At so important a crisis the good-sense and sincere patriotism of the men in command made them sink all personal and local rivalries.  On the 2d of October they all gathered to see what could be done to stop the disorders and give the army a single head; for it was thought that in a day or two they would close in with Ferguson.  They were in Col.  Charles McDowell’s district, and he was the senior officer; but the others distrusted his activity and judgment, and were not willing that he should command.  To solve the difficulty Shelby proposed that supreme command should be given to Col.  Campbell, who had brought the largest body of men with him, and who was a Virginian, whereas the other four colonels were North Carolinians. [Footnote:  Though by birth three were Virginians, and one, Shelby, a Marylander.  All were Presbyterians.  McDowell, like Campbell, was of Irish descent; Cleavland of English, Shelby of Welsh, and Sevier of French Huguenot.  The families of the first two had originally settled in Pennsylvania.] Meanwhile McDowell should go to Gates’ army to get a general to command them, leaving his men under the charge of his brother Joseph, who was a major.  This proposition was at once agreed to; and its adoption did much to ensure the subsequent success.  Shelby not only acted wisely, but magnanimously; for he was himself of superior rank to Campbell, and moreover was a proud, ambitious man, desirous of military glory.

The army had been joined by two or three squads of partisans, including some refugee Georgians.  They were about to receive a larger reinforcement; for at this time several small guerilla bands of North and South Carolina whigs were encamped at Flint Hill, some distance west of the encampment of the mountain men.  These Flint Hill bands numbered about four hundred men all told, under the leadership of various militia colonels—­Hill, Lacey, Williams, Graham, and Hambright. [Footnote:  Hambright was a Pennsylvania German, the father of eighteen children.  Hill, who was suffering from a severe wound, was unfit to take an active part in the King’s Mountain fight.  His MS. narrative of the campaign is largely quoted by Draper.] Hill and Lacey were two of Sumter’s lieutenants, and had under them some of his men; Williams, [Footnote:  Bancroft gives Williams an altogether undeserved prominence.  As he had a commission as brigadier-general, some of the British thought he was in supreme command at King’s Mountain; in a recent magazine article Gen. De Peyster again sets forth his claims.  In reality he only had a small subordinate or independent command, and had no share whatever in conducting the campaign, and very little in the actual battle, though he behaved with much courage and was killed.] who was also a South Carolinian, claimed command of them because he had just been commissioned a brigadier-general of militia.  His own force was very small, and he did not wish to attack Ferguson, but to march southwards to Ninety-Six.  Sumter’s