Revolutionary War Battle of Cowpens Dug Musket Balls

The Battle of Cowpens, fought on January 17, 1781, was an engagement between American Colonial forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan and British forces under Sir Banastre Tarleton, as part of the campaign in the Carolinas (North and South). Tarleton’s force of 1000 British in the King’s Army were sent against 2000 men under Morgan. The Colonial forces conducted a double envelopment of Tarleton’s force, and suffered casualties of only 20 killed and 69 wounded. Tarleton was one of around 200 British troops to escape. A small force of the Continental Army under the command of Brigadier General Daniel Morgan had marched to the west of the Catawba River, in order to forage for supplies and raise the morale of local Colonial sympathizers. The British had received incorrect reports that Morgan’s army was planning to attack the important strategic fort of Ninety Six, held by American Loyalists to the British Crown and located in the west of the Carolinas. The British considered Morgan’s army a threat to their left flank. General Charles Cornwallis dispatched Morgan’s army a threat to their left flank. General Charles Cornwallis dispatched cavalry/dragoons commander Lieutenant Colonel Sir Banastre Tarleton to defeat Morgan’s command. Upon learning Morgan’s army was not at Ninety Six, Tarleton, bolstered by British reinforcements, set off in hot pursuit of the American detachment. Morgan resolved to make a stand near the Broad River. He selected a position on two low hills in open woodland, with the expectation that the aggressive Tarleton would make a headlong assault without pausing to devise a more intricate plan. He deployed his army in three main lines. Tarleton’s army, after exhaustive marching, reached the field malnourished and heavily fatigued. Tarleton attacked immediately; however, the American defense-in-depth absorbed the impact of the British attack. The British lines lost their cohesion as they hurried after the retreating Americans. When Morgan’s army went on the offensive, it wholly overwhelmed Tarleton’s force. The battle was a turning point in the American re-conquest of South Carolina from the British. Tarleton’s brigade was wiped out as an effective fighting force, and, coupled with the British defeat at King’s Mountain in the northwest corner of South Carolina, this action compelled Cornwallis to pursue the main southern American army into North Carolina. Cornwallis was eventually defeated at the Siege of Yorktown in Virginia in October 1781. Musket balls, dropped, a rare site.  Dug by Henry Leish