Shallow Ford

A Humble Crossing

The Shallow Ford, about 15 miles west of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is a shallow part of the Yadkin River that, during colonial times, provided a safe crossing for travelers. The ford is formed by a sand and gravel bar. Upstream, a stretch of hard rock crosses the river, and below this rock, the gradient lessens, which weakens the current and deposits sediment, creating the bar that makes up the crossing. It served as a natural game crossing and fish trap used by the Native Americans. 

By 1748, six families had settled near the ford. Within two years, a ferry and tavern operated there. Soon after, Moravians settled nearby and built the first road to the ford, with several others following over the years, making it a kind of transportation hub. By the time of the American Revolution, the Shallow Ford was an important crossing point for travelers. Although the Yadkin River could be crossed at other fords and ferries, heavier wagons could only cross at two places: the Trading Ford, near Salisbury (Rowan County), and the Shallow Ford (Surry County). Several roads converged on both sides of the river. This modest crossing played a small but significant role in shaping the outcome of the war.

Shallow Ford

A Southern Strategy

Gen Cornwallis

The year 1780 was to be a comeback year for the British in North America with their shift to a "southern strategy." And it initially proved to be a successful and effective plan. By the fall of 1780, the British commander in the south, General Charles Cornwallis, moved north into North Carolina after taking control of most of Georgia and South Carolina. The final phase of the grand strategy was to dominate the entire south before moving north into Virginia. He had established his headquarters in Charlotte, where bands of Loyalists gathered to support the crown.

Loyalist Militia gathered with the arrival of Cornwallis

The absence of local patriot militia groups that had gone to King's Mountain created a vacuum for Loyalists to rise and cause chaos in their counties. In Surry County, local Loyalist brothers Gideon and Hezekiah Wright gathered hundreds of Tories who started taking revenge on the properties of absent patriots and killing those who opposed them. On October 3rd and 8th, they attacked patriots in Richmond, the county seat, where they also killed the county sheriff.

Western NC and Surrey Co in 1780

When news spread of the Loyalist uprising, patriots from nearby areas began to mobilize to stop them. The news of the surprise defeat of the renowned Major Patrick Ferguson at King's Mountain helped energize the patriots, who had been subdued by Cornwallis's maneuver north. Now things were beginning to change. 

Patriot militia General William Lee Davidson now believed that the local Tories intended to join Lord Cornwallis's forces in Charlotte. He sent fifty men from Charlotte, along with two companies of patriot militia from Salisbury. They were joined by 160 men from Montgomery County, Virginia, under Major Joseph Cloyd (who had come to the Carolinas to fight the now-deceased Ferguson). All of the converging patriots came under the leadership of Cloyd.

A Place of Battle

Competing militias would clash in a small but pivotal battle
along the Yadkin River at Shallow Ford

All this activity reached a boiling point on October 14, when a group of 600 Loyalists led by Colonel Gideon Wright crossed the Yadkin River en route to join General Cornwallis in Charlotte. Early Saturday morning, October 14, Cloyd's force of 350 men waited on the west side of a small stream near the Shallow Ford crossing of the Yadkin River. Around 9:30, they spotted the Loyalist force that had terrorized the county for weeks. The Loyalists, numbering between 400 and 900, crossed the Yadkin and headed west along Mulberry Fields Road. A shout of "Tory! Tory!" went up among the patriots. From across the creek, they heard similar cries of "Rebel! Rebel!"

NC patriot militia

The patriots deployed and quickly formed battle lines. Volleys were exchanged. One Captain James Bryan, of the notorious Tory Bryan clan, who led the front of the Loyalist forces, was swiftly killed. Five rifle balls went through him and his horse. The patriots advanced toward the ford as the Loyalists retreated and regrouped. Captain Henry Francis of the Virginia militia was shot through the head and fell dead a few steps from his son, Henry. His other son, John, took careful aim and fired at the Loyalist who had killed his father. 

Despite being outnumbered, the patriots soon gained the advantage, and several more Loyalists fell. After another quick exchange of fire, the Loyalists retreated chaotically across the Yadkin, shouting, "We are whipped, we are whipped." Enraged patriots beat the wounded Loyalists to death after their comrades had fled. A black Loyalist named Ball Turner continued to fire at the patriots. An angry group of patriots found his position and riddled him with musket balls. The Loyalists soon made good their escape. Captain Henry Francis of the Whigs lost his life, and four others were wounded. The Loyalists suffered about fifteen killed. The engagement lasted less than an hour.

Shallow Ford Battle Marker

Aftermath

As the engagement ended, a relief party of three hundred militia under Colonel John Peasley arrived, along with Colonel Joseph Williams of Surrey County. Williams had heard the musket fire from his nearby home. The next day, Major General William Smallwood arrived at Salem with about 150 horsemen, thirty infantry, and three wagons. Smallwood, a Marylander, had been put in charge of all North Carolina militia. 

As a colonel in 1776, Smallwood had commanded the renowned Maryland Line on Long Island and is featured in my novel of that campaign, The Patriot Spy. Smallwood had left Guilford Courthouse the previous day. Seeing that the local force had defeated the Loyalists, he launched his men in pursuit of those who had fled. As a result of Shallow Ford, the Wright brothers' Loyalist forces in Surry County were effectively neutralized for the duration of the war. Hezekiah Wright himself was later shot and wounded in his own home. His brother Gideon fled to the safety of Charlestown, where he died on August 9, 1782.

General William Smallwood

The results of the double defeats at King's Mountain and Shallow Ford dealt a major blow to Cornwallis: patriot morale surged along with their numbers, while demoralized North Carolina Loyalists were never able to rally such a force again. Cornwallis had to retreat into South Carolina for the winter. His grand strategy was delayed by a year, with even more serious implications for any hope of a British victory.

Fittingly, the Shallow Ford played a minor role the following year when, on 7 & 8 February, Cornwallis's army crossed it in the legendary pursuit of General Nathanael Greene during the maneuvers that led to the Battle of Guilford Court House on 15 March 1781.