But the American command structure functioned with the same precision exhibited by the rank and file.

From The Road to Guilford Courthouse by John Buchanan. Page 324.

Morgan left the militia in the capable hands of their commanders and galloped back to his main line where he met a situation that astounded and alarmed him. John Eager Howard had observed the flanking movement of the Scots, and to meet it he ordered Captain Wallace’s company of Virginia militia on his right to turn toward the advancing Highlanders. But amid the roar of musketry, the shouting men, the cries of the wounded and the dying, and the thick smoke that always engulfed eighteenth-century battlefields, the order was misunderstood. The Virginians thought he had ordered them to face about and withdraw. Let John Eager Howard describe what happened:

“Seeing my right flank was exposed to the enemy, I attempted to change the front of Wallace’s company (Virginia regulars); in doing it, some confusion ensued, and first a part, and then the whole of the company commenced a retreat. The officers along the line seeing this, and supposing that orders had been given for a retreat, faced their men about, and moved off.”

Recognizing that the rearward movement, although done by mistake, removed his right flank from the danger presented by McArthur’s advance, the unflappable Howard allowed it to proceed.

This was the sight confronting Morgan on his return: the Virginians, the men of Maryland and Delaware, marching to the rear. Howard continued:

“Morgan, who had mostly been with the militia, quickly rode up to me and expressed apprehensions . . . but I soon removed his fears by pointing to the line, and observing that men were not beaten who retreated in that order. He then ordered me to keep with the men until we came to the rising ground near Washington’s horse, and he rode forward to fix on the most proper place for us to halt and face about.”

The British infantry, many of their officers and sergeants dead or wounded, misinterpreted an American withdrawal being performed with drill field precision. Howard was right. The Americans were far from being beaten men. But the British regulars thought the enemy beaten, believed the moment had come to charge on the retreating Rebels and seal their victory. They “set up a great shout,” wrote Lieutenant Anderson, and came on, but in disorder, breaking their ranks, surging like a tumultuous crowd. Tarleton had lost control of his infantry. But the American command structure functioned with the same precision exhibited by the rank and file.