Fort Thicketty

After the surrender, British Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Ferguson wrote to his commander, British General Charles, Lord Cornwallis, about Captain Moore’s actions at Fort Thicketty:

[The fort] had an upper line of loop-holes, and was surrounded by a very strong abatis, with only asmall wicket to enter by. It had been put in thorough repair at the request of the garrison, . . . and each man was of opinion that it was impossible [for the Rebels to take it]. The officer next in command, and all the others, gave their opinion for defending it, and agree in their account that Patrick Moore, after proposing a surrender, acquiesced in their opinion, and offered to go and signify as much to the Rebels, but returned with some Rebel officers, whom he put in possession of the gate and place, who were instantly followed by their men, and the fort full of Rebels, to the surprise of the garrison. He plead cowardice, I understand…”

But Ferguson was wrong in his assessment of Moore. The Loyalist captain’s actions were likely due to fears for his nearby family’s safety and the possibility of retribution by the Patriots. Moore’s actions ultimately had negative consequences for the British. The Patriots’ easy success at Fort Thicketty interrupted Ferguson’s plans to trap the Patriots in the Backcountry and set him on a path toward Kings Mountain. The Patriot victory in that battle on October 7, 1780, turned the tide of the war in favor of those fighting for independence and started an ill-fated chain of events that led to Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown in October 1781.