Episode 3 of 4

Patriot forces block the Loyalist route

When: February 1776
Where: Widow Moore's Creek Bridge, north of Wilmington
Part of: Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge

Revolutionary militia and Continental units mobilized to prevent the Loyalists from joining British reinforcements, blockading routes until the poorly armed Loyalists were forced to fight.

Revolutionary militia and Continental units mobilized to prevent the junction of the Loyalists with British reinforcements, blockading several routes. As a precaution, Moore detached Lillington with 150 Wilmington militia and 100 men under Colonel John Ashe from the New Hanover Volunteer Company of Rangers to occupy the Widow Moore's Creek Bridge. The poorly armed Loyalists were thereby forced to confront the patriots at Moore's Creek Bridge, about 18 miles north of Wilmington.

Sources

Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-20

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.