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Nathanael Greene Retakes the Carolinas
When General Nathanael Greene crossed the Dan River and escaped to Virginia on February 14, 1781, Lord Charles Cornwallis’s British army controlled all of North Carolina, and most of South Carolina and Georgia. Within the short span of seven weeks, all that would change.
The Battle of Guilford Courthouse
Following the successful conclusion of the Race to the Dan, General Nathanael Greene and his southern army was safe for the moment from the British troops under Lord Charles Cornwallis just across the river. Due to a lack of supplies in the area, Cornwallis retreated to Hillsboro, about sixty miles southeast, to get refitted. By late February, Greene had received reinforcements, recrossed the Dan, and had the American army back in North Carolina.
The Race to the Dan
The Battle of Cowpens on January 17, 1781, was a great victory for Daniel Morgan and his army of Continentals and militiamen. They had virtually annihilated Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s famed British Legion, but Morgan’s contingent was in a dangerous position, with a larger British force under Lord Charles Cornwallis only twenty-five miles away. The race was now on to get to a place of safety.
American Victory at King’s Mountain
In July 1780, Patriot partisan bands in the backcountry of South Carolina launched a series of successful attacks on Loyalist contingents, weakening the British hold on the state. These rapid-fire engagements continued into August as six more Patriot partisan victories were sandwiched around the disastrous Continental Army defeat at Camden and the capture of an American supply train at Fishing Creek.
British High Tide at Camden
As dawn broke on the morning of August 16, 1780, the British army under Lord Charles Cornwallis and the American southern army under Major General Horatio Gates were half a mile apart, preparing to do battle. It would be a short affair, but a costly one for the Americans.