?Patrick Ferguson was a cavalry leader of the British army. He joined the army at the ageof 14 and by the time the Scotsman came to America to fight patriots he had become arespected, yet controversial leader. He taught his men guerrilla warfare and usedcamouflage during battles. This made traditional military leaders feel spite towards himbecause he had broken from the conventional formations. Ferguson was also a greatmarksman, reputed to be the best shot in the British military. Because of this he had littlerespect for the smooth bored “Brown Bess” musket that was used by Red Coats inAmerica. He invented a breech loading rifle with a grooved barrel. This provided afirearm that was very accurate and could be reloaded without standing. Ferguson came toAmerica with a small army. Before challenging General Washington’s men in a battle,Ferguson had the opportunity to kill the General, but wouldn’t take the shot because hefelt a man of his stature did not deserve to die from a shot in the back. During the ensuingbattle, Ferguson took a bullet in the right elbow and after the battle, argued with surgeonswho wanted to amputate the arm. Ferguson kept the crippled arm and took nine months torecover. He taught himself to fence with his left hand and now carried a silver whistle thathe used to signal his men. Ferguson traveled though the souther colonies recruitingsympathizers of the crown for his army and he traveled with two women, both of whichwere named Virginia. Ferguson met his demise on October 7, 1780 at the battle of KingsMountain. After fighting a losing battle against separatist forces Ferguson was shot byseveral patriots. It is said that the force from seven musket balls lifted him out of hissaddle where he died after being pulled by his horse.
My opinion of Patrick Ferguson is that he was a great military genius. He tried to abandonold methods of warfare my adopting guerrilla tactics. He was a leader that his menrespected and would follow willingly into battle. The instance were he had GeorgeWashington dead to rights proves to me that he was a man of great character. This isstrengthened by the fact that he was not on the best of terms with Tarelton for his brutalactions in battle. He was obviously a likeable man because there aren’t too many womenwho would travel with a man knowing that she is not the only woman that he keepscompany with. In short, he was an intelligent, likable, and honorable man in my opinion.
The only real problem is that he was fighting for the wrong side.
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