On this date in American and North Carolina history.....

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Wobomagonda
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On March 15, 1781 the largest, most hotly-contested battle of the Revolutionary War's Southern Campaign was fought at the small North Carolina backcountry hamlet of Guilford Courthouse.

Major General Nathanael Greene, defending the ground at Guilford Courthouse with an army of almost 4,500 American militia and Continentals, was tactically defeated by a smaller British army of about 1,900 veteran regulars and German allies commanded by Lord Charles Cornwallis. After 2 1/2 hours of intense and often brutal fighting, Cornwallis forced his opponent to withdraw from the field. Greene's retreat preserved the strength of his army, but Cornwallis's frail victory was won at the cost of over 25% of his army.

"I never saw such fighting since God made me. The Americans fought like demons." ~General Charles Earl Cornwallis

When word reached London and Parliament regarding the "victory," Charles James Fox exclaimed "Another such victory will be the ruin of the British army!"

Guilford Courthouse proved to be the highwater mark of British military operations in the Revolutionary War. Weakened in his campaign against Greene, Cornwallis abandoned the Carolinas hoping for success in Virginia. At Yorktown, seven months after his victory at Guilford Courthouse, Lord Cornwallis would surrender to the combined American and French forces under General George Washington.

A people who intend to be Free will be so - the threat of Death or defeat cannot conquer them.

These United States are desperately in need of men and women such as these.

For those who are interested, the reenactment of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse is this weekend at Guildford Courthouse National Battlefield Park in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is always a good time - and you can stand on hallowed ground where lived and died men who would not be ruled.

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In the course of my part time job, I will sometimes ride through there. During the summer, there's always folks out there running, riding bikes, walking their dogs...I don't know for certain what is on folks' hearts, but I'd imagine to some, GCNMP is just a park.

I think of it as a place where an empire found out what Americans are made of.
 
In the course of my part time job, I will sometimes ride through there. During the summer, there's always folks out there running, riding bikes, walking their dogs...I don't know for certain what is on folks' hearts, but I'd imagine to some, GCNMP is just a park.

I think of it as a place where an empire found out what Americans are made of.


The vast majority see it as just a park, unfortunately.
 
In the course of my part time job, I will sometimes ride through there. During the summer, there's always folks out there running, riding bikes, walking their dogs...I don't know for certain what is on folks' hearts, but I'd imagine to some, GCNMP is just a park.

I think of it as a place where an empire found out what Americans are made of.
The vast majority see it as just a park, unfortunately.

I stopped in a couple years ago on the way home from a work trip - it was in the summer and I stopped as I was passing through. There were a bunch of adults - in slacks and ties as well as scrubs - running around and climbing on the monuments playing that stupid Pokémon GO game on their phones.

They acted pretty incredulous when I told them to be a little more respectful of where they were, that the monuments honored the extreme sacrifices of many men, women, and children in a cause that enabled their carefree life of leisure to exist. Couple that with all the people wading in the WWII Memorial in DC last time I was there (wife saw my face and told me to get the ranger so I wouldn’t get arrested in front of our kids) - this Republic will crash because the legacy of those who fought to establish it have neither knowledge or a care for its survival.
 
So I packed up the kids and took them to the reenactment at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park this afternoon kind of last minute. We arrived just in time to march in with Greene's Continentals and the contingent of North Carolina and Virginia Militia.

Well, I marched in with them. Peyton and Henry rode first class in the wagon I was pulling behind me.

We watched the portion of the Battle that took place along New Garden Road when Greensboro was still the backwoods frontier....with cannonades, musket volleys, and cavalry charges. It was a great time (tomorrow is the southern portion of the same Battle).

We then hit sutler's row for some shopping, then the Visitors Center/Gift Shop. Peyton (my 7 year old daughter) was anxious to buy her own souvenir - and when we were leaving she kept staring at her receipt and her change.

"Daddy, did they tax me?" she asked. "Is that why it was $7.95 and they charged me over 8 dollars? Guilford County? Who are they? Did I get taxed?"

"Yes kid, you did. That's why your wooden sword costs more than the price that was listed."

"So they took more of my money? That's like stealing Daddy. That's not fair!"

Next to her eating her steaks rare, this may be my proudest Dad moment - and we've never even discussed taxes. Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is.

We capped off the evening at the 18th Century tavern in Old Salem. I ended up having to carry both of them to bed because they were crashed out hard when we go home.
 
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