344 The Winning of the West 



pointed to the ground, called on them ior God's 

 sake to cease firing ; and turning to the prisoners he 

 bade the officers rank by themselves, and the men 

 to take off their hats and sit down. He then or- 

 dered De Peyster to dismount ; which the latter did, 

 and handed his sword to Campbell. 65 The various 

 British officers likewise surrendered their swords, to 

 different Americans ; many of the militia command- 

 ers who had hitherto only possessed a tomahawk or 

 scalping-knife thus for the first time getting posses- 

 sion of one of the coveted weapons. 



Almost the entire British and tory force was killed 

 or captured ; the only men who escaped were the few 

 who got through the American lines by adopting the 

 whig badges. About three hundred of the loyalists 

 were killed or disabled ; the slightly wounded do not 

 seem to have been counted. 66 The colonel-com- 

 mandant was among the slain; of the four militia 

 colonels present, two were killed, one wounded, 67 

 and the other captured a sufficient proof of the ob- 



65 Campbell MSS. Letter of General George Rutledge 

 (who was in the battle, an eye-witness of what he describes), 

 May 27, 1813. But there is an irreconcilable conflict of testi- 

 mony as to whether Campbell or Evan Shelby received De 

 Peyster's sword. 



66 For the loyalist losses, see ante, note discussing their 

 numbers. The "South Carolina Loyalist" says they lost 

 about a third of their number. It is worthy of note that 

 the actual fighting at King's Mountain bore much resem- 

 blance to that at Majuba Hill a century later; a backwoods 

 levy was much like a boer commando. 



67 In some accounts this officer is represented as a major, 

 in some as a colonel ; at any rate he was in command of a 

 small regiment, or fragment of a regiment. 



