The “Race to the Dan” is the name given to the competition between Patriot and British forces as they tried to reach the Dan River that flows along the border of North Carolina and Virginia. This race took place in early 1781, over the months between two key battles that shaped the Southern Campaign and led to the end of the Revolutionary War. These were the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina and the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in North Carolina.
The race greatly weakened the British, while Patriot forces gathered strength to continue the fight. Even though the Patriots would officially lose the Battle of Guilford Courthouse on March 15, 1781, the race before it and the battle itself so damaged the British that six months later they were defeated at Yorktown, the last battle of the war.
The Start at Cowpens
The race began after the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina, in which the Patriots, led by Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, defeated the notorious British commander Banastre Tarleton, known for his ruthless tactics and ignorance of the rules of engagement.
Following this victory, the American troops, led by Major General Nathanael Greene, hurried north through the backwoods of South and North Carolina. Greene was the recently appointed commander of the Southern Continental Army, with Daniel Morgan as his subordinate.
Although the January victory at Cowpens was a major success for the Patriots as they routed Tarleton’s troops, the campaign severely exhausted supplies and men. Furthermore, several units of the Southern Continental Army, including Morgan’s, became separated from the main column. Thus, the race to the Dan was a strategic retreat, as Greene’s goal was to put distance and waterways between his force and the British force, to facilitate the regrouping of his army and to replenish his dwindling resources.
Cornwallis Pursues Greene
British commander General Lord Charles Cornwallis, under whom Tarleton served, pursued Greene through the Carolinas, hoping to cut off the Southern Army before it could reach its goal. As both armies moved north, they encountered each other in several small skirmishes and battles throughout central North Carolina.
The first of these took place in Cowan’s Ford on the Catawba River near Salisbury. Greene’s men reached the river first and crossed. To guard their rear, Gen. William Lee Davidson (the namesake of Davidson, N.C.) and a small unit of troops were deployed on the banks of the river to provide safety for Morgan and Greene as they continued north. When Cornwallis reached the Catawba, his troops overwhelmed and defeated the colonial detachment, and Gen. Davidson was killed in action. Although it was a serious loss, this sacrifice slowed the British advance and allowed the main column under Greene and Morgan to make their way out of Salisbury and across the Yadkin River in early February.
Crossing the Yadkin
The crossing of the Yadkin River was strategically significant, as Greene and his men commandeered all available watercraft for their use and forced Cornwallis to go 25 to 30 miles west of Salisbury to cross the river. Following these two crossings, Greene ended up at the Guilford Courthouse (the first of two occasions in this campaign), while Cornwallis ended up in the Moravian town of Salem, N.C. At Guilford Courthouse, the main units of the Southern Continental Army joined together, bolstering the colonial force. The opposite happened to Cornwallis as the British left troops to guard strategic locations, draining their army of soldiers. In contrast, the Americans pulled out completely to preserve their ranks.
Even with his main units together, Greene and his staff believed that they needed to move farther north, as Cornwallis had also made it across the Yadkin.
Greene decided to head into Virginia and across the Dan River to seek reinforcements and supplies. This crossing again employed Greene’s strategic brilliance as he separated his troops to divert Cornwallis away from the main force as they crossed the Dan River. The British troops then moved east to Hillsborough while Both sections of Greene’s army rejoined near South Boston, VA. It was here that Greene called for and was granted reinforcements from the Virginia militia to support an attack in North Carolina.
Once Greene was sufficiently reinforced in early March, he crossed back over the Dan into North Carolina, and the two armies pursued each other between Hillsborough and current-day High Point. This chase culminated in the Battle of Guilford Courthouse which was a nominal British victory even though Cornwallis lost a great many men. Greene, on the other hand retreated yet again to save his men.
The loss at Guilford Courthouse forced Cornwallis to march his men across North Carolina to the safe haven of Wilmington as his force had become weakened and low on supplies, reminiscent of Greene’s army before crossing the Dan.
The Race to the Dan was a major turning point in the War for Independence. Although victory was not always the theme for the Patriots, the tactical genius of Nathanael Greene proved that he and his men were a force to be reckoned with. With the constant chase and movement, the British could not sustain their campaign any longer and retreated to the safety of Wilmington, N.C. Following this, Cornwallis moved north to Yorktown on the Virginia coast, where the British eventually surrendered to a combined Patriot and French army. The defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown effectively ended the Revolution and solidified American independence from Great Britain.