When the British Came

North Carolina played a pivotal role in the struggle for American independence, and the Cape Fear region was ground zero in the rebellion against British rule. Historians say the famous

battles of the Revolutionary War were fought in the North, but the decisive battles were fought in the South. The Cape Fear region was a central theater of that fight for American independence. A vicious civil war was fought between neighbors, families, Continentals, and Redcoats in southeastern North Carolina, from Fayetteville to Wilmington, and everywhere in between. This is the story of that fight.