The Story of Ruth Davidson
On May 12, 1780, Charleston fell to the British and on August 16, the American Army was routed from Camden. With these two important locations securely under British control, General Cornwallis began preparations to invade North Carolina.
Unbeknownst to Cornwallis, General Nathaniel Green was reorganizing his forces in the hills of Virginia and needed to send communications to various detached troops in South Carolina. This seemed almost impossible due to the activities of Ferguson and Tarleton.
At the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780, the Overmountain Men had struck a blow at the pride of the British. Captain Ferguson, who had led the attack, was killed during the skirmish, and Tarleton was defeated at the Battle of the Cowpens on January 17, 1781. Chances of getting a message to the American troops through the sparsely settled foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains almost evaporated.
Major William Davidson was the recognized leader of the North Carolina Patriot forces, frequently holding meetings of the Whigs in his log home called “The Glades”, located in the upper Catawba Valley a few miles from today’s Old Fort (also called Davidson, Catawba, or Upper Fort). When the plea for assistance was received from General Greene, Ruth Davidson was present in the home. She proposed that since the British may not suspect a female to be of military importance, she volunteered to be the messenger, knowing that she must travel over rough terrain through a sparsely settled region, enduring extreme danger if caught, and without guide or escort.
On horseback and alone, the courageous young woman succeeded in delivering the critical message to the Ninety-Six District, South Carolina. Ruth Davidson became a true heroine accomplishing a necessary and dangerous mission in answer to a call of duty to further the cause of the American Revolutionary War.
The content contained herein does not necessarily represent the position of the NSDAR. Hyperlinks to other sites are not the responsibility of the NSDAR, the state organizations, or individual DAR chapters.