KINGS MOUNTAIN – Judging by the forces behind the effort to make a historical feature film based on the famous Battle of Kings Mountain, the film will celebrate the Carolinas and the brave ‘overmountain men’ pivotal defeat of British forces in a battle that turned the tide of the war for independence. “Revolutionary!” features a fully obsessed history buff driving the effort; outspoken Trump supporter Nick Searcy set to direct; funding already lined up; and, a 50 acre plot with the largest collection of preserved revolutionary period wooden structures right here in Vale, North Carolina.
The history-nerd level of enthusiasm for the Battle of Kings Mountain, its role in the war, and the era these early American heroes existed is evident among the crew putting this film together. A comprehensive piece by Charlotte Observer’s Théoden Janes dives into the unlikely group producing a film about the “greatest story never told.”
“[…] It’s to be set not far from Charlotte: Based on the Battle of Kings Mountain, the story centers on a ragtag band of militias backing the patriot cause that surprised and overwhelmed British-loyalist forces near the N.C.-S.C. line on Oct. 7, 1780, marking the first of a string of significant American victories that changed the course of the Revolutionary War in the South.
It’s been conceived by people with strong Carolina ties: Oliver is a University of South Carolina alum who lives in the tiny N.C. town of Tryon; Anderson graduated from Duke University and has lived in Charlotte for 28 years; Patrick A. Davis, the bestselling novelist who wrote the script, moved to Landrum, S.C. (about 90 miles due east of Charlotte) three years ago; and director Nick Searcy is a Cullowhee native, a product of UNC-Chapel Hill, and a former longtime resident of Wilmington, where he cut his teeth as an actor.
Plus, if all goes according to plan, it’s to be filmed almost entirely in North Carolina: They hope home base for the shoot will be a 50-acre private plot of land near Hickory that’s home to the largest collection of historic log structures in the U.S. […]
By September 1780, things were looking bleak for the patriot cause in the South. Charleston and Camden had fallen to the British, who had recruited scores of Southern loyalists to take up arms against their patriot neighbors. British Col. Patrick Ferguson, on orders from Gen. Charles Cornwallis, was set to keep the momentum going by marching through the backcountry and vanquish its non-loyalist inhabitants.
The British plan completely backfired. Refusing to be intimidated, hundreds of men living on the outskirts of the Carolinas, Virginia and what is now Tennessee banded together and hatched a plan to defeat Ferguson. On Oct. 7, they did just that, crushing the colonel and his loyalists in a battle at Kings Mountain. It was over in about an hour — and it changed everything.
As word spread of Ferguson’s defeat, patriot spirits soared, and inspired thousands more to join the fight for independence. Meanwhile, loyalists deserted the British army in masses. One year later, Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown and the Americans effectively won the war.
Those backcountry rebels would come to be known as the Overmountain Men, and Oliver had been trying for years to talk filmmakers into celebrating them — theirs is what he calls “the greatest story never told” — on film. […]”
A historically accurate film with out the typical Hollywood production’s warped political messaging celebrating the brave American revolutionaries that helped make North Carolina the First in Freedom state, and America independent, all filmed right here in North Carolina.
When are tickets available?
If you like American history and have a pride for Carolinians role in it, you’ll want to read the rest of the article on the movie and those making it here.
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