happening. Um, but it's history. And if we understand the history of who we are, good and bad, it informs, I think, who we are and sometimes why we are the people we are, and it helps make better decisions about our life.

Crista Cowan 29:17

So beautifully said. Well, I'm glad that's what you've learned from your family history. I wish more of us could dive into our stories and really understand them at that level because I think it helps inform our perspective in that way and take a stand for things you believe in and be willing to stand up even in bloody boots, right? Right.

Anne Mitchell 29:35

Hopefully, I never have to stand up in bloody boots, but stand up for what you believe in. It's very, very true. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Always glad to be here. Studio sponsored by Ancestry.