What was NCs role in the battle of Yorktown?

Answer 1

There may have been a few Tar Heels at Yorktown, perhaps serving in Continental units, or with units from neighboring states. There were, however, no North Carolina units either among the Continentals or militia. North Carolina's contribution came before, in setting the stage, in the events that led the British Army to Yorktown and defeat.

North Carolina's contribution to the Continental Army was never very large. The troops enlisted under Washington for 1776 were enlisted for one year. There were no North Carolina units among them. This policy was at length understood to be very short sighted and courting disaster, so beginning in 1777 troops were signed up for three years, and each state was given a quota. North Carolina was to produce eight regiments of Continentals, which at full strength would have been near 7,000 men. But recruiting was very slow. The war was then mostly being fought in the north, and few wanted to go so far from home to fight, when there was Tory trouble aplenty near their homes and families. Finally in August 1777 the North Carolina brigade straggled into Philadelphia, boasting eight colonels complete with a staff, in command of eight regiments. However, the entire force numbered about 1500, the regiments averaging 150-200 men, not even one-fourth of what had been expected. They arrived just in time to partake of the defeats at Brandywine Creek and Germantown, and then the winter encampment at Valley Forge.

The British shifted to a southern strategy late in 1778, and in response in 1779 Washington sent all the Continental troops he had from the southern states to the south. The commander of this force was Benjamin Lincoln. Lincoln led the men to Charleston, the next likely British target, Savannah having fallen to the British at Christmastime 1778. Charleston is at the tip of a peninsula between two rivers, jutting out into Charleston Harbor. Lincoln knew it was unwise to keep his force in such a place, when the British with their numerous ships and boats, could land behind him on the peninsula anywhere they wished, at any time they chose to do so, and trap him in Charleston. Lincoln made plans to pull back. The city fathers of Charleston were aghast at this decision, and insisted that Lincoln stay, going so far as to threaten to open fire on Lincoln's force with the cannon in the city of Lincoln tried to leave. Unwisely, Lincoln allowed himself to be intimidated into staying. Soon the British appeared, and soon enough they cut off Charleston and had Lincoln trapped in the town, just as he had foreseen. The British then besieged Charleston, and began bombarding the town with cannon. Shortly, the city fathers of Charleston insisted that Greene surrender, to prevent any more damage to their precious town. So in May, 1779, practically every Continental soldier from the southern states passed into captivity with the surrender of Charleston. This was probably the largest disaster of the war for the Patriots, rivaled only by the surrender of Fort Washington on Manhattan in 1776, and the soon to occur loss of the Battle of Camden, South Carolina. Nearly 5,000 were taken prisoner at Charleston. Repeating what they had done in New York, where the British kept notorious hell-hole deathtraps in the East River, on board old, waterlogged sailing ships, without masts any more, called hulks, the British created similar prison ships in Charleston Harbor, and very soon dozens of the prisoners were dying every day of disease, starvation and mistreatment.

Washington sent the remaining southern Continentals south, and wanted to send Nathaniel Greene to command them. Congress was in an anti-Washington frame of mind, and sent "The Hero of Saratoga", Horatio Gates, instead. Gates had appeared heroic at Saratoga largely by stealing credit due to Benedict Arnold, which contributed to Arnold's dissatisfaction leading to his treason. Gates soon demonstrated his true capacity by waltzing into a disastrous defeat at Camden. One end of Gate's line at Camden was the North Carolina militia, which was soon flanked by the British regulars, and their line collapsed and they fled. Seeing the day was going against his men, Gates mounted his horse and rode off. He did not stop until he had covered 160 miles in three days, on horseback (and he was 61 years old). Gates reached Hillsborough, North Carolina, and it took the remnants of his army who escaped from Camden six weeks to catch up to their fleeing general. Congress finally gave in to Washington's urgings and sent Nathaniel Greene to take over and salvage what he could from this string of disasters.

There followed three important battles leading to Yorktown. At King's Mountain in October, 1780, Patriot men, many of whom were not even the militia, completely defeated a British force under Ferguson. These were the Overmountain Men, from the back country. They killed or captured almost all of Ferguson's force. The North Carolina militia continued to repair their reputation at the Cowpens, in January 1781, where another force of British was annihilated, with few escapees. Then at Guilford Courthouse in March, further damage was done to the British Army of Cornwallis. After this Cornwallis maneuvered some but finished up penned in at Yorktown.