Friday,May 21, 2010, John was off to Freightliner School for a second day so I decided to do some sight seeing in the area of Gaffney, South Carolina.
The weather was overcast with the threat of rain, but off I headed to see the Cowpens National Battlefield.Opened to the public in 1978, Cowpens National Battlefield encompasses 843 acres and protects the site of a crucial American victory over the British in 1781. This Revolutionary War site is located 3 miles east of Chessnee, South Carolina on Highway 11 - the Cherokee Foothills National Scenic Highway.
On a cold morning, January 17, 1781, American General Daniel Morgan led his army of tough Continentals and backwoods militia to a brilliant victory over Banastre Tarleton's large force of British regulars. When he marched his army onto this field the previous afternoon, Morgan was trying to elude a British trap. That morning, as his men cooked breakfast in camp on Thicketty Creek, scouts brought news that Tarleton had crossed the Pacolet River, 12 miles south, and was coming fast. Morgan broke camp and ordered his soldiers down the road. Their destination: the Cow Pens, a frontier pasturing ground on the road to a ford across the Broad River six miles to the northwest.
Tarelton and his British Legion were known for their brutality in cutting down unarmed or fleeing soldiers. Tarelton himself was widely hated in South Carolina after his troops butchered Col. Abraham Buford's surrendered Continentals at Waxhaws in May 1780.
General Daniel Morgan knew that Tarleton's force outnumbered his own. To even the odds, he sent for militia units from South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. These were men of great courage and experience, but that they were no match for British battle tactics. The militia's strength lay in their prowess with their rifle, a weapon of far greater range and, in their hands, deadlier and more accurate then the British muskets.
The battle was over in less than an hour. British losses were staggering: 110 killed, 229 wounded, and 600 captured or missing. Also captured with the British were a number of slaves. Morgan's losses were 24 killed and 104 wounded.
The movie The Patriot with Mel Gibson was based on this battle of the Revolutionary War.
It was a very interesting place to visit and one more National Park that I can add to the list of places that I have been to.
Off to Townsend, Tenn. for a few days and then working our way to Minnesota for the month of June.
That is all for now.
On the road..... Candy and Johnny
