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. [Footnote: 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 resemblance to that at Majuba Hill a century later; a backwoods levy was much like a Boer commando.] The colonel-commandant was among the slain; of the four militia colonels present, two were killed, one wounded, [Footnote: 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.] and the other captured--a sufficient proof of the obstinacy of the resistance. The American loss in killed and wounded amounted to less than half, perhaps only a third, that of their foes. [Footnote: The official report as published gave the American loss as twenty-eight killed and sixty wounded. The original document (in the Gates MSS., N. Y. Hist. Soc.) gives the loss in tabulated form in an appendix, which has not heretofore been published. It is as follows:
KILLED | WOUNDED | Col. | Col. | | Major. | | Major. | | | Capt. | | | Capt. | | | | Lieut. | | | | Lieut. | | | | | Ensign. | | | | | Ensign. | | | | | | Sergt. | | | | | | Sergt. | | | | | | | Private. | | | | | | Private. REGIMENTS. | | | | | | | Total.| | | | | | | Total. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Grand | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Total. Campbell's.. 1 2 4 5 12 | 1 3 17 21 33 McDowell's.. 4 4 | 4 4 8 Thomas'..... | 8 8 8 Cleavland's. 8 8 | 1 2 10 13 21 Shelby's.... | Sevier's.... 2 2 | 10 10 12 Hayes'...... 1 1 | 3 3 4 Brannon's... | 3 3 3 Col. Williams'1 1 | 1 ----------------------------------------------------- 1 1 1 2 4 19 28 | 1 3 3 55 62 90
It will be seen that these returns are imperfect. They do not include Shelby's loss; yet his regiment was alongside of Campbell's, did its full share of the work, and probably suffered as much as Sevier's, for instance. But it is certain that in the hurry not all the killed and wounded were enumerated (compare Draper, pp. 302-304). Hayes', Thomas', and "Brannon's" (Brandon's) commands were some of those joining at the Cowpens. Winston's loss is doubtless included under Cleavland's. It will be seen that Williams' troops could have taken very little part in the action.] Campbell's command suffered more than any other, the loss among the officers being especially great; for it bore the chief part in withstanding the successive bayonet charges of the regulars, and the officers had been forced to expose themselves with the utmost freedom, in order to rally their men when beaten back. [Footnote: It would be quite impossible to take notice of the countless wild absurdities of the various writers who have given "histories" so-called, of the battle. One of the most recent of them, Mr. Kirke, having accepted as the number of the British dead two hundred and twenty-five, and the wounded one hundred and eighty five, says that the disproportion shows "the wonderful accuracy of the backwoods rifle"--the beauty of the argument being that it necessarily implies that the backwoodsmen only fired some four hundred and ten shots. Mr. Kirke's account of the battle having been "won" owing to a remarkable ride taken by Sevier to rally the men at the critical moment is, of course, without any historic basis whatever.]