17 January 1781, about 8 am
Cowpens: the double envelopment
Morgan has the withdrawing Virginians halt and turn. At no more than 30 yards they fire into the British, who stop short, and Howard’s Continentals charge with the bayonet and take the two guns. Washington’s dragoons come round the American left and strike the British right and rear.
The Battle of Cowpens, painting by Don Troiani for the National GuardWikimedia Commons, The National Guard, Public domain (The Battle of Cowpens by Don Troiani (cropped).jpg)
Pickens’s militia, re-formed behind the hill, come out on the American right and attack the 71st in flank and rear, completing a circle around the American position. Caught between the attacks, many British soldiers drop to the ground or surrender, and the surrounded Highlanders give up. Tarleton orders the Legion cavalry to charge, and they ride off the field instead. He escapes with about 40 horsemen.
The battle lasts about an hour. Morgan takes 712 prisoners, and about 110 of Tarleton’s men are killed. Babits identifies by name 128 Americans killed or wounded, about twice the number in Morgan’s report.
Sources
- Lawrence E. Babits, A Devil of a Whipping (1998).
- John Buchanan, The Road to Guilford Courthouse (1997).
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