Kings Mountain 1914 Chronicle Marker

Kings Mountain National Military Park, Blacksburg (SC)

View complete article and references at Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina at: https://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/453

Description: This marker was erected as a replica of the weather-beaten 1815 Chronicle Marker. It was dedicated to the four patriot soldiers -- Major William Chronicle, Captain John Mattocks, William Raab, and John Boyd -- and the loyalist officer Colonel Patrick Ferguson and commemorated what was generally considered to be the location of their burial. This marker is a four foot tall stone in the style of a gravestone. It has a smooth front and rough cut sides and bears the inscription preserving the text of the 1815 Marker.


Images: Historic postcard image of the Old and New Chronicle Monuments | Contemporary view of setting with Old Chronicle Monument to the left | Contemporary view of the monument's surface

Nickname: The New Monument

Inscription:
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF / MAJOR WILLIAM CHRONICLE CAPTAIN JOHN MATTOCKS /
WILLIAM RABB AND JOHN BOYD, / WHO WERE KILLED AT THIS PLACE ON THE 7th OF /
OCTOBER 1780 FIGHTING IN DEFENSE OF AMERICA. / COLONEL FERGUSON, AN OFFICER OF HIS BRITANNIC / MAJESTY WAS DEFEATED AND KILLED AT / THIS PLACE ON THE 7th OF OCTOBER 1780. / NOTE: THIS INSCRIPTION IS A COPY OF THAT ON / THE OLD MONUMENT ERECTED BY DR. WILLIAM / MCLEAN IN 1815 / THIS STONE HAS BEEN PLACED HERE BY THE KING'S / MOUNTAIN ASSOCIATION OF YORKVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA

Dedication date: 1914

Materials & Techniques: Granite

Sponsor: Kings Mountain Association of Yorkville [now York], South Carolina

Post dedication use: The site has been used for annual Fourth of July celebrations that include eighteenth-century military encampments, musket demonstrations, and fireworks.

Subject notes: Sometime around 1910, with conflicting records indicating 1909 and 1914, the Kings Mountain Association of Yorkville, South Carolina erected this marker to preserve the record of the earlier 1815 marker erected by Dr. William McLean and to verify the burial ground of patriots Major William Chronicle, Captain John Mattocks, William Raab, and John Boyd, and loyalist Patrick Ferguson. The face of the soft slate of the 1815 Chronicle Marker had been worn by time and weather with the inscription being lost to erosion. The new marker was inscribed to preserve the inscription of the older 1815 Chronicle Marker sitting to its left.

Although the site was historically considered to be the burial place of the patriots and Loyalist Ferguson, an archaeological dig in the 1970s determined that no bodies lay below the earth under the marker.


Both the New and Old Chronicle Markers sit across the trail from the Chronicle Fell Monument.

Controversies: The National Park Service has noted conflicting dates regarding the marker's construction and dedication. The alternate date is 1909, around the same time the Centennial Monument was erected.

Location: The marker sits to the right of the 1815 Old Chronicle Marker and faces north towards the trail and across from the Chronicle Fell Monument.

Landscape: The marker sits beneath trees amidst the heavily forested terrain of the park.

City: Blacksburg, SC

County: York (SC)

Subjects: Revolutionary War

11 July 2014 | Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina