A production of South Carolina E.T.V.

(Mary Long) In the winter of 1780, the American Army was co nducting military engagements against the British in northwestern South Carolina.

Under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, they raided British outposts and endeavored to force the superior British forces to divide.

This strategy worked well but had a very unexpected development.

The British sent a crack contingent of 1,050 trained soldiers under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton to find, pursue, and destroy them.

The British found the Americans in Cherokee County in a field called Cowpens.

♪ [contemporary acoustic guitar music] ♪ ♪ ♪ Military actions at Concord, Lexington, Trenton, Saratoga, Yorktown... each has a prominent place in the history of the American Revolution.

But a battle fought in a field called Cowpens deserves special prominence, because it was here that was fought one of the most brilliant tactical battles of the war.

Indeed, it changed the future of the Revolution in South Carolina.

It's important to understand the condition the Revolution was in before the Battle of Cowpens.

In the North, the war was virtually at a stalemate, so the war moved south.

There were 137 engagements in South Carolina alone, more than in any other state.

Some were small skirmishes, but others were on such a scale that they would affect appreciably the outcome of the war for American independence.

♪ The Revolution was a strange kind of war... part rebellion, part civil war.

On one hand were the Whigs, or Patriots, who believed in the right of self-government.

They opposed the Tories, who defended the rights of the King.

A large percentage of forces for both the British and Americans were partisans, native Americans who enlisted to defend the ideals in which they believed.

♪ The Americans found the diversity of South Carolina's geography to their military advantage.

The American troops, which were Continental soldiers and partisan militia, were often outnumbered by the British forces, who were better trained and better equipped.

The rugged wilderness to the north and the swamplands to the south made conventional warfare very difficult.

So the Americans would use the terrain to strike fast and leave quickly, having the landscape as part of the cover for their escape.

These guerilla-type warfare tactics kept American losses low and the British off balance and confused.

The general of the American Army in South Carolina was an ex-Quaker from Rhode Island, Major General Nathanael Greene.

He was handpicked by George Washington to command the Continental Army in the South, which had experienced hardship and defeat under the leadership of Major General Horatio Gates.

♪ When General Greene assumed command in Charlotte, North Carolina, he found the Continental Army, in his own words, "wretched beyond description."

Because troop morale was low and he was outnumbered, Greene decided to divide his army.

Half was sent to the Lowcountry where guerilla warfare was employed.

The other half was sent here, to the northwestern part of the state.

This strategy accomplished two things.

First, it gave Greene time to rebuild his army.

Second, it forced the British to divide their army to engage the Americans.

♪ ♪ In the northwest, Daniel Morgan commanded 600 light infantry accompanied by Colonel William Washington's cavalry.

Although Morgan's army was small, over half was composed of seasoned veteran Continentals from Maryland and Delaware who had recently fought in the Battle of Camden.

Morgan himself served gallantly in northern campaigns and was said to be one of the most reliable officers in the American Army.

Before the war, Morgan had served as a teamster and was known to his men as The Old Wagoner.

Morgan's mission was to harass the British outposts in this part of the state, forcing Lord Cornwallis to divide his army and give chase.

Cornwallis, from his command post in Winnsboro, sent a detail to Camden to force General Greene to be contained within the South.

Then he sent 1,050 soldiers to find Morgan's army and destroy it.

Now, this army was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton.

Tarleton was a ruthless commander.

A few months earlier at the Battle of the Waxhaws, he earned the nickname Bloody Tarleton.

At that battle when Americans found themselves overwhelmed by superior British forces, they attempted to surrender.

They displayed the white flag, but that didn't stop the Tarleton men from slaughtering all the Americans.

So the cry "Tarleton's quarter!"

was embedded in the minds of all Patriots.

They had no doubt what their fate would be if they were ever overtaken by the green-coated dragoon commander.

♪ Morgan wasn't completely unaware of Cornwallis' decision because he had a very important piece of military intelligence.

It came to him by way of a small boy with big ears.

A 9-year-old boy was to take some supplies to the British camp and sell them... an old bull and some potatoes.

His father told him while there to listen carefully to everything and not to forget a single thing he heard.

While moving about the camp, the boy heard a conversation between Cornwallis and a cavalry officer in a green coat.

Everyone knew that Tarleton always wore a green coat, so the boy listened very, very eagerly.

When he came home he told his father, and together they rushed to Morgan's camp to tell The Old Wagoner, "Tarleton was told to take a thousand men and follow you up and fight you!"

This was a piece of priceless information.

♪ Morgan's first thought was to outrun his enemy, but the Green Dragoon was already on his way.

On January 16, 1781, Morgan's scouts brought word that Tarleton's forces were only 5 miles away and moving in fast.

Morgan had to make a quick decision.

Should he continue to run, hoping to avoid an engagement with Tarleton, or should he turn, face his enemy head on, and make a stand?

Realizing he would be soon overtaken by Tarleton's cavalry, Morgan stopped here at this pasture in upper Cherokee County near the North Carolina line.

It was known as Cowpens.

For years this area had been used as grazing land for cattle.

It was also the staging area for the Battle of Kings Mountain.

Other than that, it had little military significance.

Cowpens was to be, as General Morgan announced, the place where he would, "whip them here or lay down my bones!"

Morgan had his men make camp for the night in anticipation of the coming battle.

All through the night, reinforcements arrived at the camp until there were 900 men, very anxious for battle.

Morgan's command was composed of the colonels Andrew Pickens of South Carolina, William Washington of Virginia, and John Eager Howard of Maryland.

Andrew Pickens was a partisan leader whose military capabilities had been proven earlier in the Cherokee War on the South Carolina frontier.

He had fought in the Revolution but had retired from the war effort after the fall of Charleston.

He felt resistance to the British was useless.

The British paroled him, and he gave his pledge never again to take up arms against the King.

However, in 1780, a group of marauding Loyalists and Redcoats plundered his plantation, and this so angered him that he felt this act of violation nullified his pledge.

Pickens gathered a militia composed of loyal followers and once again took up arms in the fight for freedom.

♪ Colonel William Washington was in charge of the cavalry.

He was a brilliant officer whose imagination in battle had been proven some months earlier.

In April of 1780, he was patrolling between Charlotte and Camden, investigating a report that some Tories had quartered in a place called Rugeley's Mill.

He found Tories in a heavily fortified barn 12 miles north of Camden.

Realizing he could never take the barn with small arms alone, he had his men fashion a cannon out of a pine log.

He then yelled to the Tories that they should surrender or be blown to bits by his cannon!

The Loyalist commander, Colonel Henry Rugeley, took one look at the American artillery and ordered his men to surrender immediately!

[chuckling] Over 100 Tories were captured.

It was a great bloodless victory for Washington and the end of Colonel Rugeley's military career.

[leaves crunching underfoot] The night before the battle, knowing he had to devise a trap for Tarleton from which there was no escape, General Daniel Morgan got very little sleep.

A militia veteran, Thomas Young, later recorded the activities of that night and wrote... (male speaker) "Morgan went among the volunteers, "helped fix their swords, "joked with them about their sweethearts, "told them to keep in good spirits "and the day would be ours.

"Long after I had lain down, "he was encouraging them, "telling them The Old Wagoner would crack his whip over Tarleton in the morning!"

♪ [lively flute music] Morgan spent most of the night going through his camp, located here.

He stopped by each campfire and encouraged his soldiers.

"Just hold up your heads, boys.

"Three rounds of fire, and you're home free.

"And when you go back home, "how the old folks will bless you "and the girls kiss you for your gallant conduct."

The morning of January 17, 1781, Morgan's pickets rushed in saying Bloody Tarleton was near!

An hour before daybreak Morgan roused his sleeping soldiers by saying, "Boys, get up!

Get up!

Banny is coming."

[insects chirping] Morgan selected a long, gently rising slope as the center position for his main body of troops.

Here he posted a line of 450 men.

They were battle-hardened veterans, Delaware and Maryland Continental soldiers and experienced Virginia militia.

Morgan placed two lines of militia well out in front of the main body.

This was to be the initial skirmish line.

Morgan knew th e limitations of the militia, as they were mostly short-term recruits with very little battle experience.

He knew the militiamen were liable to fall back when faced with overwhelming British numbers, so he used this weakness to his advantage.

He planned for them to fall back toward his more experienced troops, thereby catching Tarleton in a trap.

The militia was under the direct command of Colonel Andrew Pickens.

One hundred and fifty sharpshooters were chosen for this first-line position.

They were to conceal themselves in the tall grass and behind trees.

When Tarleton's men approached, th ey were to fire twice and run back to the second line of militia.

The second line of militia, with these sharpshooters reinforcing them, were to fire and to single out officers as targets.

They were told to look for epaulets, the shoulder markings of an officer.

Morgan felt if most officers were eliminated, the common foot soldiers would be at a loss for command.

As part of the plan, when the British got close, the militia was to fall back, proceed around th e left flank of Continentals, and regroup in the rear.

Another line of defense was Colonel Washington's cavalry, who were placed in reserve behind the slope to the rear of the main body of Continentals.

This would conceal Washington's cavalry from the view of an approaching force.

Washington's cavalry would emerge and rout the enemy.

With everyone in position, all that Morgan could do now was wait until sunrise.

As dawn broke on that crisp January morning, the sunlight revealed Tarleton's force of 1100 men.

With his men in place, Tarleton issued the command to advance.

The time had come... the Battle of Cowpens had begun.

With cannon fire providing cover, the British line made their advance, and Morgan's plan was working perfectly.

Sharpshooters fired and fell back to the second line.

The second line of militia poured steady fire at the British and eliminated many officers, but the disciplined British line kept coming, their bayonets before them.

When the British drew near, Colonel Pickens directed his militia to retreat.

They withdrew to the rear of the main body of Continentals in order to reform.

At this point Tarleton made the mistake for which Morgan had planned.

His cavalry made a headlong charge at the retreating militia, thinking that they were on the run.

Colonel William Washington's cavalry was waiting for Tarleton just behind the slope.

The British now faced the third line of American Continentals, and the Patriots fired volley after volley until the British line was checked.

Tarleton then sent his infantry reserve to envelop the apparently unprotected right flank of the Continental's line.

This line was under the command of Colonel John Eager Howard of Maryland.

He ordered the right section of the line to meet the new British threat.

The Americans misunderstood Howard's orders and began to retreat.

This was not part of the plan.

Morgan was alarmed, but thinking quickly, he seized the moment and turned this mistake into an extraordinary military opportunity.

Morgan yelled to Colonel Howard, "Have them follow me!

"When they get to where I'm standing, have them face about and fire!"

This maneuver was to be the turning point of the Battle of Cowpens.

The British surged forward in wave after wave, expecting victory at any moment.

But Colonel Washington watched the British advance and sent word to Morgan, "They're coming like a mob!

Give them one fire, and I'll charge them."

When the retreating Continentals reached their new position, they turned, took aim, and blasted the British line, which was not more than 30 yards away.

The British fell in disorder and confusion.

Colonel Howard then ordered the Continentals to charge the British with their bayonets.

This was totally unexpected.

As Howard's Continentals made their bayonet charge, Washington's cavalry thundered do wn on the enemy's right side.

The final blow to the British came from Andrew Pickens' South Carolina militia.

During the battle, he and his men had made a complete circle behind the battlefield and reappeared mysteriously at the right moment from the opposite side.

The main British force was surrounded.

The deployment of the American forces was perfect.

It was a beautifully executed double envelopment.

Panic swept through the British lines.

Tarleton made one last desperate move to rally his cavalry, but only 54 horsemen joined him fo r that one last charge.

The effort failed, and the Green Dragoon took the remnants of his army and retreated.

Colonel Washington turned in hot pursuit of Tarleton.

He was so eager that he raced ahead of his troops and was virtually alone when he caught Tarleton.

Washington and Tarleton crossed swords, their horses circling as they clashed.

Washington narrowly escaped death when a Redcoat attempted what would have been a fatal blow with his sword.

He was saved by a 14-year-old bugler, who drew his pistol and shot the British assailant in the shoulder.

While fleeing, Tarleton fired his pistol at Washington.

The shot missed, but killed Washington's horse.

That shot is said to have been the last fired at the Battle of Cowpens.

As far as tactics are concerned, there wasn't a more brilliant action fought during the Revolution than the Battle of Cowpens.

And what of the men who engineered this stunning victory?

Colonel William Washington continued to fight in South Carolina.

In September of 1781 at the Battle of Eutaw Springs, he was bayoneted, captured by the British, and taken as a prisoner to Charleston.

Later in Charleston, he married Jane Riley Elliott and continued to live there until his death in 1810.

[no dialogue] John Eager Howard returned to Maryland.

In his later years, he served as governor and United States senator.

Before his death in 1827, he gave a parcel of property to the city of Baltimore to be used as the site of a monument to George Washington, a monument designed by South Carolina architect Robert Mills.

[no dialogue] Andrew Pickens lived for a while on lands in Georgia, which he received for fighting in the Indian wars.

Later he moved to Pendleton and built a beautiful home...Hopewell.

Finally, when to his mind Pendleton became too crowded, he moved to Tamassee, the site of one of his successful Indian battles.

He lived and died there among his fields, his trees, and his mountains... a true frontiersman.

[insects chirping] Shortly after the battle, suffering from ill health, Morgan returned to Virginia.

In the summer of 1781, he joined the forces of the Marquis de Lafayette in his pursuit of Cornwallis.

In July, Cornwallis assigned British troops under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton to pursue the Marquis de Lafayette near Petersburg, Virginia.

As Tarleton prepared to take the field against the Continentals, he noticed in the opposing forces Daniel Morgan and his militiamen.

He turned and fled the field, evidently not willing to risk his life and reputation twice against the man who had defeated him here so soundly.

In 1790, Morgan received a gold medal from Congress for his achievement here at Cowpens.

[gravel crunching underfoot] In later years, Morgan was active in politics and prospered financially.

By 1796, he owned 250,000 acres of land in Virginia.

He died in 1802 near his home in Winchester, Virginia.

It's been said of him, "Daniel Morgan remains a symbol "of many who sacrificed themselves for their country "to the limit of their physical and mental endurance.

"Historically, he stands as an ultimate example of field soldier and prominent frontiersman."

Today, we walk through this national park seeing wildflowers and peacefully waiting trees.

Yet here, over 200 years ago, men made a stand in their fight for freedom, and still over this battlefield, we can still hear their determined cry for independence, democracy, and unalienable human rights.

For here, men who would not be denied their dreams fought and died... here, in a field called Cowpens.

[no audio] ♪ [contemporary acoustic guitar music] ♪ Program captioned by: CompuScripts Captioning, Inc. 80 3.988.8438 ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [no audio] (male speaker) Cowpens National Battlefield is in upstate South Carolina 11 miles northwest of Gaffney on South Carolina Highway 11.

The visitor can enjoy a 1-1/4-mile trail which loops through the park.

You may actually stand where Tarleton formed troops into a line of battle.

Then follow Green River Road, over which the British advanced on that cold January morning.

A visit to Cowpens National Battlefield will prove to be both exciting and very educational.

For more information...