Kings Mountain Messenger

Joseph Greer, known as "The Messenger of King's Mountain," made a dangerous six-hundred-mile trip from South Carolina to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to report that the Patriots won a surprising victory at King's Mountain, which recharged a discouraged Continental Congress and has been recognized by some historians as the turning point in America's bid for independence. 

Joseph served in the militia and fought alongside the Overmountain Men in the decisive Patriot victory led by John Sevier. The journey to Philadelphia took him thirty days through hostile Indian Territory and across enemy lines while battling tough wintry conditions. He carried nothing but a compass and his musket. In 1804, the government rewarded him for his service with three thousand acres of land in Lincoln County, Tennessee.