Campaign of 1781

British Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis ordered cavalry commander Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton to raid Southside Virginia in the summer of 1781. Tarleton left Surry County on 9 July and reached Bedford County before turning back. His objective was to destroy stores of ammunition, clothing, and food before these supplies could be sent to American Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene in South Carolina. His men damaged property, took prisoners, and engaged in skirmishes, but the major supply stores had already been sent south. A number of enslaved African Americans escaped with the troops. Tarleton passed near here while traveling eastward to reunite with Cornwallis in Suffolk at the end of the 400-mile raid.