Turning Point: The American Revolution in the Spartan District

by Katherine Cann

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Conversations
6	1	2,633,023	(4)	None
The British Army turned south in 1779, expecting to sweep through the region with their Tory allies, setting the stage for victory in the American in the war for independence. Upon entering the Old Spartan District in northwest South Carolina, however, they ran up against tenacious opposition from locals and their military leaders. In a series of small skirmishes here, the southern Patriots gained confidence and valuable combat experience that led to surprising victories at Kings Mountain and Cowpens, ultimately pushing the British back north toward surrender.In Turning Point: The American Revolution in the Spartan District, historian Katherine Cann tells the compelling story of how inexperienced backcountry militiamen in the Old Spartan District bottled up the British and learned how to defeat a seasoned foe. George F. Fields Jr., a leading military heritage preservationist, provides color commentary as Fields' Notes throughout, capturing both the emotion and the commotion of the time.As a bonus, there's a handy guide to the Spartanburg Revolutionary War Trail, a driving tour of twelve spots in the Spartan District that were central to the American victory.… (more)

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

SCART.ORG, nittnut, Rhydion, BreeLJ, marfita, stonerp

▾Tags

home-library (1) non-fiction (1) North Carolina (1) Revolutionary War (3) signed (1) South Carolina history (1) spartan district (1) Spartanburg (1) to-read (1) US history (2)

▾Lists

None

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

No current Talk conversations about this book.

▾Member reviews

I originally bought this book for school back in 2014, but decided to reread it for a Summer Reading Program. I gotta say that this book was much better the second time around. Part of the reason for this is that I now have a better knowledge of the places the book talks about. For example, I know where Cowpens and Ninety Six and King's Mountain are, but only recently did I know about Musgrove Mill or Wofford Ironworks. I've even been to Walnut Grove Plantation and seen the upstairs part of the house. Rereading the book now, I can picture the battles in my head and match the scenery from my memory. (Even though the Siege of Ninety Six wasn't in this book I can still see the star fort)

This book is a gem chock full of local history that they don't teach in schools anymore. Sadly very few students know about Cowpens or Kings Mountain. This area was turned into a war zone where there wasn't a good side or a bad side. These were battles between neighbors; British vs. British, not British vs. American. These battles and atrocities really happened here. And it was because our ancestors fought that the United States is what it is. Personally, I take some pride in that. (

)

Rhydion | Oct 30, 2017 |

▾Published reviews

no reviews | add a review

▾Other authors

» Add other authors

▾Series and work relationships

▾Awards and Honors

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

Quotations

Last words

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

▾Book descriptions

The British Army turned south in 1779, expecting to sweep through the region with their Tory allies, setting the stage for victory in the American in the war for independence. Upon entering the Old Spartan District in northwest South Carolina, however, they ran up against tenacious opposition from locals and their military leaders. In a series of small skirmishes here, the southern Patriots gained confidence and valuable combat experience that led to surprising victories at Kings Mountain and Cowpens, ultimately pushing the British back north toward surrender.In Turning Point: The American Revolution in the Spartan District, historian Katherine Cann tells the compelling story of how inexperienced backcountry militiamen in the Old Spartan District bottled up the British and learned how to defeat a seasoned foe. George F. Fields Jr., a leading military heritage preservationist, provides color commentary as Fields' Notes throughout, capturing both the emotion and the commotion of the time.As a bonus, there's a handy guide to the Spartanburg Revolutionary War Trail, a driving tour of twelve spots in the Spartan District that were central to the American victory.

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Haiku summary