In 1780 they took Charleston and Augusta,
and overran Georgia. Augusta was the point where the old trading
path forked north and west, and it was the key to the Back
Country and the overhill domain. In Georgia and the Back Country
of South Carolina there were many Tories ready to rally to the
King's standard whenever a King's officer should carry it through
their midst. A large number of these Tories were Scotch, chiefly
from the Highlands. In fact, as we have seen, Scotch blood
predominated among the racial streams in the Back Country from
Georgia to Pennsylvania. Now, to insure a triumphant march
northward for Cornwallis and his royal troops, these sons of
Scotland must be gathered together, the loyal encouraged and
those of rebellious tendencies converted, and they must be
drilled and turned to account. This task, if it were to be
accomplished successfully, must be entrusted to an offcer with
positive qualifications, one who would command respect, whose
personal address would attract men and disarm opposition, and
especially one who could go as a Scot among his own clan.
Cornwallis found his man in Major. Patrick Ferguson.
Ferguson was a Highlander, a son of Lord Pitfour of Aberdeen, and
thirty-six years of age. He was of short stature for a
Highlander--about five feet eight--lean and dark, with straight
black hair.
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