as since told me, there would seem to be
little doubt that the major meant to fight when he had manoeuvered
himself into a favorable position; this in spite of Lord Cornwallis's
commands to the contrary. In his despatches he was continually urging
the need for a bold push in his quarter, and asking for Tarleton and a
sufficient number of the legion to enable him to cope with a mounted
enemy. But be this as it may, the garbled letter I had brought him
turned whatever scale there was to turn. He had now with him some eleven
hundred regulars and Tories, the latter decently well drilled; he had
every reason to expect the needed help from Cornwallis; and, on the
night of my arrival, he had word that another Tory force under Major
Gibbs would join him in a day or two, at farthest.

For his battle-ground Major Ferguson chose the top of a forest-covered
hill, the last and lowest elevation in the spur named that day King's
Mountain.

In some respects the position was all that could be desired. There was
room on the flat hilltop for an orderly disposition of the fighting
force; and the slopes in front and rear were steep enough to give an
attacking enemy a sharp climb. Moreover, there was a plentiful
outcropping of stone on the summit, scantiest on the broad or outer end
of the hill, and this was so disposed as to form a natural breastwork
for the defenders.

But there were disadvantages also, the chief of these being the heavy
wooding of the slopes to screen the advance of the assaulting party; and
while the major was busy making his dispositions for the fight, I was on
tenter-hooks for fear he would have the trees felled to belt the
breastwork with a clear space.

He did not do it, being restrained, as I afterward learned, by his
uncertainty as to whether or no the mountain men had cannon. Against
artillery posted on the neighboring hillocks the trees were his best
defense, and so he left them standing.

As you would suppose, my situation was now become most trying, and poor
Tybee's was scarcely less so. Knowing my name and circumstance, and
having, moreover, a high regard for my old field-marshal's genius, Major
Ferguson was very willing to make use of my experience. These askings
from one whom I knew for a brave and honorable gentleman let me fall
between two stools. As a patriot spy, it was my duty to turn the major's
confidence as a weapon against him. But as an officer and a gentleman I
could by no means descend to s