Pyle's Massacre

What happened along the Haw River on February 24, 1781, has come to be remembered under several names: Pyle's Massacre, Pyle's defeat, or, more grimly, Pyle's hacking match. The clash unfolded in what is now Alamance County, North Carolina, during the broader struggle of the American Revolutionary War. On one side stood Continental Army troops loyal to the Patriot cause, led by Colonel Henry Lee III. Facing them were North Carolina militiamen loyal to the crown, under the command of John Pyle. The distinctive uniforms of Lee's soldiers led to a fatal misunderstanding: Pyle's men took them for the British Legion, a force they were expecting to link up with for reinforcement. That error proved catastrophic once Lee's troops opened fire, catching the Loyalists completely off guard. The resulting clash was anything but even, ending in a decisive triumph for Lee while Pyle's men were driven apart and put to flight.

Background

During the maneuvering that scholars now label the Race to the Dan, Cornwallis found himself unable to close on Nathanael Greene's forces as they pulled back toward Dix's Ferry, now known as Danville, Virginia. Greene managed this withdrawal with help from a diversionary column under Colonel Otho Williams, and the tactic worked well enough that his army slipped across the Dan River at Irwin's Ferry (today's Turbeville, Virginia) and at Boyd's Ferry (modern South Boston, Virginia), leaving North Carolina behind. Cornwallis had already destroyed his own baggage train at Ramsour's Mill, close to Lincolnton, North Carolina, and the chase had left his troops depleted. Cold, soaked, and short on food, the British soldiers found almost nothing available to forage. Greene had secured every boat needed to cross the Dan, and Colonel Henry Lee III, leading the cavalry that guarded the rear, made it across roughly two hours ahead of the pursuing British, leaving Cornwallis stuck on the North Carolina bank. Worn down by the pursuit, Cornwallis turned his army south and reached Hillsborough, North Carolina, a colonial outpost town, on February 21. There he set up headquarters to rest and rebuild his strength while also drawing Loyalist support to his cause.

Among those who answered that call was Dr. John Pyle (1723 to 1804), who had settled in Chatham County, North Carolina back in 1767. Known for his devotion to the King, Pyle had once aided the Governor during the War of the Regulation, although he had not taken part in the 1771 fighting at Alamance. Responding to Cornwallis's request for Loyalist recruits, Pyle assembled somewhere between 300 and 400 men. He asked that Cornwallis send an escort for his group, and Banastre Tarleton set out with his cavalry along with a modest infantry detachment, roughly 450 men altogether, to bring Pyle's men in safely.

Meanwhile, Greene remained in Virginia for a week, from February 15 through the 22nd, using the time to restock supplies, feed his men, tend to the wounded, and gather fresh reinforcements. On February 17 he sent Colonel Lee's cavalry, together with Colonel Andrew Pickens leading Maryland infantry and South Carolina militia, back across the Dan to keep watch on British movements. This detachment crossed on February 18 and settled into a concealed position along the route connecting Hillsborough and the Haw River crossings. Scouts were dispatched from there to track any sign of British activity.

The following morning brought news that Tarleton, with an estimated force of 400, was heading toward the Haw. Lee and Pickens trailed him and discovered he had made camp near the river. However, when scouts reported that Tarleton had relocated again, an planned strike was abandoned. His move came after the militia units he expected to rendezvous with failed to appear. For his part, Pyle had disobeyed orders by delaying his march so his men could visit relatives and friends along the way.

Around midday on February 24, Lee and Pickens seized two British staff officers, and questioning revealed that Tarleton's position lay just a short distance ahead. As daylight faded, members of Lee's Legion, dressed in their short green coats and plumed helmets, ran into two of Pyle's men, who assumed from the resemblance to Tarleton's dragoon uniforms that they had found their allies. Lee seized on this mistaken identity to gather intelligence about the whereabouts of Pyle's force nearby. He then ordered Pickens's riflemen to circle around and flank the position before riding into the camp himself, offering a full salute. As Lee traded pleasantries with Colonel Pyle and reached out to shake his hand, the noise of fighting suddenly broke out.

Battle

Historians have largely reconstructed what happened by drawing on the accounts left behind by Lee and Captain Joseph Graham, and this version of events suggests that Lee stumbled into deceiving the Loyalists rather than planning it. His actual goal had been to steer clear of Pyle's force altogether and instead track down Tarleton's Dragoons, which he viewed as the far more significant target. Fighting broke out when militiamen positioned behind Lee's Legion spotted red cloth strips on the hats worn by Pyle's followers, a marker they knew signified Loyalist allegiance. These militiamen passed word to Captain Eggleston, who had only recently arrived in the South and had not yet learned to distinguish the local symbols separating Patriot from Loyalist. Eggleston posed a question to one of the men, asking which side he supported, and received the answer "King George" in response. His reaction was to bring his sabre down on the man's head. Witnessing this exchange, Pickens' riflemen jumped into the fray as well.

Along the cavalry line, the horsemen wheeled around and joined in striking at the Loyalists. Pyle's followers scattered in flight, though a considerable number fell dead or wounded during those opening moments of violence. Convinced that they were being attacked in error, many of the Loyalists kept declaring their loyalty to King George as the fighting continued, but their protests changed nothing. Within roughly ten minutes the surviving Loyalists had all fled the scene, leaving behind at least 93 of their dead, with additional numbers wounded and others spotted being hauled away by companions. Local tradition holds that Pyle himself suffered severe wounds during the encounter and slipped into a nearby pond to hide, waiting there until help could reach him. Once his wounds healed, he turned himself over to the area's militia forces. The pardon that followed came about because Dr. Pyle had once tended to wounded Patriot soldiers.