Qualla: Battle of Wetzell's Mill https://qualla.com/battle-of-wetzell-s-mill en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:06 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Battle of Wetzell's Mill https://qualla.com/battle-of-wetzell-s-mill Battle of Wetzell's Mill: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-wetzell-s-mill/ Banastre Tarleton was thirty miles away and closing fast. Nathanael Greene's main army was somewhere up north, just over the Dan River in Virginia. And Otho Williams, a Maryland colonel with about 700 American light infantry, riflemen, and cavalry, suddenly realized that he could be trapped against Reedy Ford Creek if he did not move now. It was March 6, 1781. Williams and his men were ten miles south of Wetzell's Mill - a crossing on the creek somewhere in Guilford County, North Carolina, where a frontier miller named Wetzell (the spelling drifts across the records: Weitzell, Weitzel, Whitesell, Whitsell, Whitsall) had built his works. The race for that ford would become the Battle of Wetzell's Mill, a tactical British win that produced exactly nothing strategic and bought Greene the time he needed for the showdown coming nine days later.

Read more: Battle of Wetzell's Mill on Qualla

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/r/m/battle-of-wetzell-s-mill-wp/dnrm-battle-of-wetzells-mill-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Wetzell's Mill: The Race to the Dan https://qualla.com/battle-of-wetzell-s-mill/ By early 1781 the war in the South was a chase. After Daniel Morgan's victory over Tarleton at Cowpens in January, General Cornwallis stripped his army of every nonessential and gave chase, hoping to destroy Greene before reinforcements arrived. Greene, smaller and more mobile, k...

Read more: Battle of Wetzell's Mill on Qualla

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/r/m/battle-of-wetzell-s-mill-wp/dnrm-battle-of-wetzells-mill-the-race-to-the-dan.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Wetzell's Mill: Cat and Mouse in Guilford County https://qualla.com/battle-of-wetzell-s-mill/ Greene needed time. The militia were untrained, his Continentals were tired, and he wanted more men before he risked a major battle. So he detached Williams with about 700 of his best light troops - Lee's Legion under Henry 'Light Horse Harry' Lee, William Washington's Continenta...

Read more: Battle of Wetzell's Mill on Qualla

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/r/m/battle-of-wetzell-s-mill-wp/dnrm-battle-of-wetzells-mill-cat-and-mouse-in-guilford-county.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Wetzell's Mill: The Ford https://qualla.com/battle-of-wetzell-s-mill/ Tarleton's troopers tried to sneak up at dawn, but Williams's pickets spotted them. A brief skirmish, then both forces broke into a race for the ford ten miles north. Williams kept Lee's cavalry in the rear to cover the withdrawal, won the race, and got his army across. Then he m...

Read more: Battle of Wetzell's Mill on Qualla

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/r/m/battle-of-wetzell-s-mill-wp/dnrm-battle-of-wetzells-mill-the-ford.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Wetzell's Mill: Nine Days Later https://qualla.com/battle-of-wetzell-s-mill/ Williams rejoined Greene's army, which now had its 2,500 reinforcements. The wait had ended. On March 15, 1781, just nine days after the fight at Wetzell's Mill, Greene chose ground near the Guilford County courthouse and arranged his men in three lines. Cornwallis came on. The B...

Read more: Battle of Wetzell's Mill on Qualla

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/r/m/battle-of-wetzell-s-mill-wp/dnrm-battle-of-wetzells-mill-nine-days-later.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Wetzell's Mill: What's Left to See https://qualla.com/battle-of-wetzell-s-mill/ The ford itself is gone. Reedy Fork Creek still winds through the Piedmont woods east of Greensboro, and a state historic marker on US-29 near Bessemer notes the battle. There is no preserved battlefield park here, no granite statue of Williams or Tarleton, no annual reenactment....

Read more: Battle of Wetzell's Mill on Qualla

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/r/m/battle-of-wetzell-s-mill-wp/dnrm-battle-of-wetzells-mill-whats-left-to-see.mp3 0:06 6 full