Battle of Green Spring

On this site on July 6, 1781, 5,000 British troops under General Charles Cornwallis and Colonel Banastre Tarleton clashed with 900 American soldiers led by the Marquis de Lafayette and Brigadier General “Mad” Anthony Wayne. Following a campaign in the Carolinas and central Virginia, Cornwallis encamped nearby and planned to cross the James River toward Portsmouth to send reinforcements to General Clinton in New York. Cautiously pursued by Lafayette and Wayne, Cornwallis assumed he was vulnerable to attack at the river crossing and set a trap to destroy the American force. He concealed the bulk of his men in a wooded ravine, ordered his rear guard pickets to resist the approaching Americans, and placed a single British cannon in an open area as a decoy. Deceived by faulty intelligence, Wayne advanced aggressively from headquarters at Green Spring Plantation along “the causeway,” today’s Greensprings Road, then a primitive road through swamp and woodlands. While Lafayette reconnoitered near the river and realized an ambush had been prepared, the Americans emerged from the woods into the open field and raced to capture the cannon before he could notify Wayne. As Cornwallis began flanking maneuvers to his right to envelop them and the main British infantry line moved forward, Wayne launched a temporary charge toward the Redcoats. When the British hesitated to advance, the Americans quickly withdrew north along “the causeway” under cover of rear guard reinforcements. As night fell, Cornwallis chose not to pursue, and the next day British soldiers crossed the James River unopposed. At least six Virginia soldiers and 22 from Pennsylvania died in the battle, approximately 75 British troops became casualties, and some of the American dead may be buried at or near the Church on the Main. The Battle of Green Spring raised American morale and was one of the last Virginia land engagements before the British surrender at Yorktown on October 19, 1781.

Virginia · United States