It's nice to see these, they bring me back to my youth in North Carolina. I spent lots of time in the Appalachians, even went to Appalachian college. The southern mountains were mostly settled by Scotch-Irish that were given free rein in the wilderness because the Colonial Governors realized the hard fighters would be a good buffer against the Indians. The isolation and independent personality of mountain people are what largely created "the American personality" of the South - Faith, Family, and Fight for your honor. When the British were about to win the Revolution, and threatened to go from coastal, plantation Carolinas to the mountains to burn the rocky farms, Scotch-Irish all came out of the hills and beat them at Kings Mountain. It was a decisive victory, as was Cowpens. Then Guilford Courthouse was a "draw", but it drove Cornwallis back North, out of the South, where he eventually was surrounded by Americans on one side, and the French on the other, and surrendered. In every war America has had since, a large majority of officers and men were from the South. Oh, and in the Civil War? Many had no stake in it, it was seen as a coastal, landed gentry affair. Most didn't join up, but were forced. Or they joined when they needed to protect their mountain plots and cabins. Again, to good effect usually.
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