Cornwallis at Hillsborough, February 1781

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1. November 1767 Thomas Hart buys Joseph Maddock's mill on the Eno Joseph Maddock, a Quaker who had run the grist mill on the Eno west of Hillsborough since 1755, sold it to Thomas Hart, a friend of Governor William Tryon, who built it up with a sawmill, oil mill, fulling mill, distillery, tannery and other works. This is the mill, known as Hart's Mill, that a British guard held in February 1781. People: Thomas Hart Place: Hart's Mill, Eno River west of Hillsborough · Also named: Joseph Maddock, William TryonNC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Hart's Mill (G-122)
2. Fall 1780 Thomas Hart leaves Hartford and moves his family to Maryland With Loyalists raiding his property and Cornwallis expected after Camden, Thomas Hart took General Gates's advice and in the fall of 1780 moved his family from Hartford to Hagerstown, Maryland, according to his partner Nathaniel Rochester, who went with him. Before leaving Hart sold part of his land, and Hartford went to Jesse Benton, husband of his niece, for a payment and a note. There is no record that Hart came back. People: Thomas Hart, Nathaniel Rochester, Horatio Gates, Jesse Benton Place: Hartford, near HillsboroughInternet Archive: Durward T. Stokes, "Thomas Hart in North Carolina", North Carolina Historical Review 41 (1964), p. 333
3. February 18, 1781 Lee's Legion joins Pickens's militia camp after the Hart's Mill raid Later the same day as the Hart's Mill raid, Henry Lee's Legion, returning from beyond the Dan River with Greene's army, reached General Andrew Pickens's militia at a farm up Stony Creek, where the camp at first took the horsemen for Tarleton's cavalry. The combined force then went after Tarleton west of the Haw, the movement that led to Pyle's defeat. People: Andrew Pickens, Joseph Graham (1759-1836) Place: Stony Creek, Orange County · Also named: Henry Lee III · Also mentions: Hart's MillSouthern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements: Pension application of Joseph Graham S6937
4. February 18, 1781 Patriots and Loyalists clash at Hart’s Mill At daybreak about 45 North Carolina cavalry under Captain Joseph Graham and mounted riflemen under Captain Richard Simmons, sent out by General Andrew Pickens, surprised the British guard of about 26 regulars and two Loyalists that was keeping Thomas Hart's mill on the Eno grinding for Cornwallis's army. Graham's accounts report the whole guard killed, wounded or captured with no Patriot dead, and the party reached Pickens's camp with its prisoners ahead of pursuing British cavalry. People: Andrew Pickens, Joseph Graham (1759-1836) Place: Eno River · Also named: Richard Simmons, Thomas HartSouthern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements: Pension application of Joseph Graham S6937
5. February 20, 1781 Cornwallis calls loyal subjects to the Royal Standard at Hillsborough From his headquarters at Hillsborough, Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis issued a proclamation inviting loyal subjects to come without delay, with their arms and ten days' provisions, to the Royal Standard erected in the town and help restore royal government in North Carolina. People: Charles Cornwallis Place: HillsboroughDocumenting the American South: Proclamation by Charles Cornwallis, Marquis Cornwallis concerning recruitment for the British Militia (Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, vol. 17, pp. 986-987)
6. February 20–26, 1781 Cornwallis occupies Hillsborough After driving Nathanael Greene's army across the Dan River, Lord Cornwallis reached Hillsborough on February 20, 1781, and issued a proclamation calling loyalists to join him. The ceremony of raising the King's Standard, ordered for one o'clock on February 21 with a salute of 21 guns, was put off that noon until the next day. Short of food and forage, and told that Greene had recrossed the Dan, he left on February 26, crossing the Haw toward Alamance Creek. People: Charles Cornwallis, Nathanael Greene Place: HillsboroughJournal of the American Revolution: Ian Saberton, Cornwallis and the Winter Campaign, January to April 1781 (April 28, 2020) · Also: Internet Archive: "A British Orderly Book, 1780-1781", IV, North Carolina Historical Review 9
7. February 20, 1781 The British army posts a town guard and a mill guard at Hillsborough On the day Cornwallis's army reached Hillsborough, orders from headquarters there set a town guard of a captain, three sergeants, four corporals, a drummer and fifty privates from the Guards brigade, with a corporal and six men detached to guard the mill. Each corps sent its quartermaster for half hides, and a quartermaster with all his Black workers was to bury the offal at the cattle pen at noon every day. People: Charles Cornwallis Place: HillsboroughInternet Archive: A British Orderly Book, 1780-1781, part IV, ed. A. R. Newsome, North Carolina Historical Review 9 (1932), p. 371
8. February 21-23, 1781 The British army halts at Hillsborough to mend clothing, shoes and harness Brigade orders at the camp near Hillsborough on February 21, 1781, said the army would halt for some days and told commanding officers to use the time to repair the men's clothing and finish their shoes. The Guards' collar makers and two smiths were sent to Lieutenant McLeod of the Royal Artillery and the tanners to Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton; on February 23 three carpenters and all the collar and harness makers were ordered to McLeod's tent, and the smiths and tanners at work were excused other duty. People: Charles Cornwallis Place: HillsboroughInternet Archive: A British Orderly Book, 1780-1781, part IV, ed. A. R. Newsome, North Carolina Historical Review 9 (1932), p. 373
9. February 21-24, 1781 The British keep a guard at Kello's Mill during the Hillsborough occupation The daily duty details issued at Hillsborough from February 21 to 24, 1781, assigned a subaltern, a sergeant, a corporal and twenty privates of Lieutenant Colonel Webster's brigade to Kello's Mill, alongside the town guard, the provost guard and the cattle guard. Place: Kello's Mill, near Hillsborough · Also named: James WebsterInternet Archive: A British Orderly Book, 1780-1781, part IV, ed. A. R. Newsome, North Carolina Historical Review 9 (1932), p. 373
10. February 22, 1781 Cornwallis orders his outposts to stop soldiers straggling out for whiskey General orders at Hillsborough said Cornwallis heard every day of soldiers taken by the enemy after straggling out of camp in search of whiskey. He told the officers commanding the outposts and pickets to let no soldier pass, asked commanding officers to keep their men in camp, and warned that a man taken would sit out the war in prison for a moment's gratification. People: Charles Cornwallis Place: HillsboroughInternet Archive: A British Orderly Book, 1780-1781, part IV, ed. A. R. Newsome, North Carolina Historical Review 9 (1932), p. 373
11. February 23, 1781 A British court of enquiry at Hillsborough clears a Guards private of desertion A brigade court of enquiry ordered on the march on February 19 and reconvened at the president's tent at Hillsborough on February 22 found that Edward Horman, a soldier of the 3rd Company, 2nd Battalion of the Guards, held on suspicion of desertion, was innocent, and brigade orders of February 23 released him from confinement. Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Edward HormanInternet Archive: A British Orderly Book, 1780-1781, part IV, ed. A. R. Newsome, North Carolina Historical Review 9 (1932), p. 374
12. February 25, 1781 Pyle's defeat near the Haw River Henry Lee's Legion and Andrew Pickens's militia attacked a few hundred Loyalist recruits under Dr. John Pyle who were riding to join Cornwallis at Hillsborough. Mistaking Lee's men for Tarleton's cavalry, the Loyalists were cut down, with more than 90 killed, on Michael Holt's land, then in Orange County and now in southern Alamance. People: Andrew Pickens Place: Hillsborough · Also named: John Pyle, Henry Lee III, Michael HoltNC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Pyle's Defeat (Highway Historical Marker G-22)