Battle of Guilford Court House

A major American Revolutionary War battle fought in North Carolina on March 15, 1781. British forces held the field but suffered losses that weakened their campaign in the Carolinas.

Greene's defense in depth: A military approach that trades ground through successive defensive positions to exhaust an attacking force. Nathanael Greene arranged his troops in three lines, making British forces fight through successive positions.
Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War: The Revolutionary War campaigns fought in the southern colonies, especially from 1778 to 1781. Guilford Court House was a turning point in the campaign that shifted British operations toward Virginia.
Nathanael Greene: An American general who commanded Continental forces in the southern theater of the Revolutionary War. Greene chose the battlefield and withdrew his army after inflicting severe losses on Cornwallis.
Guilford Courthouse National Military Park: A North Carolina national military park preserving the site of the 1781 battle. The park interprets the battlefield’s terrain and the positions occupied by both armies.
Battle of Cowpens: An American victory over British forces in South Carolina on January 17, 1781. Its American militia-and-continentals deployment offered a recent model for layered defense.
Cornwallis's march to Virginia: The 1781 British movement from the Carolinas into Virginia under Charles Cornwallis. After Guilford, Cornwallis withdrew to Wilmington and then marched north, pursuing a campaign that ended at Yorktown.
Charles Cornwallis: A British general who led major campaigns in the southern colonies and surrendered at Yorktown. Cornwallis won the field but lost a large share of his force in the assault.
Guilford County, North Carolina: A county in north-central North Carolina, established in 1771. The battle took place near the county’s courthouse, then a local administrative center.
Continental Army: The army established by the Second Continental Congress to fight Britain in the American Revolutionary War. Greene’s regular troops formed the battle’s final American line and helped preserve the army.
Siege of Yorktown: The 1781 siege in Virginia that ended with the surrender of Cornwallis’s British army. Cornwallis’s later campaign in Virginia culminated in the surrender that effectively ended major fighting.

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