BATTLE OF GUILFORD COURT HOUSE.
A. D. 1781.
When the British commander found that General Greene was
completely beyond his reach, he marched to Hillsboro and there
erected the Royal standard. In consequence of his proclamations
and the retreat of General Greene across Dan River, several
hundred Tories collected under Colonel John Pyle and started to
join Lord Cornwallis. General Greene sent Lieutenant Colonel
Henry Lee across Dan River to observe them.
2. Pyle and his Tories supposing Lee's force to be British
troops, drew near, uttering cheers for King George. Suddenly the
bugles of the lighthorse sounded a charge, and Pyle and his men
were furiously assailed. In five minutes ninety lay dead upon
the ground, and nearly all the others were prisoners of war.
This bloody affair has been called "Pyle's Hacking Match."
3. Major Joseph Graham, with his mounted force, had just before
captured a picket of twenty-five men a mile and a half away from
Hillsboro. General Polk's militia were also in the same
vicinity, and soon General Greene, having received
reinforcements, recrossed the Dan and assumed a position on the
Reedy Fork, a confluent of Haw River.
4. Cornwallis hearing of Pyle's disaster, left Hillsboro and
moved westward to protect any Tories that might seek to reach
him. The first time the two armies again saw anything of each
other was at Whitsell's Mill. At that place Colonel Otho H.
Williams was posted with a body of light troops, which Lord
Cornwallis attempted to cut off from the main body. He failed in
so doing, but both armies were filled with admiration at a
display of personal gallantry.
5. Colonel Williams had posted sharpshooters in and around the
millhouse. These discovered a British officer approaching a ford
below them, and saw that he was leading men and trying to cross
the stream. Many deadly rifles were soon hurling their missiles
around him, but slowly, and as if unconscious of being under
fire, he crossed in safety. This intrepid man was Lieutenant-
Colonel William Webster, then a brigade commander under
Cornwallis.
6. On March 15th, 1781, General Greene being at the courthouse of
Guilford county, learned that the British army was approaching on
the Salisbury road. He hosted his men in three lines and awaited
the enemy's arrival, who came on in fine style, but the first
American line, composed of militia, giving ground, only the men
of the gallant Captain Forbis, of the Hawfields, gained credit
for their conduct. The British found stubborn resistance in the
second and third lines, where the Continentals were posted.
7. It was a furious and bloody conflict, and such havoc was
wrought in the British ranks by a charge of Colonels Howard and
Washington, that Lord Cornwallis opened fire with his artillery
upon his friends and foes alike, and thus checked this dangerous
American movement. General Greene at length gave orders for
retreat, and the field was left in the possession of the British.
8. British valor was never more splendidly exhibited than upon
this hard-fought field. With less than half of Greene's force,
they won the field, but the victory was too costly. At least one-
fourth of the British force was dead and disabled, including the
gallant Webster, the hero of Whitsell's Mill. General Greene,
having halted close by the scene of conflict, returned three days
later to again offer battle, but Lord Cornwallis was flying
towards Wilmington for safety. He who had so long sought to bring
on an engagement was now the fugitive.
9. General Greene followed in pursuit, but failing to overtake
his foe, he turned his course and marched against Lord Rawdon, in
South Carolina. He had redeemed North Carolina from the grasp of
her foes, and went to confer upon the two other Southern
commonwealths a similar blessing. No more British armies were to
bring ruin and terror to any portion of North Carolina.
10. Lord Cornwallis hurried to Wilmington. His stay was short
there, for turning north in the month of April, 1781, he marched
his army, by way of Halifax, to Virginia. There, ere long, this
great soldier was to close his career in America. He had, with a
small portion of the British force under the command of Sir Henry
Clinton accomplished more than all compatriots.
11. On September the 8th a brilliant battle took place at Eutaw
Springs, in South Carolina, between General Greene's army and the
British under Colonel Stewart. It was the hardest fought and
best conducted action of the war. The three North Carolina
Continental regiments, led by General Sumner, bore the brunt of
the conflict, and were greatly praised for their gallantry.
About two thousand men each was the strength of the armies, and
they lost twelve hundred in killed and wounded. This battle
resulted in the retreat of the British to Charleston.
12. Governor Nash's term of office having expired, Thomas Burke,
of Orange, became his successor. Burke was an Irishman by birth,
of good family, well educated, and with fine abilities. He had
been conspicuous in public affairs and had shown a warm devotion
to the American cause. His home was in Hillsboro, which was then
the capital of the State.
QUESTIONS.
1. Where did Cornwallis next go? What recruits were raised, and
who was put in command? Whom had General Greene appointed to
watch the enemy?
2. Describe the surprise and defeat of Colonel Pyle and his men.
3. Mention the movements of Major Joseph Graham. Of General Greene.
4. Give an account of the affair at Whitsell's Mill.
5. What special act of bravery is related?
6. What occurred on March 15th, 1781? Give some account of the
battle of Guilford Court House?
7. How did the engagement terminate ?
8. What is said of the British victory? What did General Greene do three days later?
9. Where did he then go?
10. Where did Cornwallis carry his army?
11. Give an account of the battle of Eutaw Springs?
12. Who succeeded Governor Nash, and what is said of him?