Pyle's Massacre

Part of the American Revolutionary War

Date	February 25, 1781
Location	present-day Alamance County, North Carolina
Result	Patriot victory

Belligerents

Loyalist militia

Patriot militia

Commanders and leaders

John Pyle

Andrew Pickens

Henry Lee

Strength

300–400 militia

600 militia

Casualties and losses

93 killed
250 wounded

1 horse killed
1 Patriot POW killed with the Loyalists

Andrew Pickens

Pyle's Massacre, also known as Pyle's Hacking Match or the Battle of Haw River, was fought during the American Revolutionary War in Orange County, North Carolina (present-day Alamance County, North Carolina), on February 24, 1781, between Patriot and Loyalist North Carolina militia troops. Patriot cavalry commander Continental Army Colonel Henry Lee surprised Loyalist militia under Dr. John Pyle who thought he was the British cavalry commander Banastre Tarleton sent to meet them. Lee's men then opened fire, surprising and scattering Pyle's force, with Colonel Lee pursuing Tarleton in the direction of Hillsborough, NC, intending to capture or kill his command.

British general the Earl Cornwallis had been unable to catch Nathanael Greene's army (in what historians now call the "Race to the Dan"), who strategically retreated using a screening feint column under Col. Otho Williams, to Dix's Ferry (present day Danville,VA) allowing Greene to cross the Dan River at Irwin's (Turbeville, VA) and Boyd's Ferry (South Boston, VA) and out of North Carolina. Cornwallis, who had burned his baggage train at Ramsour's Mill (Lincolnton,NC), in chasing Greene completely exhausted his men, who were also starving in wet freezing weather with little forage from locals. All the boats for crossing the Dan River were taken by Greene (Colonel Henry Lee in command of the rear guard cavalry was the last to cross approx. 2 hours before the British arrived) so that Cornwallis was stranded on the NC side of the river. Cornwallis made an exhaustive trip South,establishing a headquarters to regroup and recover at Hillsborough, North Carolina, a colonial outpost city, on February 21, also to rally Loyalists to his side.

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