How Many Boats?
In an effort to more fully visualize the Crossing of the Dan, a few calculations are helpful in understanding what the scene may have looked like. Greene’s total force was reportedly 2036 men during the Council of War at Guilford. Carrington had been quoted earlier as saying there were only 6 boats available between Dix’s and Boyd’s Ferries. If we can use an estimate of 10 men per boat, there would have needed to be 204 boat crossings just for the troops. Each boat would have had to make 34 round trips to get the entire army across the Dan River. Assuming Greene’s troops and wagons began the crossing near noon on the 14th, and that Lee’s troops finished around 9 p.m., the entire crossing took 9 hours. Is it reasonable to think that each boat could make 34 trips in a 9 hour period? This would be about 15 minutes per round trip. What does this mean? There must have been more boats. From pension records we know there were several smaller boats and canoes involved in the process from Pitts
