Guilford Courthouse

https://www.nps.gov/guco/index.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilford_Courthouse_National_Military_Park Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, located in Guilford County, North Carolina, commemorates the Battle of Guilford Court House, fought on March 15, 1781. This battle opened the campaign that led to American victory in the Revolutionary War. The losses by the British in this battle contributed to their surrender at Yorktown seven months later. "I never saw such fighting since God made me. The Americans fought like demons." - Lt. General Charles, Earl Cornwallis On March 15, 1781, six years into the American Revolution, General Greene and Lord Cornwallis' troops faced off at a small courthouse community. The battle would change the course of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution. Guilford Courthouse National Military Park is located along US 220 and New Garden Road. To reach the Visitor Center, drive East on New Garden Road and turn right into the parking lot when you see the stone sign “Guilford Courthouse National Military Park.” If you drive down Old Battleground Road, do not drive through the Forest Lawn cemetery, this is a dead end and is not connected to the National Park. If you drive on Old Battleground, turn left onto New Garden Road Lat / Long: 36.1316499 / -79.8471879 Visitor Center Begin your park visit at the visitor center. Here, you will find information on the park and the Battle of Guilford Courthouse through two interpretive movies and a museum. Rangers or volunteers at the information desk are glad to help you with answers and assistance. The Visitors Center is open 9:00AM - 5:00PM, Wednesday through Sunday except on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Years Day. The Visitor Center will also be open on federal holidays that occur on Monday and Tuesday. Guilford Courthouse National Military Park is located along US 220 and New Garden Road. To reach the Visitor Center, drive East on New Garden Road and turn right into the parking lot when you see the stone sign “Guilford Courthouse National Military Park.” If you drive down Old Battleground Road, do not drive through the Forest Lawn cemetery, this is a dead end and is not connected to the National Park. Lat / Long: 36.1316499 / -79.8471879 General Nathanael Greene Monument Bronze and granite monument of General Nathanael Greene on horseback The General Greene Monument is a focal point of commemoration on the battlefield Hoskins' House and Kitchen Hoskins' House and Kitchen Located on the Grounds of the Colonial Heritage Center Hoskins' House and Kitchen Located on the Grounds of the Colonial Heritage Center Historic New Garden Road A gravel path winds through a forest The Historic New Garden Road was a colonial highway and the location of the artillery during the Battle of Guilford Courthouse 6 pounder cannons Two cannons on grey carriages (wheels) sit in a forest Anthony Singleton used two 6 pounder cannons like these reproductions at the American Third Line, the final battle point 18th Century Field Drum 18th Century Field Drum at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park 18th Century Field Drum at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park NPS Geodiversity Atlas—Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, North Carolina Each park-specific page in the NPS Geodiversity Atlas provides basic information on the significant geologic features and processes occurring in the park. Links to products from Baseline Geologic and Soil Resources Inventories provide access to maps and reports. statue and trees Guilford Courthouse National Military Park is Modifying Operations to Implement Local Health Guidance GUCO News Release Virtual Tours of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse Find Your Virtual Park with Guilford Courthouse National Military Park's virtual tour of the battlefield. Follow along with Ranger Jason to learn step-by-step about the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. Park Ranger stands on battlefield with digital map of the battlelines, red play button Quakers Battle of Guilford Courthouse Painting of 1869 by artist John Collins showing the Society of Friends Meeting House at New Garden, Guilford County, North Carolina. The Quakers had settled at New Garden by the 1740s. New Garden Friends wooden two story Meeting House with Quakers in foreground Virtual Junior Ranger Activity Virtual Junior Ranger, National Junior Ranger Day, Find Your Virtual Park General Greene inviting kids to participate in the Virtual Junior Ranger Museum Activity Guilford Courthouse National Military Park Cultural Landscape The Guilford Courthouse National Military Park landscape encompasses the core of the battlefield where the armies of General Charles, Earl Cornwallis and General Nathanael Greene met on March 15, 1781 in one of the major Southern Campaign battles of the Revolutionary War. It is also significant for preservation and commemoration efforts beginning in the late 1800s that influenced acquisition and design of the site. Statue of Nathanael Greene is a man on a horse, mounted on a monument base behind brick platform Southern Campaign of the American Revolution Junior Ranger Program Explore the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution with this Junior Ranger program that features five units of the National Park Service! Green cover of Junior Ranger Program with five photographs of different parks. Updated Species Database Will Help Boost Amphibian Conservation Across the National Park Service To steward amphibians effectively, managers need basic information about which species live in parks. But species lists need constant maintenance to remain accurate. Due to recent efforts, the National Park Service now has an up-to-date amphibian species checklist for almost 300 parks. This information can serve as the basis for innumerable conservation efforts across the nation. A toad sits on red sand, looking into the camera. Volunteer Archivists Decipher Thousands of Untold Stories from the American Revolution 18th-19th Century pension documents hold fascinating stories of the everyday people touched by the American Revolutionary War. Today, any volunteer with a computer can reveal those stories by transcribing the documents. A science-writer intern discovered the story of Sarah Martin, the widow of a New Jersey militiaman. Two historic documents. Project Profile: A Strategic Approach to Building Forest Resiliency in Southeast Parks The National Park Service is addressing the climate change vulnerability of southeast park ecosystems. Fall-colored trees on a mountain slope. A tree is in the right-side foreground.

Guilford Courthouse National Military Park North Carolina Guilford Cgurthou$| The morning of March 15, 1781, was clear and cold. A light frost had disappeared under the first rays of the Sun, but the ground underfoot was still spongy from winter rains and snows. In the damp woods west of Guilford Courthouse, hub of an isolated little farming community on the main road through North Carolina, some 4,400 American troops, in all kinds of uniforms and country clothes, waited for battle. It was a long, suspenseful morning. About 12:30 the enemy—some of the best regiments of His Majesty George III—in campaign-worn, faded columns of crimson, blue, and green, marched into sight where the road from Salisbury emerged from woods into a clearing. When the Americans opened fire on them from t w o cannons astride the road, an engagement opened that lasted more than t w o hours—and greatly hastened the end of the war. The generals w h o brought it to pass were well-matched. Both were energetic, talented, and experienced. But the one w h o chose the ground lost the day—and the one w h o kept the field lost the war. The ground had been chosen by Nathanael Greene, commanding general of the Continental Army's Southern Department. He was an ironmaster by trade, self-taught in the art of war. His opponent, Charles, Earl Cornwallis, now coolly deploying his troops, was a scion of English nobility, a professional soldier and every inch an aristocrat. A basic shift in England's strategy for suppressing the American rebellion had brought both men from com- mands in the northern colonies to this field. By 1778 it was apparent to the British high command that the war was stalemated. The rebellion was continuing and even growing, and the rebels had made an alliance with France. In a complete turnabout of military policy, the British ordered the Army to break off the war in the North and throw its full force into a campaign to retake the South. Such a campaign had been tried in 1776 and failed. But, by late 1780, both Georgia and South Carolina were in British hands, and Cornwallis was ready to drive northward through the Carolinas into Virginia. He was set back in October w h e n backwoods militia wiped out his left wing at Kings Mountain. He fell back temporarily to a base at Winnsboro, but by the time Greene arrived in Charlotte, N.C., in December to take over w h a t was left of the American forces in the South, Cornwallis was poised to resume his thrust northward. Greene was too weak to come to grips with Cornwallis. Hoping to lead his adversary to scatter his superior strength, thus securing for himself an undisturbed encampment and time to find recruits and subsistence, Greene split his small army. He moved its main body southeast to Cheraw, S.C., on Cornwallis's right flank and sent Gen. Daniel Morgan with 600 men westward to threaten his enemy's left. Greene's risky stratagem succeeded. Cornwallis divided his force into three parts. One he positioned at Camden to watch Greene. Another, under Banastre Tarleton, he sent to attack Morgan. He himself resumed his original course toward North Carolina. It was January 24, 1781, w h e n Greene learned that Morgan had chopped up Tarleton's troops on January 17 at the Cowpens in western South Carolina. Recognizing that Cornwallis would try not only to destroy Morgan but also place himself between Greene and Virginia, whence he knew Greene expected fresh troops, Greene ordered all his forces to join at Guilford Courthouse for a general withdrawal into Virginia. Through rain and snow, Greene led his foe a bewildering chase. Cornwallis burned most of his baggage to speed his pursuit, but at the end of three torturous weeks, he found Greene safely beyond the swollen Dan River in possession of all his boats and he himself w o r n d o w n , hungry, and ill-equipped, 230 miles from his base at Winnsboro. Disconsolately he turned back to Hillsborough, N.C., hoping to raise reinforcements among the loyalists of the region. A f e w days later, reinforced by Virginia militia, Greene recrossed the Dan. For three more weeks, the armies sparred, seldom more than 20 miles apart, their detachments skirmishing regularly. Cornwallis hungered for a general action, but Greene, anticipating additional forces, bided his time. By March 14, with the arrival of new troops, he was ready to attack. Greene spent an uneasy night worrying that rain might fall and render his muskets useless or that Cornwallis (camped on Deep River 12 miles away) might attack in the night and demoralize his militia. But when the morning of Nationa^0Rervice U.Sj^risartment of the Interior the 15th dawned quiet and clear, Greene, learning of the British approach, laid down his lines of battle. The courthouse at Guilford stood alone in a clearing by the "Great Road" (New Garden Road). From it the road sloped westward through woodlands of oak and other hardwoods to Little Horsepen Creek, a mile away. Beyond the creek it disappeared