Present Greenville, North Carolina is founded in 1771 as "Martinsborough," after the Royal Governor Josiah Martin.

In 1774 the town will be moved to its present location on the south bank of the Tar River, three miles (five kilometers) west of its original site.

In 1786, the name will be changed to Greenesville in honor of General Nathanael Greene, the American Revolutionary War hero.

It will later be shortened to Greenville.

The North Carolina General Assembly had in 1771 passed an act establishing the town of Martinsborough, named for Royal Governor Josiah Martin, on the land of Richard Evans, to serve as the county seat of Pitt County.

The town is moved in 1774 to its present location on the south bank of the Tar River, three miles (five kilometers) west of its original site. (The name will be changed in 1786 to Greenesville to honor General Nathanael Greene, the American Revolutionary War hero, and later shortened to Greenville.)

North Carolina's royal governor, Josiah Martin, with political and military tensions rising in the Thirteen Colonies in early 1775, had hoped to combine the recruiting of Scots settlers in the North Carolina interior with that of sympathetic former Regulators (a group originally opposed to corrupt colonial administration) and disaffected Loyalists in the coastal areas to build a large Loyalist force to counteract Patriot sympathies in the province.

His petition to London to recruit one thousand men had been rejected, but he has continued efforts to rally Loyalist support.

At about the same time, Scotsman Allan Maclean had successfully lobbied King George III for permission to recruit Loyalist Scots throughout North America.

In April, he had received royal permission to raise a regiment known as the Royal Highland Emigrants by recruiting retired Scottish soldiers living in North America.

One battalion was to be recruited in the northern provinces, including New York, Quebec and Nova Scotia, while a second battalion was to be raised in North Carolina and other southern provinces, where a large number of these soldiers had been given land.

After receiving his commissions from General Thomas Gage in June, Maclean had sent Donald MacLeod and Donald MacDonald, two veterans of the June 17 Battle of Bunker Hill, south to lead the recruitment drive there.

These recruiters are also aware that Allan MacDonald, husband of the famous Jacobite heroine Flora MacDonald, is already actively recruiting in North Carolina.

Their arrival at New Bern is cause for suspicion by members of North Carolina's Committee of Safety, but they have not been  arrested.

On January 3, 1776, Martin learns that an expedition of more than two thousand troops under the command of General Henry Clinton is planned for the southern colonies and that their arrival is expected in mid-February.

He sends word to the recruiters that he expects them to deliver recruits to the coast by February 15, and dispatches Alexander Maclean to Cross Creek (present-day Fayetteville) to coordinate activities in that area.

Mclean optimistically reports to Martin that he will raise and equip five thousand Regulators and a thousand Scots.

There is disagreement, in a meeting of Scots and Regulator leaders at Cross Creek on February 5, on how to proceed.

The Scots want to wait until the British troops have actually arrived before mustering, while the Regulators want to move immediately

The views of the latter prevail since they claim to be able to raise five thousand men, while the Scots expect to raise only seven hundred to eight hundred.

When the forces muster on February 15, there are about thirty-five hundred men, but the number rapidly dwindles over the next few days.

Many men had expected to be met and escorted by British troops and do not relish the possibility of having to fight their way to the coast.

When they march three days later, Brigadier General Donald MacDonald will lead between fourteen hundred and sixteen hundred men, predominantly Scots.

This number will be further reduced over the coming days as more men desert the column.

Word of the Cross Creek meeting had reached members of the Revolutionary North Carolina Provincial Congress a few days after it happened.

The colonies are broadly prosperous on the eve of the American Revolution.

Pursuant to resolutions of the Second Continental Congress, the provincial congress had raised the 1st North Carolina Regiment of the Continental Army in fall 1775, and given command to Colonel James Moore.

Local committees of safety in Wilmington and New Bern also have active militia organizations, led by Alexander Lillington and Richard Caswell respectively.

On February 15 the Patriot forces begin to mobilize.

Moore leads six hundred and fifty Continentals out of Wilmington with the objective of preventing the Loyalists from reaching the coast.

They camp on the southern shore of Rockfish Creek on February 15, about seven miles (eleven kilometers) from the Loyalist camp.

General MacDonald learns of their arrival, and sends Moore a copy of a proclamation issued by Governor Martin and a letter calling on the rebels to lay down their arms.

Moore responds with his own call that the Loyalists lay down their arms and support the cause of Congress.

In the meantime, Caswell leads eight hundred New Bern militiamen toward the area.

North Carolina Loyalists charge across Moore's Creek Bridge near Wilmington to attack what they mistakenly believe to be a small force of rebels.

Several loyalist leaders are killed in the ensuing battle.

The patriot victory virtually ends all British authority in the town.

Clinton arrives at Cape Fear on March 12, expecting to find the European convoy already here.

He meets with the royal governors of North and South Carolina, Josiah Martin and William Campbell, and learns that the recruited Scottish Loyalists had been defeated at Moore's Creek Bridge two weeks earlier.

Clinton also receives pleas for assistance from the royal governor of Georgia, James Wright, who had been arrested, then escaped to a navy ship.

Parker's fleet had had an extremely difficult crossing. Battered by storms and high seas, the first ships of the fleet did not arrive at Cape Fear until April 18, and Cornwallis had not not arrived until May 3.

After several weeks there, in which the British troops raid Patriot properties, Clinton, Cornwallis and Parker conclude hat Cape Fear is not a suitable base for further operations.

Parker had sent out some ships on scouting expeditions up and down the coast, and reports on the partially finished condition of the Charleston defenses are sufficiently promising that the decision is made to go there.