Near the end of the Revolutionary War there was a major battle fought at Kings Mountain near the North-South Carolina line a few miles west of Charlotte. Six hundred Tory (English sympathizer) prisoners were taken at the battle of Kings Mountain on October 7th, 1780. Leaving the scene of the battle the American patriot "Over Mountain Men" marched from Kings Mountain by way of Gilbert Town, arriving at was called "Biggerstaff Old Field" under the command of Colonel William Campbell where they stopped and camped on the site on October 14, 1780.
Cambell's soldiers had no food and they were not in the best moods. The soldiers and the officers united in presenting a complaint to Colonel Campbell demanding that he hold court and the prisoners to be tried for their crimes. Isaac Shelby had the North Carolina statutes brought from Gilbert Town. He formed a court from the North Carolina magistrates present to try the prisoners under North Carolina law, not by court martial. Court was called to order and thirty-nine soldiers were tried and sentenced to be hanged.
A huge oak tree was selected for the hanging. After nine soldiers were hung there, the proceedings were stopped by Colonel Issac Shelby. After the Patriots left, Mrs. Mary VanZandt Biggerstaff, wife of Aaron, with the help of an old man, cut down the bodies. Seven of the hanged men were buried in a shallow trench on the site. Her husband, Aaron Moore Biggerstaff ... who was Captain of Loyalist forces at Ramsour's Mill during the Revolution had been wounded during the battle at Kings Mountain ... and was one of the nine men hanged there that day, she buried in the Biggerstaff family cemetery nearby. Mary VanZandt had two brothers who served on the American side in the NC militia.
ALTERNATE INFO:
Chivous Bradley contacted this editor and states that Aaron Biggerstaff was wounded at Kings Mountain and taken to a hospital in York, South Carolina, where he died and that he was buried there. Thus he did not return to his farm and was not hanged on Oct. 14, 1780.
2016-06-11 22:46:12 R0g3r
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