MOORE'S CREEK BRIDGE, BATTLE OF

(Feb. 27, 1776), in the U.S. War of Independence, battle in which North Carolina Revolutionaries defeated a force of North Carolina Loyalists, in part thwarting a British invasion of the southern colonies. General Donald McDonald, who had amassed some 1,600 Scottish Highlanders and North Carolina Regulators, marched toward Wilmington, N.C., to join British troops coming by sea from Boston and England. A rebel militia, about 1,000 strong, under Colonels Alexander Lillington and Richard Caswell, was assembled and positioned at Moore's Creek Bridge, 18 miles (29 km) northwest of Wilmington. The Loyalists attacked the rebel force at the bridge but were quickly defeated. The rebels, of whom only one was killed and one wounded, captured or killed more than half of the Loyalist forces and seized arms, supplies, and 15,000 sterling.