Cowpens National Battlefield

On January 17, 1781, General Daniel Morgan's forces routed British troops under Tarleton here in under an hour. It was a turning point in the Southern Campaign, and the ground still carries the weight of it.

On the morning of January 17, 1781, Brigadier General Daniel Morgan positioned roughly 1,065 Continental soldiers and militia on a broad pastureland where local farmers grazed cattle -- the cow pens that gave this battlefield its name. Morgan had chosen the ground deliberately, placing his men in a three-line 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 told his front-line militia to fire just two volleys and then fall back, creating the look of a panicked retreat. When Tarleton's 1,150 British regulars charged forward to pursue, they ran straight 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, it was over. The British lost 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 led to Cornwallis's eventual surrender at Yorktown.

A battlefield that saw that much concentrated violence in sixty-five minutes has produced persistent reports over the centuries since. Park rangers and visitors have seen soldiers in period uniforms crossing the open fields, sometimes alone and sometimes in formation, who vanish when approached. Commands and shouts echo across the pastureland when no reenactors are present. The tactical shape of Morgan's double envelopment seems to replay itself -- visitors describe phantom troop movements that mirror the battle's documented positions.

One of the more vivid accounts involves a group of elementary school students on a field trip through the battlefield museum. The entire group simultaneously felt nauseated and smelled something they could only compare to gunpowder while passing through a wooded area. Every student experienced the same symptoms, which stopped immediately once they left the tree line. Near a farm bordering the property, witnesses have seen a humanoid silhouette in what looked like Revolutionary War clothing standing motionless near a tree at dusk before disappearing.

Some visitors report feeling suddenly disoriented on the battlefield, as if caught in the confusion of combat. The temperature drops sharply along the walking trail that follows the American battle lines, and photographs taken on the field have occasionally captured shadowy figures not visible to the photographer at the time. The battlefield's largely undeveloped state -- still open pastureland surrounded by forest, much as it appeared in 1781 -- may contribute to the sense that time hasn't fully moved on from that January morning.

Today Cowpens National Battlefield features a visitor center, a 1.3-mile walking trail along the American battle lines, and the Robert Scruggs House, a period log cabin that predates the battle. Annual commemoration events are held each January. 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 Revolution and whose presence, some believe, has never fully departed from the ground where they fought.