The Battle of Green Spring took place near Green Spring Plantation in James City County, Virginia during the American Revolutionary War. On July 6, 1781 United States Brigadier General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, leading the advance forces of the Marquis de Lafayette, was ambushed near the plantation by the British army of Earl Charles Cornwallis in the last major land battle of the Virginia campaign prior to the Siege of Yorktown. Following a month of marching and countermarching in central Virginia by Cornwallis and Lafayette, Cornwallis in late June moved to Williamsburg, where he received orders to move to Portsmouth and send some of his army to New York City. The position where Cornwallis hid his army was well-chosen. To the left, impassable swampy terrain sloped down toward the river. To the right, there was more marshy ground and a few ponds. The access from the rest of the mainland toward the ferry was via a 400-yard causeway from the Green Spring Plantation that was surrounded by marshlands that an advancing army would have to negotiate. Cornwallis arranged his army in two lines, with the 76th and 80th regiments along with part of the 43rd and Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton's British Legion on the left, and the Brigade of Guards, and Hessian auxiliaries on the right.

Cornwallis left a small company of German jägers and a few men from the Legion to give the appearance of a rear guard picket, and gave them specific orders to resist the American advance as much as possible. Wayne's advance force and the British pickets then began an extended skirmish lasting nearly two hours. The British forces slowly retreated, suffering significant casualties under the persistent American advance. Wayne's riflemen performed particularly well, picking off several of the British commanding officers. Lafayette, from his vantage point on the river, had spotted the main British force and realized that Wayne was entering a trap. Wayne reformed his line, ordered his artillery to fire a blast of grape shot, and then had the line charge the overwhelming numerically superior British with bayonets fixed. Wayne's audacious charge worked; it successfully halted the British advance long enough for Lafayette's covering force to approach. Lafayette rode forward to assist in managing the American retreat, which began to crumble after Cornwallis personally led a countercharge. Cornwallis, satisfied with the victory, did not to pursue the retreating Americans, and instead crossed the James River as planned and moved on to Portsmouth.