On 17 January 1781 Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeated a British force under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at Cowpens, South Carolina, one of the most skilful American victories of the Revolution.
The trap at Cowpens
By early 1781 the British seemed to be winning in the American South, and their most aggressive cavalry commander, Banastre Tarleton, was hunting Morgan's army. Morgan chose to stand at Cowpens, an open grazing ground, and planned around the weakness of his militia: they would fire a few volleys and fall back, drawing the British forward. › Battle of Cowpens, 1781
The plan worked. The British advanced into the American lines and were caught in the double envelopment. Tarleton's command was destroyed, and the American losses were light.
Why it mattered
The defeat crippled British strength in the South and helped set up the campaign that followed in the Carolinas.
A reminder from the same month
The same kind of battle on a much larger scale came almost 163 years later: the first assault on Monte Cassino in January 1944. The fighting there, which lasted until May, is told in our article on the Battle of Monte Cassino. › Battle of Monte Cassino, 1944
Also on this day
- 1864: Battle of Iłża. Polish insurgents of the January Uprising under Karol Kalita fought a Russian column of infantry and Cossacks led by Colonel Sukhonin near Iłża.
