Maj Dad
Member
I went to King's Mountain Nat'l Military Park near York, SC, today, and was admiring the firearms & other weapons, naturally. They had a Ferguson rifle (designed by Maj Patrick Ferguson, the loyalist commander & the only Brit at the battle who was also killed) and other period English muskets, and different types of patriot southern long rifles, all very neat. But what I kept thinking about as my daughter & I walked the ridge where the battle took place was that the patriots carried those long rifles, of this pattern or that, and they fought the Loyalists and laid them down in droves with those muzzle loading varmint rifles. Rifleman and sharpshooter had a very different meaning then. My ancestor William Lowe fought in that battle and to walk that battlefield is humbling and inspiring to say the least. I won't try to summarize the history here, but if you have the opportunity to visit, you won't come away without some serious introspection and consideration of where we are as a nation today. John Boehner and I must have a common ancestor... 
