Guilford Courthouse 1781: Lord Cornwallis's Ruinous Victory

by Angus Konstam, Adam Hook (Illustrator)

Overview

By the Spring of 1781, the American Revolutionary War had dragged on for almost six years and the outcome still hung in the balance. When the British commander Lord Cornwallis launched his invasion of North Carolina in early 1781, his objective was to destroy General Nathaniel Greene's American army. At Guilford Courthouse on 15 March 1781 the two armies met. In a desperately hard-fought battle the small but professional British army succeeded in fighting its way through three separate lines of American troops – but at a dreadful cost. Cornwallis lost over a quarter of his command. When news of the 'victory' reached Britain, a politician remarked; 'Another such victory would ruin the British army'.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472803986
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	05/20/2013
Series:	Campaign , #109
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	96
File size:	23 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Angus Konstam hails from the Orkney Islands and is the author of over 15 books, many of which are published by Osprey. His maritime titles include Elite 67: 'Pirates 1660-1730', Elite 69: 'Buccaneers 1620-1700' and Elite 70: 'Elizabethan Sea Dogs 1560-1605'. Formerly the Curator of Weapons in the Royal Armouries at the Tower of London, he also served as the Chief Curator of the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West, Florida. He is now based in London, where he combines a freelance museum consultancy business with a career as a historian and writer.

Adam Hook studied graphic design, and began his work as an illustrator in 1983. He specializes in detailed historical reconstructions, and has illustrated Osprey titles on the Aztecs, the Greeks, the American Civil War and the American Revolution. His work features in exhibitions and publications throughout the world.
Angus Konstam is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and has written widely on naval history, with well over a hundred books in print. He is a former Royal Navy officer, maritime archaeologist and museum curator, who has worked in the Royal Armouries, Tower of London, and Mel Fisher Maritime Museum. Now a full-time author and historian, he lives in Orkney.
Adam Hook studied graphic design, and began his work as an illustrator in 1983. He specializes in detailed historical reconstructions, and has illustrated Osprey titles on subjects as diverse as the Aztecs, the Ancient Greeks, Roman battle tactics, 19th-century American subjects, the modern Chinese Army, and the history of fortification. His work features in exhibitions and publications throughout the world.

Table of Contents

Introduction/Chronology/The Opposing Commanders/The Opposing Forces/Opposing Plans/The Battle of Guilford Courthouse/The Aftermath/The Battlefield Today/Further Reading/Index