Battle of Guilford Courthouse gets its due

News Record (Greensboro, NC) ^ | January 10, 2010 | Eddie Huffman

[Pharmboy]

I have certainly posted enough threads about the prison ships to know about the brutality of the Brits, but burning men, women and children alive in a church never happened. That was my point in answer to a specific post. That aspect of the film was fantasy...hey, war is hell, no argument, and the Brits ran hell for years; but I was speaking specifically of The Patriot's depiction.

[Pharmboy]

Sorry I said “C’mon man” before...you’re a woman!

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Maybe not a truly great movie but I thought Northwest Passage with Spencer Tracy was good

The trouble with Northwest Passage is that it is a book by Kenneth Roberts, popular mid century historical writer, whose Arundel trilogy had Benedict Arnold as its hero. Another novel Oliver Wiswell had a Tory as its central character.

[aculeus]

Thanks for posting.

Apparently the custom of naming towns (Blank) Courthouse was a Southern thing.

But there’s one in New Jersey:

http://capemay.com/magazine/2002/11/the-town-named-after-a-building/

[PzLdr]

Sullivan’s 1779 campaign against the Iroquois was a result of almost two years of war in the Mohawk Valley. And the Defeat of St. Leger was largely due to the loss of a large force of Iroquois after the Battle of Oriskany [where the Oneida and Tuscarora fought for us].

[RegulatorCountry]

The practice in NC sprung from a requirement to place the administrative and legal functions of any given county with the convenience of all that particular county’s residence in mind. This led to the establishment of courthouse towns in the geographic center of the county. Oftentimes, there was no town there at all, and so one was established for that express purpose.

For instance, when nearby Surry County, NC was divided due to population growth in 1789, and Stokes County was then formed from the eastern half, there was a survey conducted to locate the geographic center of the county, and it was found to be in the vicinity of my fifth great grandfather’s land. His name was Johann Michael Frey.

What was described as “a great cyclone” came up along about that time, probably a tornado, destroying several government buildings at the former courthouse at Richmond in Surry County. Debris landed on Frey’s land, this was determined to be a sign from God, and the surrounding 23 acres were purchased for the new county seat.

This new town did not have “Courthouse” in it’s name as many such new courthouse towns did. It was named Germanton for the many German speaking people of the new county, primarily Moravians in Salem, Bethania, Bethabara, Friedburg, etcetera, who resided in the jurisdiction.

It’s no longer the courthouse town. Stokes was divided itself, and two new county seats were created, again near the geographic center for the convenience of all the people of the jurisdicion. Danbury, for the county that retained the name, and Winston, in honor of Revolutionary War Col. Joseph Winston of Germanton.

Joseph Winston was a neighbor of my direct paternal 4G who fought in the Revolution, mentioned above. Winston’s grave was moved to Guilford Courthouse from Germanton, where it remains.

[the OlLine Rebel]

My point is these movies hardly spend any time really looking at the war; much less the part of regular enlisted men.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Freehold was Monmouth Courthouse - near which the “Battle of ‘Monmouth’” occurred in NJ.

[aculeus]

Thanks for a clear explanation.

(Probably fits Appomattox Courthouse and others in Virginia.)

[RegulatorCountry]

It is pretty close to the geographic center.

[Pharmboy]

Great stuff...thanks to the both of you for your contributions to this thread.

[RegulatorCountry]

Glad to participate. Thank you for posting this.

By the way, it seems we made it all the way through without posting an actual link to Guilford Courthouse National Military Park:

http://www.nps.gov/guco/index.htm