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|{{Infobox Military Conflict
haa.
||conflict=Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge
||image= [[File:MOCR earthworks 0948.jpg|300px]]
||caption= Reconstructed earthworks of the Patriot militia
||partof=[[American Revolutionary War]]
||date=February 27, 1776
||place= Near [[Wilmington, North Carolina]]
||result=Patriot victory
||combatant1=Patriot militia
||combatant2=Loyalist militia
||commander1=[[James Moore (North Carolina)|James Moore]],<br/>[[Richard Caswell]],<br>[[Alexander Lillington]]
||commander2=Donald McLeod{{KIA}}
||strength1=1,000
||strength2=1,500
||casualties1=1 killed <br> 1 wounded
||casualties2=30 killed <br> 40 wounded <br> 850 captured <ref>[http://www.myrevolutionarywar.com/battles/760227.htm The Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
||}}
|-
|{{Campaignbox American Revolutionary War: Southern}}
|}

The '''Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge''' was fought near [[Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]], [[North Carolina]] on February 27, 1776, between North Carolina patriots and Scottish [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]].

The American victory helped spur sentiment for the [[American Revolution|revolution]] and increased recruitment of additional soldiers into their forces.

==Background==
A group of Loyalist troops under the command of [[Lieutenant Colonel]] Donald McLeod, an 80-year-old experienced [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] officer, assembled on February 15 in response to the [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriot]] activities 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. Among the force was Captain Alan MacDonald, husband of the famous [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] heroine [[Flora MacDonald (Scottish Jacobite)|Flora MacDonald]].

A group of around 1,000 Patriot volunteers and [[minutemen]] decided to contest the Loyalist march to the coast.

==Battle==
[[Image:British landing on North Carolina.jpg|thumb|150px|British forces securing the coast on February 26, 1776.]]
The evening before the battle, a small scouting party approached the bridge and saw only a small encampment on the north side of the bridge. They were not aware of the much larger force hidden behind the earthworks on the south side of the bridge. They reported their findings back to Lt. Colonel McLeod, who then believed they would encounter little to no resistance when crossing the bridge.

At dawn on February 27, 1776, the Highland Scots, under the command of Lt. Colonel McLeod and Captain John Campbell, arrived at the bridge to find it blocked by Americans, commanded by Colonels [[Alexander Lillington]] and [[Richard Caswell]].

The Loyalists rushed at the bridge, only to be met by heavy Patriot fire at point-blank range. The Scots, armed only with broadswords, stood little chance against the rifles of the Patriots. With the whole attacking party cut down in just three minutes, the Americans rushed across the bridge in a [[counter-attack]], forcing the remaining Highlanders and Loyalists to flee.

The Patriots were victorious, having had only one man killed and one wounded, while inflicting about 70 casualties, including the deaths of both McLeod and Campbell, upon their enemy and preventing the planned rendezvous with the British regulars. Private John Grady of Duplin County was the first North Carolinian killed in battle during the American Revolution. Over 850 Loyalists were captured over the next few days.

==Aftermath==
Although no one realized it at the time, the Patriot victory not only helped to check the Loyalist sentiment in the colony, but fanned the fires of the revolutionary fervor to bring most of the [[Province of North Carolina|North]] and [[Province of South Carolina|South Carolina]] colonies into the fight against the [[British army]]. The British, having been defeated so soundly, decided to focus their efforts in the northern colonies and abandoned the south to the colonists.

==Historical site==
The Federal government took over the battle site as a [[National Park]] operated by the [[United States Department of War|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.

== References ==

<references/>

==External links==
* [http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/nc/ncsites/moores.htm State of North Carolina website for the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge]
* [http://www.nps.gov/mocr/ National Park Service website for Moore's Creek Bridge]

{{coord|34.457455|N|78.109612|W|source:dewiki_region:US-NC_type:landmark|format=dms|display=title}}

[[Category:Battles involving the United States]]
[[Category:1776 in the United States]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1776]]
[[Category:Battles of the American Revolutionary War|Moore's Creek Bridge]]
[[Category:North Carolina in the American Revolution]]

[[de:Schlacht von Moores Creek Bridge]]
[[no:Slaget ved Moore's Creek Bridge]]

Revision as of 14:21, 22 April 2009

and im her friend aint she retarrded ashley was here((: oh no he didnt. haa.