Battle of Wetzell's Mill

The British attempt to regain control of its rebellious colonies in the American Revolutionary War through the "southern strategy" of gaining control over the southern colonies and moving north began in late 1779 with the capture of Savannah, Georgia. By early 1781, Georgia and South Carolina were nominally under British control, two Continental Armies had been captured or routed, and General Lord Cornwallis was chasing a third, under the command of General Nathanael Greene, out of North Carolina. Greene, with a smaller and more mobile army, had risked division of his forces at one point, and was rewarded with Daniel Morgan's victory over Cornwallis' main cavalry force, led by Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, at the Battle of Cowpens in January 1781.

Cornwallis, realizing he could more easily defeat Morgan or Greene before their forces rejoined, stripped his army of all nonessentials, and gave chase. Greene and Morgan were able to join forces, but they were still relatively weak due to expiring enlistments, so Greene continued to retreat northward toward Virginia, avoiding full-scale battle, in what became known as the "Race to the Dan" (after the Dan River, which flows near the border between Virginia and North Carolina). Greene beat Cornwallis to the Dan, which, like many other rivers, was swollen by heavy rains, and crossed to relative safety in Virginia.

After receiving additional supplies and some reinforcements, Greene recrossed the Dan with an eye toward finally forcing a confrontation after additional troops arrived. Criss-crossing Guilford County] with his main army, Greene detached Colonel Otho Williams with companies of light infantry, riflemen, and the cavalry of Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee to maintain contact with Cornwallis' army so that he could continue to maneuver without a large confrontation. Cornwallis sent out Tarleton on expeditions to find Greene's army so that a confrontation could be forced.

On March 3, Williams sent out a company of men to harass the British camp. They killed several sentries and took two prisoners before returning to Williams' camp at Wetzell's Mill, near a ford across Reedy Ford Creek. Cornwallis ordered Tarleton out on March 6 to go after Williams.

Williams was alerted to Tarleton's approach, and managed to withdraw most of his men across the ford, where they established a defensive line. Tarleton's men then drove the last of Williams' light infantry across the river. Tarleton sent a company of men from the 23rd Regiment under James Webster to storm across the ford. Williams' riflemen were ordered to target the officer, and Henry Lee reported that they "discharged their rifles at him, one by one", but "himself and horse were untouched".[2] The British eventually succeeded in crossing the creek, and after several miles of pursuit, Tarleton gave up the chase and rejoined the main army.

Williams and his men rejoined Greene's army, which, following the arrival of 2,500 reinforcements, prepared to meet Cornwallis near Guilford County, North Carolina, where the key Battle of Guilford Courthouse was fought on March 15.

• Hairr, John (2006). Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press (ed.). "Battle of Wetzell's Mill". Retrieved March 23, 2019.
• Scotti, Anthony J. Jr. (2002). Brutal Virtue: The Myth and Reality of Banastre Tarleton.

• Pancake, John S. (1985). This Destructive War. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-0191-7.

• "North Carolina Historic Marker, J-37, Weitzel's Mill". Retrieved March 23, 2019.
• William S. Powell, ed., Encyclopedia of North Carolina History (2006)
• William H. Hoyt, ed., Papers of Archibald D. Murphey, II, 289-294
• Henry Lee, Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States (1827)
• Walter Clark, ed., State Records of North Carolina, XVII, 1000-1001
• David Schenck, North Carolina, 1780-1781 (1889)
• John Buchanan, The Road to Guilford Courthouse (1997)
• GIS

36.08°N 79.79°W / 36.08; -79.79