Talk:33rd Regiment of Foot

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[edit] Battle of Guilford Courthouse wording

Ok, we clearly need to talk about this. In the part about the Battle of Guilford Court House, I changed "The British suffered heavy casualties but they defeated the American force, nearly twice their size." to "The British suffered heavy casualties but they forced the American force, nearly twice their size, to retreat." To me, that's more accurate, as the British army was left with a much smaller army, and the battle eventually led to the British defeat in the war. In the Battle of Guilford Court House article, it even says "Seeing this as a classic Pyrrhic victory, British Whig Party leader and war critic Charles James Fox echoed Plutarch's famous words by saying, "Another such victory would ruin the British Army!"" --Awiseman 13:57, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

Hi; Sorry to take so long to reply I was rather busy elswhere. I agree the wording is debatable, according to ones own definition of the Word defeat, also in the perceived action that led up to it, ie with or without a large and sustained battle, according to whose account of the event you read. The account of the fighting in the article Battle of Guilford Court House is not fully accurate in its description, from the history I have read by other editors. I will therefore rewrite the section in the 33rd article and leave the Battle of Guilford Court House alone, thereby allowing a comparison to be made, I do want to research some maps first though. No doubt one or the other will be perceived as more substantial. I do however feel that the word defeat is correct at this time. A bit like a boxer who throws in the towel in the first round is considered to have been defeated, when others may consider it a tactical withdrawal. So may I suggest we leave it, as is, until I can do the editing? Richard Harvey 14:13, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Sounds fair. I guess it does depend on the definition of defeat. As for the battle, the Park Service website [1] says the British "tactically defeated" the Americans, and calls it the "high water mark" for the British. So maybe that's the only change we need to do, "defeated" to "tactically defeated." I'd be fine with that. I'd be happy to see what changes you make too though. --Awiseman 15:03, 7 September 2006 (UTC)