His first assignment was to protect the frontier settlements. Although he fought elsewhere, he was primarily confined to the South.
The British under the command of Major Patrick Ferguson viewed these western settlements with immense dislike. Overconfident Ferguson demanded that the frontiersmen lay down their arms and give allegiance to the Crown or he would destroy them. Sevier, with others, accepted the challenge and left Sycamore Shoals in September 1780. The two opposing parties met on a narrow ridge in northwest South Carolina where the frontiersmen overtook the British. This battle, which lasted little more than an hour, became known as the “Battle of Kings Mountain,” and it turned the British from the west making Sevier one of the foremost figures in this area.