Pyle's Massacre, also known as Pyle's Hacking Match or the Battle of Haw River, is fought during the American Revolutionary War in Orange County, North Carolina (present-day Alamance County, North Carolina), on February 24, 1781, between Patriot and Loyalist North Carolina militia troops
Patriot cavalry commander Continental Army Colonel Henry Lee surprises Loyalist militia under Dr. John Pyle, who thinks he is the British cavalry commander Banastre Tarleton had sent to meet them.
Lee's men then open fire, surprising and scattering Pyle's force, with Colonel Lee pursuing Tarleton in the direction of Hillsborough, North Carolina intending to capture or kill his command.
