Cowpens National Battlefield

The site of the January 17, 1781 battle where General Daniel Morgan's forces decisively defeated British forces under Colonel Banastre Tarleton. The American victory was a turning point in the Southern Campaign.

On the morning of January 17, 1781, Brigadier General Daniel Morgan positioned his force of roughly 1,065 Continental soldiers and militia on a broad pastureland used by local farmers to graze cattle -- the cow pens that would give this battlefield its name. Morgan had chosen the ground deliberately, placing his men in a three-line defensive formation designed to exploit the reckless aggression of his opponent, British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, known as Bloody Ban for his reputation of showing no quarter. Morgan instructed his front-line militia to fire just two volleys and then fall back, creating the appearance of a panicked retreat. When Tarleton's 1,150 British regulars charged forward to pursue, they ran directly into Morgan's main Continental line. As the British faltered, Colonel William Washington's cavalry swept around the right flank while Colonel Andrew Pickens led his reformed militia around the left, completing a devastating double envelopment. By eight o'clock in the morning, the Battle of Cowpens was over. The British suffered 110 killed, 229 wounded, and 529 captured. American losses were 25 killed and 124 wounded. It was the worst British defeat in North America since Saratoga and directly contributed to Cornwallis's eventual surrender at Yorktown.

The battlefield that witnessed such concentrated violence in so short a time has generated persistent reports of paranormal activity over the centuries since. Park rangers and visitors have reported seeing soldiers in period uniforms crossing the open fields, sometimes alone and sometimes in formation, only to vanish when approached. Commands and shouts have been heard echoing across the pastureland when no reenactors or other visitors are present. The tactical brilliance of Morgan's double envelopment seems to replay itself in spectral form -- visitors describe witnessing movements of phantom troops that mirror the battle's documented troop positions.

Among the more vivid accounts, a group of elementary school students on a field trip through the battlefield museum reported simultaneously feeling nauseated and detecting a strong smell they could only compare to gunpowder while passing through a wooded area on the grounds. Every student in the group experienced the same symptoms, which ceased immediately upon leaving the tree line. Near a farm bordering the battlefield property, witnesses have reported seeing a humanoid silhouette in what appeared to be Revolutionary War-era clothing standing motionless near a tree at dusk before disappearing entirely.

Some visitors report feeling suddenly disoriented on the battlefield, as if caught in the fog of battle themselves. Cold spots have been noted along the walking trail that follows the American battle lines, and photographs taken on the field have occasionally captured unexplained anomalies -- shadowy figures that were not visible to the photographer at the time. The battlefield's relatively undeveloped state, still largely open pastureland surrounded by forest much as it appeared in 1781, may contribute to the sense that time has not fully moved on from that January morning.

Today Cowpens National Battlefield is administered by the National Park Service and features a visitor center, a 1.3-mile walking trail that follows the American battle lines, and the Robert Scruggs House, a period log cabin that predates the battle. Annual commemoration events are held each January. From the surviving records, historians have identified 128 American officers and soldiers by name who were either killed or wounded at Cowpens -- men whose sacrifice helped turn the tide of the American Revolution and whose presence, some believe, has never fully departed from the ground where they fought and fell.