Lieutenant Ethan Pratt and the other Georgians were gathered around Captain Hampton after eating an early supper at the foot of a mountain range in western South Carolina. They were eager to learn all they could about the military situation in the Carolinas, and Hampton was proud of the progress that had been made in marshaling patriot troops.

Ethan asked a logical question: “Who is the overall commander of the Over Mountain men?”

After some delay, Hampton replied, “Well, we really have three different groups, and each has its own commanding officer, elected by the men.”

“Then who are they?”

“Colonel Shelby, Colonel Sevier, and Colonel McDowell, and we have a total of about seven hundred men. This is about all of us except for those we left behind to defend our families against the damned Cherokee.”

Lieutenant Pratt continued with another question, “And how do they decide who makes a final decision?”

Captain Hampton replied, somewhat testily, “They all have the same goal, they’re close friends, and they make their decisions together. One thing they’ve decided is that we’re moving early in the morning to meet some men from North Carolina and Virginia. This should give us more than enough to whip Ferguson’s ass.”

Two days later, at a place called Quaker Meadows, they joined Colonel William Campbell, with 400 Virginians, and Colonel Benjamin Cleveland, with 350 men from North Carolina. One of the first things the five colonels decided was to contact Continental General Horatio Gates to request that he send a general as their commanding officer. Without waiting for this request to be answered, they agreed to meet each day to decide on tactics, and set out late in September 1780 to find Ferguson.

Ferguson had been searching for Elijah Clarke, but now he received word that the Georgians had reached their destination and that a large force of Over Mountain militia were prepared to drive him from western Carolina. He sent a message to Lord Cornwallis requesting support and decided to move closer toward the general’s encampment at Charlotte. In an attempt to recruit more Tories to join him, he issued a public appeal to the men of Carolina:

Unless you wish to be eat up by an inundation of barbarians, who by their shocking cruelties and irregularities give the best proof of their cowardice and want of discipline; I say, if you wish to be pinioned, robbed, and murdered, and see your wives and daughters, in four days, abused by the dregs of mankind—in short, if you wish or deserve to live, and bear the name of men, grasp your arms in a moment and run to camp.

The Back Water Men have crossed the mountains . . . so that you know what you have to depend upon. If you choose to be degraded forever and ever by a set of mongrels, say so at once, and let your women turn their backs upon you, and look out for real men to protect them.