cornwallis was making his march through north carolina and general greene wanted to stop that. nathanael greene was george washington's most trusted general. he was picked by general washington to come south and save the southern army. the southern army had lost two major battles at charleston and camden, south carolina. last many men. there were few soldiers left. general washington sent general greene south to stop general cornwallis. charles cornwallis was the commander of the british army in the southern department. at guilford courthouse, he commanded the army made of veteran british soldiers. this was the first battle in which cornwallis and greene met each other on the battlefield. both of the generals were of

different mindsets. cornwallis had this mindset of move forward and hit hard and continually hit and continually march. general greene had a mindset of hit and backup or retreat hit and backup or retreat. he had by the time this battle came, general greene had raised an army to almost twice the size of the british army. he felt pretty good about his odds. first, general cornwallis was in -- encamped at deep river, which is high point, 10 miles from here. general greene brought all of his soldiers in militia here at guilford courthouse. set his lines of defense to wait for cornwallis p general greene

had thought about attacking general cornwallis on the march. that ended in disaster at the battle of camden in august 1780. he thought he better not with all the militia he had. he decided to make a stand that guilford courthouse. in the meantime, general cornwallis who had this mindset as he was going to smash the continental army, took out from present-day high point in marched from there to here at guilford courthouse. he did not have any intelligence, general cornwallis that is. by intelligence i mean scouts were not out finding out what greene's this position was, how his army was laid out and what his numbers were. all he knew was that greene was ahead of him. he marched the hallway the morning of march 15 from deep

river to guilford courthouse p general greene decided to establish three lines of defense. a defense in depth. he was going to put his north china militia on the first line. about one thousand soldiers. he was going to put about 1000 virginia militia soldiers on the second line. the third line was going to be greene's strongest troops, the continental soldiers. this is a copy of a map that was drawn by british engineer following the battle of guilford courthouse. this illustrates the battle of guilford courthouse could what we have at the bottom are reddish troops come into the field. the first, second and third american blinds. the first line was made of the norcal on a militia. the second line was made up of virginia militia. it was in the heavy woods.

the third line was made up of the continental. they faced open field, some weights and a deep ravine. the british attacked the first line. the first line pulled back from the battle and ran away, for the most part. then the british moved on to the second line. the second line made a stand. there were british moving forward, it was the 23rd regiment, the guards, the 71st regiment. they had a heavy firefight at the second line. then they pulled back and the british moved up to the third line to attack the continentals on the third line. we are now standing at the third minefield -- line field.

the american army was posted on this ridgeline. two cannons anchored the flanks of the americans. the british came from that direction there and came across the field and attacked the americans, charged up the hill. the second regiment fled. the first got into hand-to-hand combat with the british. the american calvary came in swooped on the british. then rode through the british line. the american calvary then looked at the opposite end of the field and saw lord cornwallis near the british artillery. so the american calvary charged towards lord cornwallis, trying to capture him.

and at that time, cornwallis reached the british artillery. and the british artillery fired shots into the american calvary and stopped the advance of the american calvary. with that. john eager howard, the american officer in command decided it was enough. he pulled off to the north end of the battlefield on retreat. the british army then emerged from the woods the reserve company. they pushed the americans off the field. the british took the field and a technically won the victory. in 18th-century terms, if you took the field you won the victory. the difference is a cost the british tory 5% to 26% of their army. -- 25% to 26% of their army.

they could not get more soldiers because they would have to come from new york or charleston. cornwallis last 25% of his army over 526 men, he was able to put this back in the philippine general greene, -- back in the field. general greene retreated with his army intact. he got more militia to come back from the end into his army. by the end, greene was back to almost 4000 men with the m ilitia. cornwallis didn't have any men to come to his aid. cornwallis went to wilmington, north carolina. he had to make a decision as to where to go. if he went back to charleston it would look like defeat. if he came back in the field

without extra men he would not be able to fight greene again. cornwallis decided he was going to virginia and would take a british army in virginia. he took command of the british army in virginia. ultimately he wound up at yorktown surrendering to the forces of the continental army peered general greene would retain command in the southern army. he would ultimately march as a conqueror into charleston, south carolina. the city of greensboro is named fort nathanael greene. we have this wonderful statue behind the of general greene on the horse at the time of the revolutionary war. general greene was one of the major heroes of the revolutionary war. his conduct in the war was exemplary. he was able to put men into the field and keep them into the

field. the militia saw that general greene was not going to sacrifice their lives needlessly. so, following the war greene had not only the respect of the generals and >> general green stop the total british victory in the south. he was the one who could get the army alive and in the field and had washington's confidence. he proved his worth in the southern campaign. >> american history tv is featuring greensboro, north carolina. our staff recently traveled there to learn about its rich history. learn more about greensboro on c-span's city tour at c-span's