The Battle of Wetzell's Mill (the name may also be spelled Weitzell, Weitzel, Whitesell, Whitsell or Whitsall) was an American Revolutionary War battle fought on March 6, 1781, between detachments of Nathanael Greene's Continental Army and militia and Banastre Tarleton's Loyalist provincial troops in Guilford County, North Carolina.
Greene was trying to avoid encounters with the larger British Cornwallis' larger army while awaiting the arrival of additional troops, and had sent Williams and several hundred men on reconnaissance to watch Cornwallis' movements. Cornwallis learned where Williams was on March 4, and, realizing he could be trapped because he was separated from Greene's army by Reedy Ford Creek, sent Tarleton and 1,200 men toward the ford at Wetzell's Mill. Early on March 6 Tarleton's men tried to sneak up on Williams' position, then about ten miles south of the ford. After a brief skirmish, the two forces raced toward the ford. Williams kept Harry "Light Horse" Lee in the rear to cover their retreat, and reached the ford ahead of Tarleton. His army crossed, at which point he decided to make a stand at the crossing.
Tarleton's first attempt to cross was repulsed, but the second succeeded, and Williams retreated.
The British attempt to regain control of its rebellious colonies in the American Revolutionary War through the "southern strategy" of gaining control over the southern colonies and moving north began in late 1779 with the capture of Savannah, Georgia. By early 1781, Georgia and South Carolina were nominally under British control, two Continental Armies had been captured or routed, and General Lord Cornwallis was chasing a third, under the command of General Nathanael Greene, out of North Carolina. Greene, with a smaller and more mobile army, had risked division of his forces at one point, and was rewarded with Daniel Morgan's victory over Cornwallis' main cavalry force, led by Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, at the Battle of Cowpens in January 1781.
Cornwallis, realizing he could more easily defeat Morgan or Greene before their forces rejoined, stripped his army of all nonessentials, and gave chase. Greene and Morgan were able to join forces, but they were still relatively weak due to expiring enlistments, so Greene continued to retreat northward toward Virginia, avoiding full-scale battle, in what became known as the "Race to the Dan" (after the Dan River, which flows near the border between Virginia and North Carolina). Greene beat Cornwallis to the Dan, which, like many other rivers, was swollen by heavy rains, and crossed to relative safety in Virginia.
The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) grew from colonial resistance to British taxation without parliamentary representation — a dispute that radicalized through the Stamp Act (1765), the Townshend Acts (1767), and the Boston Massacre (1770). Fighting began at Lexington and Concord in April 1775; the Continental Congress declared independence on July 4, 1776. The Continental Army under George Washington faced severe shortages of supplies and troops, enduring the brutal winter at Valley Forge (1777–1778) before French alliance and French financing turned the military balance. Major engagements included Bunker Hill (1775), Trenton (1776), Saratoga (1777) — which secured French intervention — and Yorktown (1781), where British General Cornwallis surrendered to Washington. An estimated 25,000 American soldiers died in service, from combat, disease, and captivity. The Treaty of Paris (1783) recognized American independence and ceded British territory east of the Mississippi, though it left unresolved questions about Indigenous land rights and the status of Loyalists.
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