The Battle of Cowpens 1781
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Battle: COWPENS
War: American Revolutionary War
Date: 17th January 1781
Place: South Carolina on the border with North Carolina,
United States of America
Combatants: Americans against the British and loyalist Americans
Generals: Colonel Daniel Morgan against Lieutenant Colonel Banastre
Tarleton
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A British 17th Light Dragoon |
Size of the armies: The Americans had around 1,000 men and the British
around 1,100.
Uniforms, arms and equipment: The British wore red coats and headgear
of bearskin caps, leather caps or tricorne hats depending on whether
the troops were grenadiers, light infantry or battalion company men.
The two regiments of light dragoons serving in America, the 16th and
17th, wore red coats and leather crested helmets.
Tarleton’s legion had a uniform of green and the cavalry wore light
dragoon helmets. The American continental regiments were largely
clothed in blue.
| The militia of each side wore what they could get.
The British fought with musket and bayonet as did the American
Continental troops. Some of the militia from the back country of
Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia carried rifles and in many cases
the Pennsylvania small calibre long rifle developed by the German
gunsmiths of that colony. It was these riflemen who at the beginning
of the battle shot down so many British officers and destroyed the
proper control of the British line. Winner: The Americans, overwhelmingly.
British Regiments:
17th Light Dragoons
7th Foot the Royal Fusiliers now the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
a battalion of 71st Fraser’s Highlanders (disbanded after the war)
Royal Artillery with two 3 pounder guns
“Tory” militia
American Regiments:
William Washington’s dragoons
Maryland Continentals
Delaware Continentals
Virginia Militia
North Carolina Militia
Georgia Militia
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Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton of the 17th Light Dragoons,
British commander at the Battle of Camden and commander of the
notorious Tarleton’s Legion |
Account:
The war in the southern colonies had become something of a
stalemate, neither side having sufficient strength to hazard full out
offensive operations. The fighting was conducted by raiding columns
and guerilla activity. Both sides behaved with unrestrained ferocity.
Tarleton had made his reputation in the southern colonies as a
ruthless and impetuous commander. Pursued by Tarleton, Morgan
determined to make a stand by the Broad River. He selected a simple
position on two low hills in open woodland in the expectation that
Tarleton would make a headlong attack without pausing to devise a more
subtle plan. Morgan was correct in his assessment of Tarleton’s
actions.
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