owever,
the river Dan was reached, there was an end of marching, for Greene had
caused all the boats to be collected at one spot. His men crossed and
kept the boats on their side of the river. Soon Greene found himself
strong enough to cross the river again to North Carolina. He took up a
very strong position near Guilford Court House. Cornwallis attacked. The
Americans made a splendid defense before Greene ordered a retreat, and
the British won the battle of Guilford. But their loss was so great that
another victory of the same kind would have destroyed the British army.
As it was, Greene had dealt it such a blow that Cornwallis left his
wounded at Guilford and set out as fast as he could for the seacoast.
Greene pursued him for some distance and then marched southward
to Camden.

[Sidenote: Greene's later campaigns, 1871-83.]

162. Greene's Later Campaigns.--At Hobkirk's Hill, near Camden, the
British soldiers who had been left behind by Cornwallis attacked Greene.
But he beat them off and began the siege of a fort on the frontier of
South Carolina. The British then marched up from Charleston, and Greene
had to fall back. Then the British marched back to Charleston and
abandoned the interior of South Carolina to the Americans. There was
only one more battle in the South--at Eutaw Springs. Greene was defeated
there, too, but the British abandoned the rest of the Carolinas and
Georgia with the exception of Savannah and Charleston. In these
wonderful campaigns with a few good soldiers Greene had forced the
British from the Southern states. He had lost every battle. He had won
every campaign.

[Sidenote: Lafayette and Cornwallis, 1781.]

163. Cornwallis in Virginia, 1781.--There were already two small
armies in Virginia,--the British under Arnold, the Americans under
Lafayette. Cornwallis now marched northward from Wilmington and added
the troops in Virginia to his own force; Arnold he sent to New York.
Cornwallis then set out to capture Lafayette and his men. Together they
marched from salt water across Virginia to the mountains--and then they
marched back to salt water again. Cornwallis had called Lafayette "the
boy" and had declared that "the boy should not escape him." Finally
Cornwallis fortified Yorktown, and Lafayette settled down at
Williamsburg. And there they still were in September, 1781.

[Sidenote: The French at Newport, 1780.]

[Sidenote: Plans of the allies, 1781.]

164. Plans of the Allies.--In 17