Benjamin Cleveland

He is best remembered for his service as a colonel in the Wilkes County Regiment of the North Carolina militia during the War of Independence, and in particular for his role in the American victory at the Battle of Kings Mountain .

[2] Until Lord Cornwallis invaded in 1780, the fighting in North Carolina consisted of guerrilla warfare between patriots ("Whigs") and "Tories".

[citation needed] In 1780, General Lord Cornwallis led a British army into the Carolinas, and won several victories over the patriots.

Major Patrick Ferguson, one of Cornwallis's commanders, led an army of Tories into the North Carolina mountains to crush the rebels there.

A large force of mountain men attacked Ferguson at Kings Pinnacle, an isolated ridge on the North Carolina-South Carolina border.

[citation needed] Cleveland claimed Ferguson's white stallion as a "war prize", and rode it home to his estate of Roundabout.

A historical marker dedicated to Cleveland reads: "Colonel in Revolution, Whig leader in battle of Kings Mountain, state legislator.

The painting features a victorious Cleveland leading his troops back home to Wilkes County on Ferguson's white stallion.

The statue was funded by the Colonel Benjamin Cleveland Chapter of the Tennessee Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.