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The Battle of Cowpens the Southern Strategy of the Revolutionary War
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THE SOUTHERN STRATEGY in the Revolutionary War! • Part Nine: The Battle of Cowpens • 17 January 1781 • After his humiliating defeat at Camden, Horatio Gates was replaced by Nathanael Greene. Greene was not the best tactician of the war. He lost several battles... but he, Daniel Morgan and the Patriot militias roaming the back country wrecked Britain's Southern Strategy. • Greene inherited an army of only 1,500 fit for combat. He gave 600 to Morgan and split his force. Sir Charles Cornwallis did likewise... sending Banastre Tarleton and 1,100 men to chase down Morgan. • A swollen Broad River stood as an obstacle to Morgan and his men. Rather than risk being caught during the crossing, Morgan chose to make a stand and confront Tarleton at Cowpens, South Carolina. The river to their backs meant no retreat. It was either victory or death. A 500 man militia force led by Andrew Pickens joined Morgan. • Morgan deployed sharpshooters in the front. Behind them were militia - with instructions to fire three volleys before retreating. A third line of Continental Army soldiers and militiamen formed beyond the crest of a hill. William Washington and his Dragoons were on the American left flank. • Tarleton arrived at 7 AM. Morgan knew the militias would retreat. He was aware that Tarleton knew that, too.... and used it to his advantage. • ------------- • A year after the annihilation of British General John Burgoyne's army at Saratoga, Great Britain found itself at war with France. Hostilities with Spain, Mysore and the Dutch Republic would soon follow. In response to these new threats, Britain evacuated Philadelphia and consolidated its forces around New York City as a third of their men were redeployed elsewhere around the world. With their American campaign in a stalemate, British planners sought a new strategy to crush the rebellion and win the war. They turned their eyes to the southern states - known for having strong Loyalist support and powerful Tory militias. • Known as the Southern Strategy, Britain and the American Loyalists would pacify Georgia and the Carolinas, recruit men along the way to serve as Provincial Soldiers or Tory Militiamen... and move north against Virginia and the remaining rebellious states. George Washington's Continental Army would then be trapped between the British armies approaching from the south and from those in New York. • Britain initiated the first strike of the Southern Strategy by easily conquering Savannah, Georgia on 29 December 1778. They continued their juggernaut by taking the rest of Georgia and Charles Town (Charleston), South Carolina. Patriot Militias, Nathanael Greene and Daniel Morgan was all that stood between Cornwallis and Virginia. • #TheSonsOfHistory #TSOH #americanrevolution #americanrevolutionarywar #revolutionarywar • #SouthernStrategy #BattleOfCowpens #DanielMorgan #BanastreTarleton
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