The Forgotten Turning Point of the Revolution - Battle of the Cowpens

The American Revolution appears to be in tatters. In the past year, they suffered the three worst defeats of the war and lost control over two colonies. Now, there is little standing in the way of the British's march to the North. In this time of desperation, Congress turns to Washington to appoint a man to save the South. Wasting no time, Washington, sticking to his original recommendation, appoints General Nathaniel Greene on the same day that he receives his authorization. Greene is given extraordinary power by Congress, so much so that he essentially becomes a second commander-in-chief, and now it's up to him to try and salvage the American Revolution. This is Grim Battalion, and you're watching my documentary on the American Revolution. The Southern Campaign, General Morgan's and General Greene's Revenge. In the period following Gates' defeat at Camden and the arrival of Greene, South Carolina was in a particularly brutal civil war. Loyalists and patriots alike were raiding each other's towns and homes, whereupon they would rob and execute anyone they suspected to be a traitor. In order to quell the resistance, British troops, many under the feared and hated Charleston's command, spread through the countryside. They would use particularly harsh and brutal methods to try and pacify the patriot resistance. The countryside was filled with militiamen fighting a guerrilla-style war against the British occupation. One man, Francius McMarion, led a small band of militia near the South Carolina border, wreaking havoc on the British. He became the most wanted man in the colonies. Prior to the raids, resistance had started to dwindle as the Carolinians became war-weary. However, the British crackdown turned the tide for the Americans. Many moderates felt the pressure from the British, while others simply disdained the harsh tactics being employed. Support for the patriots rose dramatically, and new recruits began to flock to Marion's militia band. The victory at Kings Mountain was considered a turning point in the war in the South. It forced Cornwallis to refocus his energy on pacifying South Carolina. In 1781, General Green finally arrived to reinforce that effort. He divided his force between himself and General Daniel Morgan. The two marched into South Carolina and moved towards the backcountry, where they hoped to gain support from the local militia. The British immediately gave chase. Cornwallis received intelligence that Morgan's division was headed south to attack an important British frontier fort, and so he broke off General Tarleton to pursue Morgan. Morgan knew that sooner or later, the skilled Tarleton would catch his force of ragtag militia, and so Morgan decided that he would play the odds and initiate the battle on his own terms. Morgan's army was comprised of 150 hand-picked skirmishers who would stand at the front of the battle lines. They would be reinforced by a group of 300 irregular or mob militiamen who would stand behind the skirmishers. Finally, his third line would be comprised of 350 standard confidentials, many of whom were battle-hearted and had been fighting since the Battle of Brooklyn way back in 1775. They would be helped out by a group of 150 trained militiamen who knew how to fight in Finally, a small group of 50 Dragoon cavalry would work on the American right flank to protect the army from being enveloped. Morgan's plan for the battle is considered one of the most strategically intelligent of the entire war and still studied to this day. Morgan sought to take advantage of the unique geography of the Battle of the Cowpens. He knew that the untrained militiamen were often the first around and were generally unreliable in battle. The Battle of Camden had ended in disaster for the militia which constituted half the American army broke and routed almost immediately upon contact with the enemy. To counteract this effect, he situated his army between two rivers. He reasoned that the militia would now have nowhere to retreat and would presumably be forced to stand and fight or be killed by the British. This was risky because by leaving his army no way to retreat, he left them vulnerable to being completely destroyed in a single battle. He then placed his main continental forces towards a low spot in the center of a hill. This was also risky because it left him vulnerable to being flanked. Tarleston's cavalry had a ferocious reputation for being quick, mobile, and deadly. However, Morgan reasoned that a steep ridge on the American right flank and a small creek on the left would protect him from being flanked, at least in the initial stages of the battle. He then placed his militiamen in the center of the lines. These were considered his most vulnerable troops, and he reasoned that when the British saw that the lowly militia were defending the center, they'd become encouraged and would full-heartedly charge forward with all strength. He asked the militia to do a task which he thought they could actually achieve. He told them he only wanted them to fire two volleys before falling back and retreating behind the irregular militia line. The British, seeing that the first line of militia were retreating, would assume the American army was routing as easily as it had in the past. This would encourage them to again push forward recklessly, where they would then be met by the irregular line of militia. They too were instructed to fire only two volleys at the British. Morgan knew that if he asked more of them, the militia likely would not be able to stand. After firing their two volleys, they would retreat, feigning like they were completely broken and routing from the battle. They would head all the way off to the side and move behind a hill far in the rear, where they would reform and prepare to re-enter the battle. At this point, the British would be exhausted from over-exerting themselves and demoralized from the psychological impact of receiving the multiple volleys from the militiamen. However, they would see the American Continental Force at the top of the next hill. The American Continentals would fall back as the militia fell back, completely selling the British on the ruse of a complete rout. This, he hoped, would cause the British to surge forward in an attempt to end the battle as quickly as possible and mop up the defeated Americans. When the British crossed the crest of the hill, the Continentals would stop their retreat, turn around, and open fire on the British. Around this same time, the militia would be coming around the edge, reforming, and would hit the British with a flanking maneuver. He would leave his cavalry on the American left, where they would protect the militia's route originally before returning to the battle in order to defend the American flanks. It was a bold strategy, and Josh Buchanan, a historian, wrote, Morgan may have been the only general in the American Revolution, on either side, to produce a single significant original tactical thought. On February 17th at 7.30 AM, the Americans make contact with the British Army. The British force is advancing towards Morgan's position when they're surprised by a volley from American skirmishers positioned on a small slope before them. Seeing the exposed skirmishers' position, the British cavalry surged forward, but the American skirmishers quickly unleashed another volley, killing 15 of them instantly and forcing the rest to retreat towards the main British lines. With the first volley already completed, the skirmishers stick to Morgan's plan and fall back towards the main irregular militia line. The British believe that the Americans were already breaking and in retreat, so they quickly send forward their force in standard battle line formation. They do not even wait for their reserves to make it out of the forest or take time to analyze the American position. As the British eagerly advance, the skirmishers line up once more or unleash another volley into the British. Then, once more, they retreat, this time making it back to the main line of irregulars. The British, in loose formation, surge forward believing that they have the Americans on the run. They're shocked when they pass the crest of the hill and see the lines of irregular militia men standing before them. Tarleston will later write in his memoirs that, Suddenly, we cleared a hill and I was staring down the barrel of a thousand militia men. The fresh irregular militias unleashed a volley into the stunned British troops. The Americans used a tactic learned from fighting the natives and had received orders to target British officers who could be easily identifiable due to their brightly colored outfits. In this stage of the battle, 40% of the casualties would be British officers. Tarleston brazenly encounters the American Army's rear guard and that they are only buying time while the main army escapes. He reforms his line into standard battle formation and prepares to order a new advance. The militia see that the cavalry is moving forward to cover the retreat. They once again fire a devastating volley into the British. They then, following plans, turn a retreat towards the American left, attempting to make it look as if they're on a full rout. The American cavalry continues to move with them, protecting them as they fall back. Tarleston then orders a unit of his elite Scottish Highlander infantry to move towards the American right flank and orders his renowned cavalry to move towards the left in order to prepare a flanking maneuver. The battle now entered its second phase. The militia in the rear regrouped and reformed for the skirmishers, joining the main irregular militia ranks. The American cavalry moved down to protect their flank from the British dragoons. At the same time, the American Continental Army retreated back over the crest of the hill. The British saw the army retreating and believed that the American army was again on a full rout. They moved forward and prepared to advance headlong in the center. The Virginia militia men guarding the American right were to move forward and stop the Scottish advance on the American right. Mishearing their orders due to the noise of battle, the Virginia militia began to fall further back. The British were exhausted and disoriented at this point, and seeing the Virginia militia in retreat, they believed that the battle was won. They fell into an unorganized mob and began to charge forward. When they crossed the top of the hill, they were shocked to see the reformed American Continental Army standing strong, waiting to oppose them. Morgan ordered a volley, and the Virginia militia suddenly stopped and turned around. The entire American line opened fire on the British, devastating their ranks. Then, Morgan called out his order, Fix bayonets! Charge! The entire line in the center surged forward with the Virginia militia. The British were exhausted and stunned at the sudden resurgence. Many of them died on the spot, while others surrendered. The battle had now been raging for over an hour and entered its third and final stage. The Americans had won the center, but other areas of the British line continued to resist and fight on. Pickens' militia, now having completed their 360 maneuver around the hill, appeared in the rear, astonishing the British who believed the militia to be completely routed from the battle. Howard reorganized the militia near the main line and ordered them to strike the Scots, who were now completely surrounded by the two militia forces. The American cavalry then ran the demoralized British dragoons from the battlefield and came around from the American right flank and began striking the British in their other rear. The sudden shock of the two American armies re-emerging from the flanks, where the British had expected their own cavalry to come running out from, was too much and they began to surrender in mass. It was reported that nearly half the British soldiers, wounded or not, fell to the ground, completely demoralized and exhausted from the stunning turn of events. General Tarleton attempted to rally some of his men to save his cannons, but they refused and instead opted to flee. Tarleton was then forced to retreat himself in order to avoid being captured by the Americans. Morgan's plan had worked perfectly, the British soldiers advanced in a solid line expecting only victory, only then to be demoralized after being forced to engage stronger and stronger lines after overexerting themselves in anticipation of victory. The death of the American line soaked up the shock of the initial British charges, negating one of Tarleton's biggest strengths. The Americans suffered 25 killed and 124 wounded, while the British on the other hand suffered 110 killed, 229 wounded, and 829 captured. The British forces lost, especially the British Legion and the Dragoons constituted the cream of Cornwallis's army. Almost every artilleryman had been either killed or incapacitated by the Dragoons. Tarleton suffered a shocking 86% casualty rate and his brigade had been effectively wiped out as a fighting force. The strategic result of the battle was the destruction of an important part of the British army in the south that was crucial towards ending the war. Along with the British defeat at the Battle of King's Mountain, Cowpens was a serious blow to Cornwallis who might have defeated much of the remaining resistance in South Carolina had Tarleton won Instead, the battle set in motion a series of events that would lead to the end of the war. Come back next week when we join Benedict Arnold on his reigns in American Virginia, and we follow the path of events that took him from American hero to becoming America's most infamous traitor. If you enjoyed this video, please leave a like, comment, or subscribe. You have no idea how much it helps the growth and success of this channel. And as always, I hope you enjoyed the video and please never stop learning.