Background
Following the British defeat at Ramsour's Mill, where he arrived with over 1,200 men after the battle on June 20, 1780, General Griffith Rutherford of the Salisbury District Brigade set about chasing down refugees from the battle that were trying to regroup with British troops elsewhere. While he met with some success, expiring enlistments and furloughs rapidly reduced his army's size to about 200. On June 22, he learned that a group of several hundred Loyalists had been recruited by Colonel Samuel Bryan about 75 miles (121 km) to the northeast, near the Yadkin River. Rutherford set off in pursuit, putting out a call for men. By the time he was within 15 miles (24 km) of Bryan's position his force had grown back to 600 men.
Bryan anticipated Rutherford's approach, and began to withdraw down the east side of the Yadkin River with the goal of joining with British regulars on the Pee Dee River. Rutherford gave chase, but his attempts to cut Bryan's retreat off failed. At Salisbury he detached Colonel William Lee Davidson and a picked force to ride down the west side of the Yadkin in case Bryan tried to cross over. However, this design was frustrated when Bryan, marching day and night, reached the British force.
Two days into the chase, Davidson learned that several hundred Loyalists had gathered near Colson's Mill, not far from the junction of the Rocky and Pee Dee Rivers.
Moving rapidly in order to gain the element of surprise, Davidson and his force attempted to surround the farm on which the Loyalists were gathering. However, his front was discovered shortly before the flanking men were in place, and fire commenced. Davidson, the only man in uniform, was targeted by Loyalist marksmen, and was severely injured by a bullet to the gut. However, his men did not falter when he went down, when Col. Francis Locke took command and they dispersed the Loyalist troop, killing three, wounding several more, and taking ten prisoners. The escape of the Loyalists was helped by their familiarity with the local terrain. [3]
Norwood is a town in Stanly County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 2,379 at the 2010 census.
The Battle of Guilford Court House was on March 15, 1781, during the American Revolutionary War, at a site that is now in Greensboro, the seat of Guilford County, North Carolina. 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 suffered considerable casualties, with estimates as high as 27% of their total force.
The Yadkin River is one of the longest rivers in the US state of North Carolina, flowing 215 miles (346 km). It rises in the northwestern portion of the state near the Blue Ridge Parkway's Thunder Hill Overlook. Several parts of the river are impounded by dams for water, power, and flood control. The river becomes the Pee Dee River at the confluence of the Uwharrie River south of the community of Badin and east of the town of Albemarle. The river then flows into South Carolina near Cheraw, which is at the Fall Line. The entirety of the Yadkin River and the Great Pee Dee River is part of the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin.
The Battle of Kings Mountain was a military engagement between Patriot and Loyalist militias in South Carolina during the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War, resulting in a decisive victory for the Patriots. The battle took place on October 7, 1780, 9 miles (14 km) south of the present-day town of Kings Mountain, North Carolina. In what is now rural Cherokee County, South Carolina, the Patriot militia defeated the Loyalist militia commanded by British Major Patrick Ferguson of the 71st Foot. The battle has been described as "the war's largest all-American fight".
Patrick Ferguson was a Scottish officer in the British Army, an early advocate of light infantry and the designer of the Ferguson rifle. He is best known for his service in the 1780 military campaign of Charles Cornwallis during the American Revolutionary War in the Carolinas, in which he played a great effort in recruiting American Loyalists to serve in his militia against the Patriots.
Pyle's Massacre was fought during the American Revolutionary War in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina on February 24, 1781. The battle was between Patriot troops attached to the Continental Army under Colonel Henry Lee III and Loyalist North Carolina militiamen commanded by John Pyle. Due to the unique uniform of his forces, the Loyalists mistakenly thought Lee's men was the British Legion, who were en route to reinforce Pyle. When Lee's men opened fire, they took Pyle's force totally by surprise. This resulted in an extremely lopsided victory for Lee, and Pyle's command was scattered and routed.
William Lee Davidson (1746–1781) was an officer in the North Carolina militia and Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was born in Pennsylvania and moved with his family to Rowan County, North Carolina in 1750. He was killed at the Battle of Cowan's Ford.
The Battle of Cowan's Ford took place in the Southern Theater of Cornwallis's 1780–1782 Campaign during the American Revolutionary War. It was fought on February 1, 1781, at Cowan's ford on the Catawba River in northwestern Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, between a force of about 2,400 British and about 800 Whig militia who were attempting to slow the British advance across the river. The American general William Lee Davidson was killed in this battle.
Griffith Rutherford was an American military officer in the Revolutionary War and the Cherokee-American Wars, a political leader in North Carolina, and an important figure in the early history of the Southwest Territory and the state of Tennessee.
The Battle of Lindley's Mill took place in Orange County, North Carolina, on September 13, 1781, during the American Revolutionary War. The battle took its name from a mill that sat at the site of the battle on Cane Creek, which sat along a road connecting what was then the temporary state capital, Hillsborough, with Wilmington, North Carolina.
The Battle of Ramsour's Mill took place on June 20, 1780 in present-day Lincolnton, North Carolina, during the British campaign to gain control of the southern colonies in the American Revolutionary War. The number of fighters on each side of the battle is still an issue of contention, but Loyalist militiamen outnumbered Patriot militia and had captured a group of Patriots who they were planning to hang on the morning of June 20.
Huntsville is a small unincorporated community in Yadkin County, North Carolina, United States. The community was formerly chartered in 1792 by Charles Hunt of Salisbury, NC and was chartered again in 1822. It has a Huntsville Volunteer Fire Department, and Huntsville Community Center which is in front of a baseball/softball field which is home to Huntsville little league.
The Battle of Musgrove Mill, August 19, 1780, occurred near a ford of the Enoree River, near the present-day border between Spartanburg, Laurens and Union Counties in South Carolina. During the course of the battle, 200 Patriot militiamen defeated a combined force of approximately 300 Loyalist militiamen and 200 provincial regulars.
The Battle of Black Mingo was a skirmish during the American Revolution. It took place in September 29, 1780 in the vicinity of Dollard's Tavern at Willtown near Rhems, South Carolina. General Francis Marion leading Revolutionary forces attacked and scattered a contingent of Loyalist troops that had been left to secure the region by British Colonel Banastre Tarleton after his destructive march through the area.
Joseph Hardin Sr. was an Assemblyman for the Province of North Carolina, and was a signatory of the Tryon Resolves. Early in the War for Independence, as a member of the militia from Tryon County, Hardin fought the Cherokee allies of Britain along the western frontier. Later in the war, having taken his family over the Appalachian Mountains to the Washington District for safety against the advance of the Red Coats out of South Carolina, Hardin joined the Overmountain Men. He saw action at the Battle of Ramsour's Mill and the decisive Battle of Kings Mountain. Following the peace with Britain, Hardin was a co-founder and second Speaker of the House for the State of Franklin; and an Assemblyman in the Southwest Territory before its statehood as Tennessee.
The Battle of Torrence's Tavern was a minor engagement of the American Revolutionary War that took place in what was the western portion of Rowan County, North Carolina, approximately 10 miles (16 km) east of the Catawba River near modern-day Mooresville in Iredell County. Torrence's Tavern was a part of the larger Southern campaign of the American Revolution, which, by 1780–1781 involved a series of clashes between the British Army and Loyalist militia and the Continental Army and Patriot militia in the Piedmont region of North and South Carolina.
The Battle of Shallow Ford was an American Revolution skirmish that took place on October 14, 1780 in Huntsville, North Carolina. A company of fewer than 350 mounted Loyalist militia, led by Colonel Gideon Wright and his brother Captain Hezikiah Wright, were crossing the Yadkin River and heading north west along the Mulberry Fields Road. Major Joseph Cloyd gathered 300 Patriot militia and laid an ambush about 1 mile from Shallow Ford.
The Battle of Tearcoat Swamp was a battle during the American Revolutionary War between Lieutenant Colonel Francis Marion's Patriot militia, and a Loyalist Militia led by Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Tynes. The battle took place on 25 October 1780 in present-day Clarendon County, South Carolina.
Francis Locke Sr. (1722–1796) was a plantation owner, businessman, politician, and a participant in the American War of Independence, where he led the American Patriots to the decisive victory at Ramseur's Mill, which turned the tide of the American War for Independence in the south.
The Salisbury District Brigade was an administrative division of the North Carolina militia during the American Revolutionary War (1776–1783). This unit was established by the Fourth North Carolina Provincial Congress on May 4, 1776, and disbanded at the end of the war.
Patriot militia
Loyalist militia