In Honor Of The Three African American Patriots
York County, York County, South Carolina
Marker Inscription
In Honor Of The Three African American Patriots And Others Who Participated In The Battle Of Kings Mountain Esias Bowman John Broddy Andrew Ferguson
The Story
On October 7, 1780, the wooded ridge of Kings Mountain saw one of the Revolution's decisive Southern battles, where a force of frontier militia — the famed 'Overmountain Men' — surrounded and overwhelmed a Loyalist command in barely an hour. This memorial remembers that African Americans stood among those Patriots, naming Esias Bowman, John Broddy, and Andrew Ferguson alongside the others who fought. Their presence is a reminder that Black Americans, both free and enslaved, shared in the fighting and the risk of the War for Independence, even as the liberty they helped win was long denied to many of them.
Why it matters
It restores to the record the Black patriots who helped turn the tide of the Revolution in the South, insisting that the founding story include the African Americans who bore its dangers.
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Related people
- · Esias Bowman
- · John Broddy
- · Andrew Ferguson
Related events
- · Battle of Kings Mountain
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Hoover Monument
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This monument marks the spot where, on October 7, 1930, President Herbert Hoover stood before a crowd of some 75,000 people to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Kings Mountain. That 1780 clash was a turning point of the Revolution in the South, when Patriot backwoodsmen decisively defeated a Loyalist force on the ridge nearby. A century and a half later, the sesquicentennial drew a sitting president and one of the largest gatherings the region had ever seen.
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