American Prelude

Join Ranger William as he tours the locations of the American army the prior to the Battle of Cowpens, and discusses some of the preparations made by General Daniel Morgan.

 

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Transcript

Hello everyone! Ranger William, here at Cowpens National Battlefield.

I’m standing on the gravel Green River Road, surrounded by part of the national battlefield in this uh nice tan, winter grass, with the woods off here to my left side, talking about the American preparations for the January 17th, 1781 Battle of Cowpens.

Now the reason the American general Daniel Morgan is out here in the first place, in western South Carolina, is to “Spirit up the People”. This is one of his missions given to him by General Nathanael Greene, commanding the Southern Continental Army. Now in addition to encouraging the local patriots, showing them there’s still hope left, Morgan is supposed to threaten the British posts in the backcountry, especially Fort Ninety Six to the south of us. Now, he’s also supposed to be gathering any useful supplies, uh military supplies as well as regular foodstuffs, but Morgan is having a hard time of this due to how uh picked clean this area has been by these roving bands of militia and these armies in the past year. Now when General Morgan is out here, it is not good for the British, and uh they send one of their best young commanders to chase Morgan down. Morgan receives a letter from General Nathanael Greene, telling him of this information brought in by different uh militia partisan officers. He tells Morgan that he’s being pursued by Tarleton with 1,100 - 1,200 British. Now this is a uh bit intimidating for Morgan because his force is not quite that size or that quality. Um General Morgan has a small core of Continental infantry, some American Continental cavalry, and he’s relying mostly on local militia to help boost his numbers and give him a fighting chance. So for about a week or so, he’s gonna be making his way through the backcountry, and on the afternoon of January 16th, he is led into this place called the Cow Pens by a local militia captain, and we’ll see what Morgan thinks about this location at our next stop.

Now when General Morgan is brought out here to the field of the Cow Pens, it’s by a militia captain named Dennis Trammel, who lived here in the area and could not only describe, but show Morgan what this field had to offer. It was used as a cattle pen because it was surrounded by natural features. Now over here to my right, you’ll notice the thick woods that the National Park Service uh maintains to represent the heavily wooded border that surrounded the field. But in addition to the woods themselves, you have several springs and creeks, creating a bit of a swampy ground in several places around the field, which would also lend itself to growth of canebrakes. Uh, this American River Cane, it’s a cousin of bamboo, and it grows in dense thickets. It’s very thick, very tall, making it almost impossible for animals like uh cattle or horses, like cavalry, to easily move through. Now in addition to these natural features containing where troops can move and where the battle can happen, General Morgan needs to find a place where local militia can join his army. Uh he writes to uh Nathanael Greene saying that he “cannot tell within a matter of hundreds how many militia he can count on to join” him here for the fight because “it is beyond the art of man to keep the militia from straggling.” For the past weeks, Morgan has seen groups of militia, mounted bands of men, coming and going almost at their leisure, and not staying with his force. He needs to find a place that these local guys know and they can easily rendezvous with his army. So besides these militia being former farmers and cattle drovers, and knowing where this cleared area is, many of these men joined up here just 3 months before, the day before the Battle of Kings Mountain. On October 6, 1780, this same open field was the gathering point for the Patriot militia on their way to pursue Patrick Ferguson to Kings Mountain. Morgan knows this; the other militia officers know this; so when he spreads the word to come to Saunders’ Cow Pen, the militia, whether they’re from the Carolinas, Georgia, the local area, or a little bit further away, they know this field, and they’re able to meet him here.

Now when General Daniel Morgan sees the ground here at the Cow Pens, he knows it’s gonna be perfect for what he has to do here for the battle. He turns to his guide, Captain Dennis Trammel, and remarks that “this field will hold victory or Morgan’s bones.” In addition to the confined wooded perimeters, with the canebrakes, and the swamps, and the thickets, the interior of the field, fairly open from brush, has these gentle rolling hills along the length of it. Now, thanks to the experience of the militia and other officers who are with Morgan, Tarleton [Morgan] knows what to expect from Colonel Tarleton, who’s chasing him down this road. He knows that Tarleton is very aggressive, very energetic, and usually favors a head-on attack. So what Morgan is going to do is we call it a “defense in depth.” Rather than one formation, he’s gonna have several lines of troops staggered down the battlefield. The first one is here behind me on this rise. This is gonna be a line of skirmishers, or sharpshooters some call them, men from Georgia and North Carolina under Majors McDowell and Cunningham. Now when they’re out here on this ridge, these men are gonna be scattered and spread out in uh not a solid formation, but individuals or pairs, this nice wide line of patriot marksmen with orders to target the “epaulette men” in the British Army. This will hopefully cause confusion and communication problems in the British ranks, but most importantly, it will force Tarleton to deploy his men and attack before his scouts can get over this ridge and see what’s waiting back beyond.

The second line of General Morgan’s formation was strategically placed behind the crest of that first ridge, around 200 yards behind it. This means that he’s creating overlapping fields of fire between the first line of the skirmishers and the second line of the main militia under Colonel Andrew Pickens. Now he chose this distance because it is remarked by several officers, American and British, that about 200 yards is the preferred range of engagement for militia with rifles. Um, this is a greater personal range than your average smoothbore musket, um even though a volley of musket fire can easily hit the enemy up to 250 yards. An individual rifleman uh once remarked to British Major George Hanger that at 200 yards, he “can easily split a man’s wig.” So at this range, the militiamen who are gathering here under Colonel Pickens can help cover the retreat of the first line. General Morgan’s plan is not to have the first line stand there and fight on their own, but this defense in depth is meant to support each other. That first line is planned to engage with the British, uh target the officers, the “epaulette men,” and then fall back and join the flanks, the left and right side, of the second formation here. Now, these are the men where Morgan really encourages personally the night before the battle. As they start pouring into his camp, he shares the battle plan with them, and this is where Morgan really shows his character. It’s remarked by one veteran that Morgan went around to the campfires, joking with the men, helping them prepare their weapons, prepare their swords, telling them their wives and sweethearts, and he says, “never before have I been so convinced of a general’s ability, ability to lead,” and “I don’t think he slept a single bit that night.” So all through the night, General Morgan is encouraging the militia, telling them he only wants 3 fires from them during this fight, and then they’re able to go home.

Now, the 3rd line of General Morgan’s formation can be considered the backbone of his army. Where I’m standing here on the gravel road is gonna be the center of the line for 600 Continentals, militia, and some rifle companies, extending out to the left and the right. Now the center 290 of these men, these are some of the best-trained Continentals and veteran soldiers in all of the Southern army under General Greene. You have 3 companies of Marylanders and 1 company of Delaware troops under uh Captain Kirkwood. Now, these men are some of the remnants from the American disaster back at Camden. Uh, they’ve been boiled down to these new composite companies. Most of them have been left back with General Greene at his other “camp of repose” as he called it, but then these experienced “light troops” as Greene calls them have been sent out here with General Morgan. Now they’re flanked on the left by Major Triplett and some Virginia state militia, on the right by Tate and more Virginians, and some North Carolinians, and this is going to be the main line of General Morgan’s defense. The plan that he has, once those sharpshooters, those skirmishers on the first line, when they engage with the British and they fall back and they join the flanks of the militia, the second line, the militia is supposed to fire a couple shots, and then they’re going to fall back through gaps left in the Continental line here, and they’re gonna reform in the rear. General Morgan’s plan for these men is to have them retreat to kinda draw in the British and then come back around for a flank attack later on during the battle. Now, the Continentals here are gonna be some of the best equipped and best trained men of Morgan’s army, but that does not mean that their uniforms or weapons are complete. Uh these guys have been using whatever they can get their hands on, uh many of their clothes are in tatters by this point, but their training, their discipline, it’s known by the Americans; it’s known by the British; this is what makes these guys the biggest threat to Tarleton on this entire battlefield.

Now, the final part of General Morgan’s army is going to be the cavalry under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William Washington. Now this force is composed of about 80 of the 3rd Continental Light Dragoons, William Washington’s regiment, mostly recruited from Virginia, but they’re going to be joined by about 90 state militia, South Carolina local guys under Majors McCall and Jolly. Now these men are armed with some additional swords that Morgan requested from General Greene, and the night before the battle, they issue these swords to some picked riflemen, some “chosen riflemen” as Morgan calls them, turning them into these light dragoons, and these men are given permission to press into service any horse in the camp unless it belongs to an officer or is already being used by the cavalry. Now, these men are gonna be posted initially on this high ground in the very rear of Morgan’s army, so they’re very visible. This is to be a nice encouraging factor, but also a deterrent in case any of the militia decide that they want to run away and leave the field before time. Uh, these men are posted between the main army and where the militia’s horses are tied up in a rough campsite in the woods behind the army. So with this formation in place, these 3 lines of infantry and a reserve of these roughly 170 cavalry, Daniel Morgan feels that he has prepared the best he can to face the oncoming threat. Tarleton has been pursuing him for several days; his men have arrived here on the 16th, he’s encouraged the militia, he’s given orders to the Continentals, he’s prepared their minds, their hearts, their weapons. Hopefully the next morning will bring a victory.

Thank you everyone for joining us on this short video, talking a little bit more about the American army at the Battle of Cowpens and the preparations they made leading up to the battle on January 17th. Again, this is Ranger William at Cowpens National Battlefield. Thanks for watching.

Duration:

12 minutes, 19 seconds

Join Ranger William as he tours the locations of the American army the prior to the Battle of Cowpens, and discusses some of the preparations made by General Daniel Morgan.