Moores Creek Battlefield EN ROUTE
Moores Creek Battlefield will flicker with candlelight on
November 15 and 16 to allow a modern audience to imagine
the brief but historic battle that changed the course of the
American Revolution on February 27, 1776 when Loyalists to
the English Crown pushed toward the coast, anticipating the
arrival of the British Naval Fleet. This meeting would create a
junction between land and sea, strengthening Great Britain’s
control of North Carolina.
Refusing an offer of surrender, the outnumbered Patriots gathered
at the crucial crossing point, Moores Creek Bridge, readied for an
attack that would begin just before dawn.
Vastly outmanned by the 1,600 men strong Loyalists, the
Patriots dug in with only 850 men, but they had the advantage of
several surprises including having concealed their actual numbers,
along with the true location of their camp. Patriot troops with-drew
from a decoy camp, and as they did dismantled the bridge’s
planking, which stood over a six-foot-deep creek. The girders were
greased. This would force the Loyalists to cross one by one, having
to carefully inch across a girder under pitch black skies. Patriots lay
in wait behind low earthworks overlooking the bridge.
This replicated cannon represents the Patriot’s Mother Covington,
above. Moores Creek Bridge, top, marks the location of the historic
Revolutionary War battle. Opposite a monument honors heroic
women of the Cape Fear region and the role of women in the
American Revolution.
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WBM november 2013