Location
Other maps: Bing, Google, Mapquest.
Coordinates: 34.8070, -79.1441.
Type: Sight
Tour: Tory War
County: Robeson
Full
You can park anywhere on the shoulder at our first stop. But because it may be overgrown in warmer months, the coordinates mark a narrow mailbox pullout on Old Lowery Road. It should be approached from NC 211 (the direction taken by Patriot forces in the battle). Look for it on the right just after crossing the Little Raft Swamp bridge.
Larger vehicles may not fit. If yours can’t, read down to, and then follow the directions to, the second stop at Dixie Road.
Context
With the encouragement of Continental leaders, in August 1781 the North Carolina government ordered a militia general to drive British occupiers out of Wilmington.
Situation
Tory
Before the campaign could launch, a Loyalist (“Tory”) army captured Gov. Thomas Burke and other Patriot government officials in Hillsborough in September and transported them to Wilmington. This was the army of Col. David Fanning, who was out of action while recovering from his wounds suffered at the Battle of Lindley’s Mill. Now under Col. Duncan Ray and Col. “One-Eyed” Hector McNeill, it was camped at McPhaul’s Mill, south of modern Fayetteville. Joined by locals, the army had grown to between 300 and 600 and was drilling for further action when the colonels learned of the approach of a much larger Patriot force. The Tories retreated to a stronger defensive position behind Little Raft Swamp.
Patriot
Brig. Gen. Griffith Rutherford was on the move toward Wilmington. He learned about the Tory camp and marched his army of at least 950 men, perhaps as many as 1,400, towards it. He sent cavalry ahead under Maj. Joseph Graham in hopes of pinning the Tories down at the mill until the main army could arrive. But the Tories had already withdrawn. Graham followed them here.
Date
Monday, October 15, 1781.
Timeline
