Bill Ballard's drawing of the decisive
moment during the Battle of Moores Creek
Bridge
Moore's Creek National Battlefield is a
United States National Battlefield managed
by the National Park Service. The park commemorates
the 1776 victory by 1,000 Patriots over
1,600 Loyalists at the Battle of Moore's
Creek Bridge NC. The battle ended Royal
Governor Josiah Martin's hopes of regaining
control of the colony for the British crown.
The Loyalist defeat ended British plans
for an invasionary force to land in Brunswick,
North Carolina. The colony of North Carolina
voted to declare independence from the British
on April 12, 1776, shortly after the victory
at Moores Creek. The park was established
as a National Military Park on June 2, 1926
and was redesignated as a National Battlefield
on September 8, 1980.
The Patriot's Monument at Moores Creek
National Battlefield
The Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge was
fought near Wilmington, North Carolina,
on February 27, 1776, between North Carolina
patriots and Scottish Loyalists. The American
victory helped spur sentiment for the revolution
and increased recruitment of additional
soldiers into their forces. It was a Patriot
victory.
A group of Loyalist troops under the command
of Colonel Donald McLeod, an 80-year-old
experienced British officer, assembled on
February 15 in response to the Patriot movements
in the region. McLeod led a force of about
700 Scots Highland emigrants and 800 Loyalist
militia towards the Atlantic coast, with
plans to join a group of British regulars
at Moore's Creek Bridge, located about 20
miles (30 km) north of Wilmington. A group
of around 1,000 Patriot volunteers and minutemen
decided to contest the Loyalist march to
the coast.
Although not realizing it at the time,
the Patriot victory helped to check the
Loyalist sentiment in the colony, but it
fanned the fires of the revolutionary fervor
to bring most of the North and South Carolina
colonies into the fight against the British
army.
The Federal government took over the battle
site as a National Park operated by the
War Department in 1926; the National Park
Service began managing the battlefield in
1933.
For over a century, the Moores Creek National
Battlefield has evolved as a historical
site preserving and interpreting the 1776
battle.
THE LEGEND OF MARY SLOCUMB'S
RIDE
Strongly associated with the Battle of
Moores Creek Bridge is the legend of Mary
Slocumb's ride. According to this story,
Mary dreamed that Ezekiel, her Patriot husband,
had been wounded in a battle. After awaking,
she rode a horse for sixty miles at night
to arrive as the Battle of Moores Creek
Bridge was ending. Mary discovered that
Ezekiel was safe and nursed wounded Patriots
before returning to her home the following
night. The legend was apparently first recorded
by Elizabeth Ellet in her 1848 Women of
the American Revolution and her 1850 Domestic
History of the American Revolution. John
H. Wheeler included the tale in his 1851
Historical Sketches of North Carolina from
1584 to 1851. Although Mary and Ezekiel
Slocumb were actual persons, the specific
events of the legend have since been discredited.
1776 PATRIOT VICTORY
"King George and Broadswords!"
shouted loyalists as they charged across
partially dismantled Moores Creek bridge
on February 27, 1776. Just beyond the bridge
nearly a thousand North Carolina patriots
waited quietly with cannons and muskets
poised to fire.
The loyalists, mostly Scottish Highlanders
wielding broadswords, expected to find only
a small patriot force. As the loyalists
advanced across the bridge, patriot shots
rang out and dozens of loyalists fell, including
their commanders.
Stunned, outgunned and leaderless, the
loyalists surrendered, retreating in confusion.
Wagons, weapons and British sterling worth
more than $1 million by today's value were
seized by the patriots in the days following
the battle.
This dramatic victory ended British authority
in the colony and greatly influenced North
Carolina to be the first colony to vote
for independence. The Battle of Moores Creek
Bridge, coupled with the Battle of Sullivans
Island near Charleston, SC a few months
later, ultimately led the 13 colonies to
declare independence on July 4, 1776.
THE BATTLEFIELD TODAY
Throughout the park, remnants remain of
the 1776 road traveled by patriot and loyalist
forces. A 1-mile trail with wayside exhibits
leads through the battlefield and across
Moores Creek. The historic bridge site is
located along the trail.
Moores Creek National Battlefield has the
oldest continually serving Friends group
in the National Park System. They are the
Moores Creek Battleground Association and
were established in 1899.
The Woman's Monument at Moores Creek
The Heroic Women’s Monument at Moores
Creek National Battlefield is believed to
be the only monument in America to 18th
century women and their sacrifices during
the American Revolution.
Loyalist Monument at Moores
Monument to Col. James Moore, Commander
of the Patriot troops at Moores Creek National
Battlefield,
NPS military sites have many designations
including battlefields, military parks,
monuments and historic sites. Moores Creek
National Military Park was renamed Moores
Creek National Battlefield in 1980 to avoid
confusion with nearby military installations
in North Carolina.
Patriot militia 1 killed, 1 wounded 30 killed
or wounded, Loyalist militia 850 captured
