Battle of Guilford Courthouse (1781)

The Battle of Guilford Courthouse was a bloody and indecisive engagement that ultimately led to a strategic victory for the American cause. Though the British forces under Lord Cornwallis held the field at the end of the day, they suffered such heavy casualties that their fighting strength was permanently broken. American General Nathanael Greene’s strategy of "fighting, getting beat, and fighting again" demonstrated the relentless "fortitude" of the Southern campaign. Cornwallis was forced to abandon the North Carolina backcountry and retreat toward the coast for supplies, a move that led him directly to Yorktown. The battle is remembered as one of the most fiercely contested struggles of the entire war.