The Crossing of the Dan River

Greene's army reached the far bank of the surging Dan River on February 14, 1781. Along the river at Boyd's Ferry and nearby Irwin's Ferry, soldiers with bloody feet stumbled into boats to cross, while horses swam through the current. The last Americans crossed in darkness, and the first British arrived soon after, but with all the boats pulled to the north bank, the British could go no farther. Greene had won the race to the Dan River, leaving Cornwallis with only his exhausted army. On February 15, 1781, Nathanael Greene wrote from the north bank that the enemy had been pressing the American rear and was in full march not three miles from camp, but that the Americans were happy to have the river between them.

South Boston, Virginia · United States