TO THE MEMORY OF COL. PATRICK FERGUSON SEVENTEENTH REGIMENT, HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY. BORN IN ABERDEENSHIRE SCOTLAND IN 1744 KILLED OCTOBER 7, 1780 IN ACTION AT KING’S MOUNTAIN WHILE IN COMMAND OF THE BRITISH TROOPS. A SOLDIER OF MILITARY DISTINCTION AND OF HONOR THIS MEMORIAL IS FROM THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN TOKEN OF THEIR APPRECIATION OF THE BONDS OF FRIENDSHIP AND PEACE BETWEEN THEM AND THE CITIZENS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE ERECTED OCTOBER 7, 1930 The celebration of October 7, 1930, provided the final impetus to the movement for the establishment of a national military park at Kings Mountain. One year ahead of the celebration, President Hoover was invited to be the guest of honor. His address at the celebration was heard by an estimated 80,000 people and wide press coverage of the speech brought nationwide attention to Kings Mountain. His presence also gave the prestige of his office to the long-standing proposal that the area was deserving of greater national recognition. Although Kings Mountain National Military Park was finally established 151 years after the battle it commemorates, the Federal Government did not at first own any of the land included in the park. In 1933, responsibility for the development of the site was transferred by Presidential executive order from the War Department to the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior. On September 24, 1935, the Kings Mountain chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, located in York, S. C., donated the 40 acres of the battleground to which the chapter held title. This was the nucleus of the park, and additional lands acquired between 1936 and 1940 raised the total holdings within the area to the present 4,012 acres. _How to Reach the Park_ The park is best approached over North Carolina Route 216 from U. S. 29, which is 4 miles to the north, and is equidistant from Charlotte, N. C., and Spartanburg, S. C. It is also accessible over South Carolina Route 161 from York, S. C. _About Your Visit_