friends of moores creek battleground association
The Battle of Moores Creek Bridge February 27th, 1776
The Battle of Moores Creek Bridge, fought between North Carolina Patriots and Loyalists to the British Crown, demonstrates the divisions that marked the American Revolution. The Loyalists, mostly Scottish Highlanders wielding broadswords, led a charge across a partially dismantled Moores Creek bridge.
Nearly a thousand North Carolina Patriots waited quietly with cannons and muskets poised to fire. Expecting to find only a small Patriot force, the Loyalists advanced across the bridge. Shots rang out! When the smoke cleared, some 30 to 70 Loyalists lay dead or wounded. Among the dead was Lt. Colonel Donald McLeod, who had led the fateful charge.
Stunned, outgunned and leaderless, some of the Loyalists surrendered, while others retreated in confusion. This victory spurred the creation of the Halifax Resolves on April 12, 1776, which instructed North Carolina’s delegates to the Continental Congress to vote for independence.
North Carolina was the first colony to do so. Less than three months later, the United States would ratify the Declaration of Independence.