35 The Winning of the West 



were hurried along by the fierce and boastful vic- 

 tors, who gloried in the vengeance they had taken, 

 and recked little of such a virtue as magnanimity to 

 the fallen. The only surgeon in either force was 

 Ferguson's. He did what he could for the wounded ; 

 but that was little enough, for, of course, there were 

 no medical stores whatever. The Americans buried 

 their dead in graves, and carried their wounded 

 along on horse-litters. The wounded loyalists were 

 left on the field, to be cared for by the neighboring 

 people. The conquerors showed neither respect nor 

 sympathy for the leader who had so gallantly fought 

 them, 75 His body and the bodies of his slain fol- 

 lowers were cast into two .shallow trenches, and 

 loosely covered with stones and earth. The wolves, 

 coming to the carnage, speedily dug up the carcasses, 

 and grew so bold from feasting at will on the dead 

 that they no longer feared the living. For months 

 afterward King's Mountain was a favorite resort for 

 wolf hunters. 



The victory once gained, the bonds of discipline 

 over the troops were forthwith loosened; they had 

 been lax at the best, and only the strain of the immi- 

 nent battle with the British had kept them tense for 

 the fortnight the mountaineers had been away from 

 their homes. All the men of the different commands 

 were bragging as to their respective merits in the 

 battle, and the feats performed by the different com- 



76 But the accounts of indignity being shown him are not 

 corroborated by Allaire and Ryerson, the two contemporary 

 British authorities, and are probably untrue. 



