A little moment in time; American history on the side of the road

[NRBQ]

It's amazing how our own American history is all around us but much of the time we don't even notice it. Here are some pics of a memorial in Summerfield NC that I just happened to discover tucked away on the side of the road near where I live. I can't even say how many times I passed it without noticing it, to be fair it is very hard to see from the road. It's dedicated to "Bugler Boy Gillies" who was killed by British soldiers right on that spot at age 14 on Febuary 12th 1781. It's a pretty amazing piece of history I'll bet almost no one that drives by it even knows is there. It's inspiring to stand on the spot where this extremely brave young man gave his last full measure of devotion to his country in the fight for freedom from England. Try to imagine what it must have been like for Gillies that day, as an American it gives me chills.

I suppose it's also appropriate to thank Joseph Kerner Chapter for erecting the memorial in 1941, if it weren't for him this moment in time would be long forotten.

PS, I recently noticed that someone has attended to the site weeding it and cleaning it up so that now it looks really good. I'll try to snap some new pics on a brighter day and see if I can get some better stuff.

 

[JTM45]

That's cool, thanks for posting it. There is so much American history out there it's not even funny, Traveling around the country to find and see it is an amazing journey.

 

[12watt]

Nice find. History is everywhere, I read every plaque and inscription I can reach.

 

[NRBQ]

It's a bit lengthy but here is a detailed account of Gillies death and how it fit into the revolutionary war.


Historical note: Greensboro, North Carolina was established after the Revolutionary
War and named in honor of General Greene. The name of the settlement at Guilford
Court House was Martinsville; in the northern section of Greensboro at the present
day there is a street named Martinsville Road.

In January 1781, General Nathaniel Greene was being pursued from South Carolina
across North Carolina by General Cornwallis and had gotten safely across the icy
waters of the Yadkin River. General Greene hurried across Guilford and Rockingham
counties to put the Dan River between himself and Cornwallis, leaving Lee to harrass
Cornwallis in his pursuit. On the night of February 11th, Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton
separated his Dragoons from the main army of Cornwallis and moved eastward, camping
at Daniel Dillon's mill on the confluence of Beaver Creek and Reddy Fork, to get
grinding done.

Daniel Dillon was granted a 552 acre tract on Reedy Fork and Beaver Creeks by the
Earl of Granville in 1759 and Rowan County ordered that Daniel Dillon have license to
build a public grist mill (Rowan was the name of the huge county at that time;
Guilford County was formed out of Rowan in 1771.)

This deployment of Lee's Legion and Tarleton's Dragoons in the same general area
precipitated the odyssey of Gillies, the Bugler Boy.

On the morning of Feburary 12th, Lee's Legion rode into the plantation of Charles
Bruce, an ardent patriot, who welcomed the tired, hungry men. Bruce's plantation was
in the area later named Bruce's Crossroads in his honor, and no is the town of
Summerfield. Before the hungry men could eat, a farmer, Isaac Wright, rode in with
foam dripping from his pony and shouted to Colonel Lee that he had seen a party of
British soldiers up the road (toward present-day Oak Ridge). Lee immediately
detailed Captain James Armstrong and his company to investigate. With conditions as
they were, Wright's word was held in doubt, and Lee ordered him to go along as a
guide with the searching party. Wright replied that he did not have a horse fast
enough to enable him to escape if the British soldiers were found in large numbers.

At this point, fate took a hand in the affairs of an anxious lad on the sidelines.
Lee unhorsed his bugler and gave the horse to Wright. As his horse was his only
possession except his bugle, Gillies couild not stand to see his horse taking off, so
he jumped upon the farmer's flea-bitten pony and followed the soldiers.

After going two miles in the direction that Wright led them, there was no glimpse of
the British. Armstrong halted and accused Wright of being mistaken. Wright said, "I
may be mistaken as to the distance, but not as to the soldiers. If you will send two
men with me, I will go on and prove to you that I told the truth." So Wright and two
soldiers rode away and the boy rode with them.

They had not gone more than a mile when they came suddenly upon the British Dragoons.
The retreat and pursuit began. Wright and the two soldiers had nothing to fear. But
the little bugler boy, riding with all his might, found the enemy gaining on him.
Gillies was pulled from his pony and literally cut to pieces by the swords of the
British. Wright and his tow men reached Captain Armstrong and told him what had
happened. The party rushed back to the rescue and found the Dragoons still grouped
around the dying boy. It was too late to save his life. But a fierce fight took
place, in which fourteen fo the British were killed and the other made prisoner.

The sorrowing Bruce and his friends slipped away to find the pitiful little body of
the bugler boy. It was brought back to the Bruce home and buried in the family
graveyard. The seven British Dragoons, left sprawling after the fight, were thrown
with little ceremony into a common grave. The State sign erected on Summerfield Road
marks the Bruce family cemetery, and the burial ground of Gillies, the Bugler Boy.

The fate of the bugler boy became one of the best known and immortalized chapters of
the American Revolution in Guilford County. In 1898, the Athenian and Philomathean
Literary Societies of Oak Ridge Institute place a monument to his memory in Guilford
Battle Ground National Park. It reads,

"GILLIES. Light Horse Harry Lee's Bugler Boy. Dulce et decorum est pro patria more
("sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country"). Erected by the Literary
Societies and Alumni of Oak Ridge Institute May 6th, 1898 to the memory of the
gallant Gillies who fell under the swords of Tarleton's Dragoons near Oak Ridge, N.C.
February 12th 1781, a noble sacrifice to his own generosity and for his country's
freedom."

In 1922, the Guilford Battle Chapter of the D.A.R. erected a monument to Charles
Bruce and to Gillies the Bugler Boy, which stands by Summerfield Road in front of the
present Summerfield Elementary School. The south face reads,

"GILLIES, Lighthorse Harry Lee's heroic bugler boy was killed near here by Tarleton's
Dragoons, February 12, 1781."

Sometime after his death, a marker was placed on the spot where Gillies was killed,
probably of soap stone, and in 1913 the student body of Oak Ridge Institute moved
this marker to a spot in sight of the new macadam road from Oak Ridge to Summerifeld.
This marker deteriorated and was replaced with a permanent granite monument by Robert
Oscar Holt, a native of Oak Ridge, in 1939. The monument is beautifully kept by the
owner of the home in whose yard is stands, Frank Miller, Jr.

Just across the road, in 1941, the Joseph Kerner Chapter of the D.A.R. from
Kernersville, erected a monument on the exact spot of Gillies' demise. It is in a
dell on the south side of the road, on the old road bed, and the area is kept cleared
and beautified. It reads,

"On this spot Bugler Boy Gillies, Age 14, lost his life at the hands of British
soldiers, February 12, 1781."

Both these monuments can be seen on the Oak Ridge to Summerfield road, on the curve
where Summerfield city limits begin.

 

[mr_mer]

I drive everyday by a rock with a paque that reads something like "this marks the place where the Massachusetts milita of Groton musted for its march to Concord..." and there is another one on my way to band practice that says the same but different town militia.

Not to mention that I drve past historic Concord and work in Boston. If I look out my window I see Bunker Hill in the distance.

 

[Cruznolfart]

It's been a good many years since I've been there but as I recall there were several graves of Cornwallis's troops in a cemetary behind the Rowan County Courthouse in Salisbury, NC.

 

[Comanche]

Wolverines!

 

[stock_hippie]

think Ill write a song for em...

 

[battra]

Here in St. Louis, we don't have too much of what I'd call American history. Most of our stuff is only important to us, and most of us don't even give a damn.

Although St. Louisan, Susan Blow, was the creater of kindergarten.

I need to pick back up the book I was reading gods...when E-J was born again....It's the tale of Bellfontaine (BELL-fountain...don't ask...I have no idea.) Cemetary in North St. Louis City. You gotta be city royalty to get dropped into that ground....

Adolphus Busch is buried there as is Lewis...or Clark...I always forget which one. The one that didn't off himself in Tennessee. I suppose that's our major national history...either the Lewis and Clark Expedition or Budweiser.

 

[bscenefilms]

Very cool. And also cool that there is a fairly detailed account of this soldier.

Thanks for posting this!

 

[realjimjim]

I'm living right slam in the middle of THE History of America . . .

See it every single day . . . .

 

[Beaver Creek]

NRBQ,

I feel like I am ordering a Bar-B-Que sandwich from Arby's...Give me NRBQ, some horsey sauce, fries and a Coke...

I drove through Summerfield today to see if I could find the monument you spoke of, and didn't see it.

Where exactly is it?

I had to go to my office in Stokesdale today, so I thought I would check it out...but no joy...

Can you enlighten me?

Lee

 

[coldsteal2]

Huh, wow you learn something new every day, thanks for the
story!

 

[b-squared]

Great thread, sorry for the trolling. He won't be back for a couple of days.

BB

 

[redcoats1976]

let us hope that the rights our ancestors fought and died for are not taken from us in this generation...

 

[NRBQ]

NRBQ,

I feel like I am ordering a Bar-B-Que sandwich from Arby's...Give me NRBQ, some horsey sauce, fries and a Coke...

I drove through Summerfield today to see if I could find the monument you spoke of, and didn't see it.

Where exactly is it?

I had to go to my office in Stokesdale today, so I thought I would check it out...but no joy...

Can you enlighten me?


Lee

Hey there Lee, sure I can help. I'm guessing you know the area but I'll assume you don't just so to be clear on its location. If you head north on 220 or Battleground Ave. in Greensboro heading north towards Summerfield you will take a left on Oak Ridge Rd. or HWY150 (FYI if while on 220/Battleground you see "Gas Town" on the right, you just passed 150). I would say the memorial is somewhere between one and two miles down Oak Ridge Rd. on the left side of the road at a bend in the road that goes left. I'll try to get the milage from 220 next time I drive it in the car. BTW the memorial looks just fantastic now, there is a group or an individual that tends to the site annually and man does it look good. If you happen on it drop me a PM and let me know what you think.

Oh BTW the waitress came by the table so I took the liberty of ordering you a hot plate of NRBar-B-Que! Hope your hungry.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEsTO6uslhI[/ame]

 

[Groove Toad]

Thanks. We must remember our past.

 

[So What]

The Kershaw-Cornwallis House was originally built in 1777. It was reconstructed in 1977.

THE HISTORY

Camden, the oldest existing inland town in the state, was part of a township plan ordered by King George II in 1730. The frontier settlement, initially named Fredericksburg Township (later Pine Tree Hill), took hold by the 1750s, as Quakers and Scots-Irish emigrants and settlers from Virginia put down roots.

Joseph Kershaw, a native of Yorkshire, England, arrived in 1758 and established a store for a Charleston mercantile firm. He prospered and by 1768 the town was the inland trade center in the colony. At his suggestion, the town became Camden, in honor of Lord Camden, champion of colonial rights.

In May of 1780 the American Revolution returned to Charleston. It fell. Lord Charles Cornwallis and 2,500 British troops immediately marched to Camden and set up the main British supply post for the Southern Campaign. For eleven months the citizens of Camden understood the atrocities of war.

Two battles were fought near by. The Battle of Camden, the worst American battle defeat of the Revolution, was fought on August 16, 1780 nine miles north of our museum. Nearby, General Nathanael Greene and approximately 1,400 Americans engaged 950 British soldiers commanded by Lord Francis Rawdon on April 25, 1781. It was a costly British win and forced the Redcoats to evacuate Camden.

 

[NRBQ]

Although I suppose sometimes history can be overrated.

 

[Beaver Creek]

Hey there Lee, sure I can help. I'm guessing you know the area but I'll assume you don't just so to be clear on its location. If you head north on 220 or Battleground Ave. in Greensboro heading north towards Summerfield you will take a left on Oak Ridge Rd. or HWY150 (FYI if while on 220/Battleground you see "Gas Town" on the right, you just passed 150). I would say the memorial is somewhere between one and two miles down Oak Ridge Rd. on the left side of the road at a bend in the road that goes left. I'll try to get the milage from 220 next time I drive it in the car. BTW the memorial looks just fantastic now, there is a group or an individual that tends to the site annually and man does it look good. If you happen on it drop me a PM and let me know what you think.

Oh BTW the waitress came by the table so I took the liberty of ordering you a hot plate of NRBar-B-Que! Hope your hungry.

NRBQ - "Want You To Feel Good Too" (1989) - YouTube

Thanks Narby,

As a matter of fact, I came south on 220, turned right on 150, drove to Oak Ridge, turned right on 68, and went back home. I had to drive right by it.

I'll look again next time I am that way. I work from home in Madison, but go down that way to the office in Stokesdale every once in a while.

Maybe we could get together for lunch one day or something.

Let me know, and thanks for the info.

Lee