Moores Creek Battlefield trail map

History Trail

Length: 1 mile loop
Time: 1 hour, with stops to see the monuments and read the information panels
Difficulty: Easy

The Moores Creek battlefield can only be seen on foot along the 1-mile long History Trail, which starts behind the Moores Creek National Battlefield Visitor Center. Much of the path is paved with a rubbery material like you find on a children’s playground, so it makes walking easy on the knees. When the trail follows the historic Negro Head Point Road it becomes asphalt.

The History Trail takes visitors through the Moores Creek Battlefield

The only portion of the trail that is not paved is a short segment through sandy terrain by the Moores Creek Bridge. People in wheelchairs can make it all the way around the trail, though a little help in the sandy area would be nice.

Sandy terrain of a short segment of the trail near the Moores Creek Bridge

Shortly after leaving the Visitor Center you will come to Negro Head Point Road. The portion of the historic road that is part of the History Trail is paved, but the rest of it is a dirt path. You can walk on this for the sake of history, but there isn’t much to see, and it actually leads out of the park. I’m not sure how far you can go before it ends.

Negro Head Point Road

There are a number of information panels along the trail that explain the events of February 27, 1776, as well as monuments to the men who fought and died in the battle. Most of the monuments are at the end of the trail, but there is one towards the beginning, the Stage Road Monument. This commemorates the road the British and Loyalist soldiers came in on, so at this point you are walking the path taken by the British.

Stage Road Monument

The trail forks shortly after the Stage Road Monument, with one path keeping straight and the other branching off to the right. You eventually want to take a right, but first stay straight so you can see a cannon and swivel gun exhibit. The straight path is actually a short cut that bypasses the Moores Creek Bridge, but since the most important part of the battle is the bridge, taking this shortcut would defeat the purpose of the History Trail. Thus, when you have seen the artillery exhibits, turn back and take the fork.

Stay straight to see artillery exhibits, go right to follow the History Trail

Replica of a Dutch 2-pounder cannon that fired on Loyalists when they crossed the bridge

Swivel Gun

As you cross over Moores Creek on a wooden footbridge (this is not the Moores Creek Bridge) you will have a good view of the dark waters of Moores Creeks, turned brown from the tannin that has leached out of the vegetation along the river bank. It’s hard to tell how deep the water is, but the creek is deep enough to have been used as a waterway for barges carrying logs, pine tar, and turpentine all the way up until the early 1900s.

Brown waters of Moores Creek

Not too much farther ahead is the actual Moores Creek Bridge. Before crossing it you are at the spot where Patriot commander Colonel Richard Caswell set up a phony campsite manned by a small group of soldiers on February 26^th. The rest of the Patriots waited on the other side. The British sent an emissary to the camp to offer the Patriots a chance to surrender, which they refused. When the man returned, he reported that the Patriots were few in number and camped near the bridge with their backs to the water, leaving no place to retreat. In the meantime, Caswell and his men abandoned the site and joined the rest of the men on the other side. The next day when the British and Loyalists arrived, they figured that the Patriots had fled the area, obviously over the bridge. Caswell had even tore up many of the bridge’s floor planks and greased to poles, which made it look like they did this to keep the British from coming after them—it also made it hard for the British to flee back over the bridge once they got across. Keep in mind that when you cross the bridge, you would have been walking into an ambush back in 1776.

Reproduction of Moores Creek Bridge

The bridge that stands today is a reproduction based on bridges of the time, for nobody knows what the original bridge looked like. A North Carolina law from 1764 described the parameters for any bridge built in the state. The Bridge Monument stands on the other side of the creek.

Bridge Monument

After crossing the bridge, as you walk around the bend and come out of the woods you will find yourself at the spot where the Patriots opened fire on the Loyalists troops. Most were Scottish militia bearing swords only. With nowhere to run, they made a charge at the Patriots. In addition to dying by bullet and cannon fire, many drowned in Moores Creek while trying to retreat. Thirty Loyalists died in the fighting.

Loyalists’ viewpoint once they crossed the bridge

The trail once again becomes paved as it rejoins a portion of Negro Head Point Road. The final stretch back to the Visitor Center passes the main monuments in the park: the Patriot Monument, the Loyalist Monument, the Moore Monument, and the Women’s Monument. Shortly after the Woman’s Monument is the trailhead to the Tarheel Trail. It is short and provides insight into the pine tar industry that flourished in the 1700s. I suggest taking this short detour, which comes out on the far end of the Visitor Center parking lot. By this point there is nothing left to see on the History Trail anyway.

The Patriot Monument is dedicated to the victory at Moores Creek, as well as to John Grady, the only Patriot killed in the battle. This made him the first North Carolinian to die in the American Revolution. In addition to the inscriptions about Grady and the Patriot victory are the names of Caswell and Lillington, the two Patriot commanders at Moores Creek.

Patriot Monument

Patriot Monument

The Loyalist Monument was dedicated in 1909 and honors the Loyalists who died at the battle.

Loyalist Monument

The Moore Monument is dedicated to James Moore, the first president of the Moores Creek Battleground Association, which formed in 1899 and was responsible for the park until the Federal government took over in 1926. The Association still exists today and helps raise money for projects around the park.

James Moore Monument

The Women’s Monument is dedicated to the North Carolina women who took part in the Revolution, mainly as nurses. The graves of Ezekiel and Mary “Polly” Slocumb stand in front of the monument. Legend has it that Mary had a dream that her husband was wounded and rushed off to Moores Creek, arriving just as the battle ended. She attended to twenty wounded men and became quite famous for her actions. Naysayers claim the story is just legend, that Ezikiel was only 15 at the time and didn’t join the war until 1780. No record of her was included in any battle reports. However the story came to be, true or false, it made its way into an 1848 book about women in the American Revolution, and now she has a monument dedicated to her.

Women’s Monument

Inscription on the Women’s Monument

Mary “Polly” Slocomb grave

Back to the Top