Last month, we attended the reenactment of this historic struggle, which took place on March 15, 1781. (Click the image below to view all the photos.) The event marked the 231st anniversary of the Revolutionary War battle.

The dudes pose w/ a Revolutionary War militia man.

The largest battle of the war’s Southern Campaign was lost by the Americans, but came at a great cost for Lord Charles Cornwallis, whose British regulars and German allies suffered massive losses, totally 25% of the general’s army.

It was a high-water mark for the British military, which was driven to leave the Carolinas soon thereafter, forcing Cornwallis to place all his hopes for victory in Virginia. Seven months later, he would surrender to Gen. George Washington at Yorktown.

The American forces reload & keep fighting the surging Red Coats.

The American efforts at Guilford Courthouse were led by Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene, who began the war as a militia private, but quickly earned a high rank and the reputation as one Washington’s most dependable officers.

“I never saw such fighting since God made me,” Cornwallis said of Greene and his Continentals at the 2 1/2-hour Battle of Guilford Courthouse. “The Americans fought like demons.”

The British take the hill, but suffer extensive losses.

Greene, who came to be known as The Fighting Quaker, summed up his motivation for combatting tyranny and promoting independence this way: “I am determined to defend my rights and maintain my freedom or sell my life in the attempt.”