|
The first courthouse of Guilford County had been abandoned for 47 years when this sketch was made in 1856. The stone chimney was all that remained of the building. The county was formed in 1771, and the courthouse built some three yeas later. In February 1781. Greene's army passed through on its retreat north. In March the Americans returned, and on the 15th fought the battle of Guilford Courthouse. In 1785 the town was renamed Martinville after Alexander Martin, local Revolutionary War hero who later became governor of the state. In 1809 Greensboro - at the center of Guilford County - replaced Martinville as the county seat. The Marker of the First Guilford Courthouse, is located in Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, Greensboro, North Carolina. The battle of Guilford Courthouse, March 15, 1781, was fought between British forces under Lord Cornwallis and American troops under General Nathanael Greene. Guilford Courthouse was Cornwallis last major battle before the surrendered his army at Yorktown, Virginia on October 19, 1781, and ended the war. |
