The year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Cardinal News has embarked on a three-year project to tell the little-known stories of Virginia’s role in the march to independence. This project is supported, in part, by a grant from the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission. You can sign up to receive a free monthly newsletter with updates. Find all our stories from this project on the Cardinal 250 page.It’s a peaceful place now.Lush green fields and a rushing trout stream attract visitors to the Abingdon Muster Grounds, a historic landmark in Abingdon, every year.The Abingdon Muster Grounds. Courtesy of the Muster Grounds.But, in contrast, the picturesque nine-acre park is the same location where 400 Patriot militia men from Washington County, Virginia, gathered more than two centuries ago with one thing on their minds — to fight for their independence during the Revolutionary War.The bravery of the small militia in Washington County helped to win independence from British attempts to impose control over the Southern American Colonies. Mustering at the Abingdon gathering spot in 1780, the Patriots known as Overmountain Men said goodbye to their loved ones before they commenced on a journey that would take them hundreds of miles from their homes. Little did they know, their spirited frontiersmen’s march to Kings Mountain, South Carolina, would help decide the outcome of the Revolutionary War.The Battle of Kings Mountain was the beginning of the end of the Revolutionary War.“More people are realizing how Southwest Virginia played an important role in the development of our country,” said Michael Henningsen, history interpreter at the Abingdon Muster Grounds.Henningsen described the Abingdon Muster Grounds as a “hidden gem” in Washington County, often overlooked by the community but warranting attention. Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail. Courtesy of National Park Service.The Abingdon Muster Grounds are the northern trailhead of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, a 330-mile National Historic Trail certified by the National Park Service that traces the route used by the Patriot militia on their way to Kings Mountain. Visitors to the Abingdon Muster Grounds have the opportunity to walk the first section of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, measuring slightly more than one-half mile.The field at the Abingdon Muster Grounds is a remnant of the original muster ground, then known as Craig’s Meadow. Today, the W. Blair Keller, Jr., Interpretive Center located on the grounds serves as an educational resource for Colonial Backcountry history from the American Revolutionary Period in Southwest Virginia. Throughout the year, the Abingdon Muster Grounds are home to historical reenactments.The story“The year was 1780,” said Henningsen, who relates the story to hundreds of people who visit the Abingdon location each year.The route the Overmountain men took. Map by Robert Lunsford.“British Major Patrick Ferguson was commissioned to raise a Loyalist militia to sweep through the Southern Colonies and put an end to the rebellion. He sent out a note to leaders threatening to march over the mountain and hang their men and burn their cities, thinking they would surrender,” said Henningsen.But the men would not surrender. Ferguson’s plan backfired.Under the direction of Colonel William Campbell of Hanover County, local volunteers answered the call to arms and gathered on Sept. 24 at the Abingdon Muster Grounds, then known as Craig’s Meadow, a well-known meeting place at the time. Along the 200-mile march to Kings Mountain, the Patriots were joined by another 900 militia men at Sycamore Shoals in Tennessee. Turns out, all of these men from Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina, marched the farthest of any regiment of the campaign in their quest for independence.Black and white reproduction of artist Lloyd Branson’s Gathering of Overmountain Men at Sycamore Shoals, Tenn., which depicts the gathering of the Overmountain Men en route to their victory over British Loyalist forces at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780. Public domain.As many as 1,200 men made their way to Kings Mountain, foraging through the snow for roots, nuts and berries to eat.“It was not an easy trek,” said Henningsen.On their way, they found Cowpens, South Carolina, where a Loyalist owned a stockyard.“They negotiated with them saying ‘we have guns and you have cows.’ I don’t know what the transaction was but we do know they ate steak dinners that night,” laughed Henningsen.Impact of the Battle of Kings MountainThe victory in October 1780 boosted American morale in the South, which had been lagging since the fall of Charleston, South Carolina, in May 1780 and other Patriot defeats in the Carolinas that summer.After the British defeat at Kings Mountain, Lord Cornwallis called off plans to invade North Carolina and retreated to South Carolina. The next year, he went to Yorktown, where he was forced to surrender.Thomas Jefferson called the Battle of Kings Mountain “The turn of the tide of success.”In a 1930 speech at Kings Mountain, President Herbert Hoover said: “History has done scant justice to its significance, which rightly should place it beside Lexington, Bunker Hill, Trenton and Yorktown.”The night before the battle, the best rested 900 men were selected to do an advance at Kings Mountain. “In an hour and five minutes, the Patriot militia of 900 killed or captured all 1,600 Loyalist forces. It was not a huge battle, but it took out a third of the British Southern army,” said Henningsen, “and it took the wind out of any recruiting plans to recruit Loyalist soldiers. If a bunch of backwoodsmen from Virginia can defeat 1,600 of Britain’s finest, no one was going to stand up against us,” he said.According to Henningsen, when the news of the battle made it to London, it was misreported as involving 5,000 Patriot men.The Battle of Kings Mountain reached international significance. Three years later, Robert Burns, a Scottish poet and lyricist, wrote a poem about the American war in which he mentions the Overmountain Men.The stories that emerged from the battle are plentiful, and represent the resilience of the local people.From his research, Henningsen has learned one particular story that tells of a Patriot soldier who became wounded in the battle. When word reached his wife in Abingdon, she handed their baby to a caregiver, mounted a horse, and rode 150 miles to care for her wounded husband. A reenactor demonstrates Colonial cooking to visiting schoolchildren. Courtesy of Abingdon Muster Grounds.A nonprofit organization is formedAccording to Henningsen, the Abingdon Muster Grounds is one of the most significant sites that ties Washington County to the Revolutionary War.But the historian recognizes the site does not receive the attention that it deserves.“People tell me they’ve lived here all of their lives and have never been here. We have to make the muster grounds more visible,” Henningsen said.Michael Henningsen. Courtesy of Abingdon Muster Grounds. To address that need, Henningsen and local organizations have formed a nonprofit organization to help raise the community’s awareness of the muster ground and the rich history it carries.The Muster Grounds Committee is comprised of members who represent the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution, the Historical Society of Washington County, and the Overmountain Victory Trail Association, all of whom have a goal of creating a model of a historic site that offers conservation education, recreation, historic preservation and historic interpretations.One of the most important events held each year at the muster grounds is a Call to Arms — Overmountain Victory Celebration, an educational program for fourth grade students which focuses on the Overmountain Men, the Battle of Kings Mountain, and backcountry Colonial life and history in Southwest Virginia.During the educational event, Henningsen assumes the role of a field musician through Muster Grounds Musick Fifes & Drums, a project of Corps Values Music Heritage, Inc., a nonprofit group he formed in 2014. The organization was founded to promote all kinds of historic military and cultural music. “The Abingdon Muster Grounds has the potential for bringing people together for Renaissance festivals and other historic events. A historic house on the grounds needs repairs but could be used as a venue for photo shoots, and as a wedding venue,” said Henningsen.“We need to use the facility as a gathering place, like it was once used.”The nine-acre park has a trout stream, a pond and an amphitheater in the back that could be a place for reenactments. Two acres in the front could be used for Sunday afternoon concerts, he said.Before these things can happen, Henningsen knows work has to be done to prepare the property. Since the nonprofit group formed, members have accomplished many tasks, including splitting and stacking logs that can be used for campfires. They have cleared brush around trees where mowing was neglected.Picnic tables were built by volunteers in the community. A reenactor talks about “long hunters,” Colonials who made extensive hunting trips. Courtesy of the Abingdon Muster Grounds.A rich historyThe Abingdon Muster Grounds boasts a long history up until World War I.“We have evidence that soldiers or hunters have gathered there for every major campaign since before we were an American Colony,” Henningsen said.Modern day archeological surveys and assessments have found artifacts that date back to pre-Colonial times when Native Americans had used the site to go on hunting or war parties.The Muster Grounds also served local militia during the War of 1812, the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War and World War I.A Federal-period brick house on the property was built by Robert Craig in the early 1800s and named “Retirement” when the Revolutionary War veteran went into retirement. The house passed to various owners, one of whom was Colonel Samuel Fulkerson who served on the Confederate side during the Civil War. Fulkerson was appointed colonel of the 37th Virginia Infantry Regiment on May 28, 1861, at Richmond, Virginia.About the Abingdon Muster GroundsThe W. Blair Keller, Jr., Interpretive Center, located at the Abingdon Muster Grounds, features exhibits of Revolutionary War memorabilia and artifacts associated with backcountry Virginia and the Battle of Kings Mountain.The center is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to noon on Sunday. The muster grounds and trail are open daily from sunrise to sunset.Parking and restrooms are available at the interpretive center. Picnic tables are available along the trail.Check out the Abingdon Muster Grounds on Facebook.“In 1865, Fulkerson’s daughter, Kate, was scheduled to marry in the home, Retirement,” related Henningsen. “During a raid, Union soldiers took the food and the wedding cake, which contained the wedding ring.” Mysteriously, after the war, the wedding ring was spotted on the watch chain of a representative in the Virginia House of Delegates. Kate and her fiancé eventually were married.Recently, visitors to the Muster Grounds learned their ancestors lived in the house and it was their great-great-granddaughter Kate who was married there, related Henningsen.“That kind of stuff happens all the time and it’s absolutely incredible,” he said.Another family visiting the muster grounds had discovered their ancestors had fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain.“Turns out, we actually have on display at the Muster Grounds, the Snodgrass family Bible that contains his family tree. We found out what regiment his ancestors had fought with.”As a history interpreter, Henningsen never tires of history.“Every day, I find some little piece of history that you don’t read in the history books. It becomes even more important today that we tell these stories.”The post Soldiers from Washington County marched farther than anyone else to inflict decisive defeat on the British appeared first on Cardinal News.