Gen. Nathanael Greene perceived that the possession of the interior of South Carolina depended on the posts at Camden and Ninety-Six, and he resolved to capture them. Lord Rawdon was in command at Camden with a force nine hundred in number, and strongly intrenched. When Gen. Greene relinquished the pursuit of Lord Cornwallis, he marched directly against Lord Rawdon, and arrived within a mile of his intrenchments on the 19th of April, 1781. The works were too strong for Gen. Greene's force to assail, and the latter were not numerous enough to invest them and begin a siege; so he withdrew to Hobkirk's Hill, a well-wooded eminence northward of Camden, and encamped within a mile and a half of Rawdon's intrenchments, where he awaited expected reinforcements under Sumter. There, on the 24th of April he heard of the capture of a post at Wright's Bluff, below Camden by Marion and Lee, and was impatient to fall upon Rawdon, for he was informed that almost five hundred troops were marching up the Santee to reinforce the latter. That night a drummer deserted to the enemy, and informed Lord Rawdon of the weakness of Gen. Greene and his expectation of reinforcements immediately. Lord Rawdon's provisions were almost exhausted he saw no chance for success in battle excepting in an immediate surprise and attack. So he prepared to fall upon Gen. Greene early in the morning of the 25th of April.

At dawn Gen. Greene's cavalry, who had been on duty all night, were dismounted, their horses were unsaddled, and they were taking refreshments preparatory to a few hours repose. Some of the other soldiers were washing their clothes, and Gen. Greene and his staff were at a spring on the eastern slope of Hobkirk's Hill, at breakfast. Rawdon had sallied out with his whole garrison, and by marching unperceived along the margin of a swamp, had gained the left flank of the Americans. Greene, partially surprised, quickly formed his little army in battle-line. His cavalry were immediately remounted. The Virginia brigade under General Isaac Huger, with lieutenant-Cols. Richard Campbell and Samuel Hawes, formed the right; the Maryland brigade (with Delaware troops under Kirkwood), led by Col. Otho Holland Williams, with Colonel Gunby and Lieutenant-Colonels Ford and Howard, occupied the left, and the artillery under Colonel Harrison were in the center, on the road. Washington's cavalry were directed to make a circuit through the woods and fall upon the rear of the enemy, and North Carolina militia were held as a reserve. In this position Greene prepared to receive the non-coming Rawdon. As the British troops moved slowly up the slope, with a narrow front, the regiments of Campbell and Ford were ordered to turn their flanks, and Gunby's Marylanders to assail their front with bayonets, without firing. The battle now opened with great vigor, the Virginians led by Greene in person. The artillery hurled grape-shot with deadly effect, when the British line wavered, and the Americans felt sure of gaining a victory. At that moment Captain Beatty, commanding a company of Gunby's veterans, was killed, and his followers gave way. Unfortunately an order followed for the whole regiment to retire, when the British broke through the American center, pushed up the brow of the hill, and forced Greene to retreat. Washington, meanwhile, had succeeded in capturing about two hundred of the British soldiers, whose officers he quickly paroled; and in the retreat he carried away fifty of the captives. The Americans were chased a short distance, when Washington, turning upon his pursuers, by a gallant charge checked them. Gen. Greene saved all of his artillery and baggage, rallied his men at Rugeley's crossed the Wateree River above Camden, and took a strong position to rest before marching on Ninety-Six. The loss of each was less then two hundred and seventy. This defeat was unexpected to Gen. Greene, and disconcerted him at first, but his genius and courage were equal to the occasion.

When Lord Cornwallis retreated to Wilmington, North Carolina after his pyrrhic victory at Guilford Court House, he left behind young Francis Lord Rawdon to control South Carolina. Rawdon confronted skilled guerrilla leaders including Gens. Thomas Sumter, Andrew Pickens, and Francis Marion. These men led their partisan bands against the scattered British garrisons and their tenuous lines of communication. Lord Cornwallis calculated that Lord Rawdon could hold his own against the partisans. He anticipated that the rebel field army would continue to oppose his own army.

Then came the alarming news that Gen. Nathanael Greene, contrary to Lord Cornwallis’s hopes, was marching on the British base at Camden. Lord Rawdon summoned Lt. Col. John Watson and his 400 troops back from patrol towards Georgetown. Rather then wait for the rebels to concentrate overwhelming force against him, Rawdon resolved to attack Greene before all of his supports arrived. He armed everyone in his command including teamsters and drummer boys, and on the morning of April 25, 1781 departed Camden.

Two miles away stood Greene’s army atop Hobkirk Hill. The terrain was the typical pine woods of the region. The American west (right) flank rested on Hobkirk Hill, the east flank on a swampy spring known as Johnson’s Spring and its creek running to the Little Pine Tree Creek. The long axis of Hobkirk’s Hill runs east and west. Toward the south, the direction of the British approach, the ground sloped about 100 yards to a bushy plain. The road from Camden to Waxhaws, the Great Road, was cleared to 90 feet wide, bisected Gen. Greene’s position.

Making skillful use of the wooded, low terrain parallel to the Little Pine Tree Creek, Col. Rawdon managed to lead his 840 infantry, 60 cavalry, and two six-pounder guns right up to the American picket line before being discovered. Capt. Robert Kirkwood and his devoted Delaware Continentals managed to delay the British long enough for Gen. Greene to deploy his army. On the right of the Waxhaws road stood the 1st and 2d Virginia Continentals. On the left flank were the veteran 1st and 2nd Maryland Regiments. Some 254 North Carolina militia commanded by Col. James (?) Reed provided a reserve while Lt. Col. William Washington’s 87-man cavalry detachment (only 56 with horses) served as a veteran, mobile strike force. Although Lord Rawdon had excellent intelligence regarding the composition of Greene’s army, he did not know that forty artillerists and three six-pounders had completed a march from Lynches River to reinforce the Americans. Greene stationed these guns on the road and concealed them behind his infantry. Greene’s entire force numbered about 1,250 men.

Lord Rawdon flung his forces forward into a characteristically impetuous frontal charge. The two outposts managed to buy enough time for the rebels to prepare to fight. When the American artillery unmasked, their rapid discharges of canister disorganized the British advance. Seeing that his own line overlapped the British line, Greene ordered both wings of his army to turn the British flanks, sent Washington’s cavalry on a deep envelopment, and committed the 1st Maryland and 5th Virginia in a bayonet charge to fix the British center. This maneuver should have led to an American victory. The 1st Maryland was one of the finest regiments serving in North America. It had broken Tarleton’s infantry with a bayonet charge at Cowpens and driven back Cornwallis’s Guards at Guilford Court House. Inexplicably, at Hobkirk’s Hill its morale collapsed and in broke and ran. The British 63rd Regiment capitalized on the ensuing disorder in the American ranks and pressed forward. It defeated the 2nd Maryland and turned to strike the Virginians in flank. The 4th Virginia became unnerved and broke leaving Greene with only one reliable regiment and his guns to hold his position. Greene ordered his army to retire. While helping manhandle his guns from the field Greene himself narrowly avoided capture. Fortunately, Washington’s cavalry returned and skillfully covered the American retreat.

Considering the forces involved, losses were astonishingly high. Gen. Greene lost 132 killed and 136 wounded or prisoners while Lord Rawdon lost some 260 casualties.

At the Battle of Hobkirk's Hill on April 25, 1781, Washington made too wide of a circuit to help Gen. Greene replicate the Patriot victory at Cowpens. Col. Washington got bogged down in the rear of Lord Rawdon's army, taking as many prisoners as his men could manage by pulling them up on the horses behind them. Thus burdened, the dragoons advanced on the main battle. When he saw that his comrades were losing, Washington paroled the prisoners. He rushed to help cover the American retreat and immediately charged Coffin's Tory cavalry, routing them and rescuing the precious American artillery pieces by dragging them away behind some of the dragoon's own horses. This action enabled Greene to rally most of his men a few miles away and once again keep his army intact.