New Garden Meetinghouse
RETURN TO INDEXVictory: American
Troops: United States 1,077 - Great Britain 1,232
The Battle of New Garden was a series of Revolutionary War clashes in 1781 immediately preceding the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. The battle began just after sunrise at New Garden Friends Meetinghouse west of Greensboro and extended along New Garden Road north of the Crossroads over the next three hours. Involving both cavalry and infantry, the hostilities opened with a brief skirmish at the meetinghouse. There, Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton's British scouts discovered the American pickets, who promptly retreated toward Lt. Col. Henry Lee's vanguard. Tarleton's force, numbering nearly 600, came from his Loyalist cavalry legion, the German Yagers and Bose Regiment, and a later reinforcement of the Welsh Fusiliers. Lee's command, comparable in size, consisted of his cavalry, Col. William Campbell's veteran riflemen, and Virginia militia. On March 15, Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis under the escort of Lieutenant Colonel John Hamilton’s Royal North Carolina Regimentto Bell’s Mill to attack Major General Nathanael Greene at Guilford Court House.
About 9:00 AM, down the road from the New Garden Meeting House, some cavalry of his advanced troops, under Tarleton, were ambushed by a party of Lee’s cavalry scouting their movements. The British were forced to retreat. “The whole of the enemy's section was dismounted,” says Lee, “and many of the some of the dragoons killed, the rest made prisoners: not a single American soldier or horse injured.” Tarleton then took a separate route forward, and Lee, with his infantry and Campbell’s riflemen, as well as his cavalry, moved to cut him off where it was expected Tarleton would next appear. A short time after, an animated and lively encounter took place at this location (probably 10 am) between Lee’s force and Tarleton’s made up of his Legion cavalry, the Hessian Jägers, and the Guards Light Infantry. Both sides acquitted themselves admirably, but Lee fell back when he saw the Cornwallis’ column with the Guards approaching. The American loss was not inconsiderable and fell heavily among Campbell’s Augusta and Rockbridge County riflemen, and who became much dispersed as well. Tarleton admits of at least 20 to 30 killed and wounded. It was in this action that Tarleton lost two fingers due to rifle or musket fire.
About 9:00 AM, down the road from the New Garden Meeting House, some cavalry of his advanced troops, under Tarleton, were ambushed by a party of Lee’s cavalry scouting their movements. The British were forced to retreat. “The whole of the enemy's section was dismounted,” says Lee, “and many of the some of the dragoons killed, the rest made prisoners: not a single American soldier or horse injured.” Tarleton then took a separate route forward, and Lee, with his infantry and Campbell’s riflemen, as well as his cavalry, moved to cut him off where it was expected Tarleton would next appear. A short time after, an animated and lively encounter took place at this location (probably 10 am) between Lee’s force and Tarleton’s made up of his Legion cavalry, the Hessian Jägers, and the Guards Light Infantry. Both sides acquitted themselves admirably, but Lee fell back when he saw the Cornwallis’ column with the Guards approaching. The American loss was not inconsiderable and fell heavily among Campbell’s Augusta and Rockbridge County riflemen, and who became much dispersed as well. Tarleton admits of at least 20 to 30 killed and wounded. It was in this action that Tarleton lost two fingers due to rifle or musket fire.
