This is Don Troiani print - Col. Cleveland's War Prize King's Mountain.
Paper Giclee Art Print (printed as ordered) Open Edition Print Overall: 24" x 31.5", Image Size 19.5" x 25.5" $200.00
Canvas Giclee (printed as ordered) 25 Signed/Numbered Overall: 32" x 24" $750.00
Colonel Benjamin Cleveland (1738-1806) of Wilkes County, North Carolina was an imposing individual, at six feet tall and a solid 300 lbs. his nickname was “old roundabout”. Before the war he had worked as a hunter, farmer and a surveyor among other things and became one of the most prominent men in the district. An ardent patriot, he was the scourge of the local Tories. During one incident he hung three tories who had previously captured him after being freed by his own men.
On October 7, 1780 at the battle of King’s Mountain, as he lead three hundred and fifty of his Wilkes County men in a crushing victory over a loyalist force under Major Patrick Ferguson, his own horse was shot out from under him. The backbone of the Tories of the back country of North Carolina was broken forever and the flagging Patriot morale received a shot in the arm . As his trophy of the battle he claimed the Major's white stallion which he rode home.
After the war Cleveland left his North Carolina estate “Roundabout” and moved to Oconee, South Carolina where he served in local government until his death in 1806 at a robust 450 lbs.
Here we see the redoubtable Colonel riding Ferguson’s white horse and leading his men away from the wooded battlefield laden with the captured spoils of war. Cleveland was noted for carrying a small hunting horn which he used rally his men.
