[patriotic fife and drum music] ♪ [mortar fire booming] ♪ [musket fire popping] ♪ ♪ [mortar fire booming] ♪ Dr.

Lumpkin> Lord Cornwallis' grand strategic plan to conquer the rebellious Southern Colonies... by using Georgia and South Carolina as a base to subdue North Carolina and Virginia now was to be put into effect.

It was doomed, doomed, for two reasons.

The terrible defeats at Kings Mountain and Cowpens had destroyed the best light elements, light units, in Cornwallis' army... absolutely essential troops for warfare in the Southern theater.

Also, Georgia and South Carolina refused to stay conquered.

This, again, is the time of the partisans operating in the rear of Cornwallis' army back in their home areas.

On 25 January 1781, Cornwallis assembled his army at Ramsour's Mill on the south fork of the Catawba to begin the long, grim pursuit of Greene up through North Carolina, the long, fighting pursuit where Greene always stayed just a little ahead of his enemy, where rivers became swollen, providentially for Greene's men and Greene's army, to check Cornwallis in his long pursuit up the country.

The long pursuit which would lead inevitably and eventually to Guilford Courthouse, the terrible Pyrrhic victory of Guilford Courthouse which would ruin Cornwallis' army, and then to Yorktown.

Now let us go to Guilford Courthouse and the battle area itself.

♪ ♪ When Lord Cornwallis and his army reached Boyd's Ferry on the Dan, across the Virginia line, on the 15th of February, they found that the American army had crossed the day before, again taking all the flatboats with them.

At Guilford Courthouse, here, on February the 9th, Nathanael Greene, with deep regret, already had accepted Daniel Morgan's resignation.

The old fighter, suffering miserably from sciatica and associated ailments, simply could not keep the saddle.

Otho Williams of Maryland, that very able soldier, was given command of the light armed elements in his place.

The British had covered 40 miles in 24 hours to find that Nathanael Greene had escaped successfully again.

Disappointed and weary, Lord Cornwallis now marched back by easy stages to Hillsborough, Hillsborough, North Carolina where he raised the royal standard and called by proclamation for all loyal subjects to rally to the support of their king.

It's at this time that one of the more brutal tragedies of the war took place.

Loyalist elements in North Carolina were stronger than in any other of the Southern Colonies.

The Old Royal militia, between the Haw and Deep Rivers south of Hillsborough, began assembling under a Colonel John Pyle.

Lord Cornwallis, on 23rd February, detached Banastre Tarleton with 450 troops to meet and escort the Loyalist militia to Hillsborough.

Although neither Cornwallis nor Tarleton knew of Nathanael Greene's countermove, American intelligence, naturally, always was better than British information.

This intelligence had brought word of the Loyalist rising on the Haw River.

Nathanael Greene sent Henry Lee and his legion, supported by two companies of Marylanders and Andrew Pickens with his veteran South Carolina militia, to check Tarleton and quell the Loyalists.

Henry Lee had captured two British officers from Tarleton's command in the course of a foray and forced them to ride with his column on pain of death if they revealed his or their identity.

It should be remembered that Lee's Legion wore a green uniform and helmets, very similar to Tarleton's Legion, and Henry Lee was depending on this fact to complete the deception.

The legion, in its green uniforms, took the head of the column, with a horse in front and Lieutenant Colonel Henry Lee at its head.

Lee's van officer, riding a few hundred yards in advance, met two well-mounted young countrymen who announced that they were delighted to meet Lieutenant Colonel Tarleton's command and had been sent forward by Colonel John Pyle to do so.

Lee greeted them in his presumed character of Tarleton with great cordiality and sent one young man back with two American dragoons to carry Banastre Tarleton's congratulations to Colonel John Pyle.

Meanwhile, Andrew Pickens and his men were concealed in a thick woods on the left of the road to support the operation.

John Pyle had drawn up his men, his Loyalists, some 400 strong, on the right-hand side of the road.

There they sat on their horses, 400 mounted Loyalist militia, with their muskets, rifles, and fowling pieces slung on their shoulders.

Henry Lee rode the entire length of the line, reviewing the Loyalists with his dragoons behind him, until he reached Colonel Pyle, where, playing the role of Banastre Tarleton, Henry Lee shook John Pyle's hand warmly.

At that moment, according to Henry Lee- Henry Lee's memoir- the Loyalist left saw Andrew Pickens' militia in the woods and began to fire on the American cavalry.

The entire column of American dragoons turned on the Loyalists and sabered them where they sat, with most of their weapons still slung.

Some 90 were killed outright and 150 badly slashed.

The rest scattered into the woods, and Lee did not pursue them.

Banastre Tarleton was called Bloody Tarleton for his conduct against Colonel Abraham Buford's men at the Waxhaws.

The Waxhaws was a battle which the Americans lost.

The affair on the Haw River was pure butchery of unsuspecting men.

From any moral point of view, it is inexcusable.

But it succeeded in its mission.

The Loyalists in North Carolina, thoroughly intimidated by the killing and interpreting Lord Cornwallis' falling back to Hillsborough as a retreat, just did not come in to join the British army.

Greene now crossed the Dan River with his full army and marched west of Hillsborough, where he encamped between Troublesome Creek and Reedy Fork.

Lord Cornwallis moved out of Hillsborough and camped near Alamance Creek.

The two armies were drawing near for the encounter.

There was a sharp skirmish on March 2nd with American advance elements, which the British won.

The Guards, supported by James Webster's infantry, forced the Americans from their positions, and a cavalry charge by Banastre Tarleton completed the defeat.

From prisoners taken there, Lord Cornwallis learned that he had been opposed by Lee's Legion plus some militia and some riflemen from west of the mountains led by a Colonel Preston.

So American forces were gathering.

Lord Cornwallis was faced with a grim dilemma.

North Carolina and Virginia Loyalists would not rise in his support unless he beat Nathanael Greene and beat him very decisively indeed.

At the same time, the countryside was exhausted.

He no longer could support his army in the area unless he fell back on Cape Fear River and its shipping up from the British base at Wilmington.

He also must fight Greene's army before it became too strong from additional reinforcements known to be marching in from North Carolina and Virginia.

Encamped at the Quaker Meeting House between the forks of Deep River, Lord Cornwallis heard, on the 14th of March, that Brigadier General John Butler, with a body of North Carolina militia, and a Virginia state regiment, a corps of Virginia 18-months men, 3,000 Virginia militia, and recruits for the Maryland line, all had joined Nathanael Greene, who now, according to this intelligence report, had a force of 9,000 or 10,000 men.

Actually, Nathanael Greene only had some 4,500 men available for battle, while Lord Cornwallis commanded slightly over 1,900.

The odds against Cornwallis still were very heavy indeed, and Lord Cornwallis is to be commended for his willingness to commit that small army to battle against superior forces.

About four miles from Guilford Courthouse, the advancing British fell in with Lee's Legion, some of Preston's riflemen, and a few militia.

These were attacked by Banastre Tarleton, and after a sharp fight, the Americans fell back in good order.

But Tarleton received a rifle ball through his right hand.

To give the man his proper due, he fought the battle of Guilford Courthouse with his right arm in a sling, personally leading charges without a weapon and completely defenseless.

Tarleton, without any question, was extremely cruel, ridiculously vain, and overly headstrong, but he was a very brave man and a fighting soldier, and nobody can deny this.

Nathanael Greene had chosen his position well, and his battle plan obviously was modeled on Daniel Morgan's at the Cowpens.

As Henry Lee, who fought there, tells us, Guilford Courthouse was situated on the bow of a long slope... near the great state road to Salisbury.

The slope descended for about a half mile, ending in a small valley with a brook running along the base.

Nathanael Greene formed his battle lines astride the Salisbury road, which is this road right here.

A Captain Singleton, with two 6-pounder fieldpieces, was stationed on the road where the enemy must pass, with orders to withdraw as soon as the fight became close.

A few yards behind the guns were the North Carolina militia, under Brigadier Generals John Butler and Pinketham Eaton.

Three hundred yards up the slope, right down in there, were the Virginia militia, commanded by Brigadier Generals Edward Stevens and Robert Lawson.

Robert Lawson's right flank rested on this road, the Salisbury road, and Edward Stevens' left flank rested on this road.

The Continental infantry of four regiments was stationed 400 yards to the rear of the Virginia militia, in a field to the right of the road, right over here, across the ravine.

The two Virginia regiments on the right, led by Colonels Greene and Samuel Hawes, came under the overall command of General Isaac Huger of South Carolina.

The two Maryland regiments on the left here, under Colonel John Gunby and Lieutenant Colonel Ford, were placed under Colonel Otho Williams and John Eager Howard of Maryland.

Of these four, only the 1st Maryland of John Gunby was a veteran unit.

The rest were made up of new soldiers with a scattering of combat-experienced men.

But all the officers were veterans and, as Henry Lee says, "approved."

On the right of the first line... down here at the base of the slope, to guard its flank, were Colonel William Washington and his cavalry, Robert Kirkwood's old Delaware company, and a battalion of Virginia militia under Colonel Charles Lynch.

On the left flank of the first line of North Carolinians were Henry Lee and the cavalry of his legion, the infantry of the legion, and the frontier riflemen of Preston and William Campbell.

It should be pointed out here that William Campbell was the same redheaded Scot who was overall command at Kings Mountain and led his riflemen on that bloody day with his ancestral sword in hand.

In the rear of the American Continentals was placed a small artillery park, with the exception of Singleton's two advance 6-pounders down the road.

As soon as the British appeared, Captain Singleton opened fire on the head of the British column with his two fieldpieces.

The battle of Guilford Courthouse had begun.

Moving into action, Lord Cornwallis deployed his small army for battle.

As soon as the head of the British column crossed the rivulet, the little stream, different units at the quick step deployed with beautiful precision to the right and left of the road and pressed forward up the slope.

The North Carolina militia, with William Campbell's riflemen and Henry Lee's legion infantry, were posted behind a rail fence, a strong position, and opened a heavy fire on the advancing British.

Undismayed... the British line, in perfect formation, advanced.

When they were within point-blank range, they fired a rolling volley, by the ranks, and charged, shouting, with a bayonet.

The North Carolina militia, with the exception of a few men in Eaton's brigade, broke and ran, throwing away knapsacks, muskets... equipment.

James Webster, with the British left wing, having routed the North Carolinians opposed to him, now pushed forward and engaged the Virginia militia... right down here.

These regiments- these militia regiments, these Virginians fought magnificently.

Lee and Campbell, with their right wing exposed by the flight of the North Carolinians, fell back, fighting desperately.

The 71st Regiment, the Highlanders, were advanced to cover the right flank of James Webster, now hotly engaged with the Virginia militia.

And the whole British line pressed up the slope.

William Washington, the American cavalry commander on the right who'd fallen back when the North Carolinians broke to cover the Virginia militia's right flank, right here, now threw Charles Lynch, with his Virginia riflemen, against James Webster's left.

Charles O'Hara was forced to bring up the grenadiers and the 2nd Battalion of the Guards in support of Webster, who, reinforced, ordered the 33rd Regiment against Charles Lynch's riflemen and drove them back.

Charles O'Hara promptly advanced with the bayonet, leading the remainder of the left wing in line with the 71st Regiment.

First, Robert Lawson's Virginia militia, left of the road, then Edward Stevens' Virginia militia, fought, stood, fought again, and then were driven from the field, having fought very well indeed.

The Virginia militia no longer were able even to present a show of resistance.

Henry Lee's Legion and William Campbell's frontier riflemen on the American left, who also had fought very well indeed, now were pushed back.

Every corps of the British army, with the exception of the cavalry, had been brought into action by this time.

But the four Continental regiments, standing here on my left... still remained unfought and unbroken.

The flight of the North Carolinians and the final defeat of the hard-fighting Virginians had almost created a separate battle, over here on my right, on the American left, between Henry Lee and Alexander Leslie, the British commander on their right wing.

Lord Cornwallis now threw Webster and O'Hara's wing at the Continental regiments, and the Continentals, the American regulars, stood absolutely firm, exchanging volley for volley.

Webster, checked, fell back across the ravine at the base of the hill to re-form.

He did not retreat... he fell back to re-form and come forward again.

Colonel Stewart attacked the 2nd Maryland Regiment on the left of the 1st Regiment.

And the 2nd Maryland Regiment of Colonel Ford, unaccountably and suddenly, unaccountably and suddenly, we don't know why- broke and left the field.

John Gunby of the 1st Maryland Regiment, temporarily relieved by James Webster's tactical retreat across the ravine, now moved his left against Colonel Stewart, pursuing the 1st Maryland Regiment.

William Washington swung around from Gunby's right flank with his cavalry and attacked at the charge with a saber.

Stewart was forced back, and a Captain Smith of the 1st Marylanders, leading the charge of the Marylanders, cut the British colonel down in hand-to-hand combat with his sword.

Lord Cornwallis now had to make an absolutely terrible decision.

He must stop his people from falling back in comparative disorder.

He ordered his artillery to open fire with canister through the ranks of the retreating Guards Battalion, through his own men, on the pursuing Americans.

It stopped John Eager Howard and William Washington, who fell back with the cavalry and the Marylanders to their previous positions.

The battle now moved to its climax.

General Charles O'Hara of the Guards, the 23rd Regiment, the rallied 2nd Battalion of the Guards, and the grenadiers, supported by part of Banastre Tarleton's cavalry, attacked here in the center and captured the two American 6-pounders, two ammunition wagons, and two other 6-pounders.

James Webster, with the 33rd Regiment and the light infantry of the Guards, attacked Samuel Hawes' Virginians and Robert Kirkwood's Delawares across the road here.

Webster, a very gallant officer, receiving a fatal wound at this time, but the American line, under this pressure, fell back.

Banastre Tarleton, with the rest of his cavalry, swept the woods to the British right where fighting still continued almost in a separate action, separated from the rest of the engagement.

Nathanael Greene, not aware that Henry Lee had linked up with him on his left rear by Guilford Courthouse, weakened by the rout of the North Carolinians and the 2nd Maryland Regiment, now decided to break off the action, retreat, and save his army.

Lord Cornwallis ordered the 71st, the Highland regiment, and part of Banastre Tarleton's cavalry to pursue down the road.

But, as Cornwallis said, the total want of provisions in an exhausted country and the need to care for the many British wounded made it impossible for him to follow up his victory on the next day.

Nathanael Greene retreated down the road, 18 miles, to the ironworks on Troublesome Creek, where he promptly began to rally and re-form his army, his unbeaten army.

The British lost 93 killed, 413 wounded in this frontal engagement, and 26 missing, over one-fourth of the total number engaged.

Nathanael Greene's losses came to 78 killed and 183 wounded, as he wrote to Thomas Jefferson, a "trifling loss" out of 4,500 men in the line.

♪ ♪ Guilford Courthouse had been fought now and won by Lord Cornwallis... a tactical victory on the field.

There can be nothing but praise for the British commander.

He had attacked frontally a superior force with an inferior force and driven it from the field.

His men and his officers and he deserve only praise for cold and ruthless battlefield courage.

And Nathanael Greene retreated in good order with cool skill, extricating a beaten army from a defeated battlefield, reassembling it again, not truly beaten, to come back in the next few days and follow Lord Cornwallis in his tragic retreat down to Wilmington on the coast.

Impeded with his wounded, both walking and carried, impeded with a sense of, What shall I do next?

And now come two of the fatal decisions of the war.

Nathanael Greene followed Cornwallis... briefly... and then broke off the pursuit... and decided instead to march south again into South Carolina... where Francis Marion, Thomas Sumter, Elijah Clarke, and the other partisans were rampaging, as I have said, on the British supply lines.

The British were almost in a state of siege at their various outposts... for the South was rising in the American cause, and men were coming into the standards of the partisan leaders.

Nathanael Greene marched south... to victory.

The final victory in the Southern theater.

The American Fabius, destined to win after losing so many set battles against his... enemy.

Cornwallis decided, after he reached Wilmington, to march north... to march north with his full army... to the Yorktown-Williamsburg area in Virginia... to join British forces already there and to carry out the campaign to conquer Virginia, which he'd planned so long.

The two fatal decisions... one which marched south under Nathanael Greene, or took the American army south under Nathanael Greene to victory.

And the other which led, after Guilford Courthouse- a British field victory but a terrible Pyrrhic victory- which led to Yorktown, to surrender, and to the defeat of the British in North America.

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