Bill Leslie: High school friendship tied to American Revolution

Charlie Butler and I were best of friends in high school at Morganton in western North Carolina.

Our shared interests included football, music and journalism. Charlie was always a good listener and a great storyteller.

I used to ride the back roads around Burke County in Charlie’s Volkswagen Beetle. Sometimes we would drive to Lake James where Charlie’s family had a cabin. Other times we would make our way to Gene’s Drive-In for corndogs with mustard and butter pecan ice cream.

That was back in the late 1960s. Neither of us knew at the time we had a powerful historical connection. Charlie would later discover that his fourth-great grandfather fought with my multi-great grandfather’s Patriot regiment at the Battle of Kings Mountain near Charlotte.

Historians called the stunning Patriot victory at Kings Mountain “the turning point” of the American Revolution in the South. The dominoes began to fall in favor of the colonies after the Patriots overwhelmed British Major Patrick Ferguson and his Loyalist troops on October 7, 1780. One year later the British surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown in Virginia.

Charlie Butler’s heroic ancestor at Kings Mountain was James Stewart, who fought with the regiment organized by my ancestor Colonel Charles McDowell of Quaker Meadows near Morganton. McDowell would later become a Brigadier General.

After learning about our connection dating back 240 years, my high school buddy recruited me to become a member of an organization called Sons of the American Revolution. This society honors those who helped win American independence. The group also promotes the study of history in public schools. Sixteen U.S. presidents have been members of SAR.

Last weekend I was inducted into this society during a ceremony in St. Petersburg. Charlie served as president of the St. Petersburg chapter of SAR for three years beginning in 2013 and remains one of the chapter’s top leaders.

I would like to thank Charlie Butler for doing the research that paved the way for my membership.

I am deeply honored to be a part of this organization.

Several years ago I was asked by US District Court Judge Earl Britt to perform a patriotic song at a Naturalization and Immigration service in Raleigh. I decided to write a song about my ancestors from the American Revolution. I recently recorded the song titled “America is Calling You.” It is part of my new Storyteller album.

I would like to dedicate this song to Judge Britt, my buddy Charlie and to the memory of James Stewart and Charles McDowell.