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To understand the significance of the Battle of Guilford Court House, a late Revolutionary War clash in what is now the northwestern extent of modern-day Greensboro, N.C., we first need to go back to a conflict in 279 B.C.
The British “won” the Battle of Guilford Court House on March 15, 1781, in that Colonial militiamen from Virginia and North Carolina and Continental Army regulars were unsuccessful in stopping the British advance and withdrew, allowing the British to fully occupy the small county seat of Guilford County hewn out of the dense forest.
But repeatedly, in many contexts, Guilford is described as a “pyrrhic victory” for the British against American Colonists.
“A pyrrhic victory is a victory that comes at a great cost, perhaps making the ordeal to win not worth it,” explains Merriam-Webster.com. “It relates to Pyrrhus, a king of Epirus who defeated the Romans in 279 BCE but lost many of his troops.”
Pyrrhus, the ruler of Epirus, a kingdom in what is now western Greece, had been asked for military help by the Greek city of Tarentum in what is now Italy. And Pyrrhus was successful against the Romans in some early battles, but lost many soldiers, not easily reinforced across the Adriatic Sea.
Plutarch, a Greek-born philosopher, quoted Pyrrhus after one such battle: “If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.”
Pyrrhus withdrew back to his kingdom, then returned, and was indeed eventually defeated by the Romans, with Tarentum falling shortly thereafter.
Keep Pyrrhus’ words and eventual military fate in mind as we ponder the British reaction to the Battle of Guilford Court House and what would happen to Lord Cornwallis’ forces months afterward at Yorktown, Virginia.
Battle re-enactment in modern-day suburbs
Less than an hour’s drive from Martinsville and Danville, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park tells the story of this pivotal Revolutionary War battle, preserving much of the land upon which it occurred. Its location on the northwest edge of Greensboro makes it particularly accessible to Virginians, as you do not have to drive far into the traffic of Greensboro.
The national military park today is protected green space surrounded by suburbia in northwestern Greensboro. You are as likely to see runners and cyclists from nearby neighborhoods utilizing the park’s roads and trails today as you are history enthusiasts pondering monuments and battlefield sites marking our nation’s beginnings.
The Greensboro Science Center, the city’s popular science center, zoo and aquarium, and Greensboro Country Park are adjacent, occupying land also affected by the battle on March 15, 1781. U.S. 220 is lined with fast-food restaurants, grocery stores and strip malls less than a mile away.
But it wasn’t like this in 1781. Guilford Court House — “court” and “house” separated to describe a town, but a compound word to describe a building — was the county seat of Guilford County. Greensboro wasn’t founded for 27 more years, carved out of the wilderness as a more centrally located county seat, and named (though slightly misspelled) for the “losing” American general at the Battle of Guilford Court House. Today Greensboro is an urban hub of about 300,000, the largest city in the 1.7-million strong Piedmont Triad region.
Each year, a re-enactment of the battle is staged, this year at Greensboro Country Park on March 15-16.
Three lines of soldiers to meet the British
At Guilford, Major Gen. Nathanael Greene saw an opportunity to confront and possibly overcome Cornwallis, Brigadier Gen. Daniel Morgan having pulled British forces northward in a “Race to the Dan” River after the British lost battles at Cowpens and Kings Mountain near the North Carolina-South Carolina border.
Greene set the 4,500 men under his command in three lines, each separated by a few hundred yards, to engage Lord Cornwallis 2,100 advancing British redcoats and Hessian mercenaries, highly skilled and seasoned soldiers, but wearied from the guerilla tactics of Colonial militias.
The first line consisted mostly of North Carolina militiamen. (Somewhere within this line was one William Utley, a private in the Wake County Militia whose daughter Cynthia married Matthew Myatt and became the 6x-great-grandparents of this writer.) There were some Virginia units, such as riflemen from Botetourt and Washington counties, within the first line.
There was also a Virginia Continental Army detachment of one infantry company, led by Capt. Andrew Wallace, who was killed in action. Greene was known to employ Continental detachments and more seasoned battle leaders within formations mostly composed of militia units, whose courage and skills he did not entirely trust.
The second line was mostly composed of 1,200 Virginia militiamen, interspersed with Continental Army veterans. The Virginians were divided into two brigades, with militias representing many counties of Virginia, mostly from the southern half of the state.
The final line, nearest the courthouse itself, was formed from Continental Army regulars, the best trained and generally most experienced of the troops available to Greene. It included the 778-man strong Virginia Continental Brigade, commanded by Brig. Gen. Isaac Huger. Many of the Continentals raised from Virginia for the battle were seeing their first combat action.
(An account on historical website carolana.com contains a fairly detailed listing of known units in all three lines.)
Greene’s orders to the first line were, apparently, to fire two musket volleys at the British, advancing out of a wooded area into an open field, and then withdraw. But it is unclear how many of the relatively inexperienced militiamen were able to get off a second shot before the British were close enough to charge at the line with bayonets, forcing a hasty and not entirely orderly retreat.
“The Virginians along the second line could not see the advancing enemy,” states a recounting of the battle on carolana.com, “but they were not unaware that the first line had ultimately retreated, some even running through their lines and answering very few questions in their hasty retreat.”
Casualties appear to have been fairly light on both sides after initial engagements along the first line, and the British and Hessians did not slow down advancing toward the second line, formed by Virginia militias and some North Carolina militiamen who had repositioned after retreating off the first line.
Battle gets bloodier
The battle along second line was much more lengthy, bloody and complicated. It broke into multiple skirmishes, with perhaps as many as 20 musket volleys fired back and forth along some sections of the line. Many fell on both sides, with the British and Hessians again breaking through the line, slaying more Patriots by saber or bayonet than had happened during the first line’s rapid retreat.
This left the third line of experienced Continental Army soldiers guarding the courthouse itself on a slight rise. They had been waiting for about an hour and a half, hearing the sounds of battle but unable to see much through the thick forest in front of them.
The British were weakened, somewhat disorganized and exhausted by the time they reached the third line, but British artillery ultimately enabled similar results. Greene ordered a retreat to save the bulk of his forces, the British pursued for a while, but ultimately were too stretched thin and too exhausted to continue.
About three hours after the fighting had started, the British were in control of Guilford Court House, and its courthouse, clearly though not easily the victors on this battlefield.
But Cornwallis had lost nearly a quarter of his soldiers — 93 killed, 413 wounded, and 26 missing, according to the British best count — including many officers.
“The Battle of Guilford Courthouse was the turning point of the Southern Campaign of 1780-1781,” states an article in the digital encyclopedia of Mount Vernon. “Though the British could claim victory, they paid a high price for nothing more than command of the field.”
Back in Britain, news of the battle’s outcome was not received warmly. “Another such victory would ruin the British Army!” Whig Party leader Charles James Fox is said to have declared. Sound familiar? See Plutarch, above.
Winning the battle but losing the war
Following the Battle of Guilford Court House, Cornwallis marched his remaining troops across North Carolina to Wilmington for a strategic regrouping. This left Greene, who only lost about 300 soldiers at Guilford after this tactical withdrawal, open to pick off various British and Loyalist assets in the interior of the Carolinas.
Rested and refitted, Cornwallis marched his army north six months later, to meet its fate in the historic surrender at Yorktown that sealed the Colonies’ independence from Great Britain.
There were many factors that contributed to Cornwallis’ defeat at Yorktown (including a timely squall line over the York River), but losing so much manpower, momentum and support back home in the “victory” at Guilford Court House played a substantial role.
Like Pyrrhus, Cornwallis won the battle but lost the war.