Mary Patton

Mary Patton
1751-1836
One of that heroic band who established a civilization in the wilderness. She made the powder used by John Sevier's troops in the battle of King's Mountain.
Erected by her descendants.
1932

Mary McKeehan Patton, born in England in 1751, played a crucial role in the defeat of British loyalists in South Carolina in 1780 -- a battle considered by many to be a key turning point of the Revolutionary War. Her family immigrated to the Colonies in the late 1760s, and it is thought that Mary learned the art of gunpowder manufacturing from her father. She wed Irish immigrant John Patton in 1772 and after the birth of their two children, they moved from Pennsylvania to the Overmountain region of North Carolina (now Tennessee). Moving over the mountains into Cherokee lands meant that they were in direct violation of the crown's order to remain east of the Appalachians. The British Major Patrick Ferguson sought to enforce the order. In response to his threats, the Overmountain men banded together and marched to King's Mountain in South Carolina and routed the British loyalists and killed Major Ferguson. The battle lasted 65 minutes.

Mary's role in the Battle of King's Mountain was to provide 500 pounds of gunpowder to the 850 Overmountain Men from her mill located on what would become known as Powder Branch outside of present-day Elizabethton, TN. Mary was known to be thrifty and entrepreneurial. She would travel as far as South Carolina to sell her powder for a dollar a pound -- she then would buy land with the proceeds. When she died in 1836 at age 85, it's said that she owned 1,700 acres of land. More about Mary here and here. Read my post about the path these Overmountain men took over Yellow Mountain here.

Mary is buried in Patton-Simmons Cemetery (under the large monument above) on Toll Branch Road near Milligan College, TN.

"The victory was of far-reaching importance, and ranks among the decisive battles of the Revolution. It was the first great success of the Americans in the south, the turning-point in the southern campaign, and it brought cheer to the patriots throughout the Union."
--Theodore Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, Vol. 2