does honor to his exalted patriotism. He said if he had complied his
men would neglect to _load_ and _fire_ as often as they should; would
gather around him to administer to his wants, and thus fail to do
their whole duty in opposing and conquering the enemy.

Such true devotion to the cause of freedom is worthy of our warmest
admiration, and forcibly illustrates the heroic spirit which animated
the band of patriots who achieved, on King's Mountain, one of the most
important and decisive victories of the American Revolution.

Colonel Hambright was long a worthy member and elder of the
Presbyterian church at Shiloh, in the present limits of Cleaveland
county. On his tombstone we have this plain inscription:

"In memory of Colonel Frederick Hambright, who departed this
life, March (figures indistinct) 1817, in the ninetieth year
of his age."

CHAPTER VIII.

BURKE COUNTY.

Burke county was formed in 1777 from Rowan county, and was named in
honor of the celebrated orator and statesman, Edmund Burke, an
Irishman by birth, and possessed of all the warm and impetuous order
of his countrymen. He early employed his pen in literature, and his
eloquence in politics. Having been introduced to the Marquis of
Rockingham, he made him his secretary and procured his election to the
House of Commons. He there eloquently pleaded the cause of the
Americans. During his political career he wrote much, and his
compositions rank among the purest of English classics. This true
friend of America died on the 8th of July, 1797, in the seventieth
year of his age.

At the commencement of the Revolutionary war the territory now lying
on and near the eastern base of the "Blue Ridge," or Alleghany chain
of mountains, constituted the borders of civilization, and suffered
frequently from marauding bands of Cherokee Indians, the great scourge
of Western North Carolina. The whole country west of Tryon county
(afterward Lincoln) was sparsely settled with the families of
adventurous individuals, who, confronting all dangers, had carved out
homes in the mountains and raised up hardy sons, deeply imbued with
the spirit of liberty, prepared to go forth, at a moment's warning, to
fight the battles of their country.

BATTLE OF THE COWPENS.

"There was Greene in the South; you must know him,--
Whom some called a 'Hickory Quaker;'
But he ne'er turned his back on the foemen,
Nor ever was known for a _shake