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July 03, 2005
The American Revolution: The Battle at Cowpens
Mel Gibson’s movie The Patriot depicts a group of South Carolina militia men fighting in the American Revolution. The movie concludes with an unnamed battle that the American army wins with the aid of the militia men. The movie depicts this particular battle as being the turning point of the American Revolution.
The actual battle was the Battle at Cowpens in South Carolina. The U.S. National Park Service gives the following description of the battle:
On January 17, 1781, Daniel Morgan led his army of tough Continentals, militia, and cavalry to a brilliant victory over Banastre Tarleton's force of British regulars. The battle at the "Cow Pens," one of only a few successful double envelopments in history, is recognized by historians as one of the most important of the American Revolution. . . Coming on the heels of a patriot victory at nearby Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780, it was the second successive staggering defeat for British forces under General Charles Cornwallis. Only nine months after the Battle of Cowpens, Cornwallis was forced to surrender his army to General George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia in October 1781. [Source]
National park ranger Scott Withrow writes,
The Battle of Cowpens, January 17, 1781, took place in the latter part of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution and of the Revolution itself. It became known as the turning point of the war in the South, part of a chain of events leading to Patriot victory at Yorktown. The Cowpens victory was one over a crack British regular army and brought together strong armies and leaders who made their mark on history. [Source]
In 1928, by order of the 70th U.S. Congress, the Historical Section of the U.S. Army War College published an official report pertaining to the Battle at Cowpens. The report states the following about the battle’s effect on the American Revolution:
The effect at the time was to hearten greatly the patriotic cause and to distress the British Army and their Tory sympathizers beyond measure. It was the second link in the chain of events, soon to be followed by others, which finally led to the surrender of Cornwallis's army at Yorktown. [Source]
The report quotes British commander Cornwallis as saying, “The unfortunate affair of the 17th of January was a very unexpected and severe blow; for, besides reputation, our loss did not fall short of 600 men.”
Historian Edwin C. Bearss writes,
Tarleton, in commenting on the disasters at Kings Mountain and Cowpens in his Campaigns, wrote that the defeat of Ferguson was a catastrophe which put an end to the first expedition into North Carolina, and the battle of Cowpens overshadowed the commencement of the second invasion. The battle of Cowpens greatly heartened the Patriots and cast a pall of gloom over the British army and their Tory sympathizers. It was a prelude to Yorktown. [Source]
The Battle at Cowpens may not be well known outside of South Carolina, but if the battle had ended with a British victory, then the outcome of the American Revolution may have been very different.
Coming to this blog on July 4th: an account of a South Carolina militia man who fought in the Battle at Cowpens.
Posted by Dodo David at July 3, 2005 10:00 PM
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Comments
I was born not far from Cowpens, South Carolina and I am proud of my ancestors for standing up to British tyranny. God bless America !
Posted by: Paul at July 4, 2005 09:12 AM
I love it. Great post!
Posted by: aaron at July 4, 2005 04:24 PM