Existing comment:
The Battle of Guilford Courthouse:
More than one year of cat and mouse through the Carolinas culminated in the clash of Greene's and Cornwallis's troops on March 15, 1781, at the battle of Guilford Courthouse. Greene chose a hillside along the main road from Hillsborough where he positioned his 4,000 men. The North Carolina, Maryland, and Virginia militias -- many of which had never before seen battle -- made up the front lines. Cornwallis reported, "I never saw such fighting... the Americans fought like demons," but after two hours of bayonet charges, artillery fire, and heavy musket rounds, the battle ended with an American retreat.
Cornwallis was quick to claim victory for the British. His army took control of the coastal town of Wilmington in early April, but it remained one of only three British strongholds in the South, besides Charleston and Savannah. Cornwallis' proclaimed victory came at the expense of such high casualties that many at home questioned the good news. Charles James Fox, a member of Parliament, believed "another such victory would destroy the British Army." Fox's prediction seems to forecast Cornwallis' fate. The toll that the battle of Guilford Courthouse took on the British army strengthened the American campaign toward Yorktown and helped to bring Cornwallis's surrender in October 1781. |