On March 15, 1781, American forces inflicted heavy losses on the British Army at Guilford
Courthouse, North Carolina. The redcoats had seemed invincible only a few months before.
Posted on 08/20/2007 6:11:20 AM PDT by Pharmboy
On March 15, 1781, American forces inflicted heavy losses on the British Army at Guilford
Courthouse, North Carolina. The redcoats had seemed invincible only a few months before.
Winter clouds scudded over New Windsor, New York, some 50 miles up the Hudson River from Manhattan, where Gen. George Washington was headquartered. With trees barren and snow on the ground that January 1781, it was a "dreary station," as Washington put it. The commander in chief's mood was as bleak as the landscape. Six long years into the War of Independence, his army, he admitted to Lt. Col. John Laurens, a former aide, was "now nearly exhausted." The men had not been paid in months. They were short of clothing and blankets; the need for provisions was so pressing that Washington had dispatched patrols to seize flour throughout New York state "at the point of the Bayonet."
At the same time, many Americans felt that the Revolution was doomed. Waning morale caused Samuel Adams, a Massachusetts delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, to fear that those who had opposed independence in 1776 would gain control of Congress and sue for peace with Britain. During the past two years, three American armies—nearly 8,000 men—had been lost fighting in the South; Georgia and South Carolina appeared to have been reconquered by Great Britain; mutinies had erupted in the Continental Army and the nation's economy was in shambles. Washington was aware, he wrote to Laurens, that the "people are discontented." Convinced that the army was in danger of collapse, Washington predicted darkly that 1781 would prove America's last chance to win the war. Nothing less than the "great revolution" hung in the balance. It had been "brought...to a crisis."
Yet within a matter of months, a decisive October victory at Yorktown in Virginia would transform America's fortunes and save the American Revolution. The victory climaxed a brilliant—now largely forgotten—campaign waged over 100 fateful days by a former foundry manager totally lacking in military experience at the outset of the war. Yet it would be 38-year-old general Nathanael Greene who snatched "a great part of this union from the grasp of Tyranny and oppression," as Virginia founding father Richard Henry Lee would later tell Greene, when the two met in 1783.
In the early days of the war, Britain had focused on conquering New England. By 1778, however, it was clear that this would not be achieved. England's crushing defeat at Saratoga, New York, in October 1777—British general John Burgoyne's attempt to invade from Canada resulted in the loss of 7,600 men—had driven London to a new strategy. The South, as Britain now perceived it, was tied by its cash crops, tobacco and rice, to markets in England. The region, moreover, abounded with Loyalists; that is, Americans who continued to side with the British. Under the so-called Southern Strategy as it emerged in 1778, Britain would seek to reclaim its four former Southern colonies—Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia—by expelling rebel forces there; regiments of Loyalists, also called Tories, would then occupy and pacify the conquered areas. If the plan succeeded, England would gain provinces from the Chesapeake Bay to Florida. Its American empire would remain vast and lucrative, surrounding a much-reduced and fragile United States.
At first, the new strategy met with dramatic success. In December 1778, the British took Savannah, stripping the "first...stripe and star from the rebel flag of Congress," as Lt. Col. Archibald Campbell, the British commander who conquered the city, boasted. Charleston fell 17 months later. In August 1780, the redcoats crushed an army led by Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates at Camden, South Carolina. For the Americans, the desperate situation called for extreme measures. Congress removed Gates and asked Washington to name a successor to command the Continental Army in the South; he chose Greene.
AdvertisementNathanael Greene's meteoric rise could hardly have been predicted. A Quaker whose only formal schooling had been a brief stint with an itinerant tutor, Nathanael was set to work in his teens in the family-owned sawmill and iron forge. In 1770, he took over management of the foundry. In 1774, the last year of peace, Greene, then 32, married Catherine Littlefield, a 19-year-old local beauty, and won a second term to the Rhode Island assembly.
Later that year, Greene enlisted as a private in a Rhode Island militia company. When hostilities between Britain and the Colonies broke out at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775, Greene was suddenly elevated from the rank of private to brigadier general—doubtless a result of his political connections—and named commander of Rhode Island's force. Although he had begun as what his fellow officer Henry Knox called, in a letter to a friend, "the rawest, the most untutored" of the Continental Army generals, he rapidly gained the respect of Washington, who considered Greene's men to be, he wrote, "under much better government than any around Boston." During the first year of the war, Washington came to regard Greene as his most dependable adviser and trusted officer, possessed not only with a superb grasp of military science but also an uncanny facility for assessing rapidly changing situations. By the fall of 1776, rumor had it that should anything happen to Washington, Congress would name Greene as his successor.
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I will continue to spam the idea that if our forefathers were willing to risk their lives, fortunes and sacred honor over the principle of a small tax levied without true representation, then we, today, have more than enough reason to risk some part of our income and time to become involved in politics . . .
Guilford Courthouse
This flag is an example of the lack of uniformity in American flags during the Revolutionary period as each group chose what flag to be used as it's standard. This flag has the unique elements of an elongated canton and blue stripes. It was raised over the Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina on March 15, 1781 under the leadership of General Greene whose militiamen halted the British advance through the Carolinas and turned them back to the seaport towns. This was one of the bloodiest battles of the long war with the British losing over a quarter of their troops.
No argument here, friend...
Thanks for the post.
Congressman Billybob
Respectfully, Congressman, I think it more accurate to say that the American Revolution was begun in New England, and won in America.
I don’t think that’s “spam” at all - rather “putting forth an idea”.
I am forbidden by UCMJ to join you.
Thanks for posting this. ‘Pod.
I read this from my hard copy. Could it be said that the Revolutionary War was largely won by the southerners of that period? Mel Gibson's movie 'Patriot' covers part of this action.
This was a GREAT article.
I really enjoyed it.
Bump for later read.....
Thanks for posting.
Sometimes, reading about the Revolution, I become unbearably angry at today’s ‘leaders’ who can hardly bear the word sacrifice. Their only aim is to be reelected by giving away other people’s assets.
A great leader, to be sure.
‘he had begun as what his fellow officer Henry Knox called, in a letter to a friend, “the rawest, the most untutored” of the Continental Army generals’
Pretty funny, coming from Knox!
An amazing battle, and indeed, the whole southern campaign.
...and, directly, the confiscation of their privately owned arms, including gunpowder and cannons, which were to help preserve their right to resist that principle.
Not spam at all... thank you for your part in the fight!
LOL...true!
He's darn near old enough...
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