Hike Location: Moores Creek National Battlefield
Geographic Location: northwest of Wilmington, NC (34.45786, -78.10868)
Length: 1 mile
Difficulty: 1/10 (Easy)
Date Hiked: March 2020
Overview: A loop hike through the site of the first
Revolutionary War battle in the south.
Park Information: https://www.nps.gov/mocr/index.htm
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=787429
Photo Highlight:
Directions to the trailhead: West of Wilmington, take
I-40 to SR 210 (exit 408). Exit and go
west on SR 210. Stay on SR 210 as it
makes numerous turns, and drive SR 210 a total of 15.7 miles to the signed park
entrance on the right. Turn right to
enter the park, and park in the parking lot in front of the Visitor Center.
The hike: When most people think of early battles in
the American Revolution, the Boston area and the battles at Lexington, Concord,
and Bunker Hill come to mind. Yet one of
the most important battles leading up to the Declaration of Independence
occurred at Moores Creek Bridge in eastern North Carolina on February 27,
1776. After being forced to abandon the
British capital at New Bern, NC in 1775, Loyalist forces led by General Donald
MacDonald planned to march out to the coast and join British naval troops in an
effort to re-take the Carolina Colony.
By late February 1776, MacDonald had avoided Patriot militias and marched
his army to within 20 miles of Wilmington with only one more natural barrier
between them and the coast: Moores Creek.
The creek is too deep and wide to ford, so the only way to get an army
across would be to use the Moores Creek bridge on the historic Negro Head Point
Road.
Realizing
they would be unlikely to resist a combined assault from MacDonald and the
British navy forces, Patriot militias led by Col. James Moore and Col.
Alexander Lillington chose to make a stand at the Moores Creek bridge. The Patriots built some earthworks on the
east side of the bridge, and they removed some of the bridge’s planks and
greased the bridge’s girders to make it harder to cross. A cannon was also brought in to defend the
bridge.
At 1am on
February 27, the loyalists began marching to Moores Creek bridge in hopes of
surprising the Patriots with an ambush at dawn.
Unaware of the cannon and newly-built earthworks, the loyalists carefully
sneaked their way across the partially dismantled bridge only to get ambushed
by the Patriots. The battle lasted only
3 minutes, and the loyalists took over 70 casualties while the Patriots took
only 1. Within weeks most loyalists in
the area were captured. Although the
battle at Moores Creek bridge was short and small, the Patriot victory
encouraged North Carolina to become the first American colony to instruct its Continental
Congress delegation to vote for independence from Britain.
Today the
historic bridge over Moores Creek has been reconstructed, and the area is
protected as Moores Creek National Battlefield.
The 87-acre park is located in a rural part of eastern North Carolina,
and it offers only a Visitor Center, a picnic area, and two short hiking trails
for amenities. The park’s two trails
offer very different experiences: the 0.7 mile History Trail explores and
interprets the battle site, while the 0.3 mile Tarheel Trail interprets the
area’s history of pine-related industries.
Combining these two trails forms the 1 mile loop hike described here.
 |
| Trailhead behind Visitor Center |
After
browsing the exhibits and watching the video in the Visitor Center, head out
the back door and follow signs for the History Trail. Surfaced with asphalt and recycled rubber,
the History Trail heads gently downhill with a grassy area dotted with pines on
the left. At many national battlefields
open grassy areas ARE the battlefield, but here it is not. A recent controlled burn had left the grassy
area charred black on my visit.
 |
| Grassy area behind Visitor Center |
The History
Trail traces around the north side of the grassy area with a park road and a
picnic area on the right. This part of
the trail roughly follows the historic Negro Head Point Road, which was the
route the loyalists were taking to Wilmington.
Going this direction, you are walking away from Wilmington toward the
Moores Creek bridge, so the loyalists never made it this far.
 |
| Hiking across the boardwalk |
After
passing the stone Stage Road Monument, at 0.25 miles you reach the start of the
boardwalk. Turn right to head across the
boardwalk. The boardwalk carries you
over blackwater Moores Creek, which contains numerous islands and tupelo
trees. The reconstructed Moores Creek
bridge can be seen a short distance downstream, and an interpretive sign
describes the construction and reconstruction of the bridge.
 |
| Moores Creek bridge |
At the
northwest end of the boardwalk, the trail makes a sweeping left turn to arrive
at the reconstructed bridge. Walking
this direction, you are coming the same direction the loyalists did, but you
get the luxury of crossing Moores Creek on a complete bridge rather than on a
partially dismantled one. The
reconstructed Patriot earthworks stand just beyond and above the bridge. Imagine inching your way across a partially
dismantled bridge on a cold, dark, damp February night with a militia waiting
behind the earthworks up ahead.
 |
| Approaching Moores Creek bridge |
 |
| Reconstructed Patriot earthworks |
 |
| Hiking past stone monuments |
 |
| Start of Tarheel Trail |
The Tarheel
Trail is another asphalt/recycled rubber trail, but this one forms a small loop
through a grove of tall pine trees.
Numerous interpretive signs describe the industries these pines once
supported, which include ship mast building, pine tar, and turpentine. The Tarheel Trail ends near the entrance to
the parking lot, thus marking the end of the hike.
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