Jim Gulledge, Author

When I was ten years old, I gathered with my 4th grade class around this monument at Kings Mountain National Military Park numb with boredom. When I was 64 years old, I discovered that one of the names on the monument was that of my 6th great grandfather, Preston Goforth. On October 7th, 1780, Preston (a Whig) met one of his brothers (a Tory) on the battlefield. By multiple accounts, they each took aim and shot each other to death. Their two remaining brothers died later that afternoon on the mountainside. Sadly, war remains war even when in the cause of liberty. Their mother awakened that morning with four sons, and went to bed that night with none.