The battle took place in what today is Lincolnton, North Carolina. The land was owned at the time by Christian Reinhardt. It is on this farm, near Christian Creek, that over 1000 men and boys gathered in response to a call of arms by Loyalist militia leaders. Just across the creek stood Ramsour's Mill.
A Patriot militia force of 400 also gathered to confront the enemy. They assembled on Mountain Creek located sixteen miles northeast of Ramsour's Mill.
The brochure provided by the Lincoln County Historical Properties Commission and Lincoln County Historical Association described the battle as thus:
At dawn on Tuesday, June 20, 1780, a heavy fog blanketed Christian Reinhardt's. Led by their cavalry, the Patriots marched to battle, coming close to the encampment before being discovered. The surprise attack caught the Loyalist off guard, but they quickly rallied and opened a destructive fire. In the first charge, Captain Gilbraith Falls was mortally wounded. Fighting became fierce, often hand to hand, but gradually Patriot forces gained the advantage. The Loyalist retreated down the ridge toward the mill, crossing to west side of the creek where they quickly dispersed into the countryside. In less than two hours, all fighting had ceased.
As the morning fog lifted, the scene revealed many dead and wounded men scattered across the battlefield. An estimated seventy men had been killed and two hundred wounded, some so severely that they died within days. Casualties were about equally divided between the two sides, although the Patriot loss in officers was quite high.
Since these were militia, many of the dead could not be identified as patriot or loyalist, so they were buried together in a mass grave. British and American flags commemorate the fallen.
The Revolutionary War was also a civil war, and the Battle of Ramsour's Mill tells that tale.
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