Submitted by Rebekah Sheats
It was a crisp September morning in 1780. The American colonies were desperately attempting to defend themselves against the overwhelming forces of Great Britain marshaled against them. Throughout the months of 1780, defeat after defeat met the continental armies. In May, Charleston was forced to surrender, and over 5,000 men became prisoners of the triumphant British. In August the colonists suffered another crushing defeat at Camden, South Carolina.
Now, in September, the British were on the move again. Led by Colonel Patrick Ferguson, an army of 1,000 British and Loyalists ravaged the Carolina countryside and advanced toward present-day Tennessee. Ferguson intended to awe the colonists into submission. Releasing one of his prisoners, Ferguson sent the man to the small communities that were eking out a living along the Allegheny Mountains. He told the man, “Inform the colonial officers that if they do not desist from their opposition to the British arms, I will march my army over the mountains, hang their leaders, and lay their country waste with fire and sword.”
The prisoner delivered his message as instructed. Men from along the mountainsides gathered to hear his words. “Over the mountain men” they were called by some. But whatever their name, their response was typical and unanimous. Leaving their homes and families, the men rose immediately to Colonel Ferguson’s challenge. As one, they shouldered their weapons and prepared to advance against the British and Loyalist forces.
Ferguson was ready. He and his army were encamped on a mountaintop known as Kings Mountain. Of this strategic position, Ferguson boasted, “The Almighty Himself couldn’t drive me from it!”
Undeterred, the mountain men organized themselves into companies under Colonels Isaac Shelby and William Campbell. No pay was offered the men, and no wages were asked. This was strictly a volunteer expedition.
Here the men stand, waiting for the order to march. Their homes are behind them, their enemy before them, and they stand ready to begin. A solemn hush falls over the crowd. Men lean on their rifles and watch as a tall man walks silently through the throng to stand in the center of the group. Quietly the soldiers remove their caps and bow their heads as the tall man begins to pray.
Who is this man? His name is Samuel Doak. A Presbyterian pastor, Reverend Doak has come to speak one final time to the men before they march to meet their enemy. His words are brief yet stirring. Once again the men are reminded that victory comes not through strength of arms. It is the Lord who gives victory and who sends defeat.
His sermon ended, Reverend Doak leads the men in a final prayer, ending with the rallying cry, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon” (Judges 7:20).
Doak’s words find an echo on the men’s lips as they begin their march to meet their foe: “The sword of the Lord and of our Gideons!”
On October 7, 1780, the mountain men scaled Kings Mountain and attacked the British position. Amazingly, the colonists achieved an astonishing victory over their enemies’ superior forces. Colonel Ferguson was killed in the engagement, and 1,000 prisoners were taken. So great was the British defeat that the colonists found themselves unable to carry the weapons surrendered by their foes. Colonels Shelby and Campbell finally decided to unload the weapons and return them to their enemies to carry; it was the only way the small colonial force could get the weapons down the mountain. This was perhaps the only battle in the War for Independence in which every prisoner left the field of action fully armed.
The Battle of Kings Mountain was a resounding triumph for the patriot cause that helped turn the tide of war and usher in an American victory. The men involved in the battle were hailed as heroes, and Reverend Samuel Doak’s part in the action would never be forgotten. Doak later went on to found Washington College. He was a great man who did great things, but his stirring prayer on the eve of battle is perhaps the event for which he is most remembered. It’s a story that would be handed down for centuries.
Doak became a hero not only in history but in his family as well. Generations later, one of his descendants (a great-nephew) was named after the Presbyterian pastor. Over a hundred years after the famous battle of Kings Mountain, a young child was given the name Doak in honor of his illustrious ancestor. Growing up in Arkansas, this young Doak later moved to Florida to accept the presidency of Florida State College for Women in Tallahassee. His name was Doak Campbell. The Seminole football stadium still bears his name today.
Another of Samuel Doak’s relatives also made Florida her home. Marjorie Doak, a direct descendant of the famous preacher, was attending a music school in Georgia when she met a young farmer from Jefferson County by the name of John Finlayson. As they say, the rest is history.
Marjorie first heard the story of Samuel Doak at her grandfather’s knee. Generation after generation has passed down the history, and Marjorie has continued the tradition with her own children and grandchildren.
But the story isn’t the only thing that has been passed down from one generation to the next. More important than the tale of Kings Mountain, Samuel Doak’s faith has also been handed down from father to son and mother to daughter for centuries. “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,” the Proverbs tell us. Reverend Doak has certainly done so, and his descendants are still following in his footsteps today.
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