Battle of Guilford Courthouse - March 15, 1781| And Then There Were Thirteen (1976) | ETV Classics

And Then There Were Thirteen with Dr. Henry Lumpkin was an instructional series debuted by SCETV in the mid-1970s. The 20-episode series featured lectures by Dr. Henry Lumpkin of the University of South Carolina Department of History filmed on actual battle sites and campaign areas of the American Revolution in South Carolina. 

Lord Cornwallis’s great strategic plan was to conquer the rebellious Southern colonies, by using Georgia and South Carolina as a base for subduing North Carolina and Virginia now was to be put into effect. It was doomed for two reasons. The terrible defeats at Kings Mountain and Cowpens had destroyed the best of the light units in Lord Cornwallis's army. Also, Georgia and South Carolina refused to stay conquered. This was the time of the partisans operating in the rear of Cornwallis's army. They disrupted the British supply chain and harassed the local loyalists. 

On April 25, 1781, Cornwallis assembled his army at Ramsour’s Mill on the South Fork of the Catawba pursuing Nathanael Greene up though North Carolina, and Greene, as usual, always stayed a little bit ahead of his enemy. When Cornwallis and his army reached Boyd's Ferry on the dam, across the Virginia line on the 15th of February, they found the Greene's men had crossed the day before, talking all of the flatboats with them. 

Professor Lumpkin takes us to Guilford Courthouse where the epic battle unfolded. Nathanael Greene had accepted Daniel Morgan's resignation; however, the professor noted that the battle plan used at Guilford Courthouse was modeled on Morgan's plan at Cowpens. 

Listen as the professor talks us through the battle of deception and the strategic win for the Americans. The pyric victory at Guilford Courthouse ruined Cornwallis’s army, leading to the siege and subsequent surrender at Yorktown.

Side Notes

• Lord Charles Cornwallis
• Banastre Tarleton
• Ramsour's Mill Battle Facts and Summary - American Battlefield Trust
• Otho Holland Williams (March 1, 1749 – July 15, 1794) was a Continental Army officer from Maryland in the American Revolutionary War. He participated in many battles throughout the war in the New York, New Jersey and Southern theaters, eventually ending his career as a brigadier general.
• Guilford Courthouse
• Nathanael Greene (1742 - 1786) Greene’s martial skills shone brightest as commander of the southern theater. Soon after he took command, the tide of war began to turn in favor of the Patriots. Greene decided to divide his troops in the hopes that the British would be forced to follow suit.  The tactic worked as Greene's subordinate, Brig. Gen. Daniel Morgan won a victory at Cowpens early in 1781. After the British victory over at Greene at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, the much depleted British force under Charles Cornwallis withdrew to Wilmington while Greene and his men turned south to reconquer the South Carolina backcountry. Throughout 1781, Greene steadily drove the British back to an isolated position at Charleston, which they abandoned the following December.
• Henry Lee (1756–1818), also known as Light-Horse Harry Lee or Henry Lee III, was an officer in the Continental and U.S. armies, a representative from Virginia to the Confederation Congress (1786–1788) and the U.S. House of Representatives (1799–1801), a member of the House of Delegates (1789–1791), the governor of Virginia (1791–1794), and the master of Stratford Hall.
• John Pyle (1723 - 1804) received a commission as colonel of a Loyalist militia from the governor of North Carolina. In January and February of 1781, Pyle recruited a Loyalist force of men around his home near the Haw and Deep rivers. En route to join the larger British force under General Charles Lord Cornwallis, Pyle expected to encounter Col. Banastre Tarleton’s dragoons, who were to serve as escorts to the main force. When Patriot commander Henry Lee appeared in a similar guise as Tarleton, Pyle made the devastating mistake of allowing Lee’s men to come within close proximity. A fight erupted between the adversaries. Lee and his men fell upon the Loyalists, killing nearly one hundred and wounding and scattering the rest. The event became known as Pyle’s Defeat.
• Brigadier General John Butler -Indian Department; Butler's Rangers; loyalist.
• Brigadier General Thomas Eaton - Patriot Leaders in North Carolina.
• 10 Facts about the Continental Army
• Robert Lawson Letter to Thomas Jefferson, 31 May 1802
• Charles O'Hara -Charles O'Hara was educated at the Westminster School and was appointed a coronet in the British army at the age of 12. He joined the Coldstream Guards four years later. He progressed through many positions and commands and went with his troops to North America in 1777. In October 1780, O'Hara was appointed brigadier general and given command of the Brigade of Guards. O'Hara took the Brigade to serve with his friend Cornwallis in the Southern Campaign in 1780. At Guilford Courthouse, O'Hara was severely wounded as the Guards fought to a stalemate with General Nathanial Greene's Continentals.
• Alexander Leslie participated in the successful siege of Charleston, South Carolina in 1780. Later in 1780, he led over two thousand British soldiers on raids in Virginia, targeting the economy and supply lines supporting the Continental Army. In January 1781, Leslie returned to the Carolinas with reinforcements, arriving too late to assist British troops in their defeat at the Battle of Cowpens. At the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, Leslie commanded the British right wing in their costly victory over Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene's well positioned army of militia and Continentals. Leslie's health worsened, and he returned to New York to recuperate until he received orders in late 1781 from General Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander in chief, to hold Charleston, South Carolina at all costs. Leslie, however, begged Clinton for permission to return home, citing his long service in the war, his failing health, and his wish to return to his family. He pleaded also with Clinton's successor as commander in chief, Sir Guy Carleton, that his "country has got her full share out of me."
• Charles Lynch, the Patriot judge also served Virginia in a military capacity. In March of 1781, he led Bedford County militia into North Carolina to join forces with Gen. Nathaniel Greene’s army that was gathering in the vicinity of Guilford Court House. The battle that resulted in this confrontation saw Lynch’s militiamen assume a key position on the right flank of the first American line of battle. In this engagement, Lynch commanded riflemen armed with the famous Pennsylvania Rifle.
• Daniel Morgan's battle plan at Cowpens was considered a masterpiece of military strategy and tactics. In Fall of 1780, General Nathaniel Greene sent a portion of his men under Morgan to fight the British in western South Carolina.
• James Webster - Upon the death of Lt. Colonel James Webster, Lord Cornwallis wrote, "I have lost my scabbard"
• John Gunby (1745 – 1807) was an American planter and soldier from Somerset County, Maryland, who is considered by many to be "one of the most gallant officers of the Maryland Line under Gen. Smallwood". He entered service volunteering as a minuteman in 1775 and fought for the American cause until the end earning praise as probably the most brilliant soldier whom Maryland contributed to the War of Independence.
• Elijah Clarke was the leader of the Wilkes County, Georgia militia. He along with Col. Isaac Shelby, leader of the Overmountain men militia, and Col James Williams, leader of the Little River militia, formed a new strategy for attacking the British. This new strategy involved the militia men hiding behind trees and/or rocks so they could take deadly aim at British and Loyalist soldiers. This was a type of fighting with no holds barred.
• In the Battle of Musgrove Mill, this strategy for the patriots proved to be a ray of hope-- that the British forces were not invincible.
• Francis Marion - In March of 2021, the South Carolina Battlefield Preservation Trust purchased 31 acres in Colleton County to preserve the site of a Revolutionary War victory by Francis Marion and his men over the British in what became known as the battle of Parker’s Ferry. The site will soon become part of the Liberty Trail, which will be a unified path of preservation and interpretation across South Carolina. The Trail will tell the story of the events of 1779-1782 in the Carolinas, which directly led to an American victory in the war.
• Anthony Singleton - William Richardson Davie, who was at the battle, recalled many years later, that about half of the militia were behind the fence, a ‘cover too insignificant to inspire confidence.’ The militia were on either side of the road, just before it disappeared into the tangled forest behind them. Greene had four six-pounders and about 100 artillerymen under Captain Anthony Singleton. He posted Singleton and two of the guns on the road between the militia regiments.
• Abraham Buford (1747 - 1833) took his detachments south in order to reinforce Charleston, South Carolina, then under siege by the British. The column failed to arrive in time and turned back north. They were attacked by a column of British and Loyalist Forces in an area called the Waxhaws on May 29th. There Buford’s force was decisively defeated and suffered heavy casualties. Buford managed to get away on horseback. For the rest of the war, Buford was used by the Americans as a propaganda tool to show the cruelty of the British and Loyalists who were reported as having cut down Buford’s men as they tried to surrender.
• Robert Kirkwood - Kirkwood's journals testify to his service and action at major battles of the Revolution, including , , and , where Kirkwood led his Delawareans to play a decisive role in Daniel Morgan's victory — his journal for January 16, 1781 simply notes "Marched to the Cowpens, and on the 17th defeated Tarleton.