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Natural Spring at Kings Mountain National Military Park

Introduction

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The spring is the only source of water on the battlefield and is one of the reasons that Ferguson chose this area for his encampment. After the battle, women came to the battlefield and to this spring to get water for the wounded. 109 years later, women returned to the battlefield to preserve the memory of those wounded and killed here.

Images

  • The Daughters of the American Revolution with the Ferguson Monument on Memorial Day, 1939. Photo Courtesy of Kings Mountain National Military Park
  • Colonel Hawthorne Monument located next to the U.S. Monument. Photo Courtesy of Melissa Barnett.
  • Colonel Asbury Monument located next to the Centennial Monument. Photo Courtesy of Melissa Barnett

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) took ownership of the battlefield in 1898 and held it until the federal government took it over 1931. The DAR is a nonprofit patriotic organization run by women to promote historic preservation, education, and patriotism. The rock monuments with plaques throughout the battlefield trail are placed by three local chapters of the DAR honoring men who fought here for liberty or to protect the battlefield.

Question:  Who decides what or who is memorialized?

Sources

Robert M. Dunkerly, Kings Mountain Walking Tour Guide, (2003: Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Dorrance Publishing),  17.

What is DAR, Daughters of the American Revolution, https://www.dar.org/national-society/become-member/what-dar

Margaret Adams Gist, “Keepers of the Dead Who Sleep on the Hill”, Charlotte Observer, October 5, 1930.