Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

2332 New Garden Rd, Greensboro, NC 27410, USA

North Carolina

state

NC - Guilford

county

NC - Greensboro

city

MUSEUM

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Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, commemorates the Battle of Guilford Court House, fought on March 15, 1781. The battlefield is preserved as a National Military Park and operated by the National Park Service (NPS). In 1886, local resident David Schenck initiated plans to gain control of land to commemorate the Guilford Courthouse battleground as a park. The following year, he chartered the non-profit Guilford Battle Ground Company (GBGC) to advance such efforts. It was transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service August 10, 1933.

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On this site...

Beginning in the 1740s, settlers arrived in the region in search of fertile and affordable land. These first settlers included American Quakers from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New England at what is now Greensboro, as well as German Reformed and Lutherans in the east, British Quakers in the south and west, and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in the center of today's Guilford County. As population increased, the North Carolina colonial legislature organized the county in 1771, from parts of Rowan and Orangecounties. It was named for Francis North, Earl of Guilford, father of Frederick North, Lord North, British Prime Minister from 1770 to 1782.

VILLAGE

EST. 1745

ENCAMPMENT

MAY 15, 1781

BATTLEFIELD

May 15, 1781

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 Cornwallisdefeated Major General Nathanael Greene's 4,500 Americans.

The battle was "the largest and most hotly contested action"in the American Revolution's southern theater. Before the battle, the British had great success in conquering much of Georgia and South Carolinawith the aid of strong Loyalist factions and thought that North Carolinamight 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 with roughly 3,500 men under British Major General Phillips and American turncoat Benedict Arnold.

This battle marked a turning point in the Revolutionary War in the South. Although General Cornwallis, the British commander, held the field at the end of the battle, his losses were so severe that he decided to withdraw to the Carolina coastline, where he could receive reinforcements from the British Royal Navy at the port in Wilmington and his battered army could be protected by the British naval power. His decision ultimately led to his leading his finished ravaged army north into Virginia leading eventually to his defeat and surrender later in October 1781 at Yorktown,