Guilford Courthouse National Military Park
Greensboro, North Carolina

On March 15, 1781, on a farmer's fields west of the courthouse for Guilford County, in the back country of North Carolina, British troops, under the leadership of Lord Charles Cornwallis, met the patriot forces commanded by General Nathanael Greene. By days end the British were left holding the field, but at a very great cost. With one quarter of his troops now lying dead or wounded, Lord Cornwallis was forced to begin a march to the sea for fresh troops and supplies. That march would end, some seven months later, with his surrender to the combined French and American forces at Yorktown, Virginia.

Beginning in the 1880's, efforts were made by David Schenck to preserve the historic lands where the Battle of Guilford Courthouse was fought. In March, 1887, the Guilford Battleground Company was created to acquire land and preserve the battlefield, which they did. In 1917 the battleground was designated a National Military Park and was placed under the control of the Secretary of War of the United States. Today, more than two hundred and twenty years after the hostilities ceased between two great nations, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park preserves this important battlefield so that we may pause and remember those who fought, bled, and died so that we may enjoy the freedoms which we experience today.