Imagine the Scene

Charge of the Doomed

Walk to the start of the History Trail behind the Visitor Center. After passing inside a low ridge, take the right fork toward the woods. Follow the trail to and over the boardwalk to the farthest point of the trail. Loop left a little way further to the next historical marker.

Look at the original road you just passed, now to the far right of the marker.

It is a frigid Monday night, February 26, 1776. About 800 men from the New Bern area under Col. Richard Caswell are camped on this side of the creek. They are probably up the road out of sight, prepared to defend the bridge. Col. Alexander Lillington’s 150 Patriots from around Wilmington have been quickly finishing the ridge of dirt called “earthworks” you saw before the boardwalk, which surround his campsite on the other side of the creek.

They have cannons. At least one three-pounder—referring to the weight of the balls it shot—nicknamed “Mother Covington” is here, and a second cannon tradition refers to as a half-pounder “daughter.” You will see examples of these further down the trail. However, park historians say the Patriots also have larger six- or nine-pounders.[1] Some of the volunteers supposedly come to examine the cannons, never having seen artillery.

The Patriots know the Loyalists will have to come down the road you are looking at to cross the bridge. Around midnight, a Tory horseman appears and says he has a message for the rebel commander from MacDonald. Guards on the road let him pass. Somewhere near you he presents Caswell with a promise from MacDonald: The Patriots will be allowed to go free if they agree to support King George III. Most likely MacDonald knew this would not be accepted, and the courier is really scouting the Patriot position. He is rebuffed and gallops back toward his camp.

After getting the courier’s report, the Loyalist officers discuss what to do. MacDonald probably advises against an attack, wishing instead to simply go around by another route. However, he is too ill to make a stand, and gives up command temporarily. Lt. Col. Donald McLeod leads their forces in this direction at 1 a.m., hoping to make a surprise attack at dawn.

Another visitor here wipes out any advantage the scout might have provided. Felix Kenan deserted from the Tory camp to warn the Whigs about the dawn attack. (Whether he had joined the Loyalists as a spy or had a change of heart is unknown.)

As you can see, Caswell’s position is dangerous. If pushed back under attack, his force would be trapped in the bend of the creek. Caswell meets with Lillington on the far side of the bridge, and they apparently hatch a plan.

Walk onto the bridge, which is a reproduction.

Caswell’s men gather their things and walk past you to the other side. However, they leave their campfires burning to deceive the Tories. Shortly thereafter men start tearing up the bridge planks from underneath your feet, exposing two parallel supports called “stringers,” probably logs without bark. They also bring soap and animal fat[2] from their campsites and begin smearing the stringers to make them slippery.

Meanwhile, the Tory officers decide to split into two wings and move them to opposite sides of the road. The wing on the left side of the road, from your viewpoint, sends forward scouts when it spots the fires of Caswell’s campsite. After determining the Patriots are gone, their officers decide to return to camp to consult with MacDonald. They fall back into the woods to await daylight.

The other wing sees the same thing but decides to keep coming. As one historian put it, “Literally the right hand did not know what the left hand was doing, and there was no way for the two wings to communicate now.”[3]

Cross the bridge before the Whigs finish tearing it up! Walk to where the road curves left, and you can see both the bridge and the breastwork. According to archaeologists, though the modern earthworks are reconstructed, they are exactly where the Patriots’ were that day. The current ones are not as large, however.

Here facing the bridge they are the most formidable: roughly four feet high, seven feet wide, with a two-foot ditch along the outside. When Caswell’s troops pull back, they bring their cannons, and Lillington had three of his own. Some were probably loaded with “swanshot,” a tin can that broke apart when fired and spread about 20 small bullets like buckshot when fired.[4] A small number of cannons are placed behind the earthwork directly in line with the bridge, like the “daughter” model you see; a few others are close to the road where the “mother” is now.

The men had started another trench at a right angle to the road between you and the bridge, to the left as you face the bridge, but for unknown reasons stopped.[5] The Patriots take up positions on both sides of the road behind the completed earthworks.

Just before dawn, still in darkness, vague shapes appear at the far side of the bridge. They draw up short when they see the planks are gone. A Whig sentry is standing just on this side. He asks who they are. “A friend of the King!” a Loyalist answers. He probably thinks the people on this side are fellow Tories, maybe from the other wing.

The sentry squats down to make a smaller target, and decides what to do. The voice on the other side now asks whom he is talking to—in Gaelic. The sentry has no answer. What comes next is a bullet, followed by several more. To say the least, this wakens the entire camp behind you.

The person on the other side was McLean, ahead of his wing of the Loyalists. McLeod hears the shots and runs forward from his wing. The two of them make a rash decision.

A company of 80 Highlanders form into two single-file columns to cross the stringers. No eyewitness accounts state whether any are wearing kilts![6] But they do bear traditional Scottish broadswords called “claymores.” McLeod leads one column, and Capt. John Campbell the other. The rest of McLean’s wing follows them.

It may seem strange that Scots, traditional enemies of England, would be fighting for the English King. The oldest among them, or the fathers of some men, had sworn an oath to support the throne as grounds for release after their capture at the 1746 Battle of Culloden in Scotland. Others had done so to gain permission to come to America. Some had served in the British Army. No doubt the King’s promise of 200 acres of land taken from rebels, and twenty years of no property taxes, helped entice others. Many leaders were still estate holders in Scotland and/or reserve army officers.[7]

As quickly as they dare, given the grease, the officers step onto the stringers and cross to your side. “King George and Broadswords!” yell many of the men, the battle cry they had agreed upon, for what now is considered the last claymore charge in world history. Some jab the tips of their swords into the stringers to keep from slipping off.

Campbell and McLeod lead the charge up the road, not sure how many men they face—if any. Spotting the empty trench, perhaps they assume there aren’t many. You watch the Highlanders rush by you. As they get around the curve, they are only about 30 yards from the Patriots, well within the effective range of Whig muskets. Behind the earthwork, Caswell yells the order to open fire.

You better get out of here! Continue up the trail and take a position with the Patriots behind the swivel cannon, facing the bridge.

The cannon and a wall of muskets fire with a deafening blast. The British and Tory officers fall dead, and the bridge is swept clean in an instant, with every man who was crossing hit. Some of the wounded drown in the water below. (The creek is normally around five feet deep, but can rise several feet with the tide.)

Many or most of the remaining Highlanders turn and run. The Patriots, perhaps as stunned as their foes are, leap over the earthworks to give chase. A few moments of hand-to-hand combat kills or captures the Highlanders remaining on this side, around the marker at the curve. In one case it is hand-to-teeth, as a Whig resorts to biting a Loyalist before the latter surrenders. Meanwhile, two friends race for McLeod’s body, and Abraham Newkirk wins his watch.[8] Later the body is found to contain nine bullets plus a couple dozen buckshot.[9] McLeod had been a newlywed.

Some of the Tories return fire from across the creek,[a] However, less than half an hour after their arrival, three minutes or less since the first gunshot, the battle is over. The Patriots slide over the bridge stringers or through the creek and up the road towards the Tory camp. Many of the Loyalists surrender immediately. The Whigs sweep up most of the rest, following them at least as far as their camp in today’s Atkinson.

One historian says the remaining Tory officers meet briefly at the camp before the Patriots arrive, and decide to distribute the ammunition and disband. However, many survivors stay together for mutual protection and move toward Smith’s Ferry (modern Smithfield), only to be caught at another creek along the way.[b] The Patriots from the battlefield are helped by more Whig militia coming from further west, trapping Tories as far west as modern Averasboro.

At the camp they capture MacDonald as well, supposedly asleep in his tent. The same historian says MacDonald offers his sword to Moore per the custom of the day, and has it returned by the same courtesy.[c]

Battle Map

The Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge: 1) Bridge prepared, a Patriot sentry challenges Tory vanguard. 2) Tories charge across bridge, are decimated by Patriot cannons and gunfire. 3) Patriots countercharge. 4) Tories flee, Patriots follow and capture most.

A Legendary Ride

Near the visitor’s center, you will pass a monument to the women of the Revolution, above the graves of Ezekiel and Mary Slocumb. An 1848 book included a first-person account by Mary of her riding here overnight after the battle. Unfortunately, either the author made it up, or Mary recalled the wrong battle. Among many problems with the story, Ezekiel was not a militia soldier until 1780, also the year a son the story mentions was born.[d]