Sycamore Shoals State Historical Park will be holding its annual Overmountain Victory Trail Celebration Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The event commemorates the historic mustering of the Overmountain Men at Fort Watauga before they began their famous journey to King’s Mountain to defeat the British troops there led by British Major Patrick Ferguson.

The win sounded the end of the Revolutionary War. Up till that point, the British and the Americans had reached a stalemate of sorts.

“This weekend is to commemorate the gathering of the Overmountain Men at Sycamore Shoals,” said Chad Bogart, the museum curator at the park. “This event happened 239 years ago. What was going was the Revolutionary War, and it was not going very well for the American cause.

“George Washington had reached a stalemate in the north, and there was not much going on well for the patriot cause.

“The British has made the decision to move into the southern colonies thinking they could gain a lot of support from the people who were here who were still loyal to the crown.

“There has been some small skirmishes over the mountains like Musgroves Mill and South Carolina. In those skirmishes from our part of the country — the overmountain country — would go over the mountains and fight against the British and come back.

“So this was making the British officers mad because here are these frontiersmen coming across the mountain and defeating the [British] in battle.

“So British Major Patrick Ferguson issued a threat. He said if you do not stop in your opposition to the British crown. He said I am going to march my army across the mountains and I am going to lay waste to your country with fire and sword.”

Bogart said the people knew that they could not survive or sustain such an attack, so they mustered up as many men together and took the fight to enemy, and started the trek to Kings Mountain and soundly defeated the British.

Less than a month after the Battle of Kings Mountain, British General Cornwallis surrendered.

Persons wanting more information about this or any upcoming events can call 423-543-5808.