Battle of Shallow Ford was a Revolutionary War engagement fought in North Carolina, 1780. It was a Patriot victory.
On October 14, 1780, near Huntsville, North Carolina, a clash known as the Battle of Shallow Ford unfolded during the American Revolution. Colonel Gideon Wright, together with his brother Captain Hezikiah Wright, commanded fewer than 350 Loyalist militia on horseback as they forded the Yadkin River and pushed northwest along the Mulberry Fields Road. Anticipating their route, Major Joseph Cloyd assembled 300 Patriot militia and positioned them in ambush roughly a mile from Shallow Ford.
Down near Battle Branch, at the foot of the hill, Williams' men were busy fixing their morning meal when, around 9:30, the Loyalist riders came into view along the ridge above the Whig line. The Patriots unleashed fire on the head of the mounted column, throwing the Loyalists into chaos. Fighting actually involved only about 50 of them, since the rest were strung out along Mulberry Fields Road, with many still in the process of crossing the river. Most escaped, but fourteen did not survive the encounter.
Among the fallen was a Black Loyalist named Ball Turner, whose fate became especially notable. Accounts describe him fighting for the Tories from a hidden position near the creek, and after his comrades had scattered, he kept firing on the Whigs until they located his hiding spot, stormed it, and killed him with a barrage of bullets. Captain Joseph Bryan numbered among the fourteen Loyalist dead. Roughly 40 more were taken prisoner, and a number of these captives were later killed by the Patriots holding them. On the Patriot side, only one man died in the fighting, Captain Henry Francis of the Virginia militia, though others suffered wounds. A tombstone still stands at the battle site in his memory. The Big Poplar Tree, a well known feature of the landscape there, is thought to bear scars from gunfire exchanged that day.
This engagement formed part of a broader pattern of actions that slowed British efforts to reinforce Charlotte, standing alongside the far larger Battle of King's Mountain and numerous minor clashes scattered across the Carolinas. Worn down by relentless Patriot militia harassment and unable to obtain the reinforcements he needed, Cornwallis ultimately pulled his forces south that November.
The name of this battle is also shared by a play written by Ed Simpson, who hails from nearby Lewisville.
This page covers Battle of Shallow Ford. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside historic sites, land records, and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
The account on this page is written by Aubrey Research from cited sources. Wikipedia is cited as a reference; its text is not reproduced. Wikipedia source.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in the US, drawing on NRHP records, battlefield archives, census history and geological data to tell the full story of a place.