The Battle of Kings Mountain. Major Ferguson, he was shot by a 62-year-old mountain man named Robert Young. His rifle was named “Sweet Lips” You can find what’s left of old Sweet Lips on display in the Tennessee State Museum. Our children can shoot better than most grown men of other places, let alone a man who has had 62 years to practice and knows he won’t eat if he misses. But just to add fuel to the already-simmering fire... You have added someone like Major Patrick Ferguson threatening to hang them all and burn their families' homes.. not super smart. Not smart.. at all.. to threaten people who don’t miss. People whose very way of daily life trains them for excellence in war. Our ancestors wrote lore we still talk about daily here in the mountains. Battles like Kings Mountain, Blair Mountain, Battle of Athens, Boonesboro, most of us long for what it would be like to be in those legendary circumstances. Fairly often, I get messages from many Appalachians asking things like “When do we fight back?” or “When Boogaloo?” And I feel like I always end up being the wet blanket trying to calm everyone down. Violence doesn’t work like in the movies, just because we’re good at violence doesn’t mean we should always be seeking it out. Real violence escalates randomly, it happens and then the second, third, and fourth order effects come along and life never really goes back to normal. Engaging in violence if you’re directly attacked (like Kings Mountain, like Battle Of Athens, like Blair Mountain) is okay. I think this goes to Just War Theory by St. Augustine. If we’re attacked, we fight back, if they’re just acting stupid and writing corrupt laws.. we wait and watch. I really feel it’s that simple. It’s not exciting. It’s not glorious. But anyone who actually understands violence will be the very last to agree to it. A peaceful life once it’s lost is gone forever. So relax, enjoy your life, train, raise children.. eventually some tyrant will start a fight again, and that thunder you feel in your blood that your ancestors gave you will find its outlet on the battlefield. But until then enjoy your life. Once Major Ferguson made his threats he was dead around an hour later. Tyrants remember these lessons we’ve taught them in the past. They’ll be slow in their approach, slow enough for you to live a peaceful life and prepare the next generation first. So go do that.