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Pyle's Massacre, also known as Pyle's Hacking Match or the Battle of Haw River, was fought during the American Revolutionary War in Orange County, North Carolina (present-day Alamance County, North Carolina), on February 24, 1781, between Patriot and Loyalist North Carolina militia troops. Patriot militia leader Colonel Henry Lee deceived Loyalist militia under John Pyle that he was British commander Banastre Tarleton sent to meet them. Lee's men then opened fire, surprising and scattering Pyle's force.
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British General the Earl Cornwallis had been unable to crush Nathanael Greene's army, but had managed to drive Greene across the Dan River and out of North Carolina. Cornwallis established a headquarters at Hillsborough, North Carolina on February 21 to rally Loyalists to his side.
Dr. John Pyle, Sr., a native of Chatham County, had previously fought against the colonial government in the War of the Regulation but did not serve at the Battle of Alamance. Pyle responded to the call for Loyalists, and gathered between 300 and 400 troops. In response to his request to Cornwallis for an escort, the earl sent Banastre Tarleton with his cavalry and a small band of infantry, numbering about 450 men, to meet Pyle.
General Greene spent several days in Virginia, where he was able to resupply and gain reinforcements for his army. On February 17 he detached Colonel Henry Lee with his cavalry, and Colonel Andrew Pickens with Maryland infantry and South Carolina militia, to recross the Dan and monitor British activity. This force crossed the Dan on February 18 and set up a hidden camp along the road between Hillsboro and Haw River crossing points. From there Lee sent out scouts to watch for British movements.
Word came to Lee the next morning that Tarleton was moving toward the Haw with a party estimated at 400. Lee and Pickens followed behind Tarleton's company, which they learned had camped near the Haw. A planned attack against Tarleton was called off when scouts reported that Tarleton had again moved, after the militia companies he was expecting to meet did not show up. Pyle's force had delayed its movement (in violation of orders) to visit with family and friends before setting off.
At noon on February 24, Lee and Pickens captured 2 British staff officers and learned through interrogation that Tarleton was only a few miles ahead. In the waning hours of the day, Lee's Legion, who wore short green jackets and plumed helmets, encountered 2 of Pyle's men, who mistook them for Tarleton's dragoons, who were known to wear similar uniforms. Lee used this confusion to his advantage and learned that Pyle's army was located nearby. Lee instructed Pickens' riflemen to flank Pyle's position, and then trotted into the camp in full salute. Lee exchanged customary civilities with Colonel Pyle and began shaking his hand when the sounds of battle commenced.
The most commonly accepted account of the battle, pieced together from reports from Lee and Captain Joseph Graham, indicates that Lee's deception was purely chance, and that he had originally intended to avoid the Loyalists, intending instead to encounter Tarleton's Dragoons, the more important objective. The sounds of battle apparently commenced when the militia at the rear of Lee's Legion, recognizing the strips of red cloth on the hats of Pyle's men as the badge of Loyalists, alerted Captain Eggleston, who was new to the South and was not familiar with local Whig and Tory badges. When he asked one of the Loyalists which side he was on, the man replied "King George", and Eggleston responded by striking him on the head with his sabre. Seeing this, Pickens' riflemen joined in the attack.[1] The cavalry line turned and also attacked the Loyalists. Pyle's men broke and ran, but many were either killed or wounded in the early exchanges. Many Loyalists, believing the attack to be a mistake, continued insisting they were on King George's side, to no avail. After 10 minutes, the remaining Loyalists had fled, and 93 Loyalists were known to be dead, certainly more were wounded and others were seen being carried off by friends. According to local legend, John Pyle was badly wounded in the battle and crawled into a nearby pond where he concealed himself until he could be rescued. After recovering from his wounds, he surrendered to the local militia. Later they were pardoned as a result of Pyle's care for wounded patriots.
Pickens and Lee never caught up with Tarleton, since Cornwallis ordered him to rejoin the main army on the night of February 24. Though pursued, Tarleton eventually got too close to the main British army for Pickens and Lee to attack safely.
There were reports of atrocities committed by Catawba Indians in a late-arriving company, with claims that men were butchered after asking for quarter. The British were quick to denounce the incident as a massacre. Cornwallis, in a letter to Lord George Germain, reported that most of Pyle's force were "inhumanly butchered, when begging for quarters, without making the least resistance." Lee later noted that if he had wanted a massacre he would have chased down the remnants of Pyle's company.
The battle occurred a few weeks before the Battle of Guilford Courthouse and was a contributing factor in weakening British troop numbers and morale.
As late as 1850, local residents could point out the location of the battle and of the mass graves of those killed during the skirmish; at least one alleged known mass grave has been recently relocated. The site is marked with periwinkle and cedar trees and at one time had a stone marker (placed in 1880), which has since been removed from the site; the marker's current location is unknown.
| Wikisource has the text of the 1920 Encyclopedia Americana article Haw, Battle of the. |