This marker on the side of the road recalls a battle of the American Revolution. Not one of the better performances by the Colonials but they did eventually win the way.
The marker reads, "British cavalry led by Colonel Tarleton routed a force of American militia, Feb. 2, 1781, at Torrence's Tavern, which stood nearby."
As is usual with North Carolina's markers, there is more information online:
'The British wasted little time getting organized after defeating the small militia force of William Lee Davidson at the Battle of Cowan's Ford on February 1, 1781. Rain began falling again, slowing Cornwallis's progress, but the British army managed to reunite and made a wet camp six miles from Beattie's Ford during the evening hours of February 1. Before setting out from Cowan's Ford, Cornwallis dispatched Tarleton with the 23rd Foot and his Legion dragoons to discover Greene's location, seemingly unaware that the Continentals had fallen back to Salisbury."
"Several postwar accounts claim that Tarleton found the militia in complete distress, many of them drunk, and completely incapable of fighting back. Joseph Graham, who did not witness the event firsthand, stated "The wagons of many of the movers with their property mixed in the lane, the armed men all out of order, and mixed with the wagons and people, so that the lane could scarcely be passed, when the sound of alarm was given from the west end of the lane."
The British won the engagement.
"Although Tarleton had destroyed the small militia force, the Whigs had bought precious time for Greene's army to continue its escape through Salisbury. Cornwallis would be halted again at the Trading Ford, kept at bay by the constant rain and swollen banks of the Yadkin River."
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