The battle was between Patriot troops attached to the Continental Army under Colonel Henry Lee III and Loyalist North Carolina militiamen commanded by John Pyle.

Due to the unique uniform of his forces, the Loyalists mistakenly thought Lee's men were the British Legion, who were en route to reinforce Pyle.

Cornwallis, who had burned his baggage train at Ramsour's Mill (Lincolnton, NC), in chasing Greene completely exhausted his men, who were also starving in wet freezing weather with little forage from locals.

Cornwallis made an exhausting trip South, establishing a headquarters to regroup and recover at Hillsborough, North Carolina, a colonial outpost city, on February 21, also to rally Loyalists to his side.

[citation needed] General Greene spent days in Virginia from the 15th to the 22nd, where he was able to resupply, feed his troops, medically recover his wounded and gain reinforcements.

[citation needed] At noon on February 24, Lee and Pickens captured two British staff officers and learned through interrogating them that Tarleton was only a few miles ahead.

Additionally, Nathanael Greene's recovered army crossed the Dan River back into NC on February 22, proceeding for contact and action at Guilford Courthouse on March 15, 1781.

Lee and Pickens broke off to screen and join the campaign, their task to demoralize and discourage Loyalist volunteers from adding to the diminishing British forces having been successful.

[citation needed] There were reports of atrocities committed by Catawba Indians in a late-arriving company, with claims that men were butchered after asking for quarter.

Cornwallis, in a letter to Lord Sackville, reported that most of Pyle's force were "inhumanly butchered, when begging for quarters, without making the least resistance."