Handbook 135 Cowpens
“Downright Fighting”
The Story of Cowpens
by Thomas J. Fleming
A Handbook for
Cowpens National Battlefield
South Carolina
Produced by the
Division of Publications
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Washington, D.C. 1988
About this book
The story of Cowpens, as told in these pages, is ever fresh and will live in memory as long as America’s wars are studied and talked about. The author is Thomas Fleming, a biographer, military historian, and novelist of distinction. His works range from an account of the Pilgrims’ first year in America to biographies of Jefferson and Franklin and novels of three American wars. Downright Fighting, The Story of Cowpens is a gripping tale by a master storyteller of what has been described as the patriot’s best fought battle of the Revolutionary War.
The National Park System, of which Cowpens National Battlefield is a unit, consists of more than 340 parks totaling 80 million acres. These parks represent important examples of the nation’s natural and cultural inheritance.