A Guide to the Battlefield and Related Sites
[Illustration: On the 75th anniversary of the battle, the Washington
Light Infantry—a Charleston militia company—marched to the
battlefield and erected this monument to the victors.]
Cowpens Battleground
Cowpens was one of the most skillfully fought battles in the annals of
the American military. It pitted a young and ruthless commander of
British dragoons—a man widely feared and hated in the South—against a
brilliant tactician and experienced leader of American militia. The
fighting was short and decisive. In less than an hour, three-fourths of
the British were killed or captured, many of them the best light troops
in the army. For Cornwallis, the rout was another in a series of
disasters that led ultimately to final defeat at Yorktown.
The park that preserves the scene of this battle is located in upstate
South Carolina, 11 miles northwest of Gaffney by way of S.C. 11. The
original park on this site was established in 1929 on an acre of ground
marking the point of some of the hardest fighting. For the bicentennial
of the battle, the park was expanded to over 842 acres, and many new
facilities—among them a visitor center, roads, trails, and waysides—were
built.
The battlefield is small enough for visitors to stroll around and replay
the maneuvers of the opposing commanders. A 1¼-mile trail loops through
the heart of the park. Two of the first stops are at the lines held by
Howard’s Continentals and Pickens’ militia. Farther along the trail you
can stand where Tarleton formed his troops into a line of battle. From
this point, the trail up the Green River Road covers ground over which
the British advanced at sunrise that cold January morning. The pitched
fighting between Continentals and redcoats that decided the contest
occurred just beyond the bend in the road.
The land is currently being restored to its appearance at the time of
the battle. In 1781, this field was a grassy meadow dotted with tall
hardwoods. A locally known pasturing ground, it was used by Carolina
farmers to fatten cattle before sending them to low-country markets.
Tarleton in his memoirs described it as an “open wood ...
disadvantageous for the Americans, and convenient for the British.” He
expected to break through the rebel lines, as he had so often done in
the past, and ride down the fleeing remnants with his cavalry.
Morgan saw the same ground as favoring him and based his plan of battle
on a shrewd appraisal of both his foe and his own men. He was happy
enough that there was no swamp nearby for his militia to flee to and
unconcerned that there were no natural obstacles covering his wings from
cavalry. He knew his adversary, he claimed, “and was perfectly sure I
should have nothing but downright fighting. As to retreat, it was the
very thing I wished to cut off all hope of.... When men are forced to
fight, they will sell their lives dearly.” So Morgan deployed his men
according to their abilities and handled them in battle with rare skill.
They rewarded him, militia and regular alike, with what was probably the
patriots’ best-fought battle of the war.
Cowpens was only one battle in a long campaign. For perspective, nine
other sites of the War in the South are described on the following
pages. Several of them are administered by public agencies; a few are
barely marked and may be hard to find. Travelers will find two works
useful: _Landmarks of the American Revolution_ by Mark M. Boatner III
(1975) and _The Bicentennial Guide to the American Revolution, Volume 3,
The War in the South_ by Sol Stember (1974).
[Illustration: This monument was erected by the government in 1932
to commemorate the battle. It originally stood in the center of
Morgan’s third line but was moved to this location when the new
visitor center was built for the Bicentennial.]
[Illustration: These hardwoods along the patriots’ third line
suggest the open woods that contemporaries agree covered the Cowpens
at the time of the battle.]
[Illustration: Map]
VIRGINIA
Appalachian National Scenic Trail
Blacksburg
Roanoke
Lynchburg
James River
To Yorktown and Colonial National Historical Park
Blue Ridge Parkway
NORTH CAROLINA
Danville
Winston-Salem
Guilford Courthouse National Military Park
Burlington
High Point
Greensboro
Durham
Chapel Hill
Raleigh
Hickory
Salisbury
Fayetteville
Moores Creek National Battlefield
Kannapolis
Gastonia
Charlotte
Wilmington
SOUTH CAROLINA
Cowpens National Battlefield
Gaffney
Kings Mountain National Military Park
Spartanburg
Rock Hill
Waxhaws
Ninety Six National Historic Site
Camden Battlefield
Camden
Florence
Columbia
Eutaw Springs Historical Area
Charleston
GEORGIA
Augusta
The Road to Yorktown
Savannah 1778-79
[Illustration: The British opened their campaign against the South
with the capture of this city in late 1778. They went on to conquer
Georgia and threaten the Carolinas. To retake the city, French and
American infantry opened a siege in the fall of 1779. The British
repulsed the allied attacks with great losses. Some of the hardest
fighting swirled around Spring Hill Redoubt. Nothing remains of this
earthwork. A plaque on Railroad Street is the only reminder of the
battle.]
Charleston 1780
[Illustration: The British laid siege to this city in spring 1780.
Trapped inside was the entire Southern army, 5,000 troops under Gen.
Benjamin Lincoln. When Lincoln surrendered, it was one of the most
crushing defeats of the war for the Continentals. Only a few
evidences of the war remain, among them a tabby wall (part of the
patriots’ defensive works) in Marion Square and a statue of William
Pitt, damaged in the shelling, in a park in the lower city.]
Waxhaws 1780
[Illustration: The only sizable force not trapped inside Charleston
was a regiment of Continentals under Abraham Buford. Pursuing hard,
Tarleton caught them on May 29, 1780, in a clearing. His dragoons
and infantry swarmed over Buford’s lines. The result was a
slaughter. Many Continentals were killed trying to surrender. The
massacre inspired the epithet “Bloody” Tarleton.
Site located 9 miles east of Lancaster, S.C., on Rt. 522. Marked by
a monument and common grave.]
Camden 1780
[Illustration: After the fall of Charleston, Congress sent Gates
south to stop the British. On August 16 he collided with Cornwallis
outside this village. The battle was another American disaster. The
militia broke and ran, and the Continentals were overwhelmed. This
defeat was the low point of the war in the South. Historic Camden
preserves remnants of the Revolutionary town. The battlefield is
several miles north of town. This stone marks the place where the
heroic DeKalb fell.]
Kings Mountain 1780
[Illustration: When Cornwallis invaded North Carolina in autumn
1780, he sent Patrick Ferguson ranging into the upcountry. A band of
“over-mountain” men—tired of his threats and depredations—trapped
him and his American loyalists on this summit. In a savage battle on
October 7, they killed or wounded a third of his men and captured
the rest. The defeat was Cornwallis’s first setback in his campaign
to conquer the South. Administered by NPS.]
Guilford Courthouse 1781
[Illustration: Armies under Nathanael Greene and Cornwallis fought
one of the decisive battles of the Revolutionary War here on March
15. In two hours of hard fighting, Cornwallis drove Greene from the
field, but at such cost that he had to break off campaigning and
fall back to the coast.
Located on the outskirts of Greensboro, N.C. Administered by the
National Park Service.]
Ninety Six 1781
[Illustration: Located on the main trading route to the Cherokees,
this palisaded village was the most important British outpost in the
South Carolina back country. Greene laid siege to the garrison here
from May 22 to June 19, 1781, but could not subdue the post. A
relief force raised the siege, which was soon evacuated and burned.
The star fort and some buildings have been reconstructed.
Park administered by the National Park Service.]
Eutaw Springs 1781
[Illustration: The last major battle in the lower South (September
8, 1781), Eutaw Springs matched Greene with 2,200 troops against
1,900 redcoats. The outcome was a draw. The British retreated to
Charleston, and there they remained the rest of the war.
A memorial park stands on Rt. 6. just east of Eutawville, S.C. The
original battlefield is under the waters of Lake Marion.]
Yorktown 1781
[Illustration: Cornwallis’s surrender at this little port town on
October 19, 1781, brought the war to an effective end. The victory
was a consequence of the Franco-American alliance. French ships
blockaded the harbor and prevented resupply, while Washington’s
powerful force of Continentals and French regulars besieged the
British by land. After a long bombardment and a night attack that
captured two redoubts, Cornwallis asked for terms.
Administered by NPS.]
For Further Reading
For those who wish to explore the story of Cowpens in more depth, the
following books will be helpful. _Daniel Morgan, Revolutionary Rifleman_
by Don Higgenbotham (1961) is a well-paced, solidly researched narrative
of the Old Wagoner’s adventurous life. Still valuable, especially for
its wealth of quotations from Morgan’s correspondence, is James Graham’s
_Life of General Morgan_ (1856). On the struggle for the South Carolina
back-country, _Ninety Six_ by Robert D. Bass (1978) is the best modern
study. Edward McCrady’s two-volume work, _A History of South Carolina in
the Revolution_ (1901), is also useful. For personal anecdotes about the
savage civil war between rebels and loyalists, _Traditions and
Reminiscences, Chiefly of the American Revolution in the South_ by
Joseph Johnson, M.D. (1851) is a basic source book. Equally illuminating
is James Collins’ _Autobiography of a Revolutionary Soldier_, published
in _Sixty Years in the Nueces Valley_ (1930). Biographies of other men
who participated in Cowpens are not numerous. _Skyagunsta_ by A. L.
Pickens (1934) mingles legend and fact about Andrew Pickens. _Piedmont
Partisan_ by Chalmers G. Davidson (1951) is a balanced account of
William Lee Davidson. _James Jackson, Duelist and Militant Statesman_ by
William O. Foster (1960) is a competent study of the fiery Georgia
leader. _The Life of Major General Nathanael Greene_ by George
Washington Greene (1871) gives the reader a look at the battle from the
viewpoint of the American commander in the South. For the British side
of the story, one of the best accounts is Banastre Tarleton’s _A History
of the Campaign of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Provinces of North
America_ (1787), available in a reprint edition. _The Green Dragoon_ by
Robert D. Bass (1957) gives a more objective view of Tarleton’s meteoric
career. Two other useful books are _Strictures on Lt. Col. Tarleton’s
History_ by Roderick Mackenzie (1788), an officer who fought at Cowpens
with the 71st Regiment, and _The History of the Origin, Progress and
Termination of the American War_ by Charles Stedman (1794), a British
officer who was extremely critical of Tarleton. Both are available in
reprint editions. _Cornwallis, the American Adventure_ by Franklin and
Mary Wickwire (1970) has an excellent account of Cowpens—and the whole
war in the South—from the viewpoint of Tarleton’s commander. _Rise and
Fight Again_ by Charles B. Flood (1976) ably discusses the influence of
Cowpens and other Southern battles on the ultimate decision at Yorktown.
—_Thomas J. Fleming_
Index
A
Anderson, Lt. Thomas, 44
B
Backcountry, British strategy in, 19
Blackstocks: battle of, 29, 54, 57, 61
Brandon, Thomas, 42, 60
Bratton, William, 42
Briar Creek (Ga.); battle of, 51
British Legion, 26, 28, 41, 47, 54, 70, 72
Broad River, 28, 30, 31, 40, 46, 54, 82;
tactical importance of, 44
Browne, Thomas, 20
Buford, Col. Abraham, 26
C
Camden (S.C.), 20, 22, 51;
battle of, 18
Charleston (S.C.), 18, 26, 50;
map, 27
Cheraw Hills, 39, 83
Civil war in the South, 19ff, 84
Clarke, Elijah, 20, _21_, 33ff, 61
Collins, James, 57, 60, 66, 67, 84
Cornwallis, Charles, Earl, _13_, 18, 20, 29, 30, 33, 40, 50, 61,
82;
army under, 22
Cowpens, nature of terrain, 55ff;
significance of battle, 84ff
Cruger, Col. John H., 29, 33, 34
Cunningham, Maj. John, 35, 42, 61
D
Davidson, Col. William, 38, 41, 42
Duncasson, Capt., 77
E
Easterwood Shoals, 43
F
Fair Forest Creek, 35
Fairforest Shoals, 60
Fishdam Ford, battle of, 28
Fishing Creek, battle of, 28, 60, 67
G
Gates, Gen. Horatio, _13_, 18, 21, 56
Glaubech, Baron de, 13
Goudelock, the rebel, 81ff.
Great Savannah, battle of, 50
Green River Road, 44, 45, 47, 61, 63, 76, 82
Greene, Gen. Nathanael, _18_, 21, 23, 33, 39, 40, 83, 84
Grindal Shoals, 12, 31, 35, 82
H
Haldane, Lt. Henry, 30, 33
Hamiltons Ford, 81, 82
Hammonds Store, 30, 34
Hanger, Maj. George, 54, 69
Hanging Rock, 47
Howard, Lt. Col. John Eager, _52_, 55, 70ff, 83
Hughes, Joseph, 60, 68
I
Inman, Joshua, 61
Island Ford, 44, 45
J
Jackson, Lt. Col. James, 35, 42, 61, 72, 76
Jackson, Dr. Robert, 72, 80
K
Kennedy, William, 60
Kettle Creek, 32
Kings Mountain, 42, 43, 61, 81
L
Lee, Gen. Charles, 23
Legion dragoons, 26, 28, 43, 69, 72
Lenuds Ferry, 26, 76
Leslie, Sir Alexander, _31_, 39
Lincoln, Gen. Benjamin, 18, _26_
Long Canes, 32, 33, 34
Loyalists, 20, 21, 84
M
Marion, Francis, _20_, 21, 28, 50, 84
Maryland and Delaware Continentals, 18, 55, 70, 71, 76
Mathews, John, 84
McArthur, Maj. Archibald, 30, 51, 64, 69, 70, 76
McCall, James, 34, 42, 56
McDowell, Maj. Joseph, 42, 61
McJunkin, Joseph, 12, 13, 19, 20, 23, 80, 82
Militia, 13, 18, 35, 40, 43;
at Cowpens, 65ff, 72, 80
Morgan, Gen. Daniel; 12, _14_, 22, 23, 30, 35, 38, 39, 41, 42ff;
youth and reputation, 13;
nickname, 22;
characterized, 15;
battle plan, 45, 55-7;
urges militia to join him, 44;
exhorts troops before battle, 62;
in battle, 65ff;
leads final retreat, 83;
voted gold medal, 83;
letter from Washington, 85
Musgrove’s Mill, 42, 61
N
Newmarsh, Maj. Timothy, 50, 64-6
Ninety Six (S.C.), 22, 23, 29, 32, 38, 61, 85;
map, 30
O
Ogilvie, Capt. David, 54, 63
P
Pacolet River, 12, 34, 35, 38, 42, 43, 55
Pickens, Col. Andrew, 13, _33_, 34, 35, 41, 60, 61;
characterized, 32;
his command at Cowpens, 56;
in battle, 65ff, 80ff;
receives silver sword, 83
Pindell, Dr. Richard, 80
Prince of Wales Regt., 47
R
Riflemen at Cowpens, 57, 62
Royal Artillery, 51, 71ff
S
Saratoga, Morgan’s tactics at, 55
Seymour, Sgt. William, 67
7th Fusiliers, 31, 50, 65, 69
17th Light Dragoons, 31, 54, 72
71st Highlanders, 51, 64, 69
16th Light Infantry, 47
Sumter, Col. Thomas, _19_, 20, 21, 28, 33, 35, 40, 57
T
Tarleton, Col. Banastre, 13, _24_;
characterized, 25;
career, 23-29;
pursues Morgan, 30, 42, 46;
composition of army, 47ff;
battle plan, 54-55, 63ff;
in battle, 67, 71ff, 80;
escapes with Legion dragoons, 81;
reports to Cornwallis, 82
Thicketty Creek, 35, 41, 43, 81
Thicketty Mountain, 63
Thompson’s Plantation, 35, 81
Turkey Creek, 61, 81, 82
W
Washington, George, 13, 21, 85
Washington, Col. William, 13, 30, 34, 56, _63_, 67, 70, 80;
duels with Tarleton, 76, _78_-79;
voted silver medal, 83
Waxhaws, 26, 28, 33
Williamson, Gen. Andrew, 32
Winn, Richard, 40, 45, 55
Wofford’s iron works, 41, 43
Y
Young, John, 57
Young, Thomas, 57, 66, 68, 70, 71, 77, 80, 82
Credits
4-5, 8-9: William A. Bake
10-11: “The Battle of Cowpens,” by Francis Kimmelmeyer, 1809. Yale
University.
13: Portrait of Gates by Charles Willson Peale. Collection of
Independence National Historical Park.
Cornwallis by Thomas Gainsborough, National Portrait Gallery,
London.
14: Daniel Morgan by CWPeale. Independence NHP.
18: Nathanael Greene by CWPeale. Independence NHP.
19: Thomas Sumter by Rembrandt Peale. Independence NHP.
20: Francis Marion, a detail from a painting by John B. White. Anne
S.K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library.
21: Elijah Clarke, Georgia Department of Archives and History.
23: New-York Historical Society.
24: Banastre Tarleton by Sir Joshua Reynolds. National Portrait
Gallery, London.
25: Mary Robinson, an engraving after a painting by Reynolds.
Collection of Sir John Tilney. Tarleton birthplace. Liverpool
City Libraries.
26: Benjamin Lincoln by CW Peale. Independence NHP.
27: Library of Congress
28: Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library.
29: Library of Congress
30: Map from Francis V. Greene, _General Greene_ (1893).
31: Alexander Leslie by Gainsborough. Scottish National Portrait
Gallery, Edinburgh.
33: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
36-37 (except pistols), 47 (fife), 56-57: The George C. Neumann
Collection, a gift of the Sun Company to Valley Forge National
Historical Park, 1978.
Dragoon pistol: The Smithsonian Institution.
Officer’s pistol: Fort Pitt Museum.
48-49: all by Don Troiani except the 17th Light Dragoon, which is by
Gerry Embleton.
52-53: Maryland Historical Society
54: Musée du L’Empéri, Bouche du Rhône, France.
58-59: Don Troiani.
63: CW Peale. Independence NHP.
64-65: Don Troiani.
69: Don Troiani.
74-75: Artist, Richard Schlecht. Courtesy, National Geographic
Society.
83: Maryland Historical Society
86-87, 89, 93 (Ninety Six), William A. Bake.
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
As the Nation’s principal conservation agency, the Department of the
Interior has responsibility for most of our nationally owned public
lands and natural resources. This responsibility includes fostering the
wisest use of our land and water resources, protecting our fish and
wildlife, preserving the environmental and cultural values of our
national parks and historical places, and providing for the enjoyment of
life through outdoor recreation. The Department assesses our energy and
mineral resources and works to assure that their development is in the
interest of all our people. The Department also has a major
responsibility for American Indian reservation communities and for
people who live in island territories under U.S. administration.
Transcriber’s Notes
—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.
—Relocated all image captions to be immediately under the corresponding
images, removing redundant references like ”preceding page”.
—Silently corrected a few palpable typos.
—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.