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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
COW_030830_01_STITCH.JPG: The approaching battlefield from the direction the British were coming
COW_030830_03_STITCH.JPG: Looking at the battle from the British side as they approach the 3rd line
COW_030830_05.JPG: This is the battlefield monument which stands in front of the visitor center. Among other things, it includes relative troop strengths, providing the name of every colonial officer but only giving three names including Tarleton for the British.
COW_030830_13.JPG: Cowpens: Prelude to Yorktown
Battlefield Walking Tour
An easy 45 minute walking tour of the Cowpens battlefield will help you relive that fateful morning of January 17, 1781, when resolute American soldiers wrested a crucial victory from the British. Tree-shaded trailside exhibits recreate this important historical event.
COW_030830_19.JPG: The Washington Light Infantry of Charleston, South Carolina, erected this monument in 1856 near the final stages of the Battle of Cowpens to commemorate the important American victory here. Though the years have changed much of the monument's original appearance, it stands today as the earliest testament to the valor of the Patriot Army at the Cowpens.
COW_030830_24.JPG: Let'em Get Within Killin' Distance
The American second line of defense stood in position here -- Carolina and Georgia militiamen nearest you. Handpicked marksmen formed a skirmish line 200 yards to the front of you. About sunrise, the British appeared.
COW_030830_27.JPG: Form the line of battle!
To the sound of drums and shouts of officers, the British troops deployed into line of battle. Ranks of red-coated fusiliers formed in this immediate area -- the early morning sun sparkling on their gleaming bayonets.
COW_030830_30.JPG: Dragoons to the front!
A little before 7 o'clock in the morning, the British commander, Lt Colonel Banastre Tarleton, ordered a detachment of cavalry forward to scatter the American skirmishers. Within this immediate area, the green-uniformed British Legion -- Americans loyal to the King -- awaited the order to advance.
COW_030830_32.JPG: This is where the battle begins. In the woods on the left, colonials await the oncoming British.
COW_030830_43.JPG: On the trail in the distance, you can see three people who are approximately where the colonial second line of defense stood.
COW_030830_47.JPG: As good as troops can move
Once the American skirmishers withdrew, the British troops moved forward at quickstep, raising a great shout as they advanced. Carolina militiamen positioned near this spot held their ground long enough to fire two volleys. Then, as ordered, they fell back.
COW_030830_50.JPG: We're at the American second line looking toward the oncoming British
COW_030830_51.JPG: We're about in the location of the colonial second line, facing in the direction the British would have been charging as they move toward the third and final line.
COW_030830_58.JPG: And here, facing in the direction the British faced, is where the British would meet their match.
COW_030830_62.JPG: Swords Clash on Old Mills Gap Road:
In hot pursuit of the retreating British, Colonel William Washington of the American dragoons outraced his own troopers and came upon the British commander Tarleton. The two fought briefly -- sword against sword -- before the Englishman galloped away, shooting Washington's horse as he fled.
A Race for the "Grasshopper":
As the Americans swept forward, two Continental officers sought to capture one fo the enemy's light 3-pounder "grasshopper" cannon. Captain Anderson of Delaware won the race when he used his spontoon to vault forward and leap upon the abandoned grasshopper.
COW_030830_67.JPG: Colonel Howard's misunderstood order
The main American defense line under Colonel John Howard stood firm, trading volley for volley, until British reinforcements appeared. Instructions from Howard to reform the threatened American right flank were misunderstood. Believing a retreat has been ordered, other officers wheeled their troops about and moved toward the rear. Near this location, General Daniel Morgan ordered the Continentals to face about and fire a crushing volley at close range. The disorderly British attack disintegrated.
COW_030830_68.JPG: Surrender of Fraser's Highlanders
On the British left flank, battlewise veterans of the 71st Regiment -- Fraser's Highlanders -- found on after the other British troops panicked. Cut off and surrounded, the hard fighting Scots were finally overwhelmed by Carolina and Georgia militiamen.
COW_030830_71.JPG: Morgan's masterful maneuver
Having blunted the British advance, the Continentals charged, bayonets flashing. American cavalry engulfed the British right flank. Reforming, the militiamen charged against the left -- the British with overwhelmed. It was not yet 8 o'clock in the morning. In less than an hour, the crucial Battle of Cowpens had been decided.
COW_030830_75.JPG: This picture is taken looking in the direction the British would have come attacking. The two guys are standing from where the previous picture was taken.
Wikipedia Description: Battle of Cowpens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Battle of Cowpens was fought on January 17, 1781, during the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War and was an overwhelming victory by American Revolutionary forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan. It was a turning point in the reconquest of South Carolina from the British, and went down in history as the great American tactical masterpiece of the war.
The Colonial force:
The Colonial forces were commanded by Brigadier-General Daniel Morgan. Although Morgan claimed in his official report to have had only a few over 800 men at Cowpens, historian Lawrence Babits, in his detailed study of the Battle, estimates the real numbers as:
* A battalion of Continental infantry under Lt-Col John Eager Howard, with one company from Delaware, one from Virginia and three from Maryland; each with a strength of sixty men (300)
* A company of Virginia State troops under Captain John Lawson (75)
* A company of South Carolina State troops under Captain Joseph Pickens (60)
* A small company of North Carolina State troops under Captain Henry Connelly (number not given)
* A Virginia Militia battalion under Frank Triplett (160)
* Two companies of Virginia Militia under Major David Campbell (50)
* A battalion of North Carolina Militia under Colonel Joseph McDowell (260-285)
* A brigade of four battalions of South Carolina Militia under Colonel Andrew Pickens, comprising a three-company battalion of the Spartanburg Regiment under Lt-Col Benjamin Roebuck; a four-company battalion of the Spartanburg Regiment under Col John Thomas; five companies of the Little River Regiment under Lt-Col Joseph Hayes and seven companies of the Fair Forest Regiment under Col Thomas Brandon. Babits states that these battalion “ranged in size from 120 to more than 250 men”. If Roebuck’s three companies numbered 120 and Brandon’s seven companies numbered 250, then Thomas’s four compa ...More...
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Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (SC -- Cowpens Natl Battlefield) directly related to this one:
[Display ALL photos on one page]:
2018_SC_CowpensVC: SC -- Cowpens Natl Battlefield -- Visitor Center (92 photos from 2018)
2018_SC_Cowpens: SC -- Cowpens Natl Battlefield (120 photos from 2018)
1998_SC_Cowpens: SC -- Cowpens Natl Battlefield (26 photos from 1998)
2003 photos: Equipment this year: I decided my Epson digital camera wasn't quite enough for what I wanted. Since I already had Compact Flash chips for it, I had to find another camera which used CF chips. That brought me to buy the Fujifilm S602 Zoom in March 2003. A great digital camera, I used it exclusively for an entire year.
Trips this year: Three-week trip this year out west, mostly in Utah.
Number of photos taken this year: 68,000.
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