Usuari:Jaumellecha/proves3: diferència entre les revisions

Cornwallis knew that Greene had divided his forces and wanted to face either Morgan's or Greene's contingent before they could rejoin. He stripped his army of all excess baggage in an effort to keep up with the fast-moving Patriots. When Greene learned of this decision, his gleeful response was "Then, he is ours!"<ref name="Morrill140">[[#Morrill|Morrill (1993)]], p. 140</ref> Cornwallis' lack of provisions as a consequence played a role in his later difficulties.

 

Greene first engaged Cornwallis in the [[Battle of Cowan's Ford]], where Greene had sent General [[William Lee Davidson]] with 900 men. When Davidson was killed in the river, the Americans retreated. Greene was weakened, but he continued his delaying tactics, fighting a dozen more skirmishes in South and North Carolina against Cornwallis' forces. About 2,000 British troops died in these engagements. Greene summed up his approach in a motto that would become famous: "We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again." His tactics have been likened to the [[Fabian strategy]] of [[Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus]], the Roman general who wore down the superior forces of the Carthaginian [[Hannibal Barca|Hannibal]] by a slow [[War of Attrition|war of attrition]].<ref>[[Livy]]; ''ad Urbe Cond.''; xii, xviii.</ref> Greene eventually felt strong enough to face Cornwallis directly—near New Garden, North Carolina (modern day [[Greensboro, North Carolina]]). Although Cornwallis was the tactical victor in the [[Battle of Guilford Court House]], the casualties his army suffered forced him to retreat to [[Wilmington, North Carolina]], for resupply and reinforcements.<ref>Golway, ''Washington's General: Nathanael Greene and the Triumph of the American Revolution'' (2005) pp 248-60.</ref>