September 22, 2013

September 22, 2013

Our stop today is Guilford Courthouse National Military Park outside Greensboro, NC. Here on the Ides of March, 1781, a major battle of the Revolutionary War was fought. After many years of stalemate in the northern colonies, the British under Cornwallis moved their focus to the southern colonies. They initially succeed capturing the major southern port cities. When they move inland, the Americans under Nathaniel Greene play a cat and mouse action until reinforcements arrive from the north. When he thinks he has enough troops Greene makes a stand here at this little hamlet in the forest. The British advance and send fleeing three separate defensive lines. The British win the battle but at high cost, one fourth of their troops lost. The result convinces Cornwallis to return to the coast and north to Virginia, where he meets defeat at the hands of George Washington and the French.

We start out driving the tour road but soon find the park is small enough to walk. I am surprised how forested it is. It must have made for a very confusing battle. I am also surprised at the number of monuments erected throughout the battlefield. That is usually what we see on Civil War sites. North Carolinians had planned on this ground being their state Revolutionary War cemetery. The most impressive monument is a mounted statue of Greene. The park is very crowded; there is even a handful of re-enactors encamped at one section of the park. Unfortunately since we are so close to Greensboro, the vast majority are here to walk their dog. If only they wouldn’t hog the road while they do so.