Kate on The Liberty Trail | New Tech on an Old Battlefield—Moores Creek Bridge Is Coming to Life!

Hi, it’s Kate—and I’m on The Liberty Trail. 

It’s about eleventybillion degrees at 9:00 a.m. in Currie, North Carolina. It’s late June. Wiping my brow with a gas station napkin there’s a part of me desperately wishing it was February 27, 1776. If I had been standing here at Moores Creek Bridge 250 years ago sure, I’d risk death by broadsword, but I bet it would be at least 50 degrees cooler. I’ll take my chances. 

So why am I standing sweating in the middle of an open field staring down the lens of a camera with a boom

 mic? It’s so we—the American Battlefield Trust, the Parks Channel, and the National Park Service--can tell you the story of what happened near this spot 250 years ago, when Scottish Highlanders armed with broadswords challenged patriot militia on the other side of this bridge---and lost. 

I need to make sure you understand the Highland Charge—and don’t for a second try to tell me you’re not watching Outlander (wink, wink). Quick, go watch this and come right back (spoiler free, kid-appropriate, you can watch at work). 

Welcome back. So yeah, that’s a thing that happened, and not just across the pond at Culloden in 1746. That actually happened right here in colonial North Carolina 30 years later. Scottish Highlanders attempted to cross the Moores Creek Bridge and Highland Charge the waiting patriots. Their battle cry? “King George and Broadswords!” Did it work at Culloden? No! Did it work here at Moores Creek Bridge? Also, no! Though it must have been a terrifying sight to see broadswords glistening in the moonlit pre-dawn hours, patriots here leveled the loyalist militia with musket fire and cannon shot. 

The swift Battle of Moores Creek Bridge on February 27, 1776 is one of firsts and lasts. The first battle of the American Revolution in North Carolina. The last recorded use of the Highland charge. The first and last attempt by Loyalist militia to gain control over the region. The battle lasted maybe 30 minutes (I’ve been standing here sweating for longer) but the patriot’s military victory reverberated into a defiant political stance. Mere weeks after an outnumbered patriot militia defeated loyalists here, the Fourth Provincial Congress of North Carolina passed the Halifax Resolves. On April 12, 1776, delegates issued the first official call for colonial independence from Great Britain. Patriots proved their mettle here on the field. Delegates supported them in ink. 

(By the way, some of these guys leading the charge in N.C. were actually at Culloden so…oh, not sure how Scottish history and the American Revolution are intertwined? We can fix that.)

So anyway, back to why I’m here melting. We’re filming on location to tell this story in a way you’ve never seen before. We’ve been working with new technology—artificial intelligence—to bring the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge to life. We’ve been working with AI artists to animate the action here—everything from Highlanders wielding basket-hilted broadswords, to patriots dismantling the bridge to slow an advance, even to explore the famous, if not entirely unplausible story of Mary Slocumb whose memory has become so entwined with this battle that she’s actually buried here. And I’m doing my best impression of a travel-doc talking head (Lucy Worsley? Rick Steves?) to seamlessly bring the production in and out of our art sequences and fill in some historical content. 

When this thing is done, you’re going to learn the history of the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge through new technology married with historic artifacts, primary sources, and on-the-ground storytelling. You’ll be immersed into what’s arguably the shortest Revolutionary battle with the most revolutionary impact. And when you see the finished product, we hope you’ll be inspired to hop on The Liberty Trail and visit the battlefield here. Our friends at the National Park Service Visitor Center would love to welcome you. And they have air conditioning.

You wanna learn more? I bet you wanna learn more: 

King George and Broadswords! | American Battlefield Trust

Moores Creek Bridge Battle Facts and Summary | American Battlefield Trust

Robert M. Dunkerly, Redcoats on the Cape Fear: The Revolutionary War in Southeastern North Carolina, McFarland Publishers, 2012. 

The Highland Charge-The Famous Shock Tactic of Scottish Clans