Guilford, Battle of

In the costly British victory March 1781 over American forces at Guilford Court House, a few miles northwest of what is now Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Lord Cornwallis' force of 1,300 British troops attacked a stronger American force under General Nathaneal Greene which was in a well-prepared defensive position. By a series of attacks on individual strongpoints the British eventually put the Americans to flight, leaving their guns, stores, and wounded behind. However, the British sustained 548 casualties, almost half Cornwallis' force, leaving him too weak to pursue the enemy or carry out further operations for some time.