Isaac: Trek to King’s Mountain

Hunger, horrible weather, fatigue beyond imagination, constant fear of death, loneliness, and vengeance were constant companions of Isaac as he walked in moccasins, cross country, over 100 miles of wilderness terrain to fight in one of America’s least known but most important battles in the American Revolution.Isaac- Trek to King’s Mountain is the story of a teenage boy for whom isolation, daily wilderness survival, and Indian raids were not history lessons in a dusty book or on an internet site. They were 14 year old Isaac’s day-to-day life.Isaac Hunt was a product of living in a remote wilderness farm under constant Indian danger, and a threat of destruction by the British. His loyalty was not so much to a political cause, but to his family, for a very good reason, his father had been recently murdered by the British.Reuben McGee, a master woodsman and aging longhunter, befriends and mentors Isaac, teaching him the wilderness and combat skills he will need to handle the hard days ahead.Isaac, Reuben McGee and Sara Fowler are fictitious characters. However, the other people, all of the political and military events, even the daily moves, weather and camp locations in this book, really happened in the bloody autumn of 1780.The Overmountain men might have thought better than to leave their homes to fight the British in a far-away land because the Cherokee were, at the same time, planning to attack the remote farms and settlements. But, the call to put down the British threat was too great. The men, called “Overmountain men”, who lived on the western side of the Appalachians took the gamble.King’s Mountain, an actual place in northern South Carolina, was named for a pioneer named “King” (not the King of England). The trek to, and the Battle of King’s Mountain, is accurately described and based on a true event. Many of the fighters in this historic 300 mile trek, and the resulting one hour and five minute battle, were teenage boys, like Isaac.This often overlooked battle, according to historians, played a major role in turning America’s War for Independence around and was a pivotal point in the birth of what became the United States of America.This is a story of everyday pioneers overcoming great odds to enjoy liberty. Equally it is story about a boy’s rapid adventure into manhood, because of his willingness to risk everything to avenge his father’s death and to assure the freedom the Overmountain settlers wanted so bad.