The Kentuckian

It is time we turn our attention to the South once more. The region is full of first patriots whose names were legendary to the generations after the struggle for independence but are now faded into the mists of time. The Southern struggle is most remembered for the exploits of Marion and Sumter. Yet countless others played roles both big and small. Not the least of these were those tough fighters called the “Over Mountain Men.” Hard-nosed and tough-fisted settlers west of the Appalachian Mountains, experienced in hunting, fighting, and hard liquor. This edition profiles one of these: Isaac Shelby.

Family of Migrants

Isaac Shelby was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, on December 11, 1750. His father, Evan Shelby, from Tregaron, Cardiganshire, Wales, had come to America in 1734. Around 1773, Evan moved his family to the Holston region of what is now upper East Tennessee, which was then part of Virginia.

In mid-18th century, the Alleghenies
were the western frontier

Raised on the Range

Young Isaac grew up immersed in the rough and tumble world of frontier life and fighting. He quickly learned to use arms and became familiar with the hardships of Western life. He received a solid education, worked on his father's plantation, occasionally surveyed land, and became a deputy sheriff at age eighteen.

Frontier cabin

Big Strong Man

Isaac Shelby was a large man, standing six feet tall, strong, and well-proportioned, with a striking face and a ruddy complexion. He could endure long hours of work, physical hardships, and great fatigue. Dignified and impressive in manner, he was also friendly and charming. In short, he was a natural leader. Additionally, he was intelligent and had clear executive skills that helped him both in peace and in war.

Shelby in later life

 Lord Dunmore's War

When the Earl of Dunmore, Virginia's Royal Governor John Murray, went to war with the Shawnee under Chief Cornstalk, Shelby joined the local militia as a lieutenant, serving under his father. On October 10, 1774, young Shelby fought in the Battle of Point Pleasant. He scored an early victory in the fight by charging the high ground on the Indian flank, causing them to leave the field. This was just a preview of what was to come.

John Murray,Royal Governor of
Virginia

A Rebel Goes West

The American Revolution intensified in 1775, and by 1776, Shelby had rejoined the militia, this time as a captain. Virginia’s governor, Patrick Henry, appointed him to a position on Virginia’s western frontier. There, he provided direct support to Colonel George Rogers Clark’s campaign into the Illinois Territory. Isaac also contributed to his father’s victory over the Indian chief Dragging Canoe in a battle on the Tennessee River in 1779.

Shelby provided logistic support to
George Rogers Clark's western campaign

Me? A Tar Heel?

Eighteenth-century boundaries in this region were mostly informal. When he discovered that his homestead was actually in North Carolina, Isaac became a militia colonel there. He also earned a seat in the state assembly. 

Although a newly minted Tar Heel, Shelby was in Kentucky when Charleston fell to the British in 1780, and the victorious and exuberant redcoats began to overrun his state. Upon hearing of the new threat, he rushed home and gathered around 200 men for the cause. He quickly teamed up with Colonel Joseph McDowell to try to stop the advance of British General Charles Cornwallis and his Loyalist supporters.

The Fall of Charleston opened up the Carolinas
to the Southern Strategy

Guerrilla Days

His first major test came on July 31 when Shelby and his men managed to surround Thickety Fort on the Pacolet River. His confidence and cleverness allowed him to persuade the commander to surrender his 94 men. Shelby then joined forces with a group of partisans led by Lieutenant Colonel Elijah Clarke. With a combined force of 200 men, they attacked a Loyalist outpost at Musgrove Mills. Although outnumbered nearly two to one, they drove off the Loyalists in a fierce skirmish.

Enter the Counter Guerrilla

These activities threatened Cornwallis’s security, leading the British general to send arguably the army’s top guerrilla fighter, Major Patrick Ferguson. However, after the patriot army under General Horatio Gates was defeated at Camden on August 16, 1780, nearly all resistance broke down across the south. It appeared that the British “southern strategy“ was about to succeed.

Major Patrick Ferguson

 Run Away

For his part, Shelby retreated west with McDowell, and their forces disappeared into the frontier hinterland. There, they waited out the events. However, local atrocities committed by Loyalist bands angered the Southerners, leading to a series of partisan and guerrilla actions, and they continued to resist.

Partisan militia

 The Lord's Prayer

Seeking to bring the Carolinas under British control, Lord Cornwallis marched an army into North Carolina in a risky move that would end up backfiring. Alongside him was Ferguson, who issued a bold challenge to the “Over Mountain Men,” as the frontier rebels were called. The message was clear: submit to the crown, or their homes would be destroyed. But the men of the west were not impressed. In fact, this only motivated the frontiersmen.

Major General Charles Cornwallis

Band of Brothers, Tough Mothers

Shelby, along with another Overmountain man from Tennessee, John Sevier, assembled a force of 200 volunteers, gathered at Sycamore Shoals, and soon headed into war-torn North Carolina. There, they joined forces with Colonel William Campbell. Driven by a desire for revenge, the Overmountain men fiercely advanced to confront Ferguson. The feeling was mutual. The famed counter-guerrilla led a force of about 900 Loyalists eager to suppress the rebels.

John Sevier - another
Over Mountain Bad Ass

Go Tell it to the Mountain

But the tide turned against Ferguson, who was trapped on a high ground called King’s Mountain (just over the border in South Carolina) and cut off from the main British column under Cornwallis. Withering and accurate fire from the western rifles devastated the Loyalists. Ferguson was shot while trying to rally a defense and soon died. The few who did not taste lead eventually surrendered. Shelby played a key role in planning and executing the operation and soon became a local hero.

Kings Mountain was a turning point in the South

 Draining the Swamp, with the Swamp Fox

After King’s Mountain, Cornwallis’s strategy began to fall apart. However, there was still more fighting to be done. Shelby teamed up with the famous partisan general Francis Marion and helped capture Monk’s Corner. Fighting continued throughout the South even after Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown in October 1781. Nonetheless, the British and their loyal allies were defeated.

Francis Marion and his partisan militia

The Kentuckian

After the war, Shelby retired to private life, where his heroics during the conflict paved the way for a successful political career. He moved to Kentucky and helped organize the territory, build infrastructure, and strengthen defenses against the Indians and their British allies. On April 19, 1783, at Boonesboro, he married Susannah Hart, the daughter of Captain Nathaniel Hart, one of Kentucky's earliest settlers. Susannah eventually bore him eleven children.

Susannah Hart Shelby

 Politician, Pundit, and Warrior

In 1792, he was elected governor of the recently admitted state. He criticized President Washington’s foreign policy. Many westerners wanted a more aggressive stance against the British forts to the west and the Native Americans. 

However, he provided unwavering support to Major General Anthony Wayne’s Legion during the Indian campaigns of 1794. In 1812, Shelby was elected governor once again. His military and organizational skills were put to work mobilizing Kentucky’s militia for war. In 1813, he personally led a force of 3,500 mounted riflemen north to support General William Henry Harrison’s army near Thames, Ontario. After the war, Congress struck a gold medal in his honor.

Gen Anthony Wayne's American Legion

 Diplomat to the Indians

 In 1817, he turned down President James Madison’s offer to serve as Secretary of War. His last major contribution to the Overmountain region came in 1818 when he, Andrew Jackson, and others negotiated the “Jackson Purchase,” which transferred control of the western districts of Kentucky and Tennessee from the Chickasaw Indians. This opened the western region to settlement. To honor this service, the Tennessee General Assembly named Shelby County (Memphis) after him.

President James Madison

 A Model for the West

The fighting governor died near Danville, Kentucky, in July 1826. He was mourned as a distinguished public servant and soldier. One of the nation’s most notable frontiersmen, Shelby served as an example for future frontiersmen who would help establish the Republic of Texas and strengthen America’s westward expansion.

Shelby Cemetery is a KY historic site

Loyal Hillbilly

It has been a while since the Yankee Doodle Spies mentioned the Loyalists – those very proper Americans who remained loyal to the King and Britain during times of political upheaval and bloody war. Usually, these folks were conservative and well-mannered. But they did have their share of tough characters. One of these was a notorious and stubborn orphan from the backwoods of the Carolinas.

Life in the Back Hills

David Fanning was born in Birch Swamp, Amelia County, Virginia, in 1755. In July 1764, Fanning was orphaned. As a result, the young David was bound to Needham Bryan (Bryant), a county justice in Johnson County, North Carolina. The justice provided for his education but was, by Fanning’s account, harsh. Or maybe young David was a bit of a handful. So, in 1773, when Fanning was 18 and of legal age, he left his guardian and moved to Raeburn’s Creek in the western part of South Carolina. There, the young man farmed and traded with the nearby Cherokee Indians. Although life on the frontier was not easy, it was reasonably good for the enterprising young David Fanning.

Fanning in the backcountry

Things started to shift when the American Revolution erupted in 1775. At that time, Fanning was a company sergeant in the Upper Saluda militia of South Carolina. Most upcountry Carolinians sympathized with the crown and viewed the lowland planters and merchants with suspicion. Tensions arose. A delegation from the lowlands forged a fragile truce, which was broken when a local Loyalist was arrested in November. Soon, rumors spread that the rebels were recruiting the Indians to their cause. That was it. After being accosted and robbed by patriot militias, Fanning chose to align with the local Loyalist faction.

Fighting for the King

David Fanning served under Major Joseph Robinson during military operations in western South Carolina. He was part of the force that captured a large Patriot garrison at the key Fort Ninety Six in November 1775. However, Fanning was nearly captured himself in December of that year during the battle at Big Cane Break. Evading the local patriots, Fanning fled to the Cherokee Indians.

The Fort at Ninety Six

Now regarded as a notorious Loyalist, Fanning was captured by the rebels in January 1776. This marked the first of what could be a record 14 times during the war! In some of these instances, he was paroled, but the cunning and relentless Fanning made numerous daring escapes. Between these periods of imprisonment, Fanning demonstrated himself as a ruthless, resourceful, and aggressive Loyalist officer. He tirelessly led partisan units in nearly continuous skirmishes with rebel forces in the region. He was a key figure in the little-known but decisive backwoods civil war that eventually swayed the Carolinians against their British rulers and Loyalist supporters of the crown.

David Fanning made numerous escapes

The Loyalists take a Knee

But by August 1779, most of the Loyalists were losing hope. They had suffered heavy losses, and it seemed like the South would fall to the crown. Many of them, including Fanning, accepted a conditional pardon from Governor John Rutledge. This kept Fanning out of the fighting for several months. Fanning’s many adventures had taken a toll on him. By his own words, he was exhausted, worn out, and looked frail. His numerous wounds and injuries had worn him down. Fanning even agreed to guide Patriot militia units in the backcountry as part of his pardon.

The British capture of Charleston marked a new dynamic in the
southern theater of operations

But things changed when the British shifted their strategy to the south. A British force besieged Charleston, and its fall and occupation led to a British move to secure all the key positions in the state. The decisive defeat of the Continental forces under General Horatio Gates by British General Lord Cornwallis made it clear that the British were here to stay.

The South in Flames

These events reignited the passion of the Loyalists, and they rallied to the cause once more—fanning the flames with them. Bloody civil war erupted again across the southern backwoods, and this time Fanning was at the forefront of the Loyalist effort. With South Carolina under British control and Cornwallis’s army in charge, Fanning and other Loyalist leaders now had a steady flow of weapons and supplies. With the outlook grim for the rebels, Loyalist bands found it easy to recruit and equip fighters.

The Southern Theater would prove Decisive
and violent

This high watermark of Loyalist ascendancy did not last long. One of the American cause’s best generals was sent south to energize the southern theater. Nathanael Green proved a persistent and classic resistance leader. Giving ground when he had to, making stands—successful or not—while keeping his army in the field and active. Cornwallis had to destroy his army. He damaged it, but could not destroy it.

Nathanael Greene's arrival turned the
tide in the Southern Theater

The West is Lost

 Cornwallis would fail to destroy
Greene and make a grave mistake

In his eagerness to pursue the resisting rebel army, Cornwallis used Loyalist units to guard his western flank from Patriot militias threatening it. He dispatched a large Loyalist detachment led by his most experienced counter-guerrilla leader, Major Patrick Ferguson, to disperse the backwoods Patriots. Ferguson was unaware that a large group of "Over Mountain men' was reinforcing the locals. Ferguson was caught on King's Mountain. Surrounded, he fought the hated rebels. The Battle of Kings Mountain was mainly a Loyalist versus Patriot conflict. Defeating the Loyalists shifted the southern theater in the West to the rebels' advantage.

With prospects looking bleak for Loyalists in the West, Fanning took his band and moved east and north to Deep River, North Carolina, where he conducted operations against local patriots. His success led to his appointment as Colonel of the Loyalist militia of Chatham and Randolph counties. For several months, Fanning ruthlessly launched raids throughout western North Carolina. He had now become one of the most feared Loyalist partisan commanders in the region. 

American victory at King's Mountain crushed
the loyal oppositionin the western Carolinas

Guerrilla Days in Carolina

Fanning was a typical guerrilla leader. He would move quickly and strike hard, sometimes with only 12 men. Many of these raids ended with the capture and ransom or parole of key patriot sympathizers and political figures. He took part in about 36 skirmishes in 1781 alone. One of these was a raid on a court session in Chatham County. Fanning’s supporters captured 53 prisoners, including court officials, militia officers, and members of the North Carolina General Assembly.

Fanning's Loyalist militia raised Cain among the patriots

Fanning led the Loyalist militia at the battle at the House in the Horseshoe in the summer of 1781, where he forced the surrender of a Patriot militia force. By the end of that summer, Fanning's notoriety had drawn about 950 Loyalist men to his command. He was ready for the big time.

Conventional War Success… and Failure

With a sizable force at his disposal, Fanning was determined to use it. And he did. On September 12, 1781, he led nearly 1,000 Loyalists in a surprise attack against the rebel forces at Hillsboro, North Carolina. At that time, Hillsboro was the main Patriot base in the region and served as a temporary capital. He overwhelmed the Patriot defenses and captured 200 prisoners, including Governor Thomas Burke. Hillsboro marked his most notable success in the war.

After the victory at Hillsboro, Fanning is ambushed
at Lindley's Mill

But Fanning’s brief success as a traditional force commander did not last long. He led his victorious column, along with prisoners, back to Wilmington. When he reached the area around Lindley’s Mill, a rebel force of 400 under Brigadier General John Butler launched a fierce attack on Fanning’s men. The fighting was intense, and the surprised Loyalist force would have fallen apart if not for Fanning’s personal leadership. He held off Butler’s attacks and managed to bring his column safely to Wilmington, but he was badly wounded in the process. Thanks to Fanning's resolve, the unfortunate Governor Burke was imprisoned by the British Army on James Island near Charleston, South Carolina.

NC Gov Thomas Burke 

Decline in Fortunes

In November 1781, the British withdrew from Wilmington upon news of Yorktown. The war seemed over, but the Loyalists who remained with the colors would not surrender so easily. The bitter civil war left many desperate for revenge and unwilling to compromise or submit to the rebels they despised. Fanning was one of them. He continued leading partisan bands against the patriots. He launched a series of bitter attacks on patriot settlements that persisted into 1782—most of us consider that year one of quiet as the final treaty was negotiated.

Loyalist Provisionals

But Fanning was tired and worn out. The clever backwoodsman saw the signs of change. It was time to go back to a normal life. As a first step toward that, he married Sarah Carr, a 16-year-old young woman from the settlement of Deep River, North Carolina.

Charleston Harbor would provide many Loyalists'
final glimpse of the country the fought so hard to keep loyal

Fanning finally accepted a conditional truce from the local American government and agreed to suspend further military action. Now resigned to his fate and that of his cause, Fanning and his young bride went to Charleston, where he was deported along with other Loyalists to British Florida. Fanning’s success against the patriots and his notoriety as a guerrilla caused the North Carolina legislature to ban him from ever entering the state. This seems a bitter reminder of his accomplishments.

Oh Canada!

Like many other members of the Loyalist diaspora, Fanning did not stay long in his first refuge. After a few months, he traveled to New Brunswick, Canada—one of thousands who moved there for a better life under the crown. His natural leadership earned him a seat in the legislative assembly until he became involved in a shocking scandal in 1800. Fanning was charged and convicted of raping 15-year-old Sarah London and was sentenced to hang. The evidence against him was limited—mainly her testimony—but Fanning had few friends among his Loyalist peers. The fierce man from the hills had brought his fiery ways to Canada. He appealed the sentence, and instead of being hanged, he was banished from New Brunswick.

Canada provided refuge for many Loyalists
after the American Revolution

Fanning proved resourceful when given a second chance. He moved to the small port town of Digby, Nova Scotia. Fanning spent the rest of his life in Digby. He built a comfortable house and engaged in farming, fishing, and shipbuilding. Although he still wanted to return to New Brunswick to settle his financial affairs, his petitions to Thomas Carleton, Provincial Secretary Jonathan Odell, and other officials went unanswered.

Digby, Nova Scotia, was one of many
Loyalist landing places  in Canada

In any case, considering his eight years of fighting and mayhem, the loyal and steadfast David Fanning managed to live to a reasonably old age. He died on March 14, 1825.

A Loyal Life Well Lived?

The tough and wiry, Fanning was a stubborn and determined man in both war and peace. As a Loyalist militia leader, he proved zealous and often highly effective. However, he was neither gentle nor the type of intellectual loyalist, refined and smug, who sat out the war in the secure comforts of New York, Charleston, or England. Instead, Fanning fought tenaciously, fiercely, and sometimes cruelly against former friends and neighbors. Rather than earning admiration, his successes made him unpopular with the privileged Loyalist gentry of New Brunswick.

But the last laugh and irony from this angry and combative former hillbilly was his epitaph in the Trinity churchyard at Digby: “Humane, affable, gentle, and kind – A plain honest open moral mind.”

Colonel David Fanning resting place
in Digby, Nova Scotia

In my take, it should have read: “I’m Loyal – Love it or Shove it.”

Shallow Ford

A Humble Crossing

The Shallow Ford, about 15 miles west of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is a shallow part of the Yadkin River that, during colonial times, provided a safe crossing for travelers. The ford is formed by a sand and gravel bar. Upstream, a stretch of hard rock crosses the river, and below this rock, the gradient lessens, which weakens the current and deposits sediment, creating the bar that makes up the crossing. It served as a natural game crossing and fish trap used by the Native Americans. 

By 1748, six families had settled near the ford. Within two years, a ferry and tavern operated there. Soon after, Moravians settled nearby and built the first road to the ford, with several others following over the years, making it a kind of transportation hub. By the time of the American Revolution, the Shallow Ford was an important crossing point for travelers. Although the Yadkin River could be crossed at other fords and ferries, heavier wagons could only cross at two places: the Trading Ford, near Salisbury (Rowan County), and the Shallow Ford (Surry County). Several roads converged on both sides of the river. This modest crossing played a small but significant role in shaping the outcome of the war.

Shallow Ford

A Southern Strategy

Gen Cornwallis

The year 1780 was to be a comeback year for the British in North America with their shift to a "southern strategy." And it initially proved to be a successful and effective plan. By the fall of 1780, the British commander in the south, General Charles Cornwallis, moved north into North Carolina after taking control of most of Georgia and South Carolina. The final phase of the grand strategy was to dominate the entire south before moving north into Virginia. He had established his headquarters in Charlotte, where bands of Loyalists gathered to support the crown.

Loyalist Militia gathered with the arrival of Cornwallis

The absence of local patriot militia groups that had gone to King's Mountain created a vacuum for Loyalists to rise and cause chaos in their counties. In Surry County, local Loyalist brothers Gideon and Hezekiah Wright gathered hundreds of Tories who started taking revenge on the properties of absent patriots and killing those who opposed them. On October 3rd and 8th, they attacked patriots in Richmond, the county seat, where they also killed the county sheriff.

Western NC and Surrey Co in 1780

When news spread of the Loyalist uprising, patriots from nearby areas began to mobilize to stop them. The news of the surprise defeat of the renowned Major Patrick Ferguson at King's Mountain helped energize the patriots, who had been subdued by Cornwallis's maneuver north. Now things were beginning to change. 

Patriot militia General William Lee Davidson now believed that the local Tories intended to join Lord Cornwallis's forces in Charlotte. He sent fifty men from Charlotte, along with two companies of patriot militia from Salisbury. They were joined by 160 men from Montgomery County, Virginia, under Major Joseph Cloyd (who had come to the Carolinas to fight the now-deceased Ferguson). All of the converging patriots came under the leadership of Cloyd.

A Place of Battle

Competing militias would clash in a small but pivotal battle
along the Yadkin River at Shallow Ford

All this activity reached a boiling point on October 14, when a group of 600 Loyalists led by Colonel Gideon Wright crossed the Yadkin River en route to join General Cornwallis in Charlotte. Early Saturday morning, October 14, Cloyd's force of 350 men waited on the west side of a small stream near the Shallow Ford crossing of the Yadkin River. Around 9:30, they spotted the Loyalist force that had terrorized the county for weeks. The Loyalists, numbering between 400 and 900, crossed the Yadkin and headed west along Mulberry Fields Road. A shout of "Tory! Tory!" went up among the patriots. From across the creek, they heard similar cries of "Rebel! Rebel!"

NC patriot militia

The patriots deployed and quickly formed battle lines. Volleys were exchanged. One Captain James Bryan, of the notorious Tory Bryan clan, who led the front of the Loyalist forces, was swiftly killed. Five rifle balls went through him and his horse. The patriots advanced toward the ford as the Loyalists retreated and regrouped. Captain Henry Francis of the Virginia militia was shot through the head and fell dead a few steps from his son, Henry. His other son, John, took careful aim and fired at the Loyalist who had killed his father. 

Despite being outnumbered, the patriots soon gained the advantage, and several more Loyalists fell. After another quick exchange of fire, the Loyalists retreated chaotically across the Yadkin, shouting, "We are whipped, we are whipped." Enraged patriots beat the wounded Loyalists to death after their comrades had fled. A black Loyalist named Ball Turner continued to fire at the patriots. An angry group of patriots found his position and riddled him with musket balls. The Loyalists soon made good their escape. Captain Henry Francis of the Whigs lost his life, and four others were wounded. The Loyalists suffered about fifteen killed. The engagement lasted less than an hour.

Shallow Ford Battle Marker

Aftermath

As the engagement ended, a relief party of three hundred militia under Colonel John Peasley arrived, along with Colonel Joseph Williams of Surrey County. Williams had heard the musket fire from his nearby home. The next day, Major General William Smallwood arrived at Salem with about 150 horsemen, thirty infantry, and three wagons. Smallwood, a Marylander, had been put in charge of all North Carolina militia. 

As a colonel in 1776, Smallwood had commanded the renowned Maryland Line on Long Island and is featured in my novel of that campaign, The Patriot Spy. Smallwood had left Guilford Courthouse the previous day. Seeing that the local force had defeated the Loyalists, he launched his men in pursuit of those who had fled. As a result of Shallow Ford, the Wright brothers' Loyalist forces in Surry County were effectively neutralized for the duration of the war. Hezekiah Wright himself was later shot and wounded in his own home. His brother Gideon fled to the safety of Charlestown, where he died on August 9, 1782.

General William Smallwood

The results of the double defeats at King's Mountain and Shallow Ford dealt a major blow to Cornwallis: patriot morale surged along with their numbers, while demoralized North Carolina Loyalists were never able to rally such a force again. Cornwallis had to retreat into South Carolina for the winter. His grand strategy was delayed by a year, with even more serious implications for any hope of a British victory.

Fittingly, the Shallow Ford played a minor role the following year when, on 7 & 8 February, Cornwallis's army crossed it in the legendary pursuit of General Nathanael Greene during the maneuvers that led to the Battle of Guilford Court House on 15 March 1781.