Teacher Resources
Kings Mountain
Inquiry Question
Was the American Revolution also a civil war?
Primary Sources
What Teachers and Students Use
Colonel William Campbell et al. to General Gates: Battle Report on Kings Mountain, October 11, 1780
PRIMARY · National Archives and Records Administration
5 analysis prompts
Lord Cornwallis to Sir Henry Clinton: Dispatch on the Kings Mountain Disaster, October 1780
PRIMARY · Public Record Office (National Archives, United Kingdom)
5 analysis prompts
Kings Mountain National Military Park: Official Interpretive Resources
INSTITUTIONAL · National Park Service
5 analysis prompts
Pension Applications: Overmountain Men and Kings Mountain Veterans
PRIMARY · National Archives and Records Administration
5 analysis prompts
Draper Manuscripts: Kings Mountain and Its Heroes -- Source Materials
PRIMARY · State Historical Society of Wisconsin
5 analysis prompts
Downloads
Ready to Print
Student packet, teacher guide with answer key, and quiz — each formatted for classroom printing.
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Lesson Plan
In the Classroom
Learning Objectives
- 1Identify the civil war dimension of the Revolutionary War, particularly in the Carolina backcountry
- 2Analyze the motivations of both Patriot and Loyalist participants at Kings Mountain
- 3Evaluate the "quarter controversy" as evidence of the backcountry civil war's accumulated grievances
- 4Assess the battle's strategic significance for Cornwallis's 1780 campaign
Explore Further
Kings Mountain in the Knowledge Graph
The lesson packet draws from these pages. Use them to extend the lesson or give students primary source context.
Comparative Study
Connected Towns
The corroborate prompts in the student packet point to these towns. Teachers can assign cross-town comparisons.
Charleston
SHARED EVENT
Charleston's fall (May 1780) and Camden (August 1780) created the crisis that made Kings Mountain necessary. The same Southern Campaign that began with Charleston's catastrophic surrender ended with the Patriot victories that undid British interior control — Kings Mountain being the first reversal.
Cowpens
SHARED THEME
Frontier victories that reversed southern campaign momentum.
Camden
SHARED EVENT
Kings Mountain helped avenge the disaster at Camden.
Assessment
Kings Mountain in the American Revolution
Answer the following questions based on our study of Revolutionary history. · 5 questions · Answer key in Teacher Guide PDF
What makes Kings Mountain significant in Revolutionary history?
multiple choice
Primary sources are documents or objects created during the time period being studied.
true false
Name one event that occurred in Kings Mountain during the Revolutionary period and explain its significance.
short answer
+ 2 more in the full quiz PDF
Ready to Print?
All three documents below — student packet, teacher guide, and quiz — are formatted for letter-size classroom printing.