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Guilford Court House

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Major General Nathanael Greene, commanding the Continental Army in the south, spent mid-March of 1781 trying to lure Cornwallis and his army into battle on advantageous ground. He had to do it quickly, for the enlistments of many of his soldiers would soon expire.

Greene finally deployed his troops on the high ground surrounding Guilford Court House in North Carolina. Cornwallis took the bait and began to move against him with some two thousand men. Although Greene had more than twice that number, most of them were shaky militia whose reaction to battle was wholly unpredictable.

Greene planned accordingly. He posted untried North Carolinians across the probable path of the enemy and, grinning encouragement, told them to fire only two volleys before they ran away. Behind these men was a tougher line of Virginians, and behind them the rock of Greene’s makeshift army, indestructible Maryland and Delaware regiments. The units took up their final positions on the cool, bright morning of March 15.

Major General Nathanael Greene, Continental Army: …I took the resolution of attacking the enemy without loss of time, and made the necessary disposition accordingly, being persuaded, that if we were successful, it would prove ruinous to the enemy, and, if otherwise, it would only prove a partial evil to us. The army marched from the High-rock ford on the 12th, and on the 14th arrived at Guildford.… Lieutenant Colonel Henry Lee, Continental Army: The country to a wide extent around, waste and rolling, was covered with lofty trees and thick shrubby underwood. Narrow tangled glades wound between the hills and … dripped their scant rills into a larger stream … that crossed the great Salisbury road, about two miles from the courthouse. The melancholy horror, the wild sterility, and the lonely aspect of the scene, seemed ready to overawe the rage, and to welcome the fears of men. Major General Nathanael Greene, Continental Army: … On the morning of the 15th, our reconnoitering party reported the enemy advancing on the great Salisbury road.… … Lieutenant-colonel [Henry| Lee … met the enemy on their advance, and had a severe skirmish with Lieutenant-colonel [Banastre] Tarleton, in which the enemy suffered greatly.… The action commenced by a cannonade, which lasted about twenty minutes, when the enemy advanced in three columns; the Hessians on the right, the guards in the center, and Lieutenant-colonel James] Webster’s brigade on the left. The whole moved through the old fields to attack the North-Carolina brigades.… Sergeant Roger Lamb, British Army: … After the brigade formed across the open ground, the colonel [Webster) rode on to the front, and gave the word, “Charge. ” Instantly the movement was made, in excellent order, in a smart run, with arms charged: when arrived within forty yards of the enemy’s line, it was perceived that their whole force had their arms presented, and resting on a rail fence, the common partitions in America. They were taking aim with the nicest precision.… At this awful period a general pause took place; both parties surveyed each other for the moment with the most anxious suspense.… [Then] colonel Webster rode forward in the front of the 2ßd regiment, and said, with more than even his usual commanding voice … “Come on, my brave Fuzileers. ” This operated like an inspiring voice, they rushed forward amidst the enemy’s fire; dreadful was the havoc on both sides.… At last the Americans gave way, and the brigade advanced, to the attack of their second line. Here the conflict became still more fierce. Before it was completely routed, where I stood … I observed an American officer attempting to fly. I immediately darted after him, but he perceiving my intention to capture him, fled with the utmost speed. I pursued, and was gaining on him, when, hearing a confused noise on my left, I observed several bodies of Americans drawn up within the distance of a few yards. Whoever has been in an engagement well knows that, in such moments all fears of death are over.… I had no time for deliberation. How to act I knew not. On the instant, however, I saw lord Cornwallis riding across the clear ground. His lordship was mounted on a dragoon’s horse (his own having been shot;) … his lordship was evidently unconscious of his danger. I immediately laid hold of the bridle of his horse, and … mentioned to him, that if his lordship had pursued the same direction, he would in a few moments have been surrounded by the enemy.… I continued to run along side of the horse, keeping the bridle in my hand, until his lordship gained the 23;d regiment.… Lieutenant Colonel Henry Lee, Continental Army: … The throes and gestures of this strife … it is impossible to describe; the deadly and determined thrusts of the infantry, the rush and spurning of the chargers, and the murderous slashing of the fierce dragoons.… The guards fell in heaps around the guns they had taken; and their leader slain, were driven back into the open ground; many prostrated by the horse—many killed or captured by the pursuing infantry. The remnant fled for protection to their friends, but received the balls directed at their enemies; for Cornwallis, with furious decision, ordered his artillery to fire, sacrificing the fugitives to check the pursuit.… Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, British Army: At this period the event of the action was doubtful, and victory alternately presided over each army.… At this crisis, the judicious use of the three pounders, the firm countenance of the British infantry, and the appearance of the cavalry, obliged the enemy to retreat.… Lieutenant Colonel Henry Lee, Continental Army: In this battle, the victory of the British general was complete, but to himself disastrous; his glory was great, but his loss prodigious. Nearly one third of his troops were killed or wounded, while the loss of the Americans did not exceed one twelfth—facts which, as soon as they were ascertained, gave predominance to the republicans in North Carolina, and made Greene a conqueror, and Cornwallis a fugitive.

The first blood of the day was spilled in a sharp cavalry brush when Colonel Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee’s men cut up a column of Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s hated dragoons and retired toward the main body of the Continental Army with the British advance close on their heels.

The English and Hessian troops came out of the woods in formal line of battle, and the Carolinians fired their two volleys and fled. The British pressed forward behind level bayonets, but steady American riflemen knocked large gaps in their ranks. The attack faltered and stopped as American units backed up by Colonel William Washington’s cavalrymen plunged in among the British files. For a few bloody minutes it looked as though the Continentals were going to win the field.

Then Cornwallis, in a desperate decision, turned his artillery on the chaos, spraying his own soldiers as well as the Americans with grape. Gradually the two armies separated and drew apart. The exhausted Continentals waited for the fighting to resume, but Greene, realizing that he had hurt the British badly and loath to gamble the only American army in the south, wisely ordered a retreat.

The Americans pulled back through a dismal, chilly rain. They had suflered a long and grueling day and. strictly speaking, a defeat. But they were by no means disheartened. British losses had been twice theirs, and the weary men knew they were leaving a shaken enemy behind them. And though none of them could know it at the time, they were close now to a victory worth a hundred Guilfords; soon Cornwallis would begin his long retreat that would end, a half year later, at Yorktown.

The Battle of Guilford Courthouse was the climax of a hard campaign of 2 months in the dead of winter. Cornwallis had previously destroyed his baggage train in order that he might pursue the Americans more rapidly during the race for the river fords. Now, after their victory at Guilford, the British found themselves in an almost desperate situation.

Shoes, clothing, ammunition, medicines, food--all the myriad supplies and equipment necessary for successful campaigning--were either entirely expended or dangerously low. The men were tired and their morale was none too good. Rest, reorganization, and refitting were essential, and for this Cornwallis required time and safety. The English were, therefore, forced to retreat in order that they might establish immediate contact with their base of operations at Charleston.

After the battle, Cornwallis headed southeast. His first destination was Cross Creek near Fayetteville. The settlers in that region, almost all Highland Scots, were largely loyalists, and it was thought that they would provide the retreating army with food and a safe haven for reorganization.

It was also thought that water communication with Charleston could be established by way of the Cape Fear River. But the river was not navigable to Cross Creek, nor was food available. Of necessity, then, the march was continued to Wilmington, where the sea route to Charleston was open, and where all needed supplies could be delivered without difficulty.

In the meantime, Greene eagerly grasped the opportunity presented by the action at Guilford Courthouse and the retreat of his adversary. He followed Cornwallis part of the way to Cross Creek, seeking in his turn to bring on a contest. This Cornwallis avoided. After a few days of fruitless pursuit, Greene suddenly changed direction. He led his army into South Carolina and bent his energies to the redemption of that State.

In this purpose he was successful. At the end of the summer he had lost most of his battles, as he had lost at Guilford. But after each battle the British were compelled to evacuate one or more of their posts. Finally, in September, after the Battle of Eutaw Springs, the British were driven from the whole State and continued to hold only the city of Charleston, against which Greene was powerless for want of an assisting naval force.

Cornwallis remained at Wilmington for about a month, going thence to Virginia where he united with an army under Benedict Arnold and operated over much of the southern part of the State during the first part of the summer. Early in August he established himself at Yorktown, where he was forced to surrender on October 19.

The importance of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse lies not in the battle itself, nor in the numbers involved, the tactics employed, nor in the casualties inflicted upon either side. Rather its importance is in the effects which flowed from it, and in the fact that in winning, Cornwallis was the ultimate loser.

Thus Guilford Courthouse is important in the immediate result of rendering North Carolina safe and in the larger result of freeing Greene's hands for reconquest to the southward. Broken was the grand British plan of campaign which would have detached the Southern Colonies from the Colonies to the north. Cornwallis was driven into Virginia without making secure his rear. Greene had lost a battle but won a campaign.

In the months that followed, the results of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse became clear. Serious losses of manpower left the British too weak to occupy even outposts in North Carolina. Further, they were unable to pursue the defeated, but essentially intact, army of Nathanael Greene. Instead, after burying their dead and collecting the wounded, they marched away on March 18 toward the British outpost at Wilmington, North Carolina, where they hoped to find provisions shipped to them from Charleston.

While at Wilmington, Lord Cornwallis made the fatal decision to lead his army into Virginia, where seven months later he would meet final defeat at Yorktown. Meanwhile, the "defeated" Americans at Guilford Courthouse marched south and fought battles that liberated South Carolina and Georgia from British control.

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