17 January 1781, dawn
Cowpens: Morgan’s three lines
Daniel Morgan makes his stand at the Cowpens, a winter pasture with the Broad and Pacolet rivers behind it, so that his militia cannot run. Tarleton rouses his men at 2 am on 17 January 1781 and reaches the field before sunrise with about 1,150 men, nearly half of them Loyalists, after two days with little food and less than four hours’ sleep.
The monument on the field of CowpensWikimedia Commons, Vidor at English Wikipedia, Public domain (BattleofCowpensMonument.JPG)
Morgan forms three lines. In front are about 150 picked riflemen from North Carolina and Georgia under Joseph McDowell and Major Cunningham. Behind them stand about 300 militia under Andrew Pickens, asked to fire two volleys and then fall back around the left. On the low hill behind, John Eager Howard commands about 550 Continentals from Maryland and Delaware with Virginia and Georgia militia, and William Washington’s 82 dragoons with some mounted militia wait behind the hill.
Tarleton forms his line at once: the Legion infantry, the 7th Foot and the light companies in the centre with two small 3-pounder guns, and dragoons on each flank. The 71st Highlanders under Major McArthur stand in reserve, with 200 Legion cavalry ready for the pursuit.
Sources
- Lawrence E. Babits, A Devil of a Whipping (1998).
- John Buchanan, The Road to Guilford Courthouse (1997).
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