Five things to know about Greensboro's connection to the Revolutionary War

It's March 15, 1781, six years into America's war for independence, and the British army has been chasing an elusive American unit through North Carolina for weeks.

Both sides are tired, running short on men and supplies. And yet, both continued their trek through the state, preparing for a showdown.

The two forces would finally meet at Guilford Court House, the county seat of Guilford County in what was then the sparsely populated backcountry of the state.

As July 4 and celebrations of American independence approach, here are five things to know about the battle and Greensboro's footprint on aspects of the American Revolution:

troops into battle.Leading the American unit of trained soldiers and drafted militiamen at Guilford Court House was none other than a Rhode Islander by the name of Nathanael Greene.

It would prove a turning point in the war's Southern campaign.

Twenty-seven years after the battle, Greensboro would be founded, and Greene's history with the area memorialized in its name.

Hailing from a merchant family background in iron working and the ship trade, Greene had risen through the American military ranks quickly. From no military education or experience as a professional soldier, he advanced from militia soldier to militia leader to a major general in the Continental Army.

"That's because people who ran into him during the siege of Boston merely recognized his talent and his ability to learn and his ability to work with others," said Jason Baum, a ranger at the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. "In that sense, he shows how if you have a natural talent for something and if other people recognize that, how quickly you can rise."

His stint as quartermaster, supervising the distribution of supplies and food, taught him how to make ends meet and pull strings as the Americans struggled with supplies throughout the war. He became the best candidate for the Southern front.

With British General Charles Cornwallis pursuing Greene on a northeastern trail across North Carolina, the Americans evaded the Redcoats while crossing the Catawba and Yadkin rivers, depleting British resources through the North Carolina winter for two months.

The two sides had a common goal.

"In the South, particularly, you have two armies that it's not that they're trying to capture the courthouse itself," Baum said, "they're just trying to fight each other because they think if I can destroy the other guy's army, then I will be able to control North Carolina."

To fulfill this mission, Greene implemented a unique strategy for the battle. Even if it cost him.

After receiving reinforcements of militiamen, Greene's forces outnumbered the British, 4,400 to 1,900. The odds appeared in the revolutionaries' favor.

To wear down a depleted force of Redcoats, Greene stacked his men into three lines on the battlefield. Members of the militia were not well-trained, so he deployed these men into two lines ahead of the Continentals, the professional soldiers.

Militiamen on the front lines had a simple job: Fire twice. Cause as many British casualties as possible. Retreat.

As Cornwallis' army continued through the dense woods, Greene hoped they would be beaten up and disorganized by the time they reached his final and strongest line. Victory would be imminent.

Instead, the American line gave away faster than intended. Casualties numbered 1,310. Remaining units were in chaos.

Greene had no choice but to retreat.

So, no, the Americans did not notch a victory in the woods and farmland of the now-Greensboro area.

However, the tides were turning.

Baum referred to the Battle of Guilford Court House as a "pyrrhic victory." The British may have won the battle and pushed the Continental Army off the battlefield, but in doing so, they lost a quarter of their army and further depleted their dwindling supplies. In the depths of North Carolina, those lost soldiers and supplies were not easily replaced.

The foundation was laid for the Battle of Yorktown and the end of the Revolutionary War. American freedom, at last.

"In the larger strategic picture," Baum said, "things are going terribly for (the British)."

Even after the showdown in March, Greene found little short-term success against the British during his time as a general in the South.

According to Baum, he lost every battle.

And yet, just as with the Battle of Guilford Court House, every incursion came at a high cost for the British. The Redcoats were left with exhausted resources and were eventually forced to retreat.

Greene's impact on the war for independence and present-day Greensboro is cemented in the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park.

As a main attraction, a monument towers over a field close to where the American second line was positioned. Seated on a horse in full-uniform, Greene looms, looking out over the grass.

Engraved into the stone beside the monument, a Cornwallis quote articulates the impact of the city's namesake:

"Greene is as dangerous as Washington," he said. "I never feel secure when encamped in his neighborhood."

Welcome to the North Carolina backcountry. Thick woods. Farmland. A scattered population. And a mixed bag of opinions on the revolution.

Even as both armies viewed the South as pivotal territory in the war, the majority of the population surrounding the Guilford Courthouse took a neutral point of view, according to Baum. There were people still loyal to the British crown, Quakers who opposed war on principle and some pro-independence folks, too. But for the most part, as long as the soldiers did not bother them, people preferred not to get involved.

Cornwallis entered North Carolina with the hope of recruiting loyalists to the war effort. His intel from loyalists fleeing the war spoke of other pro-British people in the area, but in reality, he struggled to convince many to join the war effort and rebuild his thinned troops.

"Household to household, you really don't know who you're dealing with (or) where their loyalties are gonna lie on that spectrum," Baum said.

5. Early preservation efforts at the historical site were ... a bit ahistorical.

Freezing elements of the battle in time, the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, off present-day Old Battleground Road, commemorates the turning point of the Southern Campaign.

The courthouse's move to Greensboro in 1808 meant that the battlefield would not become the focal point of the city.

Then, in the 1880s, the park was founded. The land was officially preserved — except that history buffs and private companies of that era had a different view on how to go about it. Instead of maintaining the landscape as it looked when the battle occurred, they envisioned the area as a patriotic pleasure park.

They installed monuments, including the Greene statue, which features the general in a uniform from the 1790s. Greene died in 1786.

They also planted sculpted shrubbery and non-native Sugar Maples in the middle of the battlefield to provide shade. They even went as far as creating a manmade lake, where people could fish and paddle on boats.

Graves of important figures from North Carolina who impacted the American Revolution were moved to the site. William Hooper and John Penn, two of the state's signers of the Declaration of Independence, rest under a Signers Monument on the second line.

Today, the site more closely resembles the ground the patriots fought on. The lake has been drained. Many of the Sugar Maples are dying. But the monuments and graves remain.

While the details of the battle may not always be remembered, the park ensures one memory does remain: The road to independence ran through Greensboro.

Staff Writer