South Carolina Department of Archives and History |
National Register Properties in South Carolina Kings Mountain National Military Park, York County (S.C. Hwy. 161, Bethany vicinity) |
The Battle at Kings Mountain, fought between British loyalist forces and American patriots on October 7, 1780, ended a string of British successes in the Carolinas and Georgia. The Patriot victory at Kings Mountain temporarily halted the advance of a British army northward into North Carolina, and was the first in a string of British defeats that culminated in the October 1781 surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. The battlefield, composed of the 1,200-foot Battleground Ridge and its surrounding slopes, possesses integrity of location, setting, feeling, and association. The topography of the battlefield, which was key to the battle’s outcome, remains relatively unchanged. Monuments at the park include the 1880 Centennial Monument and McKim, Mead & White’s 1909 United States Monument. The park also includes many other historic markers, two extant house sites, two cemeteries, park administration buildings, and several historic roads. The history of commemoration at Kings Mountain represents the developing American national commemorative movement that emerged in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Five commemorative events, held in 1815, 1855, 1880, 1909 and 1930, marked the anniversaries of the battle or honored its participants. In 1909, the War Department recognized the site’s national significance and in 1931 Congress included Kings Mountain in the system of national military parks. In 1933, the National Park Service gained administrative authority over the battleground. Listed in the National Register October 15, 1966.
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