At daybreak on March 14, 1781, Major General Nathanael Greene’s army moved out of camp at Speedwell Iron Works in North Carolina and marched the road to Guilford Courthouse to meet his opponent British General Charles, Lord Cornwallis in a long awaited battle. Greene had studied this land well. The choice of position was wholly his decision. The grounds lay in the middle of irregular cultivated fields interspersed with small clearings. The courthouse stood on a hill in one of the clearings. A gentle declivity formed an undulating slope nearly half a mile in length. Greene’s army consisted of 4,243 foot and 160 horse. Fifteen hundred were Continentals, the rest militia. He put his order of battle in place. It was a model of Daniel Morgan’s at Cowpens. The enemy would have to march up New Garden Road where Greene deployed the first of three defensive lines. He positioned one thousand North Carolina militia on the edge of the woods behind a rail fence.
They would have a good view of the British as they marched out of the woods, through fields and across a small stream. Twelve hundred Virginia militiamen formed the second line. Fourteen hundred experienced Continentals from Virginia, Maryland and Delaware drew up on a brow of the gently rising hill near the courthouse and formed the third line.
They were in overall command of General Isaac Huger and Colonel Otho Holland Williams. The army had four 6-pound cannon and one hundred artillerymen. Greene posted two on the road between the militia regiments and the other two between the Virginia and Delaware fronts.
Colonel William Washington’s cavalry protected the right flank while Colonel Harry Lee’s horsemen positioned themselves on the left. To the rear, the Reedy Fork Road served as the line of retreat. Like at Cowpens, each line would deliver two or three well-executed volleys and then retire to the second line.
The battlefield at Guilford Courthouse was much larger and Greene was unable to see the entire field. On the morning of March 15, 1781, the wailing pipes of the Scottish Highlanders filtered through the woods. The first British and Hessian troops stepped out on the field and charged the Americans. British Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s cavalry arrived on the main road with instructions not to charge without positive orders. They were followed by a second wave of infantry with Cornwallis leading the 71st Regiment of Highlanders and the German Regiment of Bose under the command of General Alexander Leslie on the right.
An ineffective artillery volley ensued then the British moved forward. The North Carolina line fired too early and their center collapsed. Cornwallis pressed Colonel James Webster’s 33rd foot and Jaegers forward from the left. The Virginia militia fired and gave fight. A volley thundered that threw back Webster’s men dropping both British and Americans. A musket ball smashed Virginia militia General Edward Stevens’ thigh. Webster suffered a mortal wound. There was a brief pause as Webster’s men retreated to reform. General Charles O’Hara’s reserves of grenadiers and the 2nd Battalion of Guards united with Alexander Leslie’s troops. They crossed a ravine and emerged from the woods and attacked Greene’s third line, the Maryland and Delaware Continentals. The 1st Marylanders stood their ground. O’Hara was hit in the chest.
He turned his command over to Colonel James Stewart. Stewart headed for the fleeing 2nd Marylanders and captured two cannon. He turned on the 1st Maryland and they volleyed at the same time. Their colonel, John Gunby lost his mount and was pinned under it. His deputy commander, Colonel John Eager Howard, took over for him. A bugle sounded and William Washington and his dragoons thundered through the 2nd Guards and slaughtered them. John Eager Howard regrouped his Marylanders. The shattered British troops tried to reform.
Greene pressed forward into the midst of the battle. There was nothing between him and the enemy but woods. His aide saw the danger and warned, “You are riding into the enemy, General Greene!” Greene calmly nodded, turned his horse and rode back to his position. The enemy was gaining ground on his right. At 3:30 pm, two hours after the battle began, he saw that the enemy had turned his left flank. He ordered a retreat before his army could be encircled.
Cornwallis’ lost twenty-five percent of his army in the pyrrhic British victory. The days leading up to Guilford Courthouse overwhelmed Nathanael Greene and he fainted after the battle, but it was the turning point that forced Cornwallis out of the Carolinas and into Virginia where he met his final surrender to Franco/American forces led by George Washington on October 19, 1781.
Resources:
Beakes, John H. Jr. Otho Holland Williams in The American Revolution. Charleston, South Carolina: The Nautical and Aviation Publishing Co. of American, 2015.
Buchannan, John. The Road to Charleston. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019.
Buchannan, John. The Road to Guilford Courthouse. Toronto: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997.
Carbone, Gerald M. Nathanael Greene A Biography of the American Revolution, 2008.
Greene, George Washington. The Life of Nathanael Greene, Major General in the Army of the Revolution. 3 Volumes. New York: Hurd and Houghton. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1871.
Piecusch, Jim, and John H. Beakes, Jr. Cool Deliberate Courage John Eager Howard in the American Revolution. Berwyn Heights, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., 2009.
Featured image. The equestrian statue of General Nathanael Greene at Guilford Courthouse Military Park, Greensboro, North Carolina
My biographical novel about General Nathanael Greene titled “The Line of Splendor, A Novel of Nathanael Greene and the American Revolution” is available on Amazon. Click on the cover to get your copy.
Salina B Baker 