This time Cornwallis’ march was more cautious in its initial stages. For the enforced delay of the major British advance occasioned by Kings Mountain and lengthened by indecision, had enabled Greene, the new American commander in the South, to reorganize his shattered and dispirited army and launch a renewed and two-fold offensive upon the main British movement. It was this offensive in 1781, which first successfully struck the British at Cowpens, then rapidly withdrew through the Piedmont, further dissipated Cornwallis’ energies at Guilford Courthouse, and prepared the way for the American victory at Yorktown. By providing an unexpected American victory on the South Carolina border, Kings Mountain prevented the immediate subjugation of the Carolinas and temporarily deranged the British campaign to establish a completely conquered southern base of operation. By producing a feeling of patriotic success at the inception of the final major British campaign, Kings Mountain contributed to the renewing of American resistance which resulted in the British disasters of 1781. The American Rifle At the Battle of Kings Mountain[2] _By C. P. Russell, Chief Naturalist Branch of Natural History_ Progress made on the new museum at Kings Mountain National Military Park, South Carolina, is worthy of record, and the fact that the Service possesses a Ferguson rifle to put into that museum constitutes special note within the record. To the average park visitor “Ferguson rifle” means little or nothing, but to the student of military history mention of that British weapon kindles a flame of interest. The story of how the Ferguson rifle was pitted against the Kentucky rifle at Kings Mountain is significant in this day of rearmament. Maj. Patrick Ferguson was born in 1744, the son of a Scottish jurist, James Ferguson of Pitfour. At an early age he became an officer in the Royal North British Dragoons, and by the time the American colonists revolted against British rule he had distinguished himself in service with the Scotch militia and as an expeditionist during the Carib insurrection in the West Indies. In 1776 he demonstrated to British Government officials a weapon of his own invention, “a rifle gun on a new construction which astonished all beholders.” [Illustration: BREECH MECHANISM OF THE FERGUSON RIFLE _Breech plug lowered by one turn of the trigger guard_]