Alexander Lillington and the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge
Near Wilmington, North Carolina
Nine miles northeast lies the grave of Colonel Alexander Lillington, a Patriot officer whose quick thinking helped deliver one of the earliest American victories of the Revolutionary War. In February seventeen seventy-six, loyalist Highlander troops marched toward the coast expecting to link up with a British fleet. Lillington led roughly one hundred fifty minutemen to Moores Creek Bridge, where they joined other Patriot forces, removed the bridge planks, and greased the support rails.
When the loyalists charged across in the early morning darkness, the Patriots opened fire from earthworks on the far bank. The battle lasted minutes. Dozens of loyalists were killed or wounded and about eight hundred fifty were captured, and the British plan to seize North Carolina collapsed before it began.
