Pyle's Defeat - The Most Comprehensive Guide

Book excerpt: The Battle of Pyle's Defeat was the bloodiest ten minutes of all Alamance County history. On February 24, 1781, a few hundred yards of Alamance County (then Orange County) were stained red with the blood of a few hundred local citizens. Nearly 100 Tory soldiers were killed, with another 100 taken prisoner, wounded, or unaccounted.For generations historians have pondered what really happened at this killing field without any real depth of rationality. Some have just simply replaced fact with convenient speculation of where the hacking actually took place. Our answer to these contemporaries, and their agendas, is the comprehensive presentation in this work, of the letters, memoirs, and field notes of the men who participated. Besides the insight gained from these writings, we provide the reader the proper locations and mileage by plotting the actual routes. It was not our wish when we started this project to revise history, but to correct the myths that have been perpetuated since 1849.