Tannenbaum Historic Park, Greensboro, NC

Uh, oh.  The British under Lord Cornwallis are in the Greensboro area and have taken over the Hoskins farmstead as their staging area.  Cornwallis' 1,900 trained soldiers face off against 4,500 American militia and regulars in a battle that proved to be the largest fought in the Southern campaign for American independence.  (Well, for the British, I guess it was the Southern campaign against the colonist's rebellion.)

It's March 15, 1781, and it will almost be a fight to the finish.

Notice the tightly grouped ways folks fought back then.  In a formation like that even I could hit someone!

This diorama was cool because it had audio to go with it.  John pushed the button, the room went dark and this deep menacing voice came out of nowhere describing the battle.  Spotlights would go on and off, sound effects... It was a fun way to learn.

Pretty awesome detail, huh?

Makes me think back to when my youngest brother and I played with cowboys and Indians doing battle on a heaped up blanket that was supposed to be a mountain.  (Not a bad photo for a cell phone in a dark room.)

When all was said and done, another British "victory" like this would have wiped out the whole British force:  Cornwallis lost 25% of his men to win this battle.  Those that were later buried here on the Hoskins farmstead were said to have changed that little piece of ground to "forever England."  But that's the ONLY land England got out of this war!  Seven months later the war would be over. 

Our Founding Fathers persevered for the right to be free.  Free as no other group of mankind had ever been in the past.  Free to fail or succeed on their own merits, not because they were born with a title.