<P> On October 14, the retreating Patriot force held drumhead courts - martial of Loyalists on various charges (treason, desertion from Patriot militias, incitement of Indian rebellion). Passing through the Sunshine community in what is now Rutherford County, N.C., the retreat halted on the property of the Biggerstaff family . Aaron Biggerstaff, a Loyalist, had fought in the battle and been mortally wounded . His brother Benjamin was a Patriot and was being held as a prisoner - of - war on a British ship docked at Charleston, S.C. Their cousin John Moore was the Loyalist commander at the earlier Battle of Ramsour's Mill (modern Lincolnton, N.C.), in which many of the combatants at Kings Mountain had participated on one side or the other . </P> <P> While stopped on the Biggerstaff land, the rebels convicted 36 Loyalist prisoners . Some were testified against by Patriots who had previously fought alongside them and later changed sides . Nine of the prisoners were hanged before Isaac Shelby brought an end to the proceedings . His decision to halt the executions came after an impassioned plea for mercy from one of the Biggerstaff women, although accounts vary as to whether it was Martha Biggerstaff, Aaron's wife, or Mary Van Zant Biggerstaff, Benjamin's wife . Many of the Patriots dispersed over the next few days, while all but 130 of the Loyalist prisoners escaped while being led in single file through woodlands . The column finally made camp at Salem, North Carolina . </P> <P> Kings Mountain was a pivotal moment in the history of the American Revolution . Coming after a series of disasters and humiliations in the Carolinas--the fall of Charleston and capture of the American army there, the destruction of another American army at the Battle of Camden, the Waxhaws Massacre--the surprising decisive victory at Kings Mountain was a great boost to Patriot morale . The Tories of the Carolina back country were broken as a military force . Additionally, the destruction of Ferguson's command and the looming threat of Patriot militia in the mountains caused Lord Cornwallis to cancel his plans to invade North Carolina; he instead evacuated Charlotte and retreated to South Carolina . He would not return to North Carolina until early 1781, when he was chasing Nathanael Greene after the Americans had dealt British forces another defeat at the Battle of Cowpens . </P> <P> In The Winning of the West, Theodore Roosevelt wrote of Kings Mountain, "This brilliant victory marked the turning point of the American Revolution ." Thomas Jefferson called it, "The turn of the tide of success ." President Herbert Hoover at Kings Mountain said, </P>

Why was the battle of king's mountain considered a turning point in the american revolution
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