Reference Entry
BATTLE OF COWPENS
In the winter of the southern campaign, Brigadier General Daniel Morgan led a mixed American force against Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s hard–driving British Legion near the Cowpens in South Carolina. Morgan carefully chose ground that favored his outnumbered Continentals and militia, laying out successive lines so that each could fall back in an orderly way rather than dissolve in panic.
Dated Historical Context
A RECORDED MOMENT IN HISTORY
Battle of Cowpens
In the winter of the southern campaign, Brigadier General Daniel Morgan led a mixed American force against Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s hard–driving British Legion near the Cowpens in South Carolina. Morgan carefully chose ground that favored his outnumbered Continentals and militia, laying out successive lines so that each could fall back in an orderly way rather than dissolve in panic. When British troops pushed forward, believing the Americans were routing as usual, they walked into a controlled double–envelopment as fresh Continental regulars pivoted and militia units returned to the fight. The result was a sharp, humiliating defeat for British cavalry and light infantry, with heavy losses in men and morale. Cowpens shattered a key part of Lord Cornwallis’s striking power in the south and helped set the stage for the chain of events that led to Yorktown.
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