- This is Moores Creek National Battlefield, located in Currie, North Carolina.

It might not look like much, but this tiny bridge played a big role in Revolutionary War history.

But to understand how, we have to go back in time.

Have you ever wondered why the British largely stayed out of North Carolina until the later years of the Revolutionary War?

The British plan was simple.

Sail to the Carolinas, arm the Loyalist militia in Wilmington along the way, crush the Southern Rebellion, restore the royal governor, and take back Charleston.

But when a Patriot militia started marching toward Cross Creek, the North Carolina Loyalists jumped the gun and began their eastward trek before the British invasion fleet could arrive.

These Loyalists were Highlanders from Scotland, and only around 300 of them had weapons.

Not firearms, but broadswords.

So when 1,100 fully armed Patriots set an ambush, it was a disaster.

First, the Patriots greased the beams of this bridge with soap and tallow.

So when roughly 70 Highlanders charged the bridge at Moores Creek with their swords, they slipped and fell as the Patriot militia fired from concealed positions.

(gunshots) The battle lasted less than 15 minutes, but the Loyalists lost bad.

So bad, North Carolina declared independence two months later, and the other colonies soon followed our lead.

As for the British fleet, they spent some time raiding along the North Carolina coast, but ultimately failed to take back Charleston in 1776 and abandoned the Southern Theater for several years.

And that brings us back to this bridge, an unassuming crossing that helped shift the course of the war in North Carolina.

Congress agreed, and in 1926, they authorized the establishment of Moores Creek National Military Park, where today nearly 70,000 people visit each year.

(drumming) (fife) - Conceivably, some say that you wouldn't have had a July 4th, 1776 Declaration of Independence without a April 12th, 1776 Halifax Resolves.

And conceivably, you wouldn't have had a Halifax Resolves without the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge.

- There was a big debate about whether we could ever survive without British rule.

And I think early victories like here at Moores Creek just served as that fuel to light the passion in people to move forward.

- We love doing historical things like this, so this was another fun experience to let our boys enjoy that and learn history in a meaningful way.

- We have four trails that take you through the park through the various ecosystems that we have here, the upland pines, the seasonal wetland savanna that's behind me, and all the way to the bottomland hardwood forest.

We've got a history trail that takes you through the battlefield, takes you across Moores Creek, and then brings you back around and gives you the perspective of what the Loyalists would have seen on the early morning hours of February 27th, 1776.

Our visitor center was built in 1959.

Inside of it, we've got some great exhibits that take you through the American Revolution.

- When you celebrate things like this, it just sort of grounds you in history.

If we don't preserve places like this, then we lose that collective memory.

- Even if I do this, you know, he's even-- - This tells the American story, and it doesn't matter when your family came to America.

As we live here today, all of these places are a part of the American story, and so for us to preserve this, we're preserving not only our history, we're preserving our culture, preserving our heritage, and we're preserving these special places so that future generations can enjoy these and learn from them.

(gentle music) - Moores Creek National Battlefield is located in Currie, North Carolina.

The Morris Creek Visitor Center and Bookstore is located at 40 Patriots Hall Drive, and they're open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m.

to 5 p.m.

The park grounds are open from 9 to 5, seven days a week.

They offer various events and tours throughout the year, plus group tours by reservation.

For more information, visit them on Facebook or at the National Park Service website, nps.gov/mocr.