On the Ides of March 240 years ago in the muddy fields and woods outside Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina, the course of the Revolutionary War changed in an epic battle. In the heart of the melee, a six-foot-six, 260-pound giant armed with a massive broadsword battled for freedom.
Following the disastrous American defeats at Charleston and Camden, South Carolina, in 1780, the Revolution tilted in favor of the Crown. The British Southern strategy appeared unstoppable, and even America’s French allies considered pulling the plug. To stem the British tide, Washington sent Nathanael Greene, his most able general, to rehabilitate the army and save the South. Boldly, Greene divided his army. One wing, the Flying Army, commanded by the legendary Daniel Morgan, won a crushing victory at Cowpens, capturing hundreds of British prisoners. General Charles Cornwallis was bent on avenging his losses and, if possible, liberating his imprisoned men. One British officer summed up Cornwallis’s quest to annihilate his foe: “With zeal and with bayonets only it was resolved to follow Greene’s Army to the end of the world.”
The Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina was one of the more important of the American Revolution but few people have ever heard of it. What a shame.