Cowpens

https://www.nps.gov/cowp/index.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowpens_National_Battlefield Cowpens National Battlefield is just east of Chesnee, South Carolina, and near the state line with North Carolina. It preserves a major battlefield of the American Revolutionary War. Brigadier General Daniel Morgan won the Battle of Cowpens, a decisive Revolutionary War victory over British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton on January 17, 1781. It is considered one of the most memorable victories of Morgan and one of the most memorable defeats of Tarleton. A pasturing area at the time of the battle, this Revolutionary War site commemorates the place where Daniel Morgan and his army turned the flanks of Banastre Tarleton's British army. This classic military tactic, known as a double envelopment, secured a patriot victory. From I-85 S, take exit 83. Turn left on Hwy 110, approx. 8 miles. Turn right on Hwy 11. The park is about a half mile on the right. From I-85 N, take exit 92, turn right toward Chesnee on Hwy 11, approx.10 miles on the left. From I-26 E, take exit 5, turn left toward Chesnee on Hwy 11, approx. 20 miles on the right. From I-26 W, take I-85 North, take exit 83. Turn left on Hwy 110, approx. 8 miles. Turn right on Hwy 11. The park is about a half mile on the right. Cowpens National Battlefield Museum contains a reproduction 3-pounder cannon, other weapons and artifacts of the Revolutionary War period, and exhibits. "Cowpens: A Battle Remembered" is an 18-minute video shown hourly in the museum. American Battlefield Trust film on the American Revolution shown in the map room (18 minutes) Sales Outlet operated by America's National Parks offers books, postcards, and theme-related souvenirs. Cowpens National Battlefield is 3 miles west of Chesnee, 10 miles east of Gaffney, and 17 miles south of Spartanburg on SC Hwy 11. For more detailed information, please visit our webpage at http://www.nps.gov/cowp/planyourvisit/directions.htm. Sunrise on Green River Road The sun is coming up on the battlefield in the direction that the Americans would have been facing. Sunrise on Green River Road Visitor Center and US Monument in the Fall The Visitor Center and US Monument are framed by orange and yellow trees. Visitor Center and US Monument in the Fall Robert Scruggs House Robert Scruggs House Robert Scruggs House Washington Light Infantry Monument in the Fog Fog shrouds the 1856 Washington Light Infantry Monument Washington Light Infantry Monument in the Fog Tom Turkey A tom turkey displays his feathers behind the Visitor Center. Tom Turkey Militiaman Firing Musket Smoke puffs up from the vent and a flame shoots out of the muzzle as a militiaman fires his musket. Militiaman Firing Musket 2015 NPS Environmental Achievement Awards Recipients of the 2015 NPS Environmental Achievement Awards Testing the Battle Field at Cowpens (COWP) In 2012, the Southeast Archeological Center (SEAC) undertook an archeological survey of 17 acres of Cowpens National Battlefield (COWP) in search of General Daniel Morgan’s January 16th camp. The survey consisted of two phases: a systematic shovel testing at 20 meter (m) intervals and a systematic metal detector survey using park service employees, local volunteers, and Boy Scouts. Sarah and John recording with global positioning system and paper records at COWP Series: NPS Environmental Achievement Awards Since 2002, the National Park Service (NPS) has awarded Environmental Achievement (EA) Awards to recognize staff and partners in the area of environmental preservation, protection and stewardship. A vehicle charges at an Electric Vehicle charging station at Thomas Edison National Historical Park NPS Geodiversity Atlas—Cowpens National Battlefield, South Carolina Each park-specific page in the NPS Geodiversity Atlas provides basic information on the significant geologic features and processes occurring in the park. log house in park Changing Patterns of Water Availability May Change Vegetation Composition in US National Parks Across the US, changes in water availability are altering which plants grow where. These changes are evident at a broad scale. But not all areas experience the same climate in the same way, even within the boundaries of a single national park. A new dataset gives park managers a valuable tool for understanding why vegetation has changed and how it might change in the future under different climate-change scenarios. Green, orange, and dead grey junipers in red soil, mountains in background 242nd Anniversary of the Battle of Cowpens Discover the schedule of events for the 242nd Anniversary of the Battle of Cowpens! Reenactors stand in line in 18th century military clothing. Alexander Chesney Learn about Alexander Chesney, a commanding officer for a Loyalist militia unit at the Battle of Cowpens on January 17, 1781. Portrait of Alexander Chesney Southern Campaign of the American Revolution Junior Ranger Program Explore the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution with this Junior Ranger program that features five units of the National Park Service! Green cover of Junior Ranger Program with five photographs of different parks. Overmountain Victory NHT Junior Ranger The Junior Ranger program booklet for Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail A book cover showing people crossing a river Thomas Young Discover the life of patriot soldier, Thomas Young. Tombstone of Thomas Young 243rd Anniversary Commemoration Plan your visit to the anniversary event! Line of reenactors in period clothing fire muskets with smoke in the air. The Adventures of Ranger Cow! Follow Ranger Cow's journey to American Revolutionary War sites! Crochet Cow in Park Ranger uniform A History of the Verbruggen 3-lb Gun and Its Use in North American 1775 - 1783 Read about the history of the Verbruggen 3-lb Gun and Its Use in North American 1775 - 1783. Black Powder Weapons of the Southern Campaign Discover black powder weapons of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution. Grasshopper cannon with blue wheels Bark Ranger Program Discover the Bark Ranger program at Cowpens National Battlefield! Park Ranger holds a bark ranger certificate next to dog in front of US Monument Updated Species Database Will Help Boost Amphibian Conservation Across the National Park Service To steward amphibians effectively, managers need basic information about which species live in parks. But species lists need constant maintenance to remain accurate. Due to recent efforts, the National Park Service now has an up-to-date amphibian species checklist for almost 300 parks. This information can serve as the basis for innumerable conservation efforts across the nation. A toad sits on red sand, looking into the camera. Battle of Cowpens The Battle of Cowpens Grasshopper cannon with blue wheels. Southern Campaign Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War. British coat on tent. Fractured-Families: The American Revolution as a Civil War Fractures Families: The American Revolution as a Civil War. Reenactors firing muskets Feeding the Armies Feeding Armies Several 18th century tents in a row Forty-Eight Hours Following the Battle of Cowpens Forty-Eight Hours After the Battle of Cowpens Two reenactors speaking in camp. British Units at Cowpens British Units at Cowpens British reenactors working on equipment USS Cowpens USS Cowpens Historic photograph of USS Cowpens Washington Light Infantry Monument Washington Light Infantry Monument Image of Washington Light Infantry Monument with octagonal base and iron rod Green River Road Green River Road Image of Green River Road surrounded by fields of green grass and trees Loop Road Audio Tour Listen to an audio tour of the Battle of Cowpens narrated by Ed Bearss. Image of rode sign showing tour road Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton Andrew Pickens Andrew Pickens Black and white painting of Andrew Pickens William Washington Wikipedia Commons John Eager Howard John Eager Howard Portrait of John Eager Howard Daniel Morgan Daniel Morgan, c.1780, National Portrait Gallery. Painting of Daniel Morgan in military uniform. Explore March Into Reading! Discover a reading program, public programs and events, educational resources, and more! Child stands on books with March Into Reading logo in the background Project Profile: A Strategic Approach to Building Forest Resiliency in Southeast Parks The National Park Service is addressing the climate change vulnerability of southeast park ecosystems. Fall-colored trees on a mountain slope. A tree is in the right-side foreground.

Cowpens National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior National Battlefield South Carolina Daniel Morgan was trying to elude a British trap when he marched his army onto thisfieldon the afternoon of January 16, 1781. That morning, as his men cooked breakfast in camp on Thicketty Creek, scouts brought news that Banastre Tarleton had crossed the Pacolet River, six miles south, and was coming up fast. Morgan broke camp immediately and ordered his soldiers down the road. Their destination: the Cowpens, a frontier pasturing ground on the road to a ford across the Broad River six miles away. Morgan was in a precarious position. If he crossed the river, most of his militia would probably desert him. If Tarleton caught the Americans on the road or astride the river, they could all be cut down. Morgan chose to stand and fight, and the terrain at the Cowpens offered him some advantages. Daniel Morgan was a self-made man. Before he was 20 he was hauling freight on poorly defined roads over the mountains of Virginia. During the French and Indian War he served as a teamster in the British army and accompanied Gen. Edward Braddock's ill-fated 1755 expedition against Fort Duquesne. In 1756 he struck a British officer and was sentenced to 500 lashes with a cat-o'-nine tails, a punishment that had killed lesser men. He later claimed that the British still owed him one lash. When the Revolutionary War began, he led a unit of Virginia sharpshooters to Boston, where they joined the Continental Army and, in the winter of 1775, took part in an abortive attack on Quebec. Captured and exchanged, Morgan recruited another unit of Virginia sharpshooters and joined Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates's army in time to play a decisive role in winning the two battles of Saratoga on September 19 and October 7, 1777. In July 1779, both- The Battle oi Cowpens ered by rheumatism and sciatica, he took a leave of absence and returned to Virginia. Morgan rejoined the army in September 1780 after Gates, who had been given command of Continental forces in the South, suffered a disastrous defeat at Camden, S.C. Promoted to brigadier general, Morgan was commanding a corps of light troops when Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene replaced Gates in early December and set about recovering American military fortunes. Greene's strategy was to divide his own army and force the British to split theirs. To accomplish this, he sent Morgan with a detachment known as the "flying army" into western South Carolina to operate on the British left flank and rear, threatening their outposts and giving "protection to that part of the country and to spirit up the people." To remove the threat that Morgan's presence created, the British commander in the South, Maj. Gen. Charles Cornwallis, sent Banastre Tarleton with the British Legion and some of his best light troops. Tarleton, the son of a British merchant, had purchased his commission in the British Army. The Legion was known for its brutality in cutting down unarmed or fleeing soldiers. Tarleton himself was widely hated in South Carolina, having earned the nickname "Bloody Tarleton" after his troops butchered Col. Abraham Buford's surrendered Continentals at Waxhaws in May 1780. When Cornwallis sent his 26-year-old cavalryman after Morgan, he helped set the stage for a confrontation between two of the Revolutionary War's most colorful commanders. Morgan knew that Tarleton's force was approximately double his own. To help even the odds, he sent for militia units from South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia—men who had fought at Musgrove's Mill, Kings Mountain, Kettle Creek, and Williamson's Plantation, men who had fought in fierce hand-to-hand combat with Indians to protect their homes. These were men of great courage and experience, but Morgan knew they were no match for British battle tactics. The rifles they carried would not mount a bayonet, making them defenseless in the face of a bayonet attack or a mounted charge by dragoons with slashing sabers. Their strength lay in their prowess with their rifle, a weapon of far greater range and, in their hands, deadlier and more accurate than the British muskets. Morgan kept this in mind as he devised a plan of battle to match the strengths of his men and the terrain. Morgan chose to fight in an open wood on ground that sloped gently toward the south, the direction from which the British would approach. At the far end of the field were two low crests separated by a wide swale. A dirt road curved through the area. Morgan formed his troops in three lines straddling the road. In the front line he placed 315 sharpshooters in small groups. Their job: slow Tareton's advance with well-aimed fire, then fall back. A hundred fifty yards behind the skirmishers he put the Carolina and Georgia militia, under Andrew Pickens. Morgan asked them for two volleys at a killing distance, and then they were free to file off the field. About 150 yards behind Pickens, stretching along the forward cr