The Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge was a battle of the American Revolutionary War that occurred in North Carolina in February 1776. A force of Scottish Highlander Loyalists that had assembled near Wilmington in preparation for an assault on the city was ambushed by the North Carolina patriot militia and defeated with heavy losses, and the remaining Loyalists were soon rounded up and captured. The battle marked the Patriots' takeover of North Carolina, and North Carolina went on to be the first of the Thirteen Colonies to instruct its Continental Congress delegates to vote for American independence.
Background[]
By early 1776, things looked promising for the British off the mouth of North Carolina's Cape Fear River, where exiled Governor Josiah Martin rocked in his floating sanctuary, HMS Scorpion. On 10 January 1776, Martin had issued a proclamation calling for all loyal subjects to rally to "His Majesty's Royal standard" and assemble at Brunswick, near the port of Wilmington. There they would meet the ships carrying General Sir Henry Clinton and his troops from Boston, the vanguard of a larger fleet that was on its way from Ireland. Martin hoped for a sizable turnout by Highland Scots, who lived by the thousand in the upper Cape Fear region. Most of these settlers had been living there since 1763, having received land grants for their military service in the Seven Years' War. Among them were a former British Army officer named Allan MacDonald and his wife, Flora.
Battle[]
On 18 February, the Loyalists assembled at a village crossroads called Cross Creek (today's Fayetteville) for the march to Wilmington. Only 7 miles away, however, the Patriots were quietly gathering as well. Armed with muskets and dragging tow old cannons - called "Old Mother Covington and her daughter" - these militiamen decided to block the Highlanders' path at a place deep in the swamps called Moore's Creek Bridge. Led by colonels Alexander Lillington and Richard Caswell, the militiamen first erected trenches on the west bank of the bridge, then decided to pull back to the east side. They also pulled up the bridge planks, leaving only the log stringers in place, which they then greased liberally with lard. Loyalist scouts detected the Patriots, however, and the Highlanders held a conference of war. They decided to attack before dawn, assaulting with broadswords. Eighty men, led by Captain John Campbell, would lead deliver the blow. General Donald MacLeod would accompany them.
Highlanders swamped[]
In the pre-dawn gloom of 27 February, the Highlanders, many sporting plaids or kilts and wearing dirks (long daggers), crept forward, stumbling upon the abandoned trench on the west bank. Perhaps they thought their foes had fled, or were still asleep, because they charged the bridge, drums beating, bagpipes skirling, and crying, "King George and the broadswords!" Halted by the slippery bridge, they began inching their way over the treacherous timbers, Campbell leading on one stringer and MacLeod on the other. They were only 30 paces from the other side when Old Mother Covington and the Patriot trench erupted with a crashing volley of fire. The ensuing melee could not have lasted long. 30 Highlanders were killed or wounded by musket balls or canister, some falling into the creek from the bridge, others - including Campbell and MacLeod - shot while gaining the east bank. MacLeod, hit iby nine bullets and 24 pellets of swan shot, somehow managed to sit up and point his broadsword at the rebel trenches. It was MacLeod's final act of defiance.
In the darkness and confusion of battle the surviving Highlanders took to their heels. For the next two days the Patriots rounded them up in the nearby woods and swamps - 850 men in all, including Allan MacDonald. Lillington's Patriots, who had suffered only two casualties during the skirmish, spent most of the time looting the captured wagon train, taking some 1,500 rifles, 350 muskets, and 150 broadswords, as well as a treasure chest. Some of the victory pranced around in triumph, wearing Scottish plaids. It was now clear that the Loyalist cause was doomed in North Carolina. Arriving off Wilmington in March, Clinton was crestfallen at the news. He and his soldiers remained stewing on their transport vessels or swatting mosquitoes in camps off Cape Fear until May 1776, when the fleet from Ireland finally arrived and the join force set sail for Charleston.
Aftermath[]
Cowed by the debacle at Moore's Creek Bridge, most North Carolina Loyalists kept a low profile for the rest of the war. News of the victory at Moore's Creek Bridge, alongside reports of the triumph over the Royal Navy at Sullivan's Island near Charleston in June 1776, encouraged the Continental Congress to issue the US Declaration of Independence in July. Ironically, North Carolina was the first of the Thirteen Colonies to instruct its delegates to vote for separation from Britain. Loyalists farther south would only bide their time. In 1780, when the British finally captured Charleston, they would emerge to wage a furious and bloody civil war with Patriot militia in the South Carolina backcountry.
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