Battle of Cowpens – Face about! Give them one good fire, and the victory is ours!
(Eight Key American Revolutionary Events Series)
The morning of January 17, 1781, broke bitterly cold over the rolling pastureland near Thicketty Creek, South Carolina. Frost clung to the grass at Hannah’s Cowpens, a well-known grazing ground. In the dim light, Brigadier General Daniel Morgan surveyed his troops—Continental regulars, tough frontiersmen, and militia—arrayed in three lines across the field. Morgan’s breath hung in the air as he moved among his men, his voice steady: “Boys, get up! Benny’s coming!” The “Benny” in question was Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, the feared British cavalryman, known as “the Butcher” for his ruthless tactics.
Tarleton had captured Charleston. He won at the Battle of Waxhaws where he “took no quarter” killing the patriots who he captured. He won again in Camden. Francis Marion, the swamp fox, harassed his supply chains but he became a feared adversary in the south. And he was converging on that meadow in Cowpens, South Carolina.
Morgan’s scouts had reported Tarleton’s approach, and Morgan knew his adversary’s style—aggressive, impetuous, and prone to frontal assaults. The British commander was marching hard, eager to catch and crush the Patriot force before it could slip away. But Morgan, a veteran of frontier warfare, had chosen his ground carefully and devised a plan to turn Tarleton’s strengths against him.
The Battle that Day
Morgan’s deployment was a masterstroke. The first line, composed of skilled sharpshooters, hid behind trees and brush. Their orders were simple: fire two volleys at the British dragoons and then fall back. Behind them, a second line of militia waited, instructed to do the same—fire, then retreat. The third and final line, made up of Continental regulars and seasoned Maryland and Delaware troops, stood on a slight rise, anchored by the Broad River to their backs. Morgan’s cavalry, led by William Washington, waited on the flanks, ready to strike.
As dawn brightened, Tarleton’s force—about 1,100 strong, including British regulars, loyalist dragoons, and Highlanders—emerged from the woods. Tarleton, confident in his numerical and tactical superiority, ordered a direct assault, his line stretching across the meadow with artillery in the center and dragoons on either side.
The battle opened with the crack of rifles as Morgan’s sharpshooters picked off British officers and dragoons. True to their orders, the first line fell back, drawing the British onward. The militia unleashed two disciplined volleys before retreating in apparent disorder—a move Tarleton mistook for a rout.
Eager for a decisive victory, Tarleton pressed his men forward. The British advanced, bayonets fixed, into the teeth of Morgan’s main line. At that critical moment, a misinterpreted order caused part of the American right to fall back. For a split second, confusion reigned. But Morgan, anticipating this, called out, “Face about! Give them one good fire, and the victory is ours!” The Continentals wheeled, unleashed a devastating volley, and charged with bayonets.
On the flanks, William Washington’s cavalry swept in, striking the British left and rear. The militia, having regrouped, surged forward to hit the British right. The British Highlanders, caught in a double envelopment, broke and ran. Panic rippled through Tarleton’s line as soldiers threw down their arms or fled for the woods.
In the chaos, Tarleton himself fought valiantly, dueling hand-to-hand with William Washington and his officers. Washington’s life was saved only by a quick-thinking young officer. Realizing the battle was lost, Tarleton gathered a handful of men and escaped down the Green River Road, leaving behind his artillery and nearly his entire command.
The battle was over in less than an hour. The field was littered with British dead and wounded. Of Tarleton’s 1,100 men, over 800 were killed, wounded, or captured. Morgan’s losses were astonishingly light: just 12 killed and 60 wounded.
Turning Point in the South and maybe of the American Revolution
The victory at Cowpens was a stunning reversal of fortune for the American cause in the South. For months, British victories at Charleston and Camden had seemed to doom the Patriot effort. But Morgan’s triumph shattered the myth of British invincibility and proved that American militia, when properly led, could stand against the Crown’s best troops. The next day Lord Cornwallis reported to Sir Henry Clinton, "It is impossible to foresee all the consequences that this unexpected and extraordinary event may produce.”
News of the victory spread like wildfire, electrifying Patriot morale and rallying support for the cause. General Cornwallis, upon hearing of Tarleton’s defeat, was both furious and bewildered, wondering how such an “inferior force” could destroy his crack troops. He immediately set out in pursuit of Morgan, leading to a dramatic race across the Carolinas that ultimately ended in Cornwallis’s own defeat at Yorktown later that year.
Foot Note:
As the sun rose higher over the battered pasture, Morgan’s men buried their dead—legend says in wolf pits—and prepared to move north. The rallying cry “Tarleton’s Quarter!” echoed through the ranks, a reminder of the vengeance sought for past British atrocities and the resolve that fueled the fight for independence.
Cowpens remains a testament to the power of unity, strategy, and determination in the face of adversity—a victory that helped secure the birth of a new nation.