The last major battle in the lower South (September 8, 1781), Eutaw Springs matched Greene with 2,200 troops against 1,900 redcoats. The outcome was a draw. The British retreated to Charleston, and there they remained the rest of the war.
A memorial park stands on Rt. 6. just east of Eutawville, S.C. The original battlefield is under the waters of Lake Marion.
Yorktown 1781
Cornwallis’s surrender at this little port town on October 19, 1781, brought the war to an effective end. The victory was a consequence of the Franco-American alliance. French ships blockaded the harbor and prevented resupply, while Washington’s powerful force of Continentals and French regulars besieged the British by land. After a long bombardment and a night attack that captured two redoubts, Cornwallis asked for terms.
Administered by NPS.
For Further Reading
For those who wish to explore the story of Cowpens in more depth, the following books will be helpful. Daniel Morgan, Revolutionary Rifleman by Don Higgenbotham (1961) is a well-paced, solidly researched narrative of the Old Wagoner’s adventurous life. Still valuable, especially for its wealth of quotations from Morgan’s correspondence, is James Graham’s Life of General Morgan (1856). On the struggle for the South Carolina back-country, Ninety Six by Robert D. Bass (1978) is the best modern study. Edward McCrady’s two-volume work, A History of South Carolina in the Revolution (1901), is also useful. For personal anecdotes about the savage civil war between rebels and loyalists, Traditions and Reminiscences, Chiefly of the American Revolution in the South by Joseph Johnson, M.D. (1851) is a basic source book. Equally illuminating is James Collins’ Autobiography of a Revolutionary Soldier, published in Sixty Years in the Nueces Valley (1930). Biographies of other men who participated in Cowpens are not numerous. Skyagunsta by A. L. Pickens (1934) mingles legend and fact about Andrew Pickens. Piedmont Partisan by Chalmers G. Davidson (1951) is a balanced account of William Lee Davidson. James Jackson, Duelist and Militant Statesman by William O. Foster (1960) is a competent study of the fiery Georgia leader. The Life of Major General Nathanael Greene by George Washington Greene (1871) gives the reader a look at the battle from the viewpoint of the American commander in the South. For the British side of the story, one of the best accounts is Banastre Tarleton’s A History of the Campaign of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Provinces of North America (1787), available in a reprint edition. The Green Dragoon by Robert D. Bass (1957) gives a more objective view of Tarleton’s meteoric career. Two other useful books are Strictures on Lt. Col. Tarleton’s History by Roderick Mackenzie (1788), an officer who fought at Cowpens with the 71st Regiment, and The History of the Origin, Progress and Termination of the American War by Charles Stedman (1794), a British officer who was extremely critical of Tarleton. Both are available in reprint editions. Cornwallis, the American Adventure by Franklin and Mary Wickwire (1970) has an excellent account of Cowpens—and the whole war in the South—from the viewpoint of Tarleton’s commander. Rise and Fight Again by Charles B. Flood (1976) ably discusses the influence of Cowpens and other Southern battles on the ultimate decision at Yorktown.
—Thomas J. Fleming