Palmetto Past and Present: The Happy January of 1781

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South Carolinians were wildly elated 244 years ago this month – and with good reason. The Patriots had just beaten the despised British in their backyard. It wasn’t any ordinary win, either. The victory marked not only a turning point in the Revolutionary War’s Southern campaign; it was a pivotal turnaround, the starting point of the long march that led to the ultimate American victory that October.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves…

In the opening years of the American Revolution, most activity had been focused in the Northeast. Places like Boston, New York, and the Philadelphia area had seen much action as the plucky, ragtag rebels held their own against a global Superpower. After getting their clock cleaned at the Battle of Saratoga in the fall of 1777 (where General John Burgoyne surrendered an entire army of 5,800 men, a decisive stroke that convinced France that it was worth jumping into the conflict on the Patriots’ side), the Brits decided to rethink their overall strategy.

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They shifted their attention from the North to the South. Half-hearted efforts there early on (including an unsuccessful attempt to take Charleston, S.C.) hadn’t produced much. So in 1778, they decided to try again – on a bigger scale. This time, it paid off.

The two biggest prizes in the Southeast – the port cities of Charleston and Savannah – eventually fell into English hands. From there, the redcoats made significant progress moving inland. By 1780, England maintained an iron grip on the region. The thinking went like this: If the Mother Country had to give up the northern part of its colonies in a negotiated peace, it could conceivably still hold on to those in the agriculturally rich South. 

That strategy was generally working, too. Until Daniel Morgan entered the picture. 

A self-made man who carved his own path in the world, Morgan had been a civilian teamster for the British Army during the French and Indian War two decades earlier. But he ran afoul of an English officer, attacked him, and wound up getting 500 lashes with a whip. Needless to say, Morgan had no use for the Brits after that.

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When he took control of a motley military mishmash of men in Charlotte, North Carolina, on December 3, 1780, Morgan was chomping at the bit to get back at his hated enemy.

His command was mostly made up of militia. Many commanders looked down on them because volunteers usually had precious little weaponry – and even less training and experience. They had a bad reputation for running when a battle grew hot. That didn’t deter Morgan, whose rise through the ranks began by commanding militiamen at the war’s start. 

Ever since his victory over the Colonials at Camden the previous August, lieutenant colonel Banastre Tarleton (the Bad Boy of the British Army) had pushed them northward. He had driven the rebels out of much of South Carolina and was confident his command of almost 2,000 men would keep driving them up the eastern seaboard. So confident, in fact, Tarleton didn’t bother keeping tabs on how many troops he was facing.

That wound up being a huge mistake…

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While Tarleton was busy underestimating, Morgan rounded up every able-bodied man with a musket he could find – approximately 1,065 in all. From there, he picked a battlefield near present-day Chesnee, S.C., carefully and wisely, using the terrain to his advantage. The name Cowpens came from just that — a large open area where years of grazing cattle had turned into an open park-like appearance.

Using a layered series of defense lines and taking full advantage of the hilly terrain, he set a trap and lured his opponent into it. Morgan also positioned his forces between the Broad and Pacolet rivers, cutting off any avenue of retreat and forcing them to stand and fight. As Tarleton’s troops approached, he ordered a series of volleys and coordinated retreats intended to lure the impetuous Brit into a trap.

It worked to perfection…

On the morning of January 17, 1781, Tarleton – having marched his army all night with no rest – recklessly rushed headfirst into the snare. When the fighting was over, Morgan’s little ersatz army had won a stunning upset victory. In fact, it was the worst defeat for the British since Burgoyne’s surrender more than three years earlier.

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Some 85% of Tarleton’s force — the crème de la creme of Lord Cornwallis’ Southern Army — were casualties. The British lost 110 killed, 29 wounded, 629 taken prisoner, and two cannons. On Morgan’s side of the ledger, there were 24 American deaths, with 124 wounded.

In an instant, everything was changed in the Southern theater of operations. The British were more than demoralized; they were humiliated. Conversely, it is impossible to overstate the psychological importance of the victory to the Patriots, whose sails were suddenly filled with a fresh burst of unexpected — and badly needed — hope. 

There were more battles to come – and more long marches ahead. More days (and sometimes weeks) without full rations and adequate supplies. But the momentum had shifted. The tide now carried the Patriots toward Cornwallis’ surrender — and the war’s end — at Yorktown, Virginia, that fall.

And it all started in a South Carolina cow pasture on that chilly January so long ago…

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.

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