The Battle of Guilford Court House was a battle fought on March 15, 1781, at a site which is now in Greensboro, the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, during the American Revolutionary War. A 2,100-man British force under the command of Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis defeated Major General Nathanael Greene’s 4,500 Americans. The British Army, however, lost a considerable number of men during the battle with estimates as high as 27%.Such heavy British casualties resulted in a strategic victory for the Americans.
battle was “the largest and most hotly contested action” in the American Revolution’s southern campaign and led to the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Before the battle, the British appeared to have had great success in conquering much of Georgia and South Carolina with the aid of strong Loyalist factions, and thought that North Carolina might be within their grasp. In fact, the British were in the process of heavy recruitment in North Carolina when this battle put an end to their recruiting drive. In the wake of the battle, Greene moved into South Carolina, while Cornwallis chose to march into Virginia and attempt to link up with roughly 3,500 men under British Major General Phillips and American turncoat Benedict Arnold. These decisions allowed Greene to unravel British control of the South, while leading Cornwallis to Yorktown and eventual surrender to General George Washington and Lieutenant General Comte de Rochambeau. [1]
We were fortunate to have six members from Ohio, with five of those from the Cincinnati Chapter of SAR attending. We elected to have a private presentation at the Nathaniel Green Memorial, as the NSSAR service was held inside the Visitor’s Center of the National Park due to wet weather, in order to more appropriately show our reverence to those who fought and died at the battle on March 15th 1781
Here are photos taken at the Official 236th Battle of Guilford Courthouse Memorial ceremony, as well as the Ohio Society’s private ceremony at the Nathaniel Greene Memorial on Saturday, March 18, 2017.
Pre-ceremony Photos
Ceremony Photos
Post-Ceremony Photos
Camp Photos
Reenactment on Saturday
The reenactment was almost an hour long. Below is a video clip from the reenactment on Saturday.
