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Bob Carter, Rockingham County’s historian, recalls childhood trips with his father to visit an area outside of Reidsville then called “old iron works.”

Today, most people know only the name Iron Works Road in connection with the spot where iron was forged as far back as the mid-1700s.

By February 1781, when Rockingham County would play its role in winning the Revolutionary War, the iron works was no longer in operation, though it would reopen for business after the war.

It was the location that served for a short time as territory for the American soldiers, militiamen, and the army of the British Empire.

Military forces jockeyed back and forth from Speedwell Presbyterian Church, along the High Rock Road (called The Revolutionary Road), engaging in skirmishes, burying the dead, resting the troops and the horses, and waiting for a bigger battle.

Within a month, that battle would be fought in Guilford County. The  Battle of Guilford Courthouse, though lost by the American forces, led to the American victory at Yorktown, Va.

Carter explains that after the Battle at Cowpens in South Carolina, the Americans, under Gen. Nathanael Greene, retreated to the Piedmont region of North Carolina with General Cornwallis and his troops in hot pursuit.

“Thus began the famous Race to the Dan,” Carter said.

He is intrigued by this story, perhaps because of his visits to the old iron works as a child.

Some historians claim Greene did not retreat, rather that he maneuvered.

His plan was to cross the Dan River into Virginia where fresh troops and supplies awaited him, they say.

Greene outwitted the British in the Race to the Dan, turning the tide of the Revolutionary War.

Imagine what it took to move the approximately 2,000 men who were under Greene’s command.

Greene had sent scouts ahead to the Dan to count the available boats. With so many men, and so few boats, there would be multiple crossings. The horses had to swim.

Greene’s men crossed the river ahead of Cornwallis’ troops, who were  left few boats to make the  crossing.

After the Battle of  Guilford Courthouse, Greene’s men went to Rockingham County to rest and to provide care for the wounded in hastily arranged hospitals, which tradition holds were set up at Speedwell and at the Lower Sauratown area, according to Carter.

In late fall of 2010, Carter led a group comprising members and guests of the Rockingham Country Historical Society, along with the Eden Preservation Society, on a tour of the county historic sites near the old iron works. The tour started with a brief meeting at Speedwell Presbyterian Church, then on to High Rock Road and Boyd’s Ferry.

Through applications to the Piedmont Triad Rural Planning Organization, Carter has recommended that several sites be on the North Carolina Scenic Byways.

The Race to the Dan,  Greene’s Retreat and High Rock Road are designated as extensions of already existing landmarks on the Scenic Byways. 

Not much remains to remind those of us living in Rockingham County today of our heritage regarding the Revolutionary War.

Hunter Street in Madison and the James Hunter chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution recognize Maj. James Hunter’s service with Gen. Greene and his participation in the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.  And, then of course, there is Bob Carter.

Carter continues his lifelong interest in Rockingham County’s history, serving for twenty years as the historical consultant for Rockingham Community College, working with the Rockingham County Historical Collections Room on the first floor of the James Library at the college.

Carter receives daily questions regarding ancestry from local residents  as well as inquiries from out of state.

In 1987 he received the McDaniel Lewis Award as North Carolina’s Historian of the Year from the North Carolina Society of Historians.

He is an active member of the Rockingham County Historical Society Museum and Archives. He is chairman of the publications committee and edits the annual “Journal of Rockingham County History and Genealogy.”

A native of Rockingham County, he studied with Dr. Lindley Butler at Rockingham Community College.

An Eden native, Rachel Wright is retired as a teacher at Morehead High School and an instructor at Rockingham Community College