After Cowpens Charles Cornwallis was not a happy man. The defeat at King’s Mountain had stopped his campaign in North Carolina. Cowpens had stopped his campaign in South Carolina before it could begin. He needed to remove Nathanael Greene and his army from the picture so he set out to pursue Greene to the death.
To make his army more mobile Cornwallis burned his excess supplies instead choosing to forage in the countryside. He also tried to recruit local Loyalists to his army but few enlisted. Most were not impressed by the state of the army and were discouraged since they felt their families would be targeted. Cornwallis turned to slaves, offering them their freedom if they joined his ranks and he found some takers.
In March 1781 Cornwallis was informed that Greene’s army of 4,500 was camped near Guilford Court House. Cornwallis decided to move his 1,900 men to attack Greene and arrived around noon on March 15.
Fighting began about 4 miles out as cavalry from both sides clashed. Richard Lee commanded the Colonial cavalry and gradually gave way when British infantry arrived. Greene arrayed his men in three different lines on rising ground about a mile from the court house. Woodland covered most of the ground except for a large plantation with a road going down the middle of it. Greene’s first line was North Carolina militia with riflemen on both flanks with orders to target British officers. The second line was the Virginia militia. The third line contained Greene’s most experienced soldiers, Continentals from Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.
The first shot came at 1:30 PM when Cornwallis decided to attack west of the road. The North Carolina militia fired mostly one volley before fleeing but that volley was well aimed. They pushed on to the second line which put up more resistance but it was also overwhelmed but with heavy losses. The British were now able to bring their bayonets to bear due to the wooded terrain which sapped their offensive power.
The third line put up strong resistance and Colonial cavalry under Richard Lee and William Washington protected their flanks. Despite this the British were able to break the third line as well capturing two cannon. While the fighting for the third line was going on, Cornwallis ordered his artillery to fire into the fighting mass certainly killing some of his own men. The Colonials fled and were pursued by the British for a bit but Washington’s cavalry stopped it.
The battle was over in 90 minutes. Despite being outnumbered Cornwallis had won a victory but lost 25% of his army in doing so, or about 550 men. Greene lost about 1,300 men, mostly militiamen who went home but were unaccounted for. Cornwallis could not afford another such “victory” and needed to rest and refit his men.
Greene tried to get Cornwallis to follow him into the South Carolina Backcountry but Cornwallis wanted none of that. Instead he marched to Wilmington, North Carolina to recruit and refit his command but then decided to move to Virginia, eventually to Yorktown and his destiny.
The battlefield is preserved as Guilford Court House National Military Park.