"Sweet Lips: The Battle of King's Mountain"

Joan S. Baity of Wilkesboro, NC, was kind enough to send to me a copy of the address by Judge T. B. Finley as he presented Rendezvous Mountain to the Daughters of the American Revolution at their Conference in Charlotte, NC, 2 Mar 1926. Rendezvous Mountain was the place where Colonel Ben stood to blow three long blasts from his tremendous horn to summon his fellow mountain men. There he trained the 225 patriots whom he later led to a rendezvous at Quaker Meadows, near Morgantown, NC, where he joined Campbell and Williams from Virginia, Sevier and Shelby from Tennesse, and the McDowells from North Carolina. These combined forces were the ones to win the pivotal battle at King's Mountain.

Madam Chairman, Officers and Daughters of the American Revolution:

It is with a great deal of diffidence that I appear before an organization composed of the most distinguished leaders of North Carolina, who are not only leaders in their own community, but the entire state, and not only leaders in all social and civic up-lift, but leaders in preserving history, the greatest of all secular human efforts; therefore, I deem it a rare honor to be permitted to address a conference composed of such distinguished citizens.

In order that you may full understand the nature of the proposed Park and patriotic shrine at Rendezvous Mountain, it is necessary to make a brief historic sketch of the surrounding country and conditions during the Revolutionary period and since.

In 1755 the Moravians, after making a tour of inspection over the northwest section of what is now North Carolina, selected what appeared to them to be the garden spot of the entire country. They granted forty-eight hundred acres, including the present Town of Wilkesboro, and forty-three hundred acres in the Yadkin Valley, west of Wilkesboro, now called Goshen, on account of its fertility. It is notable that the first grant does not include the bottom lands and plateaus on the North side of the Yadkin River where the Town of North Wilkesboro is now located. The legend is that when the surveyors reached the southern bank of the Yadkin River, they ascertained that the Indians had gathered in large numbers from along distance, and were having their annual corn dance on the north side of the Yadkin River; so the surveyors went up the south side of the river and crossed to the north side about a mile to the west of the Town of North Wilkesboro. By reason of the proximity of so many Indians, the Moravians later established their headquarters near where Winston-Salem is now located.

Surry County was formed from Rowan in 1770. Wilkes County was cut off from Surry in 1777, and extended to the Mississippi River, this being nearly twenty years before the State of Tennessee was formed. Colonel Benjamin Cleveland, a dominating historic character of the Revolutionary period, was chairman of the first county court. William Lenoir, of Revolutionary fame, afterwards General, was clerk of this court. One of the first cases tried in the county, as now appears on the old court records, was Daniel Boone vs. John Brown. The jury for its verdict said that John Brown owned the land in controversy. For sometime Daniel Boone had lived on Beaver Creek near the Yadkin River, in the western portion of the present county. The mound from his chimney is yet in evidence. Soon after losing his law-suit, doubtless chagrined by the fact that neighbors dared to maintain ownership of the land claimed by him, Daniel Boone moved from the beautiful valley of the Yadkin where he had lived for several years, crossed the Blue Ridge and went on through the Appalachian Mountains and Cumberland Gap into the Blue Grass fields of Kentucky. Therefore he was not present to participate in the Battle of King's Mountain, and the other battles engaged in by Wilkes County troops. At that time there were ten companies under the command of Colonel Ben Cleveland in Wilkes County. He lived at Roundabout on the Yadkin River, about fifteen miles east of Wilkesboro, where the Town of Ronda is now located. His brother Bob, who was captain of the companies, lived in the valley of Lewis Fork Creek. His two-story log house still stands. Bob Cleveland weighed 350 pounds. Among his tableware is still preserved his individual dish?twenty inches in length. Lewis Fork Valley and Reddies River Valley near by, where thickly settled at the time. Rendezvous Mountain is the highest point on a mountain range dividing these two valleys, and by reason of its location, was doubtless chosen by Colonel Ben Cleveland as the most suitable point to assemble his troops, because from this place the largest number of troops could be reached.

About twenty years ago Honorable Cyrus B. Watson, a distinguished lawyer and statesman, of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, at one time a candidate for the governor of our State, gave me the first inspiration to perpetuate the patriotic importance of Rendezvous Mountain. Mr. Watson stated that Colonel Ben Cleveland, who at the time weighed 300 pounds, and before his death weighed 450 pounds, had the largest horn ever seen in use; that he stood on top of Rendezvous Mountain and turned his horn toward Reddies River Valley on the north and gave three long blasts. That from this point he could see many of the patriots saddle their horse and start at a gallop in response to his summons; that then he would turn his immense horn to the southeast, over the intervening plateau, on to the Wilkesboros and Yadkin Valley, about nine miles distant, and give three more blasts, and then he would turn his horn to the southwest toward Happy Valley and the upper reaches of the Yadkin River and give three final blows from his immense trumpet that echoed and re-echoed and reverberated until it finally broke on the Blowing Rock, about thirty miles distant, and in a short time, by the relayed signals, his ten companies would assemble. So truly it can be said that a blast from Benjamin Cleveland's horn was worth a thousand men as he stood upon his native heath.

These troops were frequently assembled in a little wooded dell making a sylvan amphitheater near the crest of the mountain, where councils of war were held, and from this cradle of liberty bodies of troops were organized to suppress the Indians and to engage in many battles against the British, and from this point 225 picked troops were accepted without draft to accompany Colonel Ben Cleveland and his captains to King's Mountain, and there aid in winning a victory of national importance. In fact this battle, won largely by the prowess of soldiers from the mountain section, was the forerunner and principal cause of colonial independence culminating at Yorktown.

Colonel Ben Cleveland was noted for three things: his military genius, his many judicial positions, and stringent law enforcement. He not only presided over the first court in Wilkes County, but was also a dominant factor in the court martial proceedings that sentenced thirty-two Tories to death after the battle of King's Mountain. The "Tory Oak" still stands in the Court House square at Wilkesboro, on which Cleveland hung three Tories at one time, and two at another. He hung Tories on numerous occasions. In fact hanging Tories seemed to be an obsession with him at that period. After the Revolutionary War the government gave him 5000 acres of land in upper South Carolina, near the Georgia line, in recognition of his eminent services. After moving to South Carolina he became chairman of the District Court, with General Pickens and Colonel Anderson as associates.

History states that when the arguments by the attorneys were long and prosy he frequently went to sleep and his associates would wake him by nudging. This was when he weighed 450 pounds. Soon after he moved to South Carolina the Indians stole some of his horses and he went to see the chief. When the chief looked him over he decided that Cleveland could whip a hundred Indians, Cleveland went back with his horses.

Rendezvous Mountain is a beautiful spot and a suitable place for commemorating patriotic achievement. In fact it stands as a perpetual monument to the creative genius of the Great Architect of the Universe, and by your help will ever stand as a consecrated monument to the heroic deeds of our ancestors. Nature preaches a continuous sermon from the depths of the sounding sea to the tops of its everlasting hills. The mountains have ever been an inspiration to the musician, the poet, the patriot and the preacher. It was on Mount Sinai amid the thunder and clouds that the Ten Commandments were handed to Moses. It was on Mount Ararat that the human race was saved from the flood. The greatest sermon that ever fell from the lips of man was the Sermon on the Mount. In 1314 Scotland's freedom was won by Bruce, largely with the Scotch Highlanders at the Battle of Bannockburn, and the Battle of King's Mountain turned the tide of war for our revolutionary ancestors.

The best people in my section request your patriotic organization to "look to the hills from whence cometh our help" and aid them in making this mountain a patriotic shrine and perpetuate its history in commemorating its importance in the revolutionary period.

I bought the land on this mountain about twelve years ago, and sometime thereafter I made to some of the officers of your organization the same suggestion I am now making to you. They asked me to bring the matter definitely before them, but the pressure of many duties prevented. In fact the question of caring for the mountain and its surroundings was not solved until a few months ago, when it occurred to me that it be donated to the State as a Park to be held in trust in order that the roads might be built to it for reforestation and that it might be beautified and properly preserved; and that your organization place a bronze tablet on a boulder or monument erected on its highest peak with the names of the Revolutionary heroes thereon who assembled at King's Mountain, and that suitable camps be provided at the four springs on the four sides of this mountain, so that the North Carolinians and their tourist visitors will have a suitable place to rest while visiting this historic site.

Wilkes County, formed during the Revolutionary War, was named for John Wilkes, the British friend of the colonies in parliament. Its extensive domain has been cut down from time to time by the organization of the State of Tennessee and many counties in North Carolina until it attained it attained its present proportion. It is still one of the largest counties in the State, and by reason of the fact that it is nearly as large as the State of Rhode Island, it is sometimes called the "State of Wilkes." The County Seat was located at the confluence of two rivers and four creeks; so nature constituted this a central point. The Indians recognized it as a strategic point; the white men realized the same thing, and in recent years the State Highway Commission has recognized the same condition by converging six of its roads at the same place. Three of these highways cross the Blue Ridge and pass through Alleghany, Ashe and Watuaga Counties, and on to the middle and far west, thus verifying the slogan that Wilkesboro is the "key to the Blue Ridge." This was the largest territory east of the Mississippi River without a railroad when our road was built and terminated there over thirty years ago. This section is rich in historical lore and future possibilities. The towns are developing faster than any of the smaller towns in the western part of the state. Therefore I beg you to use your best efforts in organizing a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, so that unrecorded history can be gathered from the vast territory and this enable it to take its place among the other historic spots in the Grand Old North State that your honorable body has heretofore consecrated by your services.

When all arrangements are completed and you get ready for the final dedication of this monument in this State Park, on this beautiful mountain, that is radiant with attractive and picturesque scenery, where the primeval forest, flowers and vines produce nature?s most fragrant odors, "like incense swung from an unseen censer," then we invite you, one and all to come and participate in the celebration that will be unequalled by any in that entire section of the country.

In the first years of the last century a great battle was fought on the plains of the Danube. A determined charge on the Austrian center gained the victory for France. The courage and example of a private soldier, who there fell, contributed much to the success of the charge. Ever after, at the parades of his Battalion, the name the name of Latour D'Auvergne was first called, when the oldest Sergeant stepped to the front and answered, "Died on the field of honor."

Madam Chairman and ladies, may you so continue your patriotic services that in Valhalla, beyond the grave, where spirits of warriors and patriots assemble, when the Supreme Regent of the Universe calls the roll and your names are reached, it will be for the majestic shades of Washington and Lee to pronounce the highest eulogy known to our race, "Died on the field of duty."

Since the above was written, Major J.E. Alexander, of Winston-Salem, has informed the writer that the Hon. C.B. Watson was very familiar with the history of Rendezvous Mountain by reason of the fact that was attorney for Mr. Cloud, of Georgia, who was administrator for his uncle, Judge Cloud, who was a great-great-grand nephew of Colonel Benjamin Cleveland, and that Judge Cloud owned the immense metal horn used by Colonel Cleveland in assembling his soldiers on Rendezvous Mountain.

That Mr. Watson told the administrator that if he would donate this horn to him, in order that he might put in the Hall of History, he would not charge him any additional fee for his services. Mr. Cloud agreed to this, but asked permission to take the horn to Georgia and show it to his people and that he would return it. The horn never was returned. Negotiations are now pending to get possession of this horn if possible.

The Daughters of the American Revolution at the conference at Charlotte, after the speech of Judge Finley, adopted a resolution thanking him for the opportunity offered them to participate in this patriotic purpose, and also resolved to erect two monuments on Rendezvous Mountain: one to the memory of Benjamin Cleveland and his soldiers, and the other, on which they will put a bronze tablet, thanking Judge T.B. Finley, of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, for his services in connection with the re-dedication of this mountain.

c2002 by Vikki L. Jeanne Cleveland and Cleveland Family Chronicles
All rights reserved.

Overmountain Victory Trail Association
Support group for the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail: They have been the primary support and caretaker of the trail and the Campaign to the Battle of Kings Mountain since it was designated by Congress in 1980.

Links to Other Clevelands

Cleveland Family Chronicles
Cleveland Family Forum
Colonel Benjamin Cleveland
Edmund Janes Cleveland and Horace Gillette Cleveland
Original Immigrant of the Southern Clevelands
Original Immigrant of the Northern Clevelands
In Memory of L. Jeanne Cleveland
The Cleveland Connection to Black Hawk Down: SSG William David Cleveland, Jr.
The Cleveland Coat of Arms
President Grover Cleveland
Early History of the Cleveland Family
The Cleveland/Cromwell Connection
The Prevost Novel on "The Natural Son of Cromwell"
More Genealogical Links
Rooting Out Your AnceStory: A Primer for Beginning Genealogy

E-mail Vikki L. Jeanne Cleveland at
vikki4cfc(at)yahoo.com

Graphics courtesy of Linda's Border Sets
and Free Market Net