Battle of Wetzell's Mill

Battle of Wetzell's Mill
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Date March 6, 1781 Location Guilford County, North Carolina Result Inconclusive
Belligerents
Great Britain Loyalists	United States
Commanders and leaders
Banastre Tarleton	Otho Williams
Strength
1,200 regulars and militia	600-700 militia
Casualties and losses
30 killed or wounded	10 killed, 20 wounded

 Great Britain

The Battle of Wetzell's Mill (the name may also be spelled Weitzell, Weitzel, Whitesell, or Whitsall) was an American Revolutionary War skirmish fought on March 6, 1781, between detachments of Nathanael Greene's Continental Army and Banastre Tarleton's Loyalist provincial troops.

Greene was trying to avoid encounters with the larger British Cornwallis' larger army while awaiting the arrival of additional troops, and had sent Williams and several hundred men on reconnaissance to watch Cornwallis' movements. Cornwallis learned where Williams was on March 4, and, realizing he could be trapped because he was separated from Greene's army by Reedy Ford Creek, sent Tarleton and 1,200 men toward the ford at Wetzell's Mill. Early on March 6 Tarleton's men tried to sneak up on Williams' position, then about ten miles south of the ford. After a brief skirmish, the two forces raced toward the ford. Williams kept Harry "Light Horse" Lee in the rear to cover their retreat, and reached the ford ahead of Tarleton. His army crossed, at which point he decided to make a stand at the crossing.

Tarleton's first attempt to cross was repulsed, but the second succeeded, and Williams retreated.

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.

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