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Subject: [ROGERS-BEN] The Battle of Guilford Court House
Date: Mon, 28 May 2001 17:24:34 EDT

Cousins,

I thought today might be an ideal time to remember the contribution that our
ancestors made at the subject battle.

On 15 March 1781, John (24), James,Benjamin (26), David, Joseph, and William
(33) Rogers took part in the Revolutionary War Battle at Guilford Courthouse,
North Carolina. John has become known to us as "John (thePowder Maker)";.
William and Benjamin were his older brothers and David, Joseph, and James
were also brothers and sons of Benjamin (the Immigrant). The Rogers “boys”
were part of the Montgomery County Virginia Militia under Colonel William
Campbell and Colonel Preston.

They had volunteered to serve for 30 days at the request of General Nathaniel
Greene (Greene County Missouri was named after him). By the time the battle
took place, the militia had been on horse back for 19 days and had
participated in an engagement at Whitzell’s Mills on Reedy Creek on 6 March.
In that action, they had to cross the creek on foot. The water was deep,
swift, andthe river bottom slippery. All except William appeared in the
Montgomery Court the following May to claim between £10 and £20 for personal
equipment lost during that action.

This was not the first time these men hadvolunteered to leave their farms and
family to fight against the British, Indians, and earlier the French. Five
months prior, frontiersmen from Virginia and North Carolina won a major
victory against their fellow countrymen who sided with the British at the
Battle of King’s Mountain. It is very possible that some of these same men
were there too, but we have less proof of their involvement in that
engagement.

Montgomery County was the frontier at that time. Tennessee, Kentucky and
Ohio were still unsettled and the Indians were fighting to keep it that way.
In that there was always a threat from the Cherokee and Shawnee Indians,
leaving families was always risky, but it was a calculated risk and they
believed this was the only way to end British rule.

The frontiersmen who made up the Montgomery County militia were at that time
part of the force commanded by General Greene that included colonial regulars
under Colonel “Light Horse” Harry Lee. Lee was the father of a far more
famous American, General Robert E. Lee. But at the time Light Horse Harry
Lee was a household name in America.

The frontiersmen had a major advantage over the British and even the colonial
regulars…….their rifles. The long rifles carried by the frontiersmen had
much greater accuracy than the muskets of the British and the colonial
regulars. In addition, all frontiersmen carried a scalping knife and many
carried a tomahawk. In battles against the Indians, it was not only the
Indians who took scalps.

The engagement at Whitzell's Mills on ReedyCreek was a delaying action to
enable the Americans to load General Greene'sprovision wagons with flour and
meal from the mills and evacuate these much-needed supplies. On the American
side, primarily Campbell's riflemen and Lee's Legion did the fighting. On
the British side we find under Lord Cornwallis, Tarleton's Dragoons and the
German (Hessian mercenaries) Boze'sYager or Jäger Regiment. The Americans
formed on the southern bank of the stream, in front of the ford, and some two
hundred yards below the mills.

The Americans opened fire when the Britishand German troops were within 80
yards with deadly effect. They fired again when the enemy was only some 45
yards away and this time their fire was even more destructive. The enemy
opened fire with their field pieces and small arms, but both were too high.

Having accomplished their objective: delay long enough so that the mills'
provisions could be evacuated, the Americans withdrew over the ford. The
creek wassome three feet deep, with a rapid current, slippery rocky bottom,
and a very steep brushy bank on the north side. It would appear this is why
so many of the men lost equipment in this action. For us and many other
genealogical researchers, this was a stroke of luck since many of these men
including five of the six Rogers brothers involved in this battle appeared in
Montgomery Co Court some months later to claim reimbursement for their losses
thus documentingtheir service.

At Guilford, the Montgomery County militia found themselves again pitted
against German Hessians who were part of the British force under Lord
Cornwallis. The frontiersmen fought well and inflicted casualties twice their
numberon the German mercenaries. Lee and his cavalry who were fighting next
to Colonel Campbell’s militia suddenly and without informing Campbell
withdrew leaving Campbell’s force exposed. At this point, British cavalry
charged the frontiersmen and cut down some of the men. Lee’s cavalry was not
to be seen.

“Campbell and his men felt deeply aggrieved– feeling that Lee had abandoned
them without notice, and left them to maintain the unequal contest
unprotected by cavalry, when the British dragoons charged them”. That is a
quote from a bookabout General Greene and is probably a great understatement.
I suspect the frontiersmen wanted Lee’s scalp.

Campbell was so mad that the next day he spoke openly of Lee’s shameful
actions and told General Greene, if that’s how these brave men were to be
treated, he could take this job and ……………well youknow the rest.

Despite General Greene’s compliments about Colonel Campbell’s brave men and
their performance at the battle, Campbell resigned and left immediately with
his force of frontier militia. By June 1781, the Virginia General Assembly
called Campbell to service again and promoted him to Brigadier General of
themilitia to serve under Marquis De La Fayette who was commanding the entire
Virginia forces.

The Battle at Guilford Courthouse was very important to the outcome of the
Revolution in that it weakened Lord Cornwallis’ force and caused him to seek
a safe place to rest and reconstitute his troops. Cornwallis moved his force
north and ultimately to Yorktown where the American Army led by George
Washington defeated Cornwallis’ force in October 1781. Cornwallis’
surrender ended theRevolution. We can be proud of the partplayed by those
six Rogers “boys” who took great risks and made enormous sacrifices to do
what they knew needed to be done. We owe them a lot.

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