Here's the old Bait & Switch. Winston kills. Maybe its Winston NC? Countries dead from dishonorable stain. Do & say anything Stain.//
Welcome to NC. That is the way this place rolls. Hats off to that lady. That is a mean ass district. But, she can definitely take it, been done before. It takes boots on the ground. I mean I call it hosiery mill country, that is what it used to be. And back in the day, well those were real functioning communities.
During WWII, those industrial leagues, slow pitch softball, women's basketball--yeah, women's. Well from within the current 14th, that is where the dominate players were from. Place is about as blue collar as it gets. And really, when you get right down to it. That single district might represent the very heart of America.
In my eyes, the most pivotal battle in the American Revolution was King's Mountain. But the most pivotal moment in American History came a few days later, at the Hanging Tree in Biggerstaff's Field. The March between King's Mountain and Biggerstaff Field's, the Patriots with Loyalist prisoners in tow, marching west, through the heart of the 14th district.
I guess that is what people don't really understand. The American Revolution, it was not British against Americans. It really was, Americans against Americans, Loyalists against Patriots, neighbor against neighbor, and literally, brother against brother. Honestly, more than a few personal disputes were settled under the guise of the revolution.
But at Biggerstaff Field, at the Hanging Tree, they started stringing them up. They had eaten some green corn coming through what is Cleveland county now, in the 14th. They weren't very happy. They held tribunals and started hanging the Loyalists. Yes, their neighbors. They were about to start round three, several Loyalists already laid dead.
In storms a kid, horse lathered from being ran so hard. The boy can't be more than 14. Ironically enough, he has four brothers. One of them, at that very moment, with a noose around his neck. Two others, one dead on the battlefield at King's Mountain, another gravely injured. Both Loyalist. The fourth, there, in the crowd, a Patriot.
The boy begs. Mama has got to get the crops in. We have to eat. Please, I need my brother. It was a Grinch stole Christmas moment. The singing began. Those Patriots, the one salivating for revenge, suddenly began singing around the campfire. The ropes came down. No one else was hung. They actually parted ways, friends. The Patriots, they let their prisoners go. Get the crops in. Feed Mama. We have a country to build together.
There is a lesson there.
