The Battle of Guilford Courthouse

The Battle of Guilford Courthouse was fought on March 17, 1781 at Greensboro, North Carolina. Nearly 1,900 British troops under the leadership of Lord Cornwallis and nearly 4,400 American troops under the leadership of General Nathaniel Greene saw action that day. Although it was a relatively small battle in terms of numbers, the Battle of Guilford Courthouse played a pivotal role in the outcome of the American Revolution.

On the morning of the 15th, General Nathaniel Greene had taken up a defensive position along a hill near the courthouse. Out in front of the main battle lines were skirmishers on both sides. The British began their attack by softening up the American position with a nearly thirty-minute long bombardment of the American lines. At around 1:45 P.M. the British launched their assault. The British attack was fierce, but they took devastating casualties, however, the British continued to move forward and try to find a weakness in the American lines.

Finally, the British were able to break the American militia placed out front of the American lines. It looked as if the British had turned the tide of the battle, but American Continentals moved up to hopefully stop the British advancement. The Continentals did just that. The British advancement halted and fierce hand-to-hand combat broke out. Neither side could take advantage of the situation. Finally, Lord Cornwallis decided to do something about it. He ordered his artillery to fire into the melee.

Cornwallis wanted to hopefully break up the melee and then continue the assault on the American lines. He successfully did just that, but he also hit and killed his own men. After the melee was broken up the American army turned and ran. Greene understood that he would have another day to fight. All he wanted to do was inflict heavy casualties on the British and keep his army intact. The British had won the field, but they suffered heavy casualties for it.

The bloodshed spilled on March 17, was staggering. Not many battles during the American Revolution were bloodier than Guilford Courthouse. The British had suffered 600 casualties or nearly 1/3 of the soldiers able to fight that day. The Americans suffered half that number of casualties.

Greene decided to retire with his army intact and continue his cat and mouse game with Cornwallis. The British decided to let Greene move out and roam around while they licked their wounds from the battle. Neither side would meet up again until the Battle of Yorktown.